How strange! A wine merchant who only offers the wines of one country! Why? With thousands upon thousands of wineries throughout the world, wine consumers are faced with an ever-bewildering number of choices and correspondingly, an equal number of opportunities to be disappointed. The French Cellar has shaped a concept that greatly reduces the margin of error and the amount of frustration.

Rather than trying to be all things to all people, The French Cellar focuses uniquely and passionately on the wines of France. We offer our clients wines that are true to the vintner’s art, representative of the style and character of its region, and most importantly, that are a joy to drink.

We offer the wines from the major grape growing regions of France: Alsace, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Chablis, Champagne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence, Vallée de la Loire & Vallée du Rhône. Within each region, we offer you the styles of wine for which each is acclaimed and true to the character of its grape variety.

We prefer to buy from a few, select importers, who represent and work directly with producers from small domaines or estates in France. Our common philosophy is to bring wines to you that are well-crafted ones. In our searches, we demand exacting vineyard care, low yields and old vines. In the cellar, we seek a long maceration, natural yeast, slow fermentation, barrel aging and natural bottling without filtration, when suitable to that vintage’s harvest. However, the true measure is how good the wine tastes—and we taste each wine before we commit to the purchase. Moreover, we take an extra step in judging the producer’s skill by sampling his product in what are described as off or difficult vintages. Any vintner ought to be able to produce a good wine from a great vintage. It is producing good ones from a troublesome year that differentiates talent and craftsmanship from sloppiness and avarice.

We adhere to these standards so that our clients will have some assurance that the wines they buy from us are true to their character, pure in their style and thoroughly pleasurable. We attempt to take the “guesswork” out of the process. Nearly thirty percent of our inventory is priced below $20 and we always offer a mixed-case discount of regional samplers to our customers.

Please email or call us for details. We encourage you to ask questions and give us the opportunity to assist you with any special requests. We invite and welcome you to experience these wonderful regional wines of France.