Where Paris still made its wine.

Belleville made wine for a long time. Not good wine, let's be honest. On Sundays Parisians climbed the hill, outside the city walls, to drink a cheap little wine in the open-air taverns of the slope. Nobody came for the vintage. They came for the view, and to forget.

The vines retreated before the city, as the strawberries of the Bastille and the pears of the Châtelet had before them. Then, in 1992, a few rows were replanted on the slopes of the park, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, one harvest a year, facing Paris. Stubbornness more than a vineyard. That is the memory we put in this jar.

The grape first: a seedless variety, each berry cut in half before going into the pan, which takes the time it takes. Half-grapes remain whole in the jar, the skin resisting just enough under the spoon. Then the hibiscus, arriving from below: a dry, floral acidity and that deep purple that sets the jar apart at first glance. Lemon holds it all together.

Cooked in copper pans in our workshop under the Viaduc des Arts, in small batches, with no preservatives and unrefined cane sugar.

It keeps no set hours: buttered toast in the morning, ewe's milk cheese in the evening, Sunday roast chicken. And if you ever climb up to the Parc de Belleville, look for the vine at the very top, facing the city. It is still there, obstinate.

The Parc de Belleville opens the Parisian Gardens selection, alongside the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (lemon peppermint) and the Jardin des Plantes (apple rose geranium). Three neighbourhoods, one city.

250 g jar.

Price per kg: €59.60