Le Baron Rouge Wine Bar

Bastille / Oberkampf - 11eme, Paris –

A quick walk from the historic marché d’Aligre street market and equally close to the Bastille party circuit, Le Baron Rouge harkens back to the wine bars of yesteryear when the vino was cheap and the conversation perpetually loud.

Early weekday afternoons see graying retirees and families with kids in tow posted along the shiny zinc bar to chat with the bartender, but most evenings find a crowd of young bobos and a mélange of tourists so large that guests spill onto the street.

By 8pm, the brouhaha of multiple languages usually forces servers to lower the crooning ambient jazz or mellow pop so people can hear one another talk over €1.50 glasses of wine.

Although plates of cheese and meat are available – and fresh oysters are served on weekends from March to October – few people show up for the food, choosing instead to make the tiny space a favorite pre-dinner spot.

A smattering of spindly chairs and tables set under loosely strung lights make up most of the seating, while out front several plastic wine crates topped with planks offer smokers a place to rest their glasses as they crouch on the curb.

Thick coats of dust have settled onto the tiled floor and over the stemware chandelier in the window, but that’s part of the charm at Le Baron Rouge, a traditionally French place to meet with friends and enjoy the city’s wine and culture.

And maybe more wine.