In wine it’s not what you know, but who you know

By the time you’re 30 in Paris you should have: a washing machine in your apartment, an unexpected tax bill, and a caviste.

(Cave = wine cellar, caviste = wine seller. Who said French was difficult?)

My caviste knows a lot about wine, and a lot about me. 

He knows if I’m having a great week at work, what I’m cooking for dinner (“what goes with prawn pasta?”), or if I’m simply stuck in a bit of a rut (“surprise me!”). When I first walked into his store back in 2016, I told him: je n’ai aucune idée de ce que je cherche - “I have absolutely no idea what I’m looking for”. In wine, like in relationships, it’s as good a place to start as any.

In France, buying wine really isn’t about what you know, but who you know. Enter your local wine seller. Initially, I’d visit when a special occasion called for it: a friend’s 30th birthday, a new apartment to celebrate, or when - company credit card in hand - I was on the hunt for a couple of bottles to impress. Every single time he rose to the occasion and delivered a bottle that was on target, and under budget. 

At each visit, we shared a little more.

I learned that he hadn’t always been in wine, had in fact come to the profession later in life. I learned that he liked seafood too and we shared a love for spaghetti vongole. I met his daughter who sometimes helped in the store, and he asked to see pictures of my cheeky rescue cat. He asked after my family, how our friendsgiving meal had gone, and if I’d had a nice trip home to Australia. 

Getting to know my caviste didn’t grow my wine expertise, instead it helped me become an expert in knowing myself. My job wasn’t to learn the patterns in the wines he prescribed for me, so I could order more efficiently in the future. I didn’t need to know what wine I felt like drinking, I needed only to know how I felt. Obvious outliers aside, wines aren’t objectively good or bad, but they are highly contextual. The more precise I could be about my needs, my desires, my likes and dislikes, my past and my plans for the future - the better wine I would receive. 

Alison is the owner/caviste at Cavewoman Wines open from summer 2022 in Paris’ 11th district.