Opened on February 10, this new boutique in Carcassonne offers customers the chance to combine music and gastronomy. A musician by profession, Thierry Leduc invites his clients to succumb to temptation, notably by organizing “ephemeral travel” evenings.
Passing the door of the sign, it is difficult to know if you are entering a cellar or a record player. On white walls with red shelves, music and oenology seem to have come together to offer the curious a tasty mix, that of “Wine and Vinyl”.
“In fact I wanted to combine my two passions”, confides Thierry Leduc, the manager. After having lived “several incredible lives”in particular twenty years in Parisian marketing, the musician discovered Carcassonne by coming to help a friend open her restaurant. “Little by little I made contacts there, he says. I joined a music group in Perpignan, Just Delayed. And during the first confinement, I realized that in fact I was spending my time taking trains to come to Occitania. So I took the leap.”
“Only new” on the music side
Apart from settling in the Minervois, this change of life for him comes down to making “a very old dream” which opened on February 10. Mid-length hair and a mischievous smile, Thierry Leduc has an easy familiarity and the ability to touch people in the heart. “Whether it’s music or wine, both are a way to rekindle people’s emotions.”
Thus, there is no question for him of cluttering up his shop with old vinyl records. “This may surprise or confuse some, but on the music side there is only newunderlines the singer and guitarist. We will find new releases and reissues of must-haves, but not collectors’ items: I sell vinyls so that we can listen to them, not so that we can collect them.” Rock, pop, but also house, electro or hip-hop, the eclectic selection will be regularly renewed by this enthusiast, between well-known titles and niche genres.
On the cellar side too, Thierry Leduc enjoys taking his customers out of their comfort zone, while favoring local productions. From Carcassonnais to Languedoc, via Corbières and Minervois, this epicurean will also look for nuggets in the Pyrénées-Orientales. “The only exceptions I make are champagne, which is essential, as well as a winemaker from the Rhône who is exceptional.” Bottles that he takes great care to taste and taste regularly, in good company. “When you taste a wine, you go into detail, the analysis… It’s important. But it’s just as important to taste again with friends or family, because it won’t have the same flavor at all.”
Here again, the musico-cellar seeks to provide emotion at affordable prices, starting from the principle “that you can take a slap with a bottle for less than 20 euros”. Between “wines from here and a little from elsewhere and vinyls from elsewhere and a little from here”, Thierry Leduc welcomes, listens and advises those who pass the door with kindness, like a tourist guide who knows everything about his country and wants to bring it to life with authenticity.
It also provides for “ephemeral journeys”. Once a week, tasting evenings are scheduled, with two wines to discover in very limited editions. “No more than six bottles in store”, notes the manager. Except that once a month, without the customers knowing it, a foreign wine will slip in among the two tasted blind. Spain, Italy, Argentina… all to music, of course!
