Le Cercle Rouge – Wonderful news

We have recently had some great news about one of our favourite natural wine bars on this planet! Le Cercle Rouge in the heart of Angers in the Loire Valley has new owners – and one of the new owners is our good friend Joseph Mosse who is one of the Mosse family that we have been importing for many years now!

Joseph is now one of the owners of this iconic natural wine bar along with Paul Landry and Stéphane from Donald’s Pub.

Le Cercle Rouge has been a regular drinking venue of ours for many years. It is one of a number of long-lasting natural wine bars in France that have similar characteristics. These venues, such as Le Cercle Rouge along with Bistrot des Claquets in Arbois in the Jura, Aux Crieurs de Vin in Troyes, Les Becs A Vin in Orléans, Aux Deux Amis, Septime La Cave and La Buvette in Paris, La Part des Anges in Nice, Les Vins des Vivants in Lyon, l’Echanson in Nancy and Les Buvards in Marseille all show an “easy” permanence through the provision of wines that their customers want to drink and tasty, yet not tricked up food to snack on while enjoying the wines.

Others are emerging and will take their place alongside these iconic bars, for example Marie Pimprenelle’s venture in Sete called Pimpant, Les Cannoniers which is run by our friend Karim Hadjadj in Rennes, Harry Lester’s Quillosque and his new bar also in Clermont-Ferrand, Micro Sillon in Lyon and Lise and Bertrand Jousset’s lovely l’Ephémére bar in Montlouis-sur-Loire.

Le Cercle Rouge is a funky wine bar in the very centre of the old part of the city of Angers in the Loire Valley of France. They specialise in natural wines and many of the wines from the icons of the movement such as Mosse, Villemade, Puzelat, Lemasson, Przezdziecki (PZ) and so on are represented here. It is a great place to sample the best that the Loire has to offer at very reasonable prices.

We also like the fact that there are two whole pages of wines available by the glass at Le Cercle Rouge, some of which are interesting Vin de France wines. For example, the excellent white Les P’tites Vignes from Christophe Foucher which is a Sauvignon Blanc, a delicious sparkling wine “Les Annees Folles” from Jean-Pierre Robinot and a moelleux Fleur de Nuit from Loic Mahe of Domaine du Gué d’Orger, and now we expect to see some of the Mosse Vin de France wines as well! We hope they continue to stock the wonderful Cour Cheverny made from the estimable Romorantin grape from Philippe Tessier or Herve Villemade.

There is also a range of snacks available. On the most recent visit we could order oysters, rillettes of fish, terrine maison, a plate of artisanal charcuterie, pata negra ham from Spain, lambs brains or a platter of cheese.

There is a good feeling in the bar with everyone having a common interest in natural wines. The staff are anxious to steer you towards the current favourites. As the evening progresses the wonderful music selection veers towards the Nick Cave – Tom Waites end of the spectrum to match the funkier of the natural wines.

We have included Le Cercle Rouge venue in our story about places to visit outside Paris to experience good food and natural wine entitled Great Eating In France Outside Paris.

You can also see more about this venue on their Instagram page here.