The 313th wine-dinners dinner is held at Maison Rostang, whose chef is Nicolas Beaumann. There are eleven of us, including five very loyal regulars of my dinners, some of whom have attended more than twenty-five times, and five people who are coming for the first time.
Among them are an Englishman who writes about wine, a curious wine lover who wanted to discover my dinners, another Englishman, an auctioneer, who had put up for sale a wine I was able to acquire, a German Riesling from 1811, the grandson of one of my cousins, who is interested in wine, and chef Ken, with whom I have done dozens and dozens of meals at the restaurant Pages, which has just closed for two years. I invited him so that he could experience the atmosphere of my dinners, which he could never feel since he stayed in the kitchen, even though I quite often offered him a taste of my wines.

I arrive a little before 4 pm to open the wines for the dinner. I am welcomed by the new manager, Luca, and I notice that the sommelier I was very fond of is no longer there. So it is a young and dynamic waiter of Japanese origin, Imo, who will help me throughout the opening of the wines and then with serving them at the table.

During the opening, I notice that many corks crack as I pull them, but practically no fragments of cork fall into the wine. The aromas are extremely interesting. For the Carbonnieux blanc 1966, however, I detect a corked smell, not very pronounced but present. I ask the kitchen for some cling film, make a long wick out of it and dip it into the bottle, following a piece of advice I was given long ago, and I will later find that the effect is perfect, since the Carbonnieux blanc will in the end be ranked second of the eleven wines of the dinner.

The Champagne Mumm Cuvée René Lalou 1979 gave almost the same pop as the one I opened two days ago for my daughter. The Champagne Charles Heidsieck 1947 has a scent of rare elegance. The Haut-Brion 1981 in magnum has an aroma of extreme intensity. The Burgundy wines are all refined. The Château de l’Espinglet, Rions, a sweet Bordeaux from 1921, in a bottle of great beauty, proves fascinating, with a delicate scent, of course less rich than that of the Yquem 1961.
Two participants had told me they would come early to attend my wine-opening session: one of my most loyal guests and the auctioneer thanks to whom I was able to obtain the 1811 Riesling, which I will receive tomorrow in my cellar, brought by the manager of the estate, which has kept this wine in its cellar for 215 years. Tomorrow will be a fascinating encounter.
For these early guests, I brought a Champagne Dom Pérignon 1990, with a very fresh and subtle nose, and a surprisingly floral character on the palate. I had imagined it more powerful, but it shows a finesse and a romantic presence that I appreciate, as do my guests.

The menu designed by Nicolas Beaumann is: amuse-bouche / royale of dashi broth, raw John Dory with rosemary oil / smoked blue lobster in a robust consommé infused with gentle spices, romaine leaf and iodine emulsion / red mullet fillet and confit celeriac rounds, red wine jus / roasted sweetbread, melting potatoes and onions, reduced veal jus / lacquered Bresse chicken supreme, ceps with thyme and fresh figs / 30-month aged Comté / quince delicately scented with meadowsweet, vin jaune reduction and rice pudding ice cream / financiers.

The Champagne Mumm Cuvée René Lalou 1979 is rich, well integrated, powerful and of great serenity. It is very pleasant to drink, like the one I had a few days ago. The Champagne Charles Heidsieck 1947 is very different. It gives an impression of age, but its complexity is such that, for me, it clearly surpasses the Mumm in terms of emotion. The pairings with the broth work above all with the Charles Heidsieck 1947.

The Château Carbonnieux blanc 1966 appeared completely intact, whereas one might have feared its initial corked nose. It is dazzling, broad and serene, in full command of its power. The Bourgogne Aligoté Jacques Bouchard 1959 seems much older, but I found such interesting subtleties in it that I ranked it third in my vote, for its originality but also for the astonishing way it accompanied the blue lobster.

The Château Haut-Brion 1981 in magnum surprises everyone with its power, its presence and its richness, even though 1981 is not a particularly celebrated vintage. I already knew that this 1981 is a remarkable success for this great wine. The pairing with the red mullet surprised many guests with its originality, but the marriage of the two is absolutely superb.

For the sweetbread, I had chosen the Côte de Beaune-Villages Damoy 1947 for an anecdotal reason: the press has written at length about the change of ownership of this estate, which I love, passing from the Damoy family to the Champagne Roederer group. I have a special fondness for the Damoy wines, and I ranked it first, the only one to do so. I love its calm and present richness, and its finesse with an endless length.

The Chambolle-Musigny Alain Hudelot-Noëllat 1983 is of great elegance. It will in fact be crowned by many votes and will even be first for the whole table. It is an ample, complex, subtle wine, perfectly suited to the richness of the chicken supreme, with a dazzling pairing.

The Vin de L’Étoile from the 1980s, made by the L’Étoile cooperative, is rich and balanced. It is not of extreme complexity, but it is direct and frank, and it is drunk with great pleasure.

The Château de l’Espinglet, Rions, Bordeaux 1921, is very interesting. It is one of those sweet Bordeaux wines without any pretension, yet with such grace. Seeing a 105-year-old wine so luminous moved many of my guests. Of course, the Château d’Yquem 1961, with a very beautiful presence and a definite generosity, and an obviously infinite length, won over many of them. It is not among my votes because I have drunk so much Yquem that this one was not going to surprise me, even though it is great, and I wanted to save my votes for the wines that surprise me.

All the guests were very surprised by the relevance of the pairings, and also by the fact that, when there were two wines, one answered one part of the dish and the other another part, which was quite astonishing. The pairings were superb.

So it was with a joyful view of what we had experienced that everyone cast their vote for the five best wines of the evening. Remarkably, every wine received at least one vote. In total, six wines were voted first. The Château Carbonnieux blanc 1966 received three first-place votes, as did the Chambolle-Musigny Alain Hudelot-Noëllat 1983. The Yquem 1961 received two first-place votes. The Bourgogne Aligoté Bouchard 1959, the Château Haut-Brion 1981 and the Côte de Beaune-Villages Damoy 1947 each received one first-place vote.

The ranking of the whole table is: 1 – Chambolle-Musigny Alain Hudelot-Noëllat 1983, 2 – Château Carbonnieux Blanc Léognan 1966, 3 – Château d’Yquem 1961, 4 – Château Haut-Brion Magnum 1981, 5 – Champagne Charles Heidsieck 1947, 6 – Champagne Mumm Cuvée René Lalou 1979.

My ranking is: 1 – Côte de Beaune-Villages Damoy 1947, 2 – Château Haut-Brion Magnum 1981, 3 – Bourgogne Aligoté Jacques Bouchard et Cie 1959, 4 – Chambolle-Musigny Alain Hudelot-Noëllat 1983, 5 – Champagne Charles Heidsieck 1947.

Nicolas Beaumann created a remarkable menu, in which each dish responded to the wine with complete relevance. The atmosphere among the guests was lively and warm, and we had a particularly successful meal.

The story does not end there. I had invited the auctioneer because it was through him that I had bought the 1811 Riesling. And, surprisingly, it was the manager of the Bassermann-Jordan estate who came the next day to bring this wine to my cellar. A seemingly ordinary purchase on an auction website thus turned into a deeply human adventure, in which both the auctioneer and the estate manager were keen to come and hand over the bottle I had bought. It is quite touching.

So I welcomed Mrs Nazmiye Yuzun to my cellar. She visited it and noted its wealth of old wines, but hers also holds bottles of great rarity and venerable age. She gave me an immense gift by offering me one of her 19th-century bottles, in addition to the 1811. We then shared a simple meal.

Seeing my empty bottles, this lady said to me: « I could stay for hours and hours just looking at these bottles, which are such testimonies to the world of wine. » The meal took place in a very friendly atmosphere, as did the handing over of this wine, intended for one of my upcoming meals, which will, I hope, be one of the greatest I have ever organized.