During my trip to Paris back in July, one of my favourite parts of the weekend was actually a suggestion from a good friend from university who lives in Paris. (I know – I am very envious as well!) On our first evening we wandered westwards from our hotel in Le Marais (we stayed at the Hostellerie du Marais), right next to the Place des Vosges to Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 1st arrondissement where Ô Chateau is located.

        It’s a modern-looking wine bar and we grabbed a table out on the pavement as Paris was in the middle of a glorious heat wave that weekend.

        Although Ô Chateau is slightly on the pricey side (our bill came to around €140 for two people, for one course) it was exquisite. We both opted for the mixed cheese and meat platter, I pairing mine conservatively with their recommended accompanying selection of four wines (three red, one white) as my knowledge of wines leaves something to be desired. My rather more expert mother whose love of wine probably rivals even her love of her own children, was a bit more adventurous and chose the selection of six wines called the ‘Tour de France’.

        And this is how we ended up with 10 glasses of wine, for 2 people, all on 1 table. It was a delightful sight.

        As the wine, the cheese and the meat is brought to you, a charming waitress will describe its origins, the characteristics of the wine and which of the food in front of you each glass should be paired with.

         I am no connoisseur, but I have seriously never appreciated wine so much. Paired with the right complementing flavour, the wine transforms from an enjoyable beverage used solely to give one that lovely warm giddy feeling inside, into a delectable nectar! The four glasses did of course also give me that lovely giddy feeling and made my legs tingle (alcohol always does that to me). I will definitely be going back to Ô Chateau next time I find myself in Paris, I cannot fault it. They also run champagne and wine tasting on river boats as well as day trips outside of Paris to visit vineyards, which look really appealing.