Apéro please! Look no further than Provins!
- Fidok
- Feb 5, 2020
- 3 min read
Apéro culture is big in the French speaking part of Switzerland! Given the roots of my Miss, I am therefore always on the lookout for good apéro location. Knowing Provins as a reliable supplier for wines from Valais, I was very excited when they announced the opening of a wine bar incl. shop in Zurich past summer. It turned into a perennial apéro spot for us!
Provins - Zurich
The wine bar is located in the Europaallee right on Gustav-Gull square. So it's easy to access from most places in Zurich.
Ambience & service
The interieur is urban-modern - made up of a mix from wood elements (tables, deco) and cement (floor). Most of the tables are for two and with a easy distance to the neighboring table - so privacy is respected. Nice little touch are the big windows whose benches are made for seating. On the left part of the wine bar follows the wine shop - quite spacious and well sorted, it's easy to browse through the wines, i.e. stroll through the shop. Upon the entrance on the right, the wine bar also features a large table, reserved for wine tastings or other special occasions. All in all - a very cozy and welcoming atmosphere.
Service is great - very attentive! All the staff speaks English, German and French - if you drop a French world from time to time ("merci beaucoup" is enough) you will get some extra points. Even in times when the wine bar gets a little bit more crowded, we never wait that long to be served - well appreciated! You can also ask the staff for recommendations, they are well-versed to advice you regarding the wines and snacks. They are also quite pragmatic - we once arrived a few minutes before they officially opened - was no problem for the guy in charge, he let us in, served us and continued with his final preparations!
Drinks & food
It's a wine bar, so it's focused on wine! They feature a great selection of wines by the glass - along their different collections, from more value-based options to the more upper end wines. I trust you to go and try for example:
Petite Arvine (white wine) Petite Arvine is an indigenous grape from Valais, they cultivate it since 1602. The wine itself has a floral-fruity character - for sure a good choice.
Cornalin or Humagne Rouge (red wines) Regarding the red ones - why not try a Cornalin or Humagne Rouge - both again grapes very special for the Valais. Cornalin is quite a challenge for the producers, it matures late and is quite capricious to grow as well as in production. No wonder that the grape was almost abandoned for easier to cultivate grapes at the start of the 20th century. Luckily a few producers had the grit to go on and if you try a Cornalin now you will enjoy a glass of wine with a deep red colour and a fruity, black-cherry like strength. Humagne Rouge is an old cross with roots in Val d'Aosta - the cross is actually Cornalin and an unknown variety. Humagne Rouge wines are more in the violet colour and with a wood, wild berry taste.
The prices for the wines range from ~7 CHF to 13/14 CHF - depending on the collection. We normally start with a wine from a lower range and then work our way up :-)!
The snacks consist of specialties from Valais! The highlight for us are the "plateaux apéritif valaisans" - you can have them as a pure meat platter, pure cheese platter or our favorite one - as a mixed platter! It will be served with the typical bread from Valais "pain de seigle". They also serve Raclette or the specialty "Cholera" ( savoury tart, with a filling of potatoes, vegetables like leek, onions and of course - cheese!).
In addition, if you need to re-stock your personal wine cellar - I suggest you head over to the enclosed shop. You can buy all the wines they serve (and more) there. If you sign up for their club membership (free of charge) you get a discount of 10% on every purchase. They also run promotions from time to time - I scooped up a dozen of bottles last time with an additional discount of 20%!
Conclusion
Look no further than Provins if you want to have a nice Apéro on a Saturday afternoon! Great ambiance, great selection of wines by the glass - it ticks all the important check boxes for a great apéro! For sure also a good place for a tinder date!
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