Event # 9

Cheval Blanc food & wine pairing, Bar d’Ô

St. Tropez, France

July 2014

About

As a short break from our work at GLOW in Belgium we had the pleasure to travel a couple of days to St. Tropez in the southeastern France to present a 14 courses menu at a Cheval Blanc wine tasting.

In a rented car and a trunk loaded with top quality meat from the extraordinary Belgian butcher Luc De Laet we took the 1100 km long drive from Antwerp to St. Tropez.

Creating a 14 courses menu to pare with wines from the legendary Château Cheval Blanc in St. Emilion, Bordeauxis definitely not the easiest task. Especially because it’s just not the type of wines you find anywhere or have the possibility to open, just to have a little sip to taste.

The wines served during the dinner were from selected vintages between 2000 and 2011, which are fairly young wines compared to the great aging ability Cheval Blanc wines are known for.

Our 14 servings throughout the menu were based on pork, veal and beef. We tried to keep the flavors as clean as possible, so the food left space to discover and explore the many notes of the wines. But still without compromising with Sebastian’s cooking, which is generally characterized as very flavorful, combing touches from all over the world.

Paring food with fairly young Cheval Blanc wines requires the food to have a certain richness so it doesn’t disappear or even drown in these aromatic and powerful wines made on Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes.

Menu highlights

•  Tartar on crispy potato skin
•  Beef tongue figurine
•  Smoked carpaccio with béarnaise
•  Veal brain croquette
•  Potato confit with bone marrow and tarragon