Carafons Cave, wines and beers, Annonay in Ardèche

Carafons… you know the restaurant? Now there’s Carafons Cave, run by Julien Pagès, in the heart ofAnnonay, with an online shop too.

Carafons Cave in Annonay (act 1)

On Place de la Liberté, a wine merchant is offering a place to enjoy a good drink (and a good nibble) in addition to the good food that has been suggested for several years in the restaurant of the same name on Place du Champ de Mars.

The same company, the same two partners, but two spaces to distinguish their activities. Different rhythms and the need for commercial visibility, but always with the aim of perpetuating a commitment made since they set up, based around local producers and alove of taste, from the plate to the glass.
So it’s a new business that opened in Annonay’s old town centre in autumn 2016.

Carafons Cave V1, place de la Liberté (2016)

First and foremost a wine cellar, the shop has over 120 natural and organic wine references in its catalogue, as well as a range of craft beers.
There’s also a nibbles section at the end of the week, to accompany the tasting and discovery of essentially natural wines.

As with many agricultural and processed products, Julien explains that selling local and supporting small producers is a real daily commitment that he is keen to pass on in his shop, particularly through the choice he offers.

The Carafons team has always focused on quality rather than quantity, adapting its offer and services over the years. As far as possible, they rely on short circuits and proximity, even in their choice of local produce, thanks to an owner who is attentive to their initiative.

A sign that change is afoot, was the fact that a short-lived Christmas boutique, La Nacelle des créateurs, occupied the premises before them, with a similar spirit around the creation of regional artistic objects. Since then, the Nacelle has moved to a year-round location on rue de la Deûme, or how a dynamic has been created after a full-scale test phase.

With this new challenge, Carafons Cave is also committing itself to a year of testing, in the heart of the city, far from the supermarkets, by opening a new shop, as a thumbing of the nose at the sometimes moribund atmosphere of shops that are closing.

A shop in the town to sell local products from winegrowers from different regions of France, all respecting a precise set of specifications geared towards natural products. Julien has risen to the challenge, to the delight of bouquet lovers and flavour explorers who are concerned about the future of both the local area and the town centre.

Carafons Cave (act 2)

Locate, contact and shop in person or online with Carafons V2, which has moved downstream to the banks of the Deûme.

Where is it?

To find the shop in Annonay, go to 2 montée du Savel, next to the Radicelles restaurant and the Ardèche Grand Airtourist office:

Carafons Cave, contact and website

Telephone :

09 73 52 29 02

Web shop, wine cellar, online beer cellar:

About natural wine

What is natural wine?

Natural wine accounts for less than 1% of the market in France, with the main obstacles being novelty and price compared with industrial wine.

Natural wine is made from grapes grown using organic methods, without the use of weedkillers, pesticides, fertilisers or other synthetic products.
The grapes are harvested by hand and during the vinification process the winemaker strives to preserve the wine’s lively character. Technical interventions that could alter the bacterial life of the wine are prohibited, as is any addition of chemical products, with the exception of very small quantities of sulphites, if necessary.
The maximum doses of total SO² tolerated are 30mg/l for red wines and 40mg/l for white wines.