A New Wave of French Wine Bars

For Jorge Riera, the headline-making, French-heavy wine lists he created for New York City’s Frenchette aren’t especially new—for him. “I’ve been doing this for about 20 years, [with] the same approach,” he says of his experience creating lists for some of the city’s most wine-trend-setting restaurants, including Contra, Wildair, Ten Bells, and 360. Even if the label names change—he’s particularly excited about wines from Auriéle & Julien of Domaine La Grapp’A in the Jura right now—the focus on small French producers who make wine with minimal intervention (such as using organic farming and natural yeasts) has become, in his words, almost “mainstream” at this point.

“I think amongst the newer generation, they’re doing something much more modern, lighter, with the same French technique that’s happening in Paris now.”—Jorge Riera

Still, though, Riera senses that there’s new energy afoot, particularly in regards to the explicitly French-ness of the restaurant. “New York City was always an epicenter for French cuisine,” he says. But between the one-two combo of the hyper churn of trends (think: the rise of new American, Italian, and avant-garde Spanish cuisines) and the closure of white-tablecloth, special occasion stalwarts of French cuisine as their chefs retired, it had been awhile since French restaurants dominated the list of must-dine in the city.

But France, he says, is back in a big way—with a twist. “I think amongst the newer generation, they’re doing something much more modern, lighter, with the same French technique that’s happening in Paris now,” he says. This applies to the cuisine, but also to the décor, which Riera describes as warm and inviting. “It’s very Art Nouveau … very intimate. The energy there is very special—it’s like being in a bistro in France.”

Two things can be simultaneously true: French wine and cuisine are enduringly popular in the United States, but also, in the restaurant and food service world, the idea of France seems especially popular right now. In New York City alone, witness the rise from the pre-pandemic launches of Le Coucou and Frenchette to the avalanche of openings in the last year, including Le Rock, Le Dive, and Claud. In Los Angeles, there’s Bar Chelou, from Doug Rankin, and Michelin-starred Camphor. Across the U.S., pockets of restaurants and wine bars are leaning hard into French traditions—and that can look very different depending on interpretation, from those that embrace a French-inspired design style alongside the food and wine for an immersive experience, to French-heavy wine lists in fresh, modern settings.

To Jon Bonné, managing editor of Resy and author of The New French Wine (Ten Speed Press, 2023), the return of France as a dominant news peg in the wine world feels a little like a homecoming. “New York had to go through this phase where Italy was a big deal,” he says, describing the positive reception to Michelin-starred Italian restaurants like Babbo and Del Posto in the early 2000s, that then spun into a fascination with Spain and beyond.

After years of menus pushing the wine world’s boundaries to the fringes … French wine has returned to lead menus, too.

And he sees a similar ripple effect in wine, where wine lists turned global. “Spain had to do the same… I would [add] new California, for example, and Georgia and Greece and all of it. Those are all in the mix.” After years of menus pushing the wine world’s boundaries to the fringes—natural wine from Japan, indigenous grapes from Chile, amphora wine from Georgia—French wine has returned to lead menus, too.

Like how you can never step in the same river twice, the French wine of today is distinctly not the French wine of your parents’ generation. “The regions, on balance, wouldn’t have changed that much [over time],” Bonné says, about familiar names like Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Chablis that many wine professionals—at least on the East Coast—learned wine from. “But the players and the style and the types of wine that are there are potentially radically different.”

What it boils down to is that “French” can mean almost anything. “If you are opening a contemporary French restaurant or bistro in 2023, you have the option to work with wines that are entirely postmodern, certainly as avant-garde, as anything in California, in Australia, anywhere in the new world or the cutting edge of Spain or Georgia,” Bonné says. But even in that boundary pushing, he finds the movement rooted in history. “The beauty of it, at least to me, is that you’re still accessing these old historic terroirs that were important hundreds of years ago, and are still important and define why France, for better or worse, is still the soul of wine.”

Molly Wismeier, a Food & Wine Sommelier of the Year with more than 30 years of experience, has had a front-row seat to the rapid evolution in the French wine world. Before opening MaMou, a modern brasserie in New Orleans’ French Quarter this year, she worked at Restaurant R’evolution in New Orleans and Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, and brings decades of experience to the 100-bottle wine list.

“I see things change about every seven years,” Wismeier says, crediting the crowd-sourced sharing and education on social media, and impressive outreach from young sommeliers like France-born Pascaline Lepeltier with igniting what she sees as the latest shift. “There’s a lot more wine that is outside of the, I guess you would say, traditional network,” she says, “and it’s very exciting meeting with the producers who are very much taking into account their vineyard practices as much as their wine-making practices.”

[Molly Wismeier of MaMou] tends to stick to the classic French regions … but finds unique and noteworthy spins on the category.

For her own list at the deeply French-inspired restaurant in one of the most French cities in the U.S. (“Guests step in and they feel like they’re in Paris,” Wismeier says of the early reactions to the decor), she tends to stick to the classic French regions—Chablis, Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne—but finds unique and noteworthy spins on the category.

“I have a lot of Bordeaux, which I think is probably one of the most traditional areas, particularly in the wine business,” she says. But she tries to make it unique while still adhering to what seems classic. “We have Mondot, which is the second label from Troplong Mondot, and they’re all sustainable and are doing all kinds of environmental practices on their estate.” Within Burgundy, she highlights Jean-Marc Bouley, from importer Becky Wasserman. “He’s definitely part of this new guard, these young Burgundians who are conscientious about how they’re making wine, the land that they’re working from, the expression of the taste in the glass.”

And Wismeier also carries a number of wines from outside of France, but that recall the classic norms, like a Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa that tastes like Sancerre, or a sparkling rosé Nebbiolo from Malvira in Italy. “The majority of the wine lists and the really exciting restaurants in Paris, Lyon, Beaune, they’re very international,” she says. Carrying that spirit over stateside just feels natural.

A big emphasis for Wismeier is keeping the markup low. “For most of my career, I’ve been working for someone else—either corporate America or chefs with multiple locations—and I’ve [been] forced to be at a certain wine cost,” she explains. “This time, I own it, and one of the things I said before I went into partnership was, ‘We have to be able to sell wine at an affordable price.’” While she has bottles that reach into the $500 range, she’d rather move inventory quickly to make sure people are enjoying the wine, rather than keep trophy selections that take up space in her wine fridges.

At the haute-Parisian Bar Chelou in Pasadena, California, both the wine and the décor skew more avant-garde. Chef Douglas Rankin, an alum of Trois Mec in Los Angeles, uses his French training to explore unexpected twists on old classics like clam toasts or boudin blanc with Japanese curry, while the wine list leans heavily on low-intervention winemakers like Thibaud Capellaro and Marieet Florian Curtet.

To complement the menus, designers Alan Koch and Karen Spector of Lovers Unite knew that they wanted to build on French signifiers, like Thonet chairs, but still add something fresh. Taking inspiration from the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, they draped the walls in a cape of curtains. “We like to give people a feeling of context when they arrive,” says Spector about finding the right amount of French-ness to introduce to the space. “It’s not a super traditional bistro menu; Doug is really bringing a lot of different influences together. So [the design is] like a combination of comfort and newness.”

When Matthew Conway and his wife, Carissa, opened The Tippling House in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2021, he knew exactly what kind of vibe he wanted: a wine bar for everyone. “When I read [what I said] in print, it sounded cheesy almost—but I really meant it,” he says about the early press coverage.

Both are veterans of the New York restaurant world. Conway worked for 14 years as a wine director and partner in Tribeca’s Restaurant Marc Forgione, while Carissa was an events manager at Locanda Verde. When the pandemic shuttered their restaurants, the pair relocated to Charleston, where Conway had family.

“All of the programs I’ve ever worked with have always been French dominated,” says Conway, who notes that The Tippling House is a pivot away from the expense account Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Brunello-type of list he was running in New York. While both his new concept and the 200-bottle list aren’t explicitly French—there are a handful of global selections from Australia to California to Italy—it’s not not French, either. Conway, who developed a reputation as a Rhône specialist, keeps a solid list of 20 grower Champagnes in rotation on his “Matthew’s Stash” selections, and the main list is rounded out from Sylvain Pataille to Domaine Cassiopée. In total, the selections demonstrate a deep fluency in French wine—from avant-garde to classic, splurge to value.

[The Tippling House’s Matthew Conway] notes that in many ways French wine has never been more interesting and varied.

Because Conway keeps his margins low, he can keep the inventory fresh—scoring unique allocations and coveted bottles, and he notes that in many ways French wine has never been more interesting and varied. “Every day, I hear of stuff that I’ve never heard of before, from a country I travel to usually at least twice a year for 10 years now,” he says, which is humbling but also exciting. As a small-business owner, he feels an affinity for the underdog. “Sometimes it’s Franck Balthazar making Chenin Blanc. Sometimes it’s Thibaud Capellaro making wine in a basement in Condrieu.”

At Lucian Books and Wine, a bookstore-slash-wine bar in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, wine director and owner Jordan Smelt also doesn’t advertise his list as explicitly French, but it leans heavily on French wine. The cozy space serves a pan-European small plates menu that wouldn’t be out of place at any new-wave French bistro (and there are books for sale, too, curated by his wife, Katie Barringer).

Designed to look like a book to fit with the bookstore theme, the 40-plus-page list runs 450 selections, and is stocked with Smelt’s favorite producers. “We’ve been buying their wines for 15 years or more, we just love them,” he says. From rising star Champagne newcomers like Adrien Dhondt and third-wave biodynamic label Mouzon-Leroux, to Chanterêves in Burgundy, Yann Bertrand in Beaujolais, and Clusel-Roche in the Rhône, the list is at once traditional and deeply modern.

Smelt, who previously worked at Cakes & Ale, Billy Allen’s restaurant in Decatur, makes a point to offer multiple wines from his favorite producers. “Maybe our guests haven’t heard of Simon Bize or Chanterêves. But when they see that we have several cuvée from a producer that they don’t know, hopefully they go, ‘They must make great wine, because they have several things from them.’”

If there’s one thing that he hopes to impart to his guests, it’s that even with all his experience, he’s still learning. “I tell people I’ve studied wine my whole life and know less than one percent, because it’s basically the universe: It’s continually changing and expanding. You could never, ever completely wrap your arms around it,” he says. “But the fun of it is trying to find and discover new things. We’re all just here to discover new stuff.”