SUB-ZERO WINE BLOG

Remember that Edgar Allen Poe short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” in which the main character takes his visitor into the wine cellar and walls him up alive? Now you can get a similar experience in Paris – minus the walling-up part – at the Hotel Plaza Athénée.

Gérard Margeon, the sommelier at Alain Ducasse’s celebrated restaurant at the hotel, has completely redesigned the wine cellar to resemble a dark underground wine cave. The mystery tour begins through a secret passageway in the hotel, and you’ll be given a “torch” to light your way through the labyrinth of wine. The cellar holds more 35,000 bottles in all, so if you happen to get lost you’ll have plenty of wine to drink.

Just when you think the sommelier is about to reach for his trowel and some bricks, voila! – he pushes a button instead and a table descends from the ceiling, ready for a tasting of Mouton, Montrachet and other top-notch wines. Prices range from 150 Euros to 500 Euros per person, depending on the wines selected for the final tasting. This is one of my favorite hotels in Paris, and now there’s even more reason to stay at the Plaza-Athénée.

Visit the Hotel Plaza Athénée web site