the 100th issue
BORDEAUX’S NEW MATCH GAME B y KAR EN TAY LOR
A LONE BEET PAIRED WITH BORDEAUX’S MOST LEGENDARY WINES? LEAVE IT TO THE
pioneering Château Haut-Brion to not only dare this combination but to pull it off—and in the presence of hundreds of international journalists and winemakers, no less. The event was last June’s biennial dinner for the press hosted by the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855. Exemplifying a growing trend among Bordeaux châteaux toward more sophisticated cuisine and precise pairings, Haut-Brion had invited a trio of three-star chefs—Anne-Sophie Pic, Yannick Alléno and Alain Passard—to prepare the meal, asking each to create a different course to complement the Médoc and Sauternes served that evening. Passard’s dish—betterave pourpre en robe des champs à la vinaigrette aigre douce, cacao et miel d’acacias—was the most provocative, stimulating lively discussions about the many ways food and wine interact. Such conversations are increasingly commonplace here, with many winemakers now paying nearly as much attention to what’s on the plate as to what’s in the glass. On the following pages, we take you into the kitchens and dining rooms of some of the region’s most famous estates to discover just how fascinating and fun this new Match Game can be. As one chef knowingly observed, “More than ever, drinking Bordeaux in these châteaux is like drinking it no place else in the world.”
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F R A NCE • W I NT ER 2 0 1 1 - 1 2
Waiters at Château HautBrion carry in the grand cru wines to be served at dinner. INSET: The roast veal dish prepared by three-star chef Yannick Alléno.