The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - Réserve Marie Blanc

Look up above the archways and we see wonderful old signs.

We are looking at the Réserve Marie Blanc which allows me to tell you a little more of the history of this great cellar - and of Monte Carlo. It was Marie Blanc who built these amazing cellars.

In 1863, the Plateau des Spélugues on which the Casino was built was used to cultivate traditional Mediterranean species : orange, lemon and olive trees.

It was Prince Charles III, successor to Prince Florestan l, who initiated the creation of a new kind of life for the Principality. The press of the day noted the Sovereign’s ambitions for the town : "The new Casino launched by the Société des Bains de Mer will soon rise from the ground in monumental proportions. Around the Casino, fine hotels will be built, having nothing to fear if compared to those that have been opened in Paris, London or New York". Five years after the first stone was laid, the Casino was inaugurated, in the spring of 1863. It was to be a brilliant success.

François Blanc then became a providential gift. Arriving from Homburg, a spa in Germany whose prosperity he had assured, he acquired the property owned by the Société des Bains de Mer and the Cercle des Etrangers de Monaco for a period of 50 years. In keeping with the Prince’s wishes, he continued to reinforce the principles on which the creation of Monte-Carlo was based : a place that would be quite exceptional for its luxury, comfort and location.

In addition to the Casino, the Hôtel de Paris and the Café de Paris, superb gardens and villas were soon to transform the Plateau des Spélugues into a real town which had to be given a name. On June 1st 1866, Prince Charles III then decreed that the land on the Commune of Monaco situated between the torrent of Sainte-Dévote and the pathway called "Francosi", and between the main road from Monaco to Menton and the seafront was henceforth to be named "Monte-Carlo".

On the death of François Blanc in 1877, his widow Marie took over the direction of the Société des Bains de Mer. She carried on her husband’s work, deciding to build new wine-cellars for the Hôtel de Paris and it is in those cellars we stand right now.

The Réserve Marie Blanc is now a museum, opened in 1990. You can see sections of wine boxes - precious wines of a particularly good year - and two or three of these were given to members of our party as a souvenir our fabulous visit.

Tomorrow: the private dining room.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - the Great Wines

Margaux, Montrachet - as we walk through this amazing cellar, we see the wines of our dreams.

For example, there are 36 bottles of Château le Pin 1990, an exceptional vintage, purchased by the SBM as a 'primeur' wine, immediately after the harvest at 400 euros a bottle. The current market value is estimated at 4,000 euros a bottle.

"A great wine cellar is all about time, not money," commented Iorio Gennaro, the Chef Caviste.

The cellar is guarded around the clock by hi-tech security cameras - after all, the SBM's huge wine cellar is a veritable wine bank and probably a good deal safer than a normal bank these days!

While its book value is estimated at 10 million euros, the resale value of its bottles in the SBM's 30 or so top-class restaurants, hotels and casinos in the principality, is incalculable.

What comes across though as we explore this wondrous cellar, is not the monetary value, but the expertise and passion that goes into choosing and then caring for the best wines in the world.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - The Chapel and Pétrus

Before us we see a locked wrought-iron gate guarding 'the Chapel' - where we find the oldest and finest wines. Here we'll find Pétrus and Chateau d'Yquem which are on the wine list of Alain Ducasse's Louis XV restaurant in the Hôtel de Paris. The 1982 Pétrus is priced at 12,000 euros - no wonder the gate is locked. By the way, it's called Pétrus and not Château Pétrus simply because there is no château at the vineyard.

Other "sacred" bottles which have played an important part in the history of wine are also stored close by. These include a bottle of 1811 "Roi de Rome" cognac from Sazerac-de-Forges et Fils, the last remaining bottle of a famous run of cognacs. The penultimate bottle was consumed in the Hôtel de Paris by Winston Churchill, who was a frequent visitor to the hotel.

Note: I've posted an additional photo on yesterday's champagne posting, plus a little more information.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - Champagne

Each year 250,000 bottles of champagne are sold in the Hôtel de Paris and other SBM hotels and restaurants in Monaco. Here you'll find 150 different champagnes, including the prestigious Dom Pérignon, Cristal Roederer, Clos du Mesnil.

'Come quickly, I am tasting stars!'

- Dom Perignon, at the moment of his discovery of champagne.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - the Gold Bottle

We've now walked through the passageway we saw yesterday - into the area where we find the great wines - the cheapest of which is 800 euros a bottle. You'll note in the smaller photograph how the shelving is smarter, newer than in the areas of the cellar we saw earlier.

Our young and very informative guide (he is one of the 9 cavistes who work in the cellar) holds a bottle of the Château Mouton Rothschild 2000. Mouton means sheep, of course, and for this important year - 2000 - the sheep and the writing is engraved in solid gold. He told us this bottle has a current value of 4,000 euros but that it will eventually reach 12,000 euros.

Note the way the caviste holds the bottle - his forefinger into the base of the bottle. All cavistes hold wine bottles in this way.

The key in his hand is to close this area when we leave - locked and protected.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - Hidden Treasures

We've reached the Maison du Maitre du Chaix.

The archway is dimly lit and at the end you see a wrought-iron gate which guards the oldest and most valuable wines.

In World War II during the Occupation, 20,000 bottles of the most valuable wines were hidden here, along with much of the hotel silverware as well as artifacts belonging to a Russian prince. The entry was blocked with seven layers of old and empty bottles and fortunately the German soldiers never discovered the treasures that lay behind.

Today, this area holds the grands millésimes and the rarest wines. In twenty years time, the Louis XV restaurant, will list the Bordeaux 1982, which Chef Caviste, Iorio Gennaro, considers to be the future 1961.

Don't miss Bibi's post on A Yankee in Belgrade today. If you like dogs, you'll be amazed.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - the Tasting Room

The Tasting Room was opened in 1994 and each week the SBM's wine buyer, Roger Bordes, the Chef Caviste, Iorio Gennaro and the sommeliers (wine waiters) of Monaco's SBM hotels and restaurants gather to sample a range of wines from one of the châteaux or domains to decide if any should be included in the restaurants' wine lists.

The talent of people such as Iorio and the experienced sommeliers is to judge just when the wine is ripe to drink.

The weekly tasting is also an opportunity for the wine waiters to taste the wines they suggest to customers -- and to gauge the best temperature for serving them. 90% of the wines sold in the restaurants are tasted in this way.

Theme Day: Glass...in the Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris

Glass - dusty discoloured vintage champagne bottles displayed in the famous cellar of the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo.

The main photo was taken without flash in these dimly lit cellars. I hope you like the graininess, giving the atmosphere of how it was to wander these famous cellars.

For those of you continuing this tour, today is Theme Day in the City Daily Photo community and today's theme is 'glass' - the reason why I'm referring to glass as opposed to what's in the bottle! These beautiful old bottles of champagne, as is obvious, are not for sale and are doubtless undrinkable too - but goodness, aren't they beautiful to look at... (Notice the grill at the side of the display cabinet allowing air to circulate)

And if you are new to this tour of these amazing cellars, do come back tomorrow.

You'll find over a hundred City Daily Photo bloggers from around the world presenting their take on 'glass' today, and you'll find originality and great photos, so do click here to view thumbnails for all participants

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - the Corking Machine

As we wander this amazing cellar, we notice several old corking machines. Up until the 1930s, the Hôtel de Paris bottled all its wine, including the Premier Crus of Bordeaux and until the 1960s it bottled wines that had a quick turnover, such as Beaujolais.

Now, nothing is bottled except the old Cognacs which we saw on the first day of this tour.

Tomorrow is Theme Day in the City Daily Photo community and the theme is 'glass' - a perfect subject for us, I think you'll agree. So do come back to see something beautiful from this incredible cellar.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - the Racks of Wine

We are still in the area of the cellar where the wine has been placed in racks according to its region of France (see middle photo) - Valley of the Rhone, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Loire, Provence.

The main photo, taken without flash, is very grainy I know, but actually that's how it was - an incredibly dimly lit cellar and quite magical. This shows wine from just one of the regions listed above. We are looking at one of the aisles leading off the main avenue in the middle photo.

The last photo shows a trolley used to transport the wine.

The cellar, being 10 metres below ground level, and hewn out of Monaco's rock, has a constant temperature and humidity level of between 75 per cent and 80 percent. Humidity preserves the quality of the corks. Iorio Gennaro, the Chef Caviste, describes the cork as the 'lungs of a bottle.' A dry cork lets air into the bottle and oxidizes the wine, which makes it undrinkable - i.e. corked.

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.

The Cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - the Cognac

We've been invited on a private tour of the famous cellar of the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco. This is a wine connoisseur's paradise in the largest hotel cellar in the world. 650,000 bottles of the world's finest vintages are stored in this vast cellar: 1,500 square metres hewn out of the rock of Monaco in 1874.

The cellars are not open to the public so this is a tremendous privilege. I was lucky enough to be included in a private visit arranged by my friend, Nicolas and I thank him so much for that - and of course, you are invited too.

A group of Nicolas' friends met in the Square Beaumarchais outside the Hôtel Hermitage - the entrance to the cellar is nearby. We enter an enormous commercial lift and descend 10 metres below ground. It took 100 artisans one and a half years to create this cellar with its one and a half kilometres of wine racks.

At the entrance stand four huge wooden barrels of cognac - one of which, a 'reserve premier empire' dates back to 1810. In the photos you see the Vieilles Réserves Hôtel de Paris and Vieille Réserve Louis Philippe.

You see can as we look beyond the entrance that each area of wine in France has its own section but we'll see that more clearly another day, so don't strain your eyes.

There is a lot of information to impart on this amazing cellar, so I'll write a little each day to illustrate the photographs. We have only just begun...do come back tomorrow.

I struggled somewhat with the photographs for this series. With the low lighting in the cellar, no flash didn't work - or rarely. Flash was too harsh but I learned a lot from it and what I could have done - so apologies in advance.

Nathalie's Apartments

Unattractive apartments galore in Monaco, seeming to grow out of the hillside.

This photograph is by Nathalie from Avignon in Photos. (see yesterday's post on Menton Daily Photo to read about her visit)

We were up on the Rocher, looking down over the harbour. These apartments surround the port, so they have a wonderful view. But look closely and amongst the horrid buildings you find the odd gem. Sadly, when these villas come up for sale, they are often knocked down to make room for yet another massive apartment block.

The late Prince Rainier III was known as the 'Builder Prince' and it was during his reign that Monaco grew so massively. He built, for instance, the area of Monaco known as Fontvieille on land reclaimed from the sea. At Fontvieille, you find some beautiful blocks of apartments, not like these.

This is a view of Monaco I'd probably never have shown you, simply because I don't like it. Nathalie shows you the truth!

Tomorrow: We visit the famous cellars of the Hôtel de Paris - this is a treat not to be missed!

Nathalie's Bentley

Fellow CDP Blogger, Nathalie from Avignon in Photos has long been an inspiration to me. I love the detail in her work, her shadows and her reflections. I love her photography. Recently Nathalie came to visit - you'll find a photograph I took of her on Menton Daily Photo today and can read more about the great time we had together.

Here is Nathalie's Bentley, taken on le Rocher in Monaco. Nathalie sees shadows and reflections before anything else and this is a perfect example of what I love about her work.

On Avignon in Photos today you'll find shots Nathalie took of Gorbio village, near to Menton.

Tomorrow you'll see another of Nathalie's photographs on Monte Carlo Daily Photo and it's something I would never have photographed. Do come back and see what it is!

The Ballerina

The gardens below the casino feature many sculptures, notably Botero's Adam & Eve. Here we see a ballerina silhouetted against the sea and lit at night.

For anyone interested, you'll find an update today on Mia and Mistral on 'Postcards from Pension Milou.'

Monte Carlo Gentlemen (10) - the Socks

A wall in the gardens below the casino in Monte Carlo. A good place to read a book in the sunshine.

What Credit Crunch?

There is a watch in this shop in Casino Square worth 1 million euros. This could well be it.

Frankly, it strikes me as an obscenity.

Garnier's Opera House

We are looking at the rear of Monte Carlo's famous casino which includes an opera and ballet house.

The old Casino buildings were torn down in 1878 to make room, in less than 6 months, for the building of a new complex. Gambling was temporarily moved to the Hôtel de Paris. It was Charles Garnier who, after building the Paris Opera House, was to be in charge of the construction of the Théâtre du Casino and its large gaming room. He gave the building its present-day allure by crowning it with a cupola and two pinnacles. Sarah Bernhardt was the first to star at the Opera, where she recited a poem while waving huge palm branches, on January 25th, 1879.

The steps are a good place for a picnic lunch.

The Second Childhood

You don't have to be a child to enjoy feeding the ducks. This couple are enjoying themselves in the Casino Gardens. Good for them.

Just wish she wasn't wearing a fur...

The National Museum - the Pianist Harpist

This is another automaton and was made around 1870 by the Maison Vichy. This company existed in France from 1862 - 1904. In fact all the manufacturers of automatons ceased production with the First World War, except one, that of Maison Descamps.

On the 1st March, the Villa Sauber, the building that houses this magnificent collection of dolls and automatons will close for 4 months during which time it will be restored to its magnificent Belle Epoque glory and will re-open as the New National Museum of Monaco in July.

The display of Madeleine de Galea's collection of dolls and automatons won't be displayed until the end of 2010. Many need restoration having deteriorated during the 30 years they have been displayed. When the collection is re-opened to the public, there will be even more dolls and automatons on display and more of the later will be demonstrated to the public. There have always been too many to display at the same time and so in future parts of the collection will be rotated so all can seen at one time or another.