De Vinis Illustribus

by Paige Donner

Tucked practically underneath Paris's Pantheon is the 17th c. cellar and mythical wine shop, De Vinis Illustribus.  When current owners, husband and wife Lionel and Dominique Michelin, took over the cellars in 1994 from the legendary Jean-Baptiste Besse, a wine lover and connoisseur who welcomed the likes of Papa Hemingway to his shop back in the day, it looked nothing like it does now.

Read my Review on BlackBook City Guides HERE

From the street entrance you are greeted with a light and airy, water-blasted original stone interior that dates to the 17th c. This is the shop and the welcoming area where the Michelins have forged an impeccable reputation for advising clients on birthday and special occasion wine purchases. For example, if your son or daughter was born in 1972 they will tell  you that a "Bourgogne is more appropriate than a Bordeaux." And if you were  married in 2009, they can advise you on the best Côte du Rhônes to buy and cellar now so you can enjoy for your 10  or even 15 and 20 year anniversaries. 

De Viris Illustribus Urbis Romae was a book written in 1779 by abbot Lhomond to teach about famous men from Rome. De Vinis Illustribus is a play on words and means Famous or Great Wines.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The real treasures are downstairs in the truly ancient cellar. Pictures of what it looked like when Besse was still the owner can only be described as a  cobwebbed and dusty Ali Baba's cave. Today it is still a treasure trove of legendary wines - though much more organized and well-lit - that we rarely get to see physically: 1955 Chateau d'Yquem,  1929 Corton "Clos du Roy", an 1811 Fine Champagne Imperiale Cognac. The list is quite extensive.

Mr. Michelin has an impressive collection of Sauternes, an AOC he particularly enjoys. Their cellar is dominated by French wines and mostly of the regions Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Rhône, Loire and Alsace. Though Champagne is also represented and you can find a few bottles from Porto, too. Prices range from 13€ to into the thousands.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Another specialty of De Vinis Illustribus is their wine tastings [More Pics on Local Food And Wine].  You can join in on a wine tasting or book your own group. You can read more about these by Keiko, a fellow blogger who also attended a recent wine tasting there who writes in both Japanese and French. These are some of the popular choices:

Discovering French Regions: 3 wines, 1 White Burgundy, 1 Red Bordeaux, and 1 Red Côtes du Rhône. Accompanied by aged Comté cheese. 50€ pp

Tour de France of the Vineyards: Tasting Lunch. 4 Wines, 1 Burgundy, 1 Bordeaux, 1  Côtes du Rhône, and 1 Loire. Served with fine cooked meats, cheese and pastries. 105€pp.

Great French Wines Over Time: Tasting Dinner. 5 great wines including 1 old vintage with hot meal courses. From 255€ pp.

Reservations required.

De Vinis Illustribus, 48 rue de la Montagne-Saint-Geneviève Paris 75005  devinis.fr

 

Ciel de Paris

by Paige Donner

From about the end of the 1910s to the 1940s Montparnasse was the neighborhood that claimed the title, Place To Be. It's where Hemingway had been hanging out the most when he wrote his friend that letter saying, "...Paris is a moveable feast." *[Full quote here]. 

With the recent re-opening of the 56th Floor Ciel de Paris in the Tour Montparnasse, it is once again the place in Paris To Be.  [PICS HERE]

Christophe Marchais is still the chef here, having done his Ducasse time in Las Vegas years ago as well as time in Monaco, so the cuisine is consistently as fabulous as it always has been. His methods are to use fresh French produce and choose among "noble ingredients" for the creative flair: truffles, lobster, caviar, fois gras, turbot. Though for the re-opening as of June 2012, he and his Chef Patissier, Baptiste Methivier, added innovative upgrades of a tea-time Bar Millefeuille which features 3 sweet and 3 savory choices each day. A perfect light meal to enjoy with your glass of Besserat de Bellefon Cuvée des Moines at the bar with the city's best view over Paris and the highest point in Europe.

I've written about the best champagne bars of Paris for BlackBook and if this one had been open yet after its complete interior overhaul, it would have made it to the top of the list. Not least because it's one of the only champagne bars in town where you can order a tasting flight of different champagnes, blanc de blancs no less. Look for this on the menu: Dégustation des Blanc de Blancs 22 € (Ruinart, Nicolas Feuillatte, Canard Duchêne).

Another overhaul that Elior, the parent group of the restaurant, has done with the menu is offered a quick lunch for people arriving at the next door Montparnasse Train Station (departure for Bordeaux) where for 38€ you have appetizer, main course and dessert. That's gastronomic quality fare at dizzying heights over one of the prettiest cities in the world in modern chic art deco reminiscent décor - all for less than $50 per person. It's the deal of the decade. Signature dish is Lobster soup flavoured with sea urchin stock.

Notes on the décor: all half-tones of ambers and caramel done in sleek lines that feel like 21st century take on Art Deco. Credit goes to Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance who used the thematic of "sparkling" to season his choices. Fall in love with the ceiling lighting, big flat, LED back-lit circles that have you thinking of champagne bubbles and indeed make you feel like you're floating in a flute of champagne, suspended from the sky, 56 storeys above Paris. 

Guess who else used to haunt Montparnasse in her day? Anäis Nin... but we'll leave that for the bedside recommended reading after you've dined at Ciel de Paris.

Tour Montparnasse, 56th Floor, 33 Avenue Maine 75015 Paris

+33-01-40-64-77-64   CieldeParis.com

Local Food And Wine

 

Moët & Chandon Trianon Gardens

Just across the street from the famous Moët & Chandon cellars in Champagne, France are their exquisite gardens. Only open to private visitors, or once a year to public visitors during the Fetes des Jardins, the grounds are aptly named after Marie-Antoinette's famous personal palace at Versailles, Trianon. The proper name is the résidence de Trianon and the jardins de l'orangerie.

Manicured grounds with remarkable palm trees, exquisite lemon trees and ripe rosé pink rose bushes, this year's artistic exhibit in the Orangerie at the far end of the grounds features photos of gardens throughout recent history. Gardens in pictures from Paris's Luxembourg gardens to flowered grounds in other regions of France and abroad as far away as the U.S.

I was inspired so here is my humble offering to photographic historical record...Click HERE for Full SLIDESHOW

All photos © Paige Donner 2012

 

Chérie Du Vin ♥ Chérie Du Vin - You Will Love My Wine Picks!

Centre Vinicole Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte

by Paige Donner

A few interesting facts set the champagne brand of Nicolas Feuillatte apart from the others.

See the full gallery on Posterous

For one, it's a champagne house that is cooperatively owned. Just outside of the champagne capital of Épernay in France, in the little village of Chouilly, the modern and sleek facilities whose cellars are both above and beneath the ground, ferment, disgorge and age 300,000 hectoliters of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Petit Meunier destined to become top-selling champagne every year. That translates into 21.9 million bottles of champagne in 2011.

CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW

See the full gallery on Posterous

The house doesn't actually own any vineyards, however. Those are all owned by the growers. They get privileges for being part of the vast co-operative, the growers do. Privileges such as use of state-of-the-art bottling and riddling machines for example, when they have enough leftover from their growing season and harvests to offer a limited supply under their own champagne label - if they so choose.

It's one of the most, if not the most, successful "cave co-operatives" in the wine industry in France. The numbers are impressive:

• 5,000 growers (that comprise the Producers Union)
• 82 smaller cooperatives (who form the larger NF brand)
• 350 wine presses
• 21.9 million bottles produced in 2011

And what's more, Nicolas Feuillatte is a real person. Still alive and kicking today.

It was in the early 70's when he inherited 10ha of champagne vineyards. After a few years' harvests and a successful brand launching, notably in the U.S. among the jet-set and the glitterati, he accepted the offer of the union of growers to lend his brand to their champagnes. It was, quite evidently, a match made in heaven.

Recommend: If you get the chance, try the 1996 vintage Brut. Elegant, generous, laced with a refined minerality.

All photos c. 2012 Paige Donner

YOU WILL LOVE MY WINEPICKS! - ♥CHÉRIE DU VIN

*LOCAL FOOD AND WINE *

 

Wine Evenings at Restaurant 114 Faubourg St. Honore

By Paige Donner

Read More Here

At the epicenter of chic, where rue Fbg. St. Honoré meets Avenue Matignon in the shade of Paris's Élysée gardens, is where you will find the restaurant 114 Faubourg. 
As part of Le Bristol Hotel, but with a separate entrance and in an adjoining building, the lunch and dinner restaurant headed up by chef Eric Desbordes along with his chief Sommelier, Marco Pelletier, is altogether a destination unto itself.

Tomes can and likely will be written about the talented young chef's French cuisine, but focus here is on the restaurant's once-monthly Wine Tasting Evenings, held the first Monday of the month, to be precise.

In a city that gathers the best wines of one of the best wine-producing countries in the world, there is an unexpected and surprising dearth of good wine-tasting evenings organized for the amateur/enthusiast and/or the visiting tourist. A once-monthly excellent wine and tailored food-pairing evening open to 25 guests is hardly going to make a dent in what should be a huge demand for this type of food and wine evening event, but, at least it's a start...

Marco Pelletier, an adoptive Parisian whose authentic Canadianisms pepper his oenological descriptions and explanations, shines as the evening's champion organizer. He not only invites the winemakers to Paris so they can talk about their "treasures," but also curates his wines with that delicate care that only a professional with great passion and reverence for his metier can muster.

Evenings start at around 7:30 with a tasting flight of four wines during which the winemaker shares tales about the vintages he's pouring. The 114 Faubourg team takes care of hosting duties, which allows these extraordinary cultivators of French wines to simply elaborate the stories of their wines in the company of the people who have come to sip and savor their particular expressions of terroir.

According to Pelletier, there is no commercial element to the evening. The winemakers are not honored guests invited to “sell” their wines. "They just come to share the story behind the wines and vintages being poured for the evening. The winemakers are often small producers that I've usually already chosen to feature and work with or who have already worked with Le Bristol for a long time," explains Pelletier. "These are the 'Haute Couture' of winegrowers."

Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/travel/article/wine-evenings-at-restaurant-114-rue/#ixzz1w6g4Kbg5

Saint-Emilion Wineries Hold Open House 2012

[press release]

This year the Saint Emilion "Portes Ouvertes" Open House event will last four whole days from Saturday 28 April to Tuesday 1st May 2012.

If you are looking for an idea for a real break, don’t miss this unparalleled opportunity to meet the winegrowers of the Saint-Emilion, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Lussac Saint-Emilion and Puisseguin Saint-Emilion appellations, who are opening their estates to welcome visitors, share with them their passion for wine and invite them to taste their products.

The program has been significantly updated this year:

• A winegrowers’ dinner will be served in the Dominicains Hall on Saturday 28 April and the Saint-Emilion Jurade will be present,
• An oenologist will lead tastings of Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé wines in the Saint-Emilion Maison du Vin,
• On Sunday 29 and Monday 30 April, bus tours will be available for visitors. These will be free shuttles running between all the chateaux that are open,
• Two reception tents will be set up at each end of the town to provide information, guidance and support for visitors,

As before, visitors will be able to get to know the chateaux around four themes:

• Tasty delights
• Exploring our architectural heritage
• Culture and fun events
• Family properties and traditions

This will also be a perfect time to explore the Medieval town, attend tasting classes at the Saint-Emilion Maison du Vin and really enjoy a weekend travelling around the Saint-Emilion vineyards.

There will also be a question-and-answer contest with bottles of wine from the different Saint-Emilion appellations as prizes!

For further information and brochures:

Maison du Vin de Saint-Emilion – Place Pierre Meyrat – 33330 Saint-Emilion – France - Tel.

+33 557 555 055 – maisonduvin@vins-saint-emilion.com – www.maisonduvinsaintemilion.com

Conseil des Vins de Saint-Emilion – 14 rue Guadet – 33330 Saint-Emilion – France -Tel.

+33 557 555 050 – info@vins-saint-emilion.com – www.vins-saint-emilion.com

Office de Tourisme de la Juridiction de Saint-Emilion - Le Doyenné - Place des Créneaux –33330 Saint-Emilion – France - Tel. +33 557 552 828 - st-emilion.tourisme@wanadoo.fr     www.saintemilion-tourisme.com

From 16 April 2012 you will be able to download the brochure from the website: www.vins-saintemilion.com (Photos courtesy Vins Saint-Emilion)

YOU WILL LOVE MY WINEPICKS! - ♥CHÉRIE DU VIN

*LOCAL FOOD AND WINE *

 

Grands Jours de Bourgogne 2012

[Press Release]

Last Thursday at Château du Clos de Vougeot, the GJB Association - and through it the entire regional wine industry - presented awards to a journalist, a photographer, and a television show for their pedagogical work highlighting the Burgundy wine culture. This was an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of these professions and the difficulties they often encounter.

Three Press Trophy Winners! Crédit photo : Jean-Louis Bernuy

Another success for the GJB – last week, this 11th edition brought together the trade from around the world (2,200). With 5% increased attendance compared to 2010 - an overwhelming endorsement for the show providing an opportunity for the trade to taste the wines in the heart of the region that brought them into being.

This success seems to confirm the upturn in 2011, in particular marked by strong growth in export sales (+16.5%). At €666.5 million, this is the 2nd best result, in terms of value, in Burgundy’s history. While Europe is stagnating, the U.S. is becoming the number 1 export market (+33% in value and +19% by volume) and the China-Hong Kong duo is approaching the Top 5 (doubling sales to €34 million). In Japan, where the strong yen has boosted exports, Burgundies have exceeded their peak value by more than 10% (+20% to €85 million).

It is in this context that Pierre-Henry Gagey, Chairman of the Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), honored the Press Trophy winners, hailing those without whom “our wines would not have acquired their international reputation.”

Grands Jours de Bourgogne 2012 – A few figures :

• "  2,200 visitors, +5% compared to 2010

• "  10,274 of total admissions, an average of +20% of visitors per event

• "  More than 1,000 new contacts recorded during pre-registration

• "  42% of French (45% in 2010) and 58% foreign visitors (55% in 2010)

• "  44 different countries were represented with first visit from people coming from New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Seychelles, Mexico, Finland, Slovakia and Lebanon

Yukino Kano, Japan, received the trophy for the “Press Article” category for her special feature entitled “Les Terres de l’épopée [The land of the epic tale],” published in December 2011 Japanese magazine Nile’s Nile. The jury of professionals and journalists especially enjoyed this feature’s poetic and very educational aspects evoking the lands and history of Côtes de Beaune and de Nuits.

A native Burgundian was awarded the first trophy for the “Photography” category (new for this edition). Armelle Hudelot was recognized for her catalog dedicated to the Burgundy Vineyard Climats, published in 2010. The jury was touched by the aesthetics and attention to detail transcribing the diversity of elements that make the mosaic of Burgundy Climats unique in the world.

Exceptionally this year, the jury wanted to commend France 3 Bourgogne’s TV initiative, by awarding a special prize for the program “Millésime.” Broadcast once a month on Sunday at 11 a.m., it explores the wine-making world through current topics (harvest, vinification, Climats, discovering professions, food and wine, exploring appellations…). As he presented the award to Muriel Bessard, the show’s creator, and Jean-Pierre Stucki, France 3 Bourgogne TV Director, Pierre-Henry Gagey explained this decision: “This choice - in French public television - is an act of courage, given the vigilance of some and the difficulties caused by the Evin law and jurisprudence.”

The GJB came to an end on Saturday in the sun with the Chevaliers du Tastevin’s Spring Tastevinage.

Mark your calendars now for the GJB’s 12th edition in 2014!

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♥Chérie Du Vin

 LOCAL FOOD AND WINE