schiller-wine: August 2024

2024 Loire by ombiasy Wine Tours, led by Annette Schiller, took place from Sunday, June 9 to Thursday June 20, 2024. The tour started in Nantes and ended in Sancerre. In fact, the tour did not end in Sancerre, but in Paris.

Following breakfast on Thursday, June 20, in Sancerre, the bus took us to Paris, where we had lunch at La Coupole, 102 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75014 Paris, with all our luggage. From there the group went into different directions. Some stayed in Paris, one couple went directly back to the USA, Annette and I went by train to Frankfurt.

La Coupole is an institution. Josephine Baker took a bath in the fountain, which sits in the middle of the brasserie. Jean-Paul Sartre dined here. Hemmingway, Fitzgerald and Joyce consorted here. Henry Miller came here for his morning porridge. Man Ray and Matisse were also part of the local fauna.

La Coupole is on the Boulevard du Montparnasseis, very close to three other famous places of the literary world: La Rotonde, Le Dome and La Closerie des Lilas.

See: Dining and Wining on Boulevard Montparnasse in Paris: La Rotonde, Le Dôme and La Coupole, France – Pre-Bordeaux Wine Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours, France

La Rotonde, 105 Boulevard du Montparnasse: Located on the Carrefour Vavin, at the corner of Boulevard du Montparnasse and Boulevard Raspail, La Rotonde was founded by Victor Libion in 1911. La Rotonde has retained much of its bohemian charm and continues in operation to this day as a popular spot for the Parisian Intelligentsia. Picasso portrayed two diners in the cafe in his painting "In the cafe de la Rotonde" in 1901. It was the preferred place of the Russian crowd, includng Trotsky and Lenin. Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald and T.S. Eliot were also patrons there.

Le Dôme, 108 Boulevard du Montparnasse: From the beginning of the 1900s, it was renowned as an intellectual gathering place. A poor artist used to be able to get a Saucisse de Toulouse and a plate of mashed potatoes for $1. Le Dôme later became the gathering place of the American literary colony and became a focal point for artists residing in Paris's Left Bank. It was widely known as "the Anglo-American café." Today, it is a top fish restaurant, with a comfortably old-fashioned decor. The food writer Patricia Wells said, "I could dine at Le Dôme once a week, feasting on platters of briny oysters and their incomparable sole meunière."

La Closerie des Lilas, 171 Boulevard du Montparnasse: Also situated in Paris' Montparnasse is La Closerie, which opened in 1847 and attracted everyone from Henry James to Leon Trotsky to Gertrude Stein and Hemingway, who references nearby statues and descriptions in The Sun Also Rises.

Pictures: La Coupole, Le Dôme and La Closerie des Lilas at the Beginning of the 1900s

Lunch at La Coupole

Parisunlocked.com: ...Walking through the doors transports you to Paris circa 1927, the height of the jazz age and a feverishly innovative period in the arts. It isn’t a stretch to imagine regular patrons such as Simone De Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, André Dérain, Colette and Tamara de Lempicka coming through the heavy glass and metal doors, then sashaying through the enormous Art-Deco dining room to their regular tables. In later years, it’s been favored by the likes of Edith Piaf, Hemingway, Albert Camus, Serge Gainsbourg and Patti Smith. At one of the tables, Camus celebrated his Nobel Prize in literature with friends and fellow writers. At another, Josephine Baker frequently sat.

Arriving

La Coupole (1927)

Outstanding Seafood

3-course Lunch

Leaving

Back to Frankfurt

Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours: Already Released and Forthcoming Postings

Announcement: Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours (Sunday, June 09 - Thursday June 20, 2024)

Stopover in Frankfurt: 3 Nights at Zur Mainlust Desche Otto in Frankfurt/ Schwanheim - From Washington DC (USA) to Nantes (France) for 2024 Loire by ombiasy WineTours, led by Annette Schiller

Pitstop at Le Petit Sommelier, Standard (10.5/ 20 Gault&Millau) Food and Worldclass Wine List, Just Opposite of Gare Monteparnasse in Paris - From Washington DC (USA) to Nantes (France) for 2024 Loire by ombiasy WineTours, led by Annette Schiller

Dinner at L'Océanide (Bib Gourmand Michelin) in Nantes - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Dinner at L'Instinct Gourmand in Nantes, with Owner/ Chef Sylvain le Bras - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Guided Tour of Old Town Nantes - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Dinner at Iconic Brasserie La Cigale in Nantes - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Tour, Tasting and Light Lunch at Vignobles Günther Chéreau, Château du Coing, in Saint Fiacre-sur-Maine, with Owner Véronique Günther-Chéreau - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Two Domaines under one Roof: Visit at Domaine Gadais Père et Fils and Domaine de la Combe/ Pierre-Henri Gadais in Saint Fiacre-sur-Maine, Muscadet Sévre et Maine, Pays Nantais, with Owner/ Winemaker Christoph Gadais - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Dinner at Restaurant Les Petits Près of Chef Samuel Albert (Top Chef France 2019) in Angers - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Vineyard Tour and Tasting at Château d’Épiré, AOP Savennières, Anjou, with Owner/ Winemaker Paul Bizard - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Vineyard Tour, Barrel Tasting and Salon Tasting at Château des Vaults, Domaine du Closel in Savennière, Anjou, with Owner/ winemaker Evelyne de Pontbriand - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

In the Private Dining Room: Wine-pairing Lunch at Château des Vaults, Domaine du Closel in Savennières, Anjou, with Owner/ Winemaker Evelyne de Pontbriand and Owner/ Chef Arthur Favé of Restaurant Le Chenin in Savennières - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Guided Visit of Château Angers and the Apocalypse Tapestry (UNESCO) - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Dinner at Brasserie du Ralliement in Angers, Owned and Run by Top Chef France 2019 Samuel Albert - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Vineyard Tour and Tasting at Domäne Vincendeau in Rochefort-sur-Loire, Anjou, with Owner/ Winemaker Liv Vincendeau - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with a Light Lunch at Domaine de la Soucherie in Beaulieu-sur-Layon, Anjou - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Tasting and Cellar Tour at Clotilde Legrand, Domaine Legrand, in Varrains, Anjou, with Clotilde Legrand - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Dinner at Restaurant L’Essentiel, Michelin-listed and Nestled at the Foot of Saumur’s Fairy-tale Castle - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Guided Visit at the UNESCO-classified L’ Abbey Royale de Fontevraud in Fontevraud - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Lunch in the Courtyard of Saumur's Fairy-tale Castle Château de Saumur - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours