They also sell wine—exclusively French—from small estates in the major growing regions of France. The shop is pleasing to the eye—a setting drenched in autumn tones and crannies filled with racks of bottles and functional antiques. Faux bird nests and blue eggs among flaxen, curling branches say it's spring.

"We sell everything French here," says Sallie Robbins-Druian, who with husband Jay Druian last week celebrated five years of business in the E. Main Street building near the community center. The homey arrangement of accessories and antiques reflects Sallie's background in theater set design. She's responsible for buying the food and decorative items, while Jay orders the wines.

Lately, having everything French might be considered politically incorrect. So Sallie jokes about their "freedom wines" and toys facetiously with the idea of renaming the store "The Coalition Cellar." But on a serious note, she notes that their faithful customers, and the new folks who are attracted to the store from all over the Bay Area for the hard-to-find items they stock, return for the wines she calls "an art form."

"Our whole point is to support the small producers of France. We know them, and wine is part of their culture, " she says. She and Jay separately visit their producers once a year. Those trips are also a time for French-born Jay to visit family.

To those who wonder why his products are limited to one country, Jay answers, "Wine consumers are faced with an ever-more bewildering number of choices and, correspondingly, an equal number of opportunities to be disappointed." He adds that any vintner ought to be able to produce a good wine from a great vintage, but the production of good wine in a bad year is what "differentiates talent and craftsmanship from sloppiness and avarice." He says it all boils down to good taste—the true measure of a product. "We taste each wine—with dinner—before we commit to a purchase."

As for business in this difficult economy, "We're holding our own. The dot-commers are not our audience," she explains, referring to a whole generation of buyers who have suffered in the Silicon Valley economic downturn. "It's the employers of the dot-commers who are. Now retired, they have no pressures with money." However, she adds, "we are selling more wine in the $10-$30 range," and that range constitutes 30 percent of the store's wine stock.

In addition to the Chablis, the champagnes, the Bordeaux and the Beaujolais, that climb in neat racks toward the ceiling, there are the Medeleines—little shell-shaped sponge cakes for nibbling while sipping a favorite wine ($28 for a box of 26). And there are champagne biscuits—little pink bricks of meringue made with a fragrance of roses for use in champagne dipping.

There are some items that no longer are shipped to the United States from Paris. To keep her shelves stocked, Sallie travels every February to personally pick up her order of Angelina Rumpelmayer chocolat L'Africain, the famous hot chocolate mix and dark chocolate medallions of Paris teahouse fame. She says the Internet spotlights the French Cellar as the only American outlet for these products. They're worth a try—maybe with a champagne chaser?

The French Cellar, at 32 East Main St. in Los Gatos, is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 408.354.0993.