Hôtel L’Échiquier MGallery: Wine list exclusively from women winemakers

The number of female chefs has been growing rapidly in France over the past few years. We’re not quite there yet (far from it), but this trend is certainly cause for celebration. In fact, we’re seeing more and more all-female initiatives in the restaurant industry. Take, for example, Hélène Darroze’s latest restaurant, Joia, and its menu featuring 100% female producers! And speaking of which, the restaurant L’Échiquier, part of the MGallery hotel chain (Accor Group), recently contacted us to create a wine-by-the-glass list featuring 100% female winemakers! A challenge we obviously loved!

The L’Échiquier MGallery Opéra hotel in Paris is housed in a building steeped in history. Formerly a hunting lodge for King Henry IV and a hotel since 1857, it retains the charm of the Roaring Twenties with a distinct Art Deco style. This 4-star hotel focuses on high-quality, guest-centered service, particularly for its female guests, notably through the “Inspired by Her” program—a unique initiative in the luxury and high-end hospitality sector, launched in 2014. Quentin Rigal hopes to “work with a single supplier to create a 100% women-led wine list that highlights female winemakers while maintaining flexible inventory management.”

Highlighting female winemakers with inspiring stories

In September, Quentin Rigal set Emma [a wine expert at Les Grappes] a challenge: to create a wine-by-the-glass list featuring wines made exclusively by female winemakers. With Emma’s help, he was able to identify, among the 900 winemakers in the Les Grappes network, several estates with fascinating histories—and, most importantly, run by women.

“In my view, working with independent winemakers whose wines you won’t find at the local convenience store is the foundation of our business.”

Quentin has always had a personal passion for wine, and it shows in his daily work: “I love discovering new things and not sticking to the classics and the tried-and-true. I wanted to go beyond what you usually find on the table by offering my customers innovative little gems.”

Finally, the Echiquier menu features seven female winemakers with fascinating stories, such as:

Miss Vicky Wine – Anne-Victoire Monrozier – Beaujolais Fleurie Mâcon:

Anne-Victoire made a name for herself by creating one of the most popular wine blogs: “Miss Vicky Wine.” She is also the founder of the Vinocamp wine fair (which has already held 20 editions!). We sometimes forget it, but this powerhouse of the wine world is, above all, the brilliant winemaker at Château des Moriers in the Beaujolais region.

Céline Gueguen (Domaine Gueguen – Burgundy Chablis, Iracy):

Céline is the daughter of a living legend in Burgundy: Jean-Marc Brocard, whose Chablis wines are known and admired by all wine lovers. After working for 13 years at the family estate, she struck out on her own and set up her own business—also in Chablis—and she certainly holds her own!

Véronique Smati ( Domaine de Lionne – Bordeaux Graves):

Véronique is a self-taught winemaker who, in 2007, revived a vineyard that had been abandoned for two years. For several years now, she has been an active member of Women do Wine, an organization that highlights women (winemakers, sommeliers, wine shop owners, enthusiasts, journalists, and others) who are underrepresented in the media within the wine industry.

Amélie Neau (Domaine des Nerleux – Loire: Saumur-Champigny):

Owned by the Néau family since 1870, the estate has been passed down from father to son for nine generations. In 2010, following in the footsteps of Eugène, Robert, and Régis, among others, it was finally a woman—Amélie (Régis’s daughter)—who took the reins!

Working with a single provider

When putting together its wine list, L’Echiquier was determined to move beyond the traditional customer-supplier relationship: it didn’t want to be “seen as just a number.” With Emma by his side every day, who works directly with the winemakers, this became possible. “There’s a real exchange!”

Les Grappes also provides guidance and advice on how to showcase the selection of winemakers, both on the wine list and in the staff’s descriptions. Several training sessions for the hotel staff are planned to help them understand the unique characteristics of each wine and, above all, to share the inspiring stories of these female winemakers!

Easily manage inventory and logistics

“Being able to order all my wine from a single platform at any time and have it delivered in three days is truly a luxury.”

Another challenge for Quentin was storing his wines. As he told us, like many restaurant owners—but even more so in Paris, where the price per square meter is exorbitant—storage space is limited.

With Les Grappes, Quentin is happy to be able to order in small quantities and manage his inventory on a day-to-day basis by ordering the vintages he needs at the last minute. “When I place an order, it’s because I’m running low on stock and need it quickly.” Of course, managing inventory brings with it all the logistical and administrative challenges. Working directly with growers can be complicated. “I realized it was difficult because you have to keep track of things, and winemakers don’t necessarily have the time, resources, or infrastructure to do so.” With Les Grappes, since everything is tracked through a single platform, it greatly simplifies management.

The Result: Long live wine and long live women!

“43% of ‘business’ travelers are women, and women make 75% of the decisions regarding ‘leisure’ travel. We needed to take this new customer base into account and offer them special services and personalized attention.”

Guests are delighted by the hotel’s attentive service, which even includes a wine-by-the-glass menu featuring wines made exclusively by female winemakers. Indeed, in the public imagination, farming and agriculture are traditionally seen as male-dominated fields, and wines are typically produced by male winemakers. Discovering wines that break the mold and challenge stereotypes and preconceived notions is something that is greatly appreciated.

But above all, it’s the wonderful discoveries that stand out, and customers—including our regulars—have given overwhelmingly positive feedback on the wine list. “One of our loyal customers was used to drinking a Chablis Premier Cru, and I introduced him to the new one we’d added to the list—the one from Domaine Gueguen. Besides the fact that it’s 100% women-run, which he liked, he was also blown away by the cuvée from Céline, the estate’s winemaker.”