Grape harvest in Paris

Grape Crop in Paris

The small parcel has both red and white varieties and ones, and both vines, let us say Pinot Meunier and chardonnay, although from what I knew they’re hybrid versionsin order to resist the disease pressure. Sophia who works for the Parcs et Jardins seemed to understand quite well the difficulties and she answered willingly to the questions of the volunteers, who had never taken part before. To be able to allow people to have of what picking is like a flavor, the Parc et Jardins had organized two picking sessions daily, one at 9 am and the other at 10.

Good jobSamuel, a volunteer, holding his boxCats of the area like to search down mice in the parkYields are moderate and the vintage is predicted to be very greatCute : Kindergarten on class trip : first time ever they saw a grape cropSophia revealing her scissorsA volunteer assessing the grapes before placing a Lot in the boxClara – These volunteers seem to learn fastChristopher (a volunteer) pickingSoon overSome damaged grapes – Sophia told me drosophila took a heavy toll on the grapesThe red and the white will be vinified together for a rosé
Weighing the grape load using a bathroom scaleTotal this year 120 kg – Last year 170 kgTo the truckFull load

Organic farming & hands picking
Remember that not so long ago Belleville was not a part of Paris (until 1860), it was a separate village located on a hill with farms, fields, vegetable gardens, vineyards and farm animals. It was not much built between ancient Paris and Belleville, you’d traveling in a countryside farmland before reaching this vibrant village where Parisians goes to have fun in guinguettes, as I know that being outdoors Paris then made it more economical to buy and drink booze, because there was a heavy tax named Octroi that was levied at the door of Paris on incoming commodities and products such as wine.

Beyond the anecdotal impact of these harvests and of the volume of the resuting wine, it is always healthy to bear in mind that in the late 19th century the Paris region was the largest wine-producing region, there were vineyards in Montmartre and Belleville but plenty more of them in the villages all around Paris, distant or close. Romainville for example which is located less than two kilometers from the present-time Paris limitation was a famed village vigneron, and a couple centuries ago 110 hectares from the total surface of 344 hectares in the village were planted with vines. See the pictures on the sides shot in the early 20th century at Romainville, envision Belleville had the identical production short while before. In the early 15th century the Parliament of Paris fixed the cost
Paris has today several micro parcels, one of them of course the “Clos Montmartre”, the one of the Parc de Belleville (in the 20th arrondissement) plus the one of the Parc Georges Brassens (15th) and the one of the Parc de Bercy (12th), but the general public is only permitted to take part to the picking in the 3 latter locations. To be able to participate you just need to write to the Parcs et Jardins de la Ville de Paris, the city administration department responsible for the parks and green spaces. For that, send an email a while before the picking at fetedesvendangesparis@gmail.com, explaining in which of the 3 parcels you would like to select (I’m not sure that they let you select in the 3, even though they’re not on the same day). Clara, pictured here holding a bunch she picked, is a volunteer, she like the others was given scissors and briefed about the best way to pick, by the park-maintenance workers.


When I came the picking was already underway and both the park workers in their green work-clothes (among them several women) and the volunteers (most of them young students) were picking delicately the red and white grapes before placing them in 15-kg boxes. The small parcel is wrapped all around with only one opening through a gate at one end, to be able to secure the fruit against two-legged predators and there were also plastic nets covering every row because the birds wouldn’t leave any berries (the baits were rolled back at the upper end for the harvest). There were several consultants in charge of the winemaking as well as the viticulture including Sylviane Leplâtre, the adviser for the Paris city management who’s responsible for overlooking the vineyard and also of the winemaking.

Sophia carrying out a full box
Parc de Belleville, Paris

For this sought after wine of Romainville, it was at about one Franc per liter that was very expensive at the time (source).

Published at Fri, 15 Sep 2017 11:34:52 +0000

You certainly know about the small vineyard on the top of Montmartre, I have almost given up covering the grape crop in Montmartre because either it is overcrowded and choked with tourists or it is a headache to get the administrative authorization to get behind the gates and follow the pickers. But when I heard through this article at
Le Parisien that the picking was to be done on tuesday
in the lesser-known parcel of the Parc de Belleville, I thought I had an chance to correct this omission, especially that I did not work that particular morning.

9 boxes and baskets for a total of 120 kg : this is the complete grape load of the micro harvest in Belleville. Some years are better, last year yielded 170 kg and after they left 198 kg… Someone will drive the small truck to the small chai of the Ville de Paris at 12th arrondissement (Bercy neighborhood) where the grapes will be pressed for a rosé. Sophia explained that it will be possible for the visitors to taste the wine on october 7. Ousmane on the right is the vineyard manager in charge of the parcel, he’s performing the copper/suphur sprays on the parcel, at a cafence of once every two months he said, depending of humidity and the wheather. The parcel is farmed organic and they do not use fongicides.

Sophia holding the final group…See you next year, do not forget to register for the picking in 2018