Paris Wine Pop-Up Part Deux
Could the Le Austrian Wine Pop-Up Strike Lightning Twice in the City of Lights?
“You make wine in Austria?”
We offered a polite “oui”, when asked by a twenty-something French woman with a pierced septum and bejeweled front teeth at the wine pop-up we co-hosted in Paris last year.
Back in 2025, for the entire month of February, approximately 40 Austrian wineries participated in the first Le Austrian Wine Pop-Up. Our goal was to engage with Parisians, share stories about Austrian wine, and if we are lucky find an importer.
We had no interest in comparing Austrian to French wines, but to simply present them as alternatives. After all, France is the second largest wine market in the world at 23 mhl (OIV, April 2025), and yet less than 1% of Austrian wine is imported into the country.
The pop-up was designed to be different than typical wine events, such as Paris Wine Expo or Raw Wine. For starters, we chose to host it in a trendy coffee shop in the fashionably hip Marais district, where it would sit between boutique shops, art galleries and boulangeries. The central location was also critically important to remove any intimidating factors to attract a younger demographic, the opposite of elbowing for room at a fair to get a pour while struggling to hear the winemaker explain bâtonnage. At our pop-up guests could sit down for hours, ask as many questions as they wanted, all while relaxing comfortably and tasting the more than two dozen wines on the menu with some bread and Austrian cheese. Furthermore, the tasting was on a tip basis for everyone and therefore easily accessible, especially for budget-conscious Parisians.
The first pop-up in 2025 proved to be a resounding success: a total of 518 guests—from students and sommeliers to wine shop owners and retailers—took part. While success wasn’t measured in the number of wine bottles sold, we did establish a long-term international business relationships between an Austrian winery and a UK-based wine retailer, therefore it was clear that we could build on our momentum for a second round in 2026.
Paris Pop-Up 2.0
This past February from 1 to 21, 49 wineries, from all across Austria, including boutique wineries took part in the second edition of the pop-up in Paris. Once again, we were open every evening from 6 p.m. to midnight, and both wine experts and consumers, had the opportunity to taste 63 different wines. Similar to last year, only tips were requested, but this time we had a VAT number making it possible for anyone to purchase bottles.
Each week, we featured a new menu, and wines were served by several producers and wine professionals, including the authors of this article. Each of us studied the fact sheets on each wine to be as knowledgeable as possible and we added personal anecdotes and stories about each of the winemakers, including the unforgettable inspiration behind the name of the Small Crotch Winery in the Weinviertel region. The combination of wine knowledge, wit, and enthusiasm was very well received by the guests, who rewarded us by purchasing nearly all of our inventory.
Over the course of 21 days, we sold 411 bottles worth almost €10,000 to 509 guests. On average, customers purchased €50 worth of wine – 100% of the proceeds from the pop-up gets transferred back to all the participating wineries. Demand was particularly strong for both orange and red wines, the later was surprising considering the global trend. Another interesting data point, nearly 50% of all purchases were for bottles priced between 16-20 EUR and cuveé wine sales had a slight edge over single varietal Grüner Veltliner 88 vs 79 bottles sold.
Marketing was done via Instagram and word-of-mouth, thanks to the active Austrian community in Paris, including the Austrian Embassy, Austria Tourism, and the Kulturforum Paris.
This year we also offered guests the option to make reservations, and 147 did with several of them rating us.
We hope to repeat our success later this year in additional European cities. If anyone thinks an Austrian pop-up wine bar would be of interest in a particular city please let us know.
I’ll close with this terrific quote from blogger Jon Cellier, who attended the pop-up one evening with his colleagues:
“The Austrian Wine Pop-Up isn’t just an event. It’s a masterclass in wine discovery and marketing. Instead of waiting for sommeliers and importers to discover them, Austrian producers are showing up in person. They’re pouring their wines. They’re telling their stories. They’re inviting Paris to taste what they’ve been missing.”
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