Michtovino

Garage winery in Montreuil

Feb 15, 2026

I recently visited my friend Florent Sabourin’s urban winery in Montreuil. ‘Michto’ is a gypsy word that means ‘good’ or ‘cool’ and is apparently still used in regular parlance in Montreuil. And the wines are good! I had already tasted most of them, having bought bottles from Florent over the past couple of years, but had not had the opportunity of visiting the winery.

Located in a renovated workshop in his winery partner Eric Tachin’s garden, they make six wines in all, buying organic grapes from Burgundy, the Loire, and Alsace, transporting them by truck to then vinify them in Montreuil. They use indigenous yeasts, no filtration, and little or no sulphites. Bottling is done entirely by hand, producing between 3,000 and 6,000 bottles per year. These are sold directly at markets, or to wine merchants, wine bars, restaurants and organic grocery stores.

The story (in their own words)

“In 2020, in the midst of lockdown, Florent, a Chinese interpreter, and Eric, a cameraman, tasted the wine that a neighbour, Luciano had made in his kitchen. That was the trigger: ‘We’ll make wine too!’ And as in Montreuil slang, Michto means it’s good, it’s cool, so it will be: Michtovino! With their heads in the clouds, they completely renovated an old workshop, bought equipment, set up a company and headed for the vineyards of Burgundy. Thanks to the help of several winegrowers, their first three vintages were a success. And eight months to the day after taking on this challenge, they sold their first bottles at the Place de la Mairie market.

A year later, they were joined by Marc, who had just arrived from Chambolle-Musigny, where he had been making grand cru wines, and the adventure continued: micro-vintages with grapes from the neighbourhood vineyards, tasting workshops in English and pet’nat wine made in beer barrels...”

These are quintessential ‘garage’ wines, with a lot of character. They are all eminently quaffable, and are likewise very affordable. I tasted all of these twice, and only on the 2nd round, took notes. So my first impressions, which I’m sure were more eloquently expressed, were lost.

Chardonnay - 2023 grapes from south Beaujolais - 1 month in barrel - lovely fresh air nose with stone fruit (peach) vineux with good balance and lovely, very subtle caramel, sweet butter finish

Pinot noir - 2023 Grapes from Bennwihr in Alsace - full on Pinot Fruit with the vegetal aspect of full clusters; super soft with. a delightful zingy acidity still tannin forward with a bit of earthiness but round and sweetly delicious

Cab Franc - 2022 Tasted from used oak barrel - biodynamic grapes from Saumur Floral, hint of banana Grapefruit zest, touch of acetic bitterness, but full and rich in the mouth with a cacao finish from barrel (1 month)

Cab Franc - 2022 Tasted from stainless steel tank - biodynamic grapes from Saumur - similar but sweeter with a touch of CO2 on the tongue; vibrant tannins balanced with sweet dried, fruit like cranberry

Chenin 2022 - grapes from Bonnezeaux in the Loire, lychee on the nose but lovely sweetness with a hint of salinity. Grilled buckwheat finish

Although Michtovino doesn’t qualify as an Île-de-France producer, their proximity to Paris is very much in symbiosis with the resurgence of wines being produced in the Paris Region. Such an endeavour is exciting, courageous, and extremely gratifying for wine-lovers who appreciate the efforts of local, dedicated, talented, winemakers. ‘Michto’ indeed!

Paris Wine Walks will be organising a visit to the winery again in the Spring, that will include a lunch, a complete tasting, and the opportunity of buying these very rare wines direct from the winery. Stay tuned for dates and details.

A bit about Montreuil

Montreuil is a very close suburb of Paris and is the birthplace of cinema, as it was here that George Méliès built the first cinema studio in the world. He made over 500 films during his career - some only minutes long - including: ‘A Trip to the Moon’ 1902; ‘The Devil’s Castle’ 1896; ‘The Impossible Voyage’ 1904; ‘The Vanishing Lady’ 1896; ‘The Conquest of the Pole’ 1912; ‘The Man with the Rubber Head’ 1901; ‘The Astronomer’s Dream’ 1898, most of them in his studio in Montreuil.

Image of ‘A Trip to the Moon’ taken from the CNC website

Another rather unique feature of Montreuil are its ‘Peach Walls’, with over 600 kilometres of walls at their peak. Started as early as the 17th century, they are to this day still producing peaches, although very much reduced, and having almost been lost through the greed of developers in the early 2000s, are now protected with a ‘jardin extraordinaire’ status.

Peaches were a luxury, and so a favourite of the courts of Europe, with Montreuil providing fruit for Versailles, the English Monarchy, and the Tsars of Russia. Montreuil, like all of the surrounding areas of Paris, was also planted to vines, but the losses suffered by the spread of phylloxera decimated practically all of the vineyards in the late 18th century.

Much like the Chasselas grape walls of Thomery near Fontainebleau, Montreuil gained international recognition for its peaches, before the railway made it cheaper and easier to bring peaches to Paris from the south. Those little details don’t have much to do with the subject at hand, but I thought I’d throw them in there anyway, for spirit of place.

We’ll let you know when we are planning our next visit, with lunch and tasting.

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