Goes out to nearly 20.000 Bordeaux Wine Lovers all over the world!
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You can’t miss the name of the chef here…
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A Personal Note From Ronald,
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January has passed and now with the Holidays a remote memory, we dare think of food again. In France we feel that wine is meant to be enjoyed with food. For us the wine pairing is incredibly important and we pay an astonishing amount of attention to these pairings.
As you know, I am the Bordeaux expert, so wine selection and serving is my task in our organization. Margaret is an accomplished chef and follows the famous chefs, the stars and trends in the culinary world. This winning combination (“Marriage” in French) works very well in both our private life style as in our professional lives.
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Ronald and Margaret, a winning combination
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Best meal of my life
Unfortunately France lost one of its culinary cornerstones: Paul Bocuse and Margaret will tell you about this extraordinary chef who created, to be quite honest, the best meal of my life.
Fortunately there are many young chefs that bring a new élan to cooking and we enjoyed an extraordinary example in Spain not long ago. Margaret will tell you all about this highly original meal.
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I hope you enjoy this issue of our Magazine and I would love to hear your feedback or answer your questions; so please email me and simply reply to this magazine. I love to hear from you.
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Ronald and Margaret love to share
their passion for Bordeaux with you
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And please remember: Don’t drink anything I wouldn’t drink!
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Paul Bocuse a remarkable chef
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Remarkable chef
Last month France lost it’s most remarkable chef: Paul Bocuse died at the age of 91 years. Bocuse passed away near Lyon in his beloved hometown Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or where he also based his restaurant Paul Bocuse in 1966. Paul Bocuse was awarded his first Michelin Stars in 1958 and been the proud owner of three Michelin stars ever since 1966, a record in the history of the Michelin ratings.
Bocuse was one of the promoters in the early days of the Nouvelle Cuisine. He was in favor of a lighter based style of cooking that stressed fresh ingredients, lighter sauces and unusual flavor combinations.
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Three Michelin stars ever since 1966
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Bocuse: energy and optimistic outlook on life
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Later he turned his back on the trend saying that it turned into ’mini portions, on maxi plates’. He continued to create new recipes with relentless innovation that, in his case, rested on a solid mastery of classic techniques.
Ronald and I had the pleasure of dining in his famous restaurant back in 2009 (when Ronald still had a moustache). If I concentrate I can smell the truffles in his famous Bresse chicken recipe. Everything from that meal was so good. The dishes, the bread, the décor, the service, the wine. (a Chateau de la Gardine 2001, Cuvé des Générations, Chateauneuf du Pape)
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Bocuse came out of his kitchen at the end of the meal to have a chat with us. I loved his energy and optimistic outlook on life.
My favorite quote from him is from a 1976 interview with People Magazine. “You’ve got to beat the drum in life,” he said “God is already famous, but that doesn’t stop the preacher from ringing the church bells every morning.”
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A culinary highlight of Spain
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9 petit fours, one for every planet in our solar system
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New food trends
Ronald and I continue our discovery of new food trends and chefs in France and all over the world. Last summer we were in the area of Barcelona and we participated in one of the culinary highlights of Spain.
In many ways chef Carme Ruscadella is the opposite of Paul Bocuse. She is a small woman of an introverted nature; Bocuse was a large outgoing man. Of course they share a love for wonderful food and like Bocuse, Ruscadella holds 3 Michelin stars. She also holds these like Bocuse since many years for the restaurant she opened in her hometown.
And it was right on the border of her hometown that our adventure started. The Sant Pau restaurant is in the center of the medieval town of Sant Pol de Mar, not far from Barcelona. The narrow alleys and backstreets aren’t really suitable for cars and that is why the town has banned all cars from their down town streets. To accomplish this all entry ways to the town are equipped with cameras that photograph trespassing cars and fine their owners.
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The Haley Comet on a plate
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Ronald and Margaret thanking Carme for a beautiful meal
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Even the police makes an exception
However for visitors of Carme’s restaurant the police make an exception. So when you book a table at Sant Pau the receptionist asks for your license plate information. This information is then transmitted to the police station and I suppose at the end of the day an officer compares the pictures from the security cameras to the Sant Pau list and filters all their guests out. It worked well in our case because we never received a ticket for cruising the forbidden streets.
Ruscadelle favours a natural gastronomy, free and exciting. The tasting menus in her restaurants (she has restaurants now in Barcelona and Tokyo beside Sant Pol de Mar) are based on a theme.
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Cooking the stars
In the past tasting menus have been called ’Danceable Music’ or ‘The journey.
Ronald and I enjoyed ‘The universe’, a 10(!) course tasting menu paired with 10 different wines. The discovery of the universe started of in style with a small tapa called Gallileo Gallilei, served together with the Haley Comet and the Red Planet. This last tapa was a velvety tomato and strawberry combination and was very creative, very beautiful and very delicious. Via the Blue Planet, Supernova, Celestial bodies and Eclipse (and others) our taste buds arrive at our final destination the Milky Way.
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A menu paired with 10 different wines!
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A dish looking like the Earth seen from space
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10 dishes and 10 wines
All along our intergalactic journey we were fuelled with a selection of 10 different Spanish wines. Starting of with a Gran Reserva 2012 Juvé & Camps Cava we travelled the wine countries of Penedes and Priorat but also Costers Del Segre and Emporda to Terra Alta to name just a few. The whole meal was a whirlwind to our senses. The flavors of the dishes were in perfect harmony with the selected wines. And the presentation was a work of art each and every time.
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A science project
The apotheosis was in the petit fours, the little cakes served next to the coffee. There were 9 petit fours, one for every planet in our solar system. The presentation was like the perfection of a school science project with different sized petit fours planets circling out from the ‘sun’ into all different directions.
This was the first time we had a ‘concept themed’ tasting menu and the concept was worked out into perfection.
Well done Carme, we will definitely be back here.
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Dishes both pretty and lovely
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Ronald and Margaret enjoying a culinary wine experience
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Chateau Coulon Laurensac, simply the best place in the world to taste all five First Growths and Yquem…
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The Bordeaux Wine Magazine
at Chateau Coulon Laurensac
1, chemin de Meydieu
33360 Latresne (BORDEAUX), France
Website : www.BXWINEX.com
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Call us:
1-877-203-2665 (toll free from USA & Canada) or
+33 556 20 64 12 (from anywhere else in the world)
(These lines go directly to our Chateau in Bordeaux so please remember that we’re on Paris time!)
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Copyright © 2018 by The Bordeaux Wine Experience. All rights reserved. The content, design and graphical elements of this Magazine are copyrighted. The Bordeaux Wine Experience is a Dutch company specializing in wine and culinary tours in the Bordeaux region for an English speaking international clientele.
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