June 04, 2026 - 0 comments
Long live free-spirited wines and cuisine!
It was December 2017 at the Italian natural wine fair Vini di Vignaioli Paris. Eight people approached our booth, overflowing with enthusiasm: “You’re the best app for good food and drink!” We thanked them warmly and soon discovered they were part of the "LE FOODING" team. “Thank you,” we said, “that’s incredibly kind.”
What we didn’t know at the time was that the Michelin Guide had just acquired LE FOODING for an undisclosed sum. A new chapter was about to begin for this wonderful project.
From the very beginning, people have been extraordinarily generous with us. Winemakers encouraged us, and we constantly met delighted users who would tell us stories like this: “Raisin saved my life. I was in the middle of nowhere when I saw there was a recommended place just ten kilometers away. I went, and the owner was amazing. We drank incredible vintages, and the food was fantastic.”
We know how lucky we are. There’s something deeply reassuring about realizing that what you’re building is genuinely meaningful and useful to others.
Without ever denying our culinary focus, Raisin has always remained what it was from the start: an app created by people like us, for people like us—people who love natural wine above all else. That’s why our way of evaluating a restaurant always begins with the wine list.
You can eat well where the wine is poor, but you never eat poorly where the wine is good, and by “good,” we mean natural wine. That perspective has become what sets us apart from every other guide. It comes from one essential conviction: the commitment natural winemakers have upheld for decades to doing things honestly, transparently, and respectfully, toward both nature and the people who consume their wines.
Today, once all the expected boxes of modern gastronomy have been checked: local, seasonal, organic, there remains one true common denominator among places that genuinely do things well, wherever you are in the world: wine. But not just any wine. Natural wine.
Why? Because few products are crafted across multiple continents with this level of integrity, rigor, and commitment to their original values.
Last month, we received a newsletter from Pépites, an exclusive culinary club that gives its members access to exceptional products. The headline read: “My favorite foodie guide is a wine app. ”Inside, we read: “I use Raisin. It’s an app dedicated to natural wine that helps you find restaurants. There’s a freshness to its selection, and you get the feeling that someone who takes the trouble to source unconventional wines instead of ordering from the same supplier who also sells toilet paper probably puts the same care into the food.”
That says everything. It captures perfectly what we’ve always tried to do. Far removed from the editorial biases, subjective judgments, and commercial pressures that shape so many modern guides, and thanks to the absence of any rating system, our compass has always been guided by the integrity and determination of professionals who refuse to compromise, who refuse shortcuts, and who remain faithful to the very thing that defines their work: the product itself.
But as Raisin users, you already knew that ;)
In life, everything depends on where you stand, and staying true to yourself is never easy. In a world obsessed with getting rich, more and more people are choosing to walk the tightrope of authenticity instead. That is a different kind of challenge entirely.
If our work can help move gastronomy in that radical, joyful direction, then we’re happy. And in any case, it’s a journey we fully intend to continue.
Long live free-spirited wines and cuisine! The Raisin Team.
Photo : 📸 https://www.brion-restaurant.fr
