Inside the largest hotel wine cellar in the world

As I’m guided around the formerly very private wine cellar by Elvina Rossow, a Burgundy expert and one of the 14 sommeliers working under the chef sommelier Patrice Frank, the scale of this extraordinary collection becomes apparent. Opened in 1874, the cellars hold more than 350,000 bottles of wine of approximately 6,000 varieties, making it the largest hotel and restaurant cellar in the world.

Wandering around the cool, dark shelves is both magical and overwhelming — at every turn there are towers of exceptional wine, the best that (predominantly) France has to offer. Five main regions are represented: Champagne, Provence, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône valley. Rossow points out the broad range of bottles along each of the corridors that the team have carefully tasted and curated. In one aisle lie Château Petrus and Château Le Pin; in another the locked Romanée Conti vault. We reach one corner that houses the Réserve Marie Blanc — a museum of wine named after the founder of the cellar and full of armagnac and champagne through the ages — and spot the 1803 cognac that was intended for Napoleon. Rossow is coy about how much it’s all worth (though bottles start at €165 in the hotel’s Bar Américain), but she admits that it’s one of the rarest collections in the world — hence the locks, the bars and the double doors, which we have to pass as we descend further.

Surprisingly, alongside the rows of wine is a glorious private space for parties. It is here that Prince Rainier and Princess Grace celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in 1976 and where Prince Albert had his 28th birthday party. Candid black-and-white photos of these celebrations are framed along the rough brick walls between the bottles. During the Second World War, the cellar was also used to store valuables — a secret cave at the back of the cellar became a hiding place for expensive bottles and jewels belonging to hotel guests.

The team of sommeliers regularly meet with new and established wineries to make sure they can provide the most well-rounded and interesting selections. This summer, some of the collection’s rarest vintages will be paired with restaurant dishes. The menus will change daily and weekly, as will the paired wines.

At Le Grill, the one-Michelin-starred restaurant on the top floor from where there are views of the bay and a ceiling that opens up to reveal the skies, wine from Bordeaux, Alsace and New World complement the Mediterranean menu, which includes a Grand Marnier soufflé that has been on the menu since 1898.

Marcel Ravin’s Blue Bay, with its two Michelin stars, blends flavours from the chef’s childhood (he was born in Martinique) with the finest-quality techniques. For the hotel’s 150th birthday celebrations, his wine list will include special bottles from the Rhône valley and Burgundy. The final dinner on November 7, in partnership with Moët Hennessy, will be cooked by Emmanuel Pilon, the head chef at the hotel’s three Michelin-starred Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse.

The cellar’s team will also celebrate this milestone by producing an exclusive vintage. Its Grande Champagne Premier Cru de Cognac is a highly crafted XO extra old quality champagne cognac aged in a giant oak barrel in the cellar, which can be sampled on tours.

After visiting the cellars and sipping my wine on the roof terrace that overlooks the marina, I was filled with a new respect for these sommeliers. Not only are they constantly seeking out new wines for us to enjoy, but here in Monte Carlo they are also looking after some of the most extraordinary bottles ever produced. In a town where supercars come and go, where money is won and lost in the casinos, such vintages are a reassuring constant.

Rachel Speed