Marion Cazes has been obsessed with food since she was three years old, demanding oysters while her sister asked for French fries. She grew up in Toulouse, spent eight years in PR and communications for luxury Paris hotels and then for chef Alain Ducasse, and somehow still didn't know much about wine until she left that world behind for the one she actually wanted: leading private food tours through Paris, running a food concierge service, and working as a personal wine shopper for visitors who want to bring bottles home.

In this episode, Marion and I talk through exactly where she sends people to eat in Paris, from her home base in Saint-Germain to Le Marais to the newly buzzy 11th arrondissement, plus her go-to cheesemaker, chocolatier, and pastry shop (hers happens to make what she calls the best tarte au citron in the world, and I don't disagree). We get into how international the Paris food scene has actually become, from a single street that's basically a compressed slice of Japan to the city's best Chinese food neighborhoods. Then we dig into wine: Marion breaks down the AOP system that confuses so many American visitors, in under two minutes, using Champagne as the example, and tells you exactly what to say at a wine shop or restaurant when you don't know anything and don't want to pretend you do. We also cover which French wine regions are worth a day trip from Paris, why Burgundy is trickier to visit than Champagne or Bordeaux, and the new project she's building with her cousin Aurélien, a sommelier, to help Americans plan food and wine trips across all of France.

IN THIS EPISODE

• How a childhood obsession with oysters turned into a career built entirely around French food
• Marion's path from luxury hotel PR to working for chef Alain Ducasse to leading her own food tours
• Why she still keeps a running list of every Paris restaurant she wants to try
• Her favorite Paris neighborhoods for food: Saint-Germain, Le Marais, and the up-and-coming 11th
• Go-to addresses for cheese, chocolate, pastry, and the best croissant in the city
• Why Paris has become a genuinely international food city, and where to find the best of it
• The AOP system explained simply, using Champagne as the example
• What to actually say when you're lost at a wine shop or a restaurant wine list
• Why you should skip supermarket wine entirely and find a proper wine shop instead
• Her advice for day trips into Champagne, Bordeaux, Alsace, the Loire Valley, and Burgundy
• The new food and wine travel project she's building with her cousin, sommelier Aurélien
• Why she tells every guest to book their food tour at the start of a trip, not the end

LINKS MENTIONED

• Paris by Mouth: https://parisbymouth.com/food-wine-tours/
• Marion on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ma_caz/
• Laurent Dubois (cheese): https://fromageslaurentdubois.fr/fr/
• Patrick Roger (chocolate): https://www.patrickroger.com/en
• Des Gâteaux et du Pain (pastry): https://www.desgateauxetdupain.com/
• WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust): https://www.wsetglobal.com/

📬 Read the full post, with photos at: thegomesguide.substack.com

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