Naturellement – Paris (75015) en

A “coup de coeur”. Naturellement  was recommended to me by Mauro from la Trotinette. Why did I fall so hard? Because Giovanni is an intelligent and passionate guy who knows how to convey his love for wine by going beyond the divides of old fashioned wines/ natural wines, because when he talks about his wines, it isn’t for show, he’s living his passion, and you feel it, that’s all.

He is located in quiet rue Mademoiselle in the 15th. It’s a large room with a  restrained setting which quickly becomes warm-hearted as we find out what happens inside it. There is a good atmosphere, we feel good there. I went there three times before writing this article, tellling myself: ” wait I want to be sure”, and well yes, I still like it just as much.

Giovanni is not like others, and his place reflects his soul.

I’m not going to tell you his entire life story here, but overall he starts in the restaurant industry in Italy, in his native region on the coast of Amalfi. He then leaves and starts working in a restaurant where the boss is a lover of wines, and he perfects his knowledge there. He then  becomes the sommelier in a restaurant in Venice before coming to feu Rap in Paris, and opens his wine bar in summer 2013.

While he was in Italy, he contacted all the winemakers that he appreciated by asking them if he could come spend a week with them in order to closely see their way of doing things, to understand their relation to the terroir; so well that for each wine that he serves you, he shows you the location of the vineyard in his little book indexing all his favourite winemakers and explains its geography and wine taste characteristics.

The person cooking is nice and does a good job. There is no real kitchen here, it’s a wine bar in which the cooking is done in small space that opens up to the dining room.

Ok let’s be honest, you need to come here with a sizeable budget, let’s say 50 euros in order to truly enjoy it, but it’s an experience and it’s worth it. I recommend that you go on a little initiatory journey and to let Giovanni guide you, the more different wines you taste the better; because just like a shawman ( yes this seems a little excessive but you’ll see) Giovanni guides you in your tasting, he builds it as he would a menu.

Ok so you’re going to get annoyed, and think: ” what? all these wine pictures and there’s not even a comment!”, don’t stress out too much, because it’s obviously what I’m going to do 🙂

Firstly this column is the synthesis of two meals, secondly I don’t write down my thoughts in a little notebook at the time ( not my thing), thirdly, there is no thirdly, oh yeah, I hope that you wont blame me. Other than that, it’s the same price.

The first time that I came here, I was drinking the Prosecco shown above at the counter waiting for a friend and talking with the Prosecco’s  producer when suddenly Giovanni prepared for us these slices of bread with mushrooms and ham.

A nice charcuterie plate and in the middle a little carpaccio

And that, was to go with the rest, Giovanni asked me for an adjective to describe the wine that we wanted to drink, I said: “fearsome”.

This one had a taste of drunken cherry, it tingled in the beginning but it wasn’t any less flavouful for it, for that matter at Giovanni’s, like at Mauro’s, they wont hesitate to serve you “imperfect” wines if we refer ourselves to the manual but who in their imbalance, their smooth anomaly have a crazy poetry, a life of their own.
Ce vin vient du nord est de la Sicile, sur la partie Nord de l’Etna.

This wine comes from the north-east of Sicily, in the North of Etna.

Rapini dish

Rapini is similar to brocoli, to cabbage and resembles  spinach or chard once cooked, and many other members of the cruciferous family.

Here we’re in the Friuli very close to Slovenia.

Everyone is unanimous about Nino Barraco’s wines, more and more restaurants in Paris cannot get enough.

Ok so we didn’t gulp down all of this, but it gives you an  idea of the wines that we find here.

Warm bass carpaccio

Scallops, finally scallops that I like in Paris: sliced in two and no frozen chunks covered in cream and a plus the arugula was seasoned beautifully

 

A very original tartare served warm with a multitude of fresh diced up vegetables!

Veal, polenta, rapini

This one with the cider colour is one of the ones that I liked the most but of course here I don’t have the reference, I’ll have it for you quick.

The Porta del Vento, is a Sicilian wine, south west of the island, windy, facing Tunisia.

A Nero d’Avola rich in flavour and fruity that calls out the smell of the open sea.

That, is 100% a Garganega, a white that is found in the north of Italy. It’s the cheapest, but this 2012 has some good things to say. I drank it one afternoon while I was eating a chocolate tart.

For my entrée I had red mullets, well done but I told Giovanni that the presentation and the sauce between the different ingredients could be improved.

The person I was with took the italian sausage

As we can see, they’re good home-cooked ingredients and served with no pretense.

I think that it’s what we drank with the cheese plate that follows. A Malvasilla, for this varietal I send you back to this article that explains in detail why it goes against presenting it as an italian varietal.

A nice cheese plate

The “baba à l’orange”

Beautiful, I’m a baba specialist and this one did it for me!

Giovanni’s house limoncello.

A real journey alongside a poet. Missed out on, peaceful neighbourhood, an experience to try and to repeat.

Count on 50 euros to really do it right.