Approximately a kilometer and a half of shelves where, as in a library, some of the most important wines in the world rest. Excavated in the very stone of the hill of Montecarlo, watchword of the Principality of Monaco, this labyrinth that houses more than 350,000 bottles It is the heart of the Café Hotel de Paris.
Its estimated retail value, simply by multiplying by three the price of the bottle, about 25 million euros in wine, of which Gennaro Iorio, Neapolitan pro, has been the safeguard for more than 30 years, when it became chef caves
Here, at Le Cantine dell’Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, a centuries-old success is underpinned by an almost bibliographical devotion in a fully functional wine cellar, which even has a small museum of incunabula and untouchable jewels, and whose history He was about to go to a better life due to the greed of Nazism.
In between, just three Spanish wines, dozens of Bordeaux references —around 50% of the total, all purchased in advance and that will not see the light of day for another decade— and the merit of selling 900 bottles of wine a day, thus supposing to sell more than 300,000 wines a year and all managed by the Societé des Bains de Mer, a nineteenth-century organization that controls most of the great restaurants and hotels in Monaco, where this ‘cantine’ is the oenological heart that keeps them with life.
The largest oenological labyrinth in Monaco
There is a little trick in the amount of wine that Le Cantine dell’Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, as it is not the cellar of a hotel or a single restaurant, but of that conglomerate that is grouped under the Societé des Bains de Mer and what does it mean supply up to more than 40 restaurants in high season.
However, although this ‘prime’ of Monegasque tourism is lasting – the high season, as explained by Iñigo de la Osa Notary, our host on this trip to Monaco, where he resides, and owner of the Virtus wineries, in the heart of Ribera del Duero, goes “from May with the motor grand prix until November”—, there are only seven restaurants that open all year.
Virtus, El Sueco Crianza 2018. DO Ribera del Duero.
There the wine does not stop flowing and few establishments can boast, as a whole, of selling an average of 900 bottles of wine a day. With these ratios, we could think that, obviously, if the winery has 350,000 bottles and 300,000 are sold per year, the winemaking and the chances of ‘drying it out’ in just one year is plausible.
However, this cave, in the hands of Gennaro Iorio, it has more of a museum and a bank than a warehouse where anything goes In fact, he notes during the visit that “60% of what is sold in the SBM restaurants are Provencal rosé wines and champagne, and the other 40% are other wines,” he comments.
It is what they define as the 20%-80% rule; where barely a fifth of the labels —rosés and sparkling wines— they account for four-fifths of the winery’s income.
The rotation thus comes from younger wines or champagnes, while the big names from Bordeaux patiently wait their turn until they are ready to go on sale. During our visit, 2018 wines whose boxes are counted for several thousand euros were waiting to be stacked, whose uncorking will not occur until at least 2030.
The winery with a feminine touch where only three Spanish wines fit
Excavated ten meters deep into the rock itself, this cellar is a large part of the foundations of the prestigious Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo, as it was spreads over 1,500 square meters underground in one of the noblest areas of Monaco.
Nevertheless, Monaco was not always the archetype of luxury that we know today and that this is so today we owe, in large part, to Marie Blanc, the same woman to whom we also owe that this winery began operating in 1874.
Married to the French industrialist François Blanc, Marie Hensel (she would acquire the Blanc after marriage) revitalized the Monegasque scene from 1850, managing the casino and, later, founding the very prosperous Societé des Bains de Mer, owner of this enormous winery , Y whose construction we owe to Marie Blanc, person who was behind these perforations to house the numerous wine that was consumed in the city.
This is how a winery has been growing, today a world reference, where —we had to ask about Spanish chauvinism— only fit three or four Spanish wineries. This is what Gennaro Iorio tells us: “there is Vega Sicilia, there is Pingus, there is Artadi and there are some Álvaro Palacios wines”, he affirms; In addition, there is also some reference to Sherry wines, but at the time of the question he does not know which ones exactly.
Virtus, Gran Reserva 2015. DO Ribera del Duero.
You can’t blame him; has more than 3,700 wines in mind and the demand for Spanish wines is not high in a market like Monegasque, although Iñigo López de la Osa and his Ribera del Duero wines, including El Sueco (a royal albillo white) and Virtus, their benchmark red, aim to achieve this.
The trick that saved the treasure of French wine from the Nazis
One might also think that in the restaurant’s vast menu one would have to mortgage to be able to order wine. Gennaro denies the biggest: “we have wines of 40 and 50 euros, up to wines that exceed 15,000 euros“, he calculates, referring to some of the most exclusive bottles from the Romanée Conti winery.
The irony in this Bordeauxteca as they have called the collection is that Gennaro, when he drinks, he prefers pinot noir from Burgundy, the great ‘competition’ between French regions and, always with care, talks about the history and what this cava means.
“The story is not for sale; here we have the obligation to ‘perennialize’ and conserve because it is a winery that must endure over time”, he concludes. He also refers to a small deposit, video-monitored and locked, where the most iconic bottles of the collection are kept.
“They cannot be drunk or sold; they are our treasure. In fact, if Prince Albert came we wouldn’t sell them to him either because they are the heritage of cava”, he warns about some 300 bottles, among which there are even cognacs that remained with Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as labels such as Château Margaux 1929, Château d’Yquem 1890 or Petrus 1945.
Bottles covered in dust and history that were about to be lost in the sign of the times, through Nazi invasion. “When the Nazis enter Monaco, they know that the cellar exists and look for the best bottles when they arrive and also when they leave. To avoid this, the chef caves what he did was put the best bottles at the bottom, covered by several rows of empty bottles, to make the Germans give up their search,” says Gennaro.
So the Third Reich was prevented from drinking one of the world’s great oenological treasures and there Gennaro shows off his chest, heir to a long tradition of chef caves Italians who for more than 90 years have been in charge of watching over the entrances and exits of the largest hotel cellar in the world.
Pictures | Patricia Regidor (They paint Cups)
In DAP | He is one of the best winemakers in Spain, but his biggest challenge has been to produce an alcohol-free wine that is drinkable
In DAP | The five winemakers who have contributed the most to improving the reputation of Spanish wine in the world