The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - Cases of Wine

Cases of wine as far as the eye can see. And we are not even in the very expensive area yet, where each bottle is priced at 800 euros or more, and certainly not in the very very expensive area where we'll find a Château Petrus at 12,000 euros. These joys are yet to come.

I wanted to show you these cases of wine first - just to give you a small idea of the amount of wine in the Hôtel de Paris' cellar - 650,000 bottles. We will go back later and look at the aisles of individually stacked bottles in their various French regions.

9 cavistes (cellarmen) work in the cellar full-time, the most important of whom is Iorio Gennaro, a Neopolitan, who has been Chef-Caviste since 1993. The cellars are owned by the SBM (Societé des Bains de Mer) who own all the great hotels of Monaco as well as 26 restaurants.

People think of Monte Carlo in terms of Casino/Grand Prix/Yachts but they forget it has a formidable reputation in gastronomy, having many Michelin starred restaurants for such a tiny Principality. Each morning, the sommelier of each restaurant puts in his order for the day's wines - all come from this great cellar.

More good things tomorrow...do come back.