{"id":1576,"date":"2013-04-21T16:35:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-21T23:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveltattler.com\/?p=1576"},"modified":"2013-04-21T16:35:50","modified_gmt":"2013-04-21T23:35:50","slug":"talking-wine-in-frances-finest-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/library\/1576\/talking-wine-in-frances-finest-hotel","title":{"rendered":"TALKING WINE IN FRANCE’S FINEST HOTEL"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Inside the wine cave at the Four Seasons George V Paris - home to 50,000 vintage bottles. (Photo by Harrison Shiels)<\/p><\/div>\n

Are French wines the world\u2019s best? Clich\u00e9 or not, the answer, historically, has always been: \u201cOui, monsieur!\u201d But I posed the question to Nicolas Charriere, a sommelier at Le Cinq, the exquisite culinary experience inside the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris. He leaned in close, and after careful thought, whispered dramatically, \u201cIt is difficult to say because there are very good wines from around the world. For instance, if I had one bottle remaining to drink at the end of my life, it would be a German Riesling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mon dieu! But it\u2019s not heresy, according to sommelier Estelle Touzet, who also demurred from insisting on French wine superiority. She\u2019s served wine in the hotels at opposite end of the Champs Elysees, including the Crillion, Bristol and now Le Meurice\u2019s gastronomic restaurant. \u201cI would choose a dry Riesling as well. It\u2019s not considered fashionable but Riesling is a favorite of sommeliers because it is well balanced and low in alcohol,\u201d she said while pouring a glass of 2011 Austrian Gruner Veltliner to be paired with roasted fois gras and a warm oyster in an ornate dining room meant to resemble the belle \u00e9poque styled Peace Salon in the Palace of Versailles.<\/p>\n

Back in the elegant, flower filled, Four Seasons near the Arc de Triumph, Charriere\u2019s wine pairings, one of seven during dinner at Le Cinq, including a 1984 Madeira Verdelho from Portugal to accompany Chef Eric Beaumard\u2019s pigeon in a cereal crust with spicy foie gras and preserved turnips in pomegranate molasses and pearly juice, the main course of eight, are astonishing. Is his talent science or art? Charriere, who was raised in France\u2019s Loire Valley, prefers to call it \u201cpassion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three floors below Le Cinq the temperature is 52-degrees Fahrenheit with 60-percent humidity in the Four Seasons George V\u2019s wine cave. Built in a former stone quarry in 1928, it\u2019s now the dark, secret home to 50,000 bottles, even some from Napa. Victor Piteot, a 23-year old being trained by head sommelier Thierry Hamon, has learned the magic of proper pairings includes factoring in the dining event, time of day, mood of the customer, budget, and other perceptions. He then showed me a bottle of 1811 cognac and a bottle of port dated 1795. At last, though, evidence of a partisan Parisian! A businessman who visits the hotel eight times a year, described by Piteot only as \u201ca very nice guest,\u201d is so devoted to French wine \u2013 a vintage Petrus Bordeaux, to be specific \u2013 that the Four Seasons not only procures it but also displays his 120 empty bottles on the wall in the cave because he likes to come down and view his handiwork, a loyal devotion to French wine and France\u2019s best hotel estimated to have totaled bills for him beyond the billion Euro mark.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit www.FourSeasons.com\/Paris<\/p>\n

Michigan-based travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com<\/a> or via www.TravelTattler.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are French wines the world\u2019s best? Clich\u00e9 or not, the answer, historically, has always been: \u201cOui, monsieur!\u201d But I posed… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3665],"tags":[823684,825892,823940,826136,824047,826393,824192,826562,824293,826895,824582,813724,824725,813725,824854,825218,825576,1384,825697],"class_list":["post-1576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library","tag-nicolas-charriere","tag-palace-of-versailles","tag-le-cinq","tag-madiera-verdelho","tag-four-seasons-hotel-george-v","tag-eric-beaumard","tag-riesling","tag-wine-cave","tag-estelle-touzet","tag-victor-piteot","tag-champs-elysees","tag-thierry-hamon","tag-crillion","tag-petrus-bordeaux","tag-bristol","tag-le-meurice","tag-gruner-veltliner","tag-wine","tag-peace-salon"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2013\/04\/DSCF3242.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1580,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions\/1580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}