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WINE TURISM
At the time, wine was more a staple food than a luxury
item (with the exception of the most prized vintages favou-
red by the court), and within the city walls its price could
be three times higher than in the surrounding villages.
Alongside this system, a network of smuggling gradua-
lly developed, in which wine was one of the most profita-
ble commodities. Hundreds of smugglers operating from
outside the walls often used a wide variety of methods to
move their goods while evading tax controls—from home-
made catapults to hot air balloons.
But without a doubt, the most popular method was the use
of underground tunnels that had once served as quarries
for the city's civil constructions. Their semi-abandoned
state and labyrinthine complexity made effective policing
impossible, so smugglers, bandits and thieves found in
them the perfect allies for their operations. In particular,
the vast quarries of Montrouge and Gentilly were well
known to the authorities, as was made clear during the
trial of the Montsouris smugglers. As the authorities began
to uncover the smuggling networks and identify those in-
volved, the contraband systems adapted accordingly.
One of the most notable events took place on the night
of 11 July 1789. The smugglers Monnier and Darbon ga-
thered a small group of accomplices to set fire to one of
the strategic customs posts at the entrance to Paris: the
Barrière Blanche. The following day, the spark ignited a
blaze and similar checkpoints burned along roads con-
necting neighbouring towns. On 13 July (the day befo-
re the storming of the Bastille), the customs stations in
the districts of St-Martin and St-Antoine met the same
fate—and the outcome of 14 July is well known to all.
Under the pretext of the country’s political and social
situation, Monnier was hailed as the hero of the Ba-
rrière Blanche, but in truth, before the destruction of the
checkpoints, this shrewd trafficker had already prepa-
red the logistics to move his goods through the brea-
ched barrier.
The tax was repealed in 1791 but partially reinstated in
1798, as this income was essential to maintain public
services and the entire Parisian bureaucratic structu-
re. It is therefore no surprise that a network of guin-
guettes—“country inns” where Parisians went to drink
cheaply—flourished on the outskirts of the city. Some
of these districts developed their own way of life and
identity around this tradition, and today we can still find
vineyards scattered through some of the most iconic
neighbourhoods of Paris.
Clos Montmartre (18zème arrondissement)
Perhaps the most famous vineyard in Paris is Clos
Montmartre, planted in 1933 as a tribute to the vine-
yards established in the area since the Middle Ages.
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