In short: the Clos Montmartre is a small working vineyard on the hill of Montmartre in Paris, the last survivor of the vineyards that once covered it, replanted in 1933. It produces around a thousand bottles a year, sold at auction for local causes. It is fenced, so it is usually admired from the rue des Saules, with occasional visits via the Musée de Montmartre and during the October Fête des Vendanges.
I still remember the first time I walked along the rue des Saules and stopped, genuinely startled. There, climbing the hillside in the middle of Paris, were rows of vines. Not a window box, not a decorative touch, but a real working vineyard, tucked below the Sacré-Cœur with the city humming all around it. This is the Clos Montmartre, and it is one of my favourite secrets in Paris.
A hill with a thousand-year story
Wine and Montmartre go back a very long way. In the Middle Ages this was a rustic village of windmills and small houses, and the hillside was covered in vines, many of them tended by the nuns of the old Montmartre abbey. For centuries the butte produced wine, not always good wine, but a great deal of it. Then the city crept up the hill, the vineyards were built over one by one, and by the early twentieth century they had all but vanished.
The Clos Montmartre exists because, in the 1930s, local residents refused to let the last of that heritage disappear under yet another block of flats. They planted a new vineyard on the slope in 1933 to save the plot, and it has been here ever since, a small, deliberate act of resistance against a city always hungry for space.
What grows here
The vineyard is small, around 1,500 square metres, with roughly 2,000 vines, mostly Gamay and Pinot Noir alongside a few other varieties. A city-appointed team looks after it, and it produces only around a thousand bottles a year. Nobody pretends this is grand cru territory. The charm is not in the glass but in the fact of the thing: a real harvest, in the heart of one of the world’s great cities, kept alive on purpose. The bottles are sold at auction, and the proceeds go to local social causes, which feels exactly right.
A local harvest festival
If you want to see Montmartre at its most joyful, come for the Fête des Vendanges, the grape harvest festival held every October. For a few days the village celebrates its wine with parades, street performances, art, tastings and food stalls, and the whole hill fills with a warmth that has nothing to do with tourism and everything to do with community. It is one of the loveliest times to be up here.
Visiting the Clos today
The vineyard is fenced, so for most of the year you admire it from the outside, from the rue des Saules and the rue Saint-Vincent, which is honestly enough to feel its magic. If you want to go inside, the Musée de Montmartre arranges occasional guided visits, and the October festival is the other main chance to get closer.
While you are up here, the corner is rich with history. La Bonne Franquette, the old inn nearby, once fed the likes of Van Gogh, Renoir and Pissarro. Just down the slope sits Au Lapin Agile, the legendary cabaret that has been going since the Belle Époque. And the Sacré-Cœur is a short walk away, so it is easy to fold the Clos into a wider wander through the quarter.
Practical information
The Clos Montmartre is on the rue des Saules, 75018 Paris. The nearest Metro is Lamarck-Caulaincourt on Line 12. For getting there and around the city, my Paris public transport guide has the details, especially since the 2025 fare changes simplified the tickets. The vineyard is visible year-round from the street; for the festival, check the dates for the second week of October.
Frequently asked questions
For most of the year it is fenced and viewed from the street, along the rue des Saules and the rue Saint-Vincent. You can get inside on the occasional guided visits arranged through the Musée de Montmartre, and during the Fête des Vendanges in October, which is the easiest time to see it up close.
The Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre takes place every October, usually in the second week, with several days of parades, tastings, music and food. It is one of the biggest and most local street festivals in Paris.
Honestly, its fame rests on heritage rather than quality. Production is tiny, around a thousand bottles a year of mostly Gamay and Pinot Noir, and the bottles are sold at auction for local social causes. You visit for the story and the setting, not for a great vintage.
It is on the rue des Saules in the 18th arrondissement. The closest Metro is Lamarck-Caulaincourt on Line 12, and it is a short uphill walk from the Sacré-Cœur.
Further reading
The Clos sits at the heart of a quarter worth exploring slowly, so pair it with my walk through Montmartre, the bohemian soul of Paris. And if you are a wine lover, the vineyard makes a nice counterpoint to the covered arcades and old shops in my guide to the passages couverts of Paris.
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