A wine lover living in Brussels had participated in one of my dinners at the Apartment Moët Hennessy two and a half years ago. He had undoubtedly appreciated the form of my dinners to the point that he created a company that organizes dinners in the spirit of my dinners.

Recently, he sent me the schedule for one of his future dinners, explained to me that he was inspired by my dinners and would like me to register. The program is extremely attractive and I will enjoy a «friend price» that helps to persuade me. I tell him that I am very happy that he makes meals like mine because the most important thing is that great wines are drunk. He had announced that we would be eight but the reality will be quite different.

It had been fifteen years since I had gone to the Gare du Nord, and I notice a certain change in the population that walks the aisles of this large station. All the populations of the world are represented. The station is much cleaner than I remembered.

The train I travel on is more spacious than the trains I take from Paris to Toulon. I arrive in Brussels in a very short time. I am staying in a large hotel in an area whose shops indicate that it is rather luxurious.

I arrive shortly after 7pm at the restaurant Comme Chez Soi that I knew in the 80s when the boards of directors of the company I chaired were held in Brussels. Lionel Rigolet, son-in-law of previous chef Pierre Wynants is the restaurant’s chef. Throughout the evening we will see how much we feel a family atmosphere and it is extremely pleasant.

I am greeted by Wouter, whom I had received at one of my dinners, and by Pieter, his partner in the company Vincroyable that they founded to offer fine wine dinners.

We go down to the restaurant’s cellar where a Champagne Dom Pérignon 2015 is served to the dinner participants who are all already there.  We introduce ourselves and chat among the participants. The appetizers that accompany the champagne are very sophisticated. The champagne is extremely soft and pleasurable. While the Dom Pérignon is not excessively dosed, it gives an ideal and silky comfort.

We will then take a photo in the kitchen and go up one floor to go into the private dining room very nicely decorated.

I had remembered that we would be eight but we will be twelve, with four wines that will be added over the meal. The menu is presented as follows: terrine-brioche foie gras / scallop – Shiitake ravioli – autumn truffle / veal sweetbreads, mushroom emulsion – butter rubbed/ saddle of hare – creamy Pomerol sauce, potato/ three cheeses blue paste/ numerous and diverse desserts.

The first wine service includes Champagne Jacques Selosse Original Version without year and Champagne Jacques Selosse Ambonnay, Le Bout du Clos without year. The juxtaposition is interesting because we see how much Ambonnay’s white of blacks has a masculine personality, when the Original Version has a more romantic expression. The two wines, very precise, have beautiful expressions. The pairing with foie gras is ideal.

Three white wines will appear now, the third being served without us knowing what it is. The Montrachet Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1996 surprises me because it is all smooth, wonderfully subtle while most often it is conquering. I really like this different expression.

The 2006 Corton Charlemagne Domaine Coche-Dury is a marvel. I love this expression of incredible power and elegant energy so much. I am conquered when drinking this wine.

The Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles 2007 is the most charming of the three wines but I measure that it does not have the complexity of a Grand Cru unlike the other two. The agreement of the three with the scallops is perfect.

The next step is with three red wines of which the third is not known. Everyone is obviously excited by the presence of the Cros Parantoux Domaine Henri Jayer 1993 of extreme subtlety. This wine just speaks with a certain talent. What a great archetypal wine.

La Tâche Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1998 is very expressive and has the soul of Romanée Conti. It is very characteristic of the very square side of La Tâche.

The Richebourg Domaine Méo Camuzet 1998 is also a subtle and well-balanced wine. I was looking for which wine and I did not recognize the Richebourg which plays in the same category as the other two great wines.

The two organizers wanted us to return to younger wines before moving on to Bordeaux. The Grands Echézeaux Domaine de la Romanée Conti 2000 and the Richebourg Domaine de la Romanée Conti 2000 are a bit young for me but they present themselves as they should be. I was very pleasantly surprised by the extent of the Grands Echézeaux.

It is now that two large Bordeaux wines from 1945 appear. While traditionally I serve the Bordeaux before the Bourgognes, I found that the arrival of these two wines was very relevant.

The Château Cos d’Estournel 1945 is a great wine absolutely balanced and has no age as it is full of energy. But I have such a love for Château Lafite-Rothschild 1945 that Alexandre de Lur Saluces had made me discover during a private dinner at the Château de Fargues that I adore his rich, solid and at the same time seductive expression. It’s a deep wine.

The sweetbreads seemed too strong to accompany these two splendid wines.

For the Château d’Yquem 1983 three blue cheeses are presented. It is absolutely obvious that stilton is the most suitable cheese. This 1983 is perfect, with a beautiful coherent and charming expression, without excessive power.

I brought a Rancio domain of Volontat which must be one year between 1880 and 1920. I am very surprised that it is so powerful but above all complex, more complex than the Yquem.

We are then overwhelmed with desserts, each more greedy than the other. In Brussels, we feel that the greed is limitless.

I suggested that we vote as in my dinners and it was accepted. Five wines were named first, which is little for 14 wines, but it’s because of the wine by Henri Jayer who had six first-prize votes, followed by the Montrachet from Romanée Conti and the Lafite 1945 with two first-prize votes each, then from Corton Charlemagne Coche Dury and from Cos d’Estournel 1945 with a first-place vote.

The vote of the entire table is: 1 – Domaine Henri Jayer Cros Parantoux 1993, 2 – Château Lafite-Rothschild 1945, 3 – Domaine de la Romanée Conti Montrachet 1996, 4 – Domaine de la Romanée Conti La Tâche 1998, 5 – Domaine Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne 2006, 6 – Château Cos d’Estournel 1945.

My vote was: 1 – Domaine Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne 2006, 2 – Château Lafite-Rothschild 1945, 3 – Domaine Henri Jayer Cros Parantoux 1993, 4 – Domaine de la Romanée Conti Montrachet 1996, 5 – Domaine de la Romanée Conti La Tâche 1998.

All the participants are passionate. The Chef made a high quality meal and what seduced me is the family character of this restaurant that gives extra pleasure. Some drank alcohol and at one o’clock in the morning we were still at the table.

It was the son of chef Lionel Rigolet who escorted me back to my hotel by car. In which restaurant would I find such attention? Vincroyable has a bright future ahead of him. So much the better.