In the old city center of Bordeaux, there are a lot of things to discover and one of them is the wine bar Wine More Time.

Wine More Time is a great spot to enjoy a glass of wine with some food while feeling nostalgic in the historical city center. When the weather is warm enough, you can sit outside with a nice view of the street which goes along the old city center and the pretty bell tower, la Grosse Cloche. If not inside it has a cozy and friendly atmosphere.

Here you can find four hundred kinds of wine, from all over France and also from other countries, both in bottle and in your glass, since it’s a wine bar and cave at the same time. The wines showcased according to origin and type.

Jean Astruc and Alexandre Lahitte are the co-owners of the wine bar. In this interview, I had the chance to chat with Jean Astruc, and get to know more about Wine More Time, how it was opened, and how they are choosing their wines.

N: Could you explain your wine background and how did you decide to open Wine More Time?

J.A.: We created Wine More Time in 2010 with my associate, Alexandre Lahitte. He has a more commercial background, he is graduated from IPC Wine and Spirit in Bordeaux and I have more technical background since I am a sommelier since twelve years, before I worked in a restaurant, I also made vinifications in Côtes du Rhône, so I touched every step of winemaking until the end. I met Alexandre when we were both working in ‘La Winery’. He had the idea to open a wine cellar and I was thinking of opening a wine bar, so we brought our ideas together and we created Wine More Time.

N: How many different wines do you have? From which regions?

J.A.: We started with a hundred references, now we have four hundred references. Ninety of them are Bordeaux. We have many wines from other regions of France: Bourgogne, Côtes du Rhône, Loire, Languedoc-Roussillon, Champagne… We also have other countries than France, especially European wines but also other wines all around the world. We have thirty-five references from Spain; I have a wine merchant in Spain with whom I chose the wine. We also have Italian, Portuguese and German wines.

N: How do you choose your wines?

J.A.: For all the wines from France, we work in a direct way, that means we directly contact the wineries. We are trying to avoid the commercials, because they offer the same wines all the time. The most important thing is that it differentiates Wine More Time from the other wine bars in Bordeaux, that we have wines from all the regions of France, not just Bordeaux wines. For that reason, we search all the time for new appellations. Every year we try to add a new appellation.

We want wines that can show their terroir, if a wine has a lot of wood we are not interested in this wine. So we try to find small properties who still work with old style production. I am interested in small producers, wineries who make honest wines. Our aim is to find the wines which the others don’t have. That’s why we attend a lot of fairs and we travel and we taste a lot. I always ask the price after the tasting; I am searching for coherent prices with the quality.

In Wine More Time, as you can taste the wines which are offered in the glass, you can also open a bottle that you choose from the cellar. 

N: How often do you change your wine menu?

J.A: We change the glass wine menu every week. In this menu there are four dry white wines; one of them is from Bordeaux, two from France and one foreign. There are eight red wines, four of them are from Bordeaux, three from France and one foreign. There are two rose wines, one from South of France, one from Provence. Moreover we have two sweet wines, always different from the south and one from the north. There are always wines with different flavors and prices. If you taste a wine in glass this week, you will always find it in the cellar next week if you want to consume it again.

There is a wide range of food from which you can choose to accompany your glass. One of the most popular is the charcuterie plate with different cheese and ham types. In the wine menu it might take your attention that it’s written “No food, No wine”. 

N: Why do you have policy of ”No food no wine” in your wine menu?

J.A.: It’s not a policy decided by Wine More All, there is a rule about the license for all the wine bars in Bordeaux. You cannot serve the wine without eating. And there are controls about it so we respect the law. We offer food plates with reasonable prices, we have cheese and charcuterie plates and we are trying to vary them.

The atmosphere in Wine More Time is comfortable and friendly as the people come here to enjoy, share and have conversations over a glass with a soft background music. I asked to Mr. Astruc a question about their clients:

N: Can you describe us your clients?

J.A.: I can say that we have clients from all ages, mostly younger between twenty-three and thirty-five years old but also older clients. I can say we have a lot of students, but also people from every field, with different wine knowledge. I don’t have a specific analysis for the clients, but I can say that we have mostly feminine clients, 60% of our clients are women. This is because Wine More Time is a really calm place for everyone where nobody bothers anyone. We also have a lot of couples, families but mostly the groups of girls. In the end, everybody mixes here in the nice ambiance where everybody can enjoy their wines peacefully.

I suggest every wine lover should visit this wine bar when their way passes from Bordeaux. You’ll find it at 8 Rue Saint-James. Wine More Time: A place to make you want to come back one more time! 

Cheers,

Nesli

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Categories: PeopleTags: wine bar, Wines