The harvest in Montmartre

The existence of Clos Montmartre and the tradition of the vines on the Butte is not recent, people were already drinking Montmartre wine during the Gallo-Roman Empire. From the 12th century, a press was installed near the Church of Saint-Pierre (upper abbey), where the inhabitants took part in pressing their grapes for a fee. Many documents subsequently attest to the existence of vines on the Butte, so that in the 18th century there were about twenty vineyards on the Butte. The Revolution of 1789 marked the beginning of the decline of the vines of Montmartre. The military began to take an interest in the place, strategically well located, then the exploitation of the plaster quarries, the competition of the wines of the Loire, Alsace, Burgundy and Bordeaux with the wines of Paris, and finally real estate speculation will gradually get the better of our vineyards.

Today, and since the 1930s, the Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre has become the third most popular Parisian event, and we still drink Montmartre wine! The Clos Montmartre has, spread over a plot of 1600 m2, more than 1700 vines from the largest wine-growing regions, and each year, the grapes harvested allow the production, in a cellar fitted out under the Town Hall, of two cuvées, red and rosé. All profits from sales are donated to social works in the 18th arrondissement.