It was a treat to be back at Le Gavroche for our annual Spring lunch yesterday playing to a full house of 100 diners keen to sample wines matched to a seasonal menu devised by Michel Roux Jr.

Le Gavroche

We kicked-off with a lively Vouvray Mousseux Brut from Domaine Aubert by way of aperitif, which guests could elect to taste with or without the addition of a dash of Gabriel Boudier’s peerless Crème de Cassis. The exercise of trying to serve canapés and drinks to 100 people in the bijou upstairs bar area at 43 Upper Brook Street always reminds me of seeing how many students can cram into a phone box. Fortunately, we have a loyal and resilient clientele and the intimacy of the surroundings definitely broke the ice.

Oeuf Poche Victoria - Le Gavroche

Once seated in the comfort and splendour of the downstairs dining room the revels could commence with a fine pairing of a rare white Chinon from Château du Ligré and a weightier, oilier, organic Côtes du Luberon from Château la Canorgue – both in the newly released (and very promising) 2010 vintage. I then talked guests through the first 3 wines and Le Gavroche’s Executive Director, Silvano Giraldin, told us how the dishes we were about to sample had been selected and prepared. Kent asparagus with aged parmesan and truffle vinaigrette proved a popular pre-starter and had a terrific affinity for the white Chinon (see previous entry) but the ‘Oeuf Poche Victoria’ that followed was a veritable show-stopper. This dish is an old Roux family favourite – a poached egg served on a bed of lobster on top of an artichoke heart. There were lots of different flavours at work here and personally I thought this offering favoured the Château la Canorgue.

Confit Collar of Lamb - Le Gavroche

Our main course was a sublime collar of lamb confit served with white beans and wild garlic. We partnered this with a youthful red Vin de Corse Sartène 2009 from Domaine Saparale. The wild Maquis scents and tastes of this unusual Nielluccio-Sciacarello blend married perfectly with the tender, salty lamb so it was going to be a tough act to follow. Fortunately, Ron and Elva Laughton from Australia’s celebrated Jasper Hill estate in Heathcote were in town for the Natural Wine Fair (www.thenaturalwinefair.com) and we indulged ourselves with their iconic Georgia’s Paddock Shiraz 2005. Ron told us about his non-interventionist wine growing philosophy and explained why he is an ardent champion of ‘dry-grown’ (un-irrigated) root-stock despite the pressures of draught and global warning.

Vanilla Panna Cotta - Le Gavroche

A delicate dessert of vanilla panna cotta with Alphonso mango and ginger went down very well with Pascal Labasse’s Jurançon Mœlleux 2008. This unctuous sweet wine has a lovely palate-cleansing acidity to offset the tropical fruit flavours and I think it met with widespread approval.
We rounded off a very convivial event with coffee and Petits Fours and some stout-hearted folk even availed themselves of the digestif trolley before dispersing back into the daylight fully sated.

Jason Yapp holding court at Le Gavroche…

I am already keenly anticipating to our next visit in the Autumn because if you want to enjoy classic Gallic cuisine with superb service in elegant surroundings Le Gavroche sets the Gold Standard!

I was fortunate enough to spend last Thursday lunchtime at Le Gavroche selecting the wines for our forthcoming Spring lunch. I took the opportunity to buttonhole the head sommelier David Galetti, who presides over a list of biblical proportions, about his personal recommendations of wines to accompany asparagus.

David Galetti - Le Gavroche

When English asparagus is in season, as it is now, it can’t be beaten and my personal philosophy is to enjoy it as frequently as possible so I was keen to hear David’s recommendations. His first observation was that if asparagus is properly cooked it should still have a little bit of a ‘croquant’ bite and that you must therefore select a wine that is ‘fresh’ and isn’t heavily marked with oak. Although Sauvignon Blanc is widely acknowledged as being the classic accompaniment  (and they list our Pouilly Fumé ‘Les Loges’ from Dominique Guyot in bottles and halves at Le Gavroche – which would be  a good match) David said that it probably wouldn’t be his first choice. He looks for a wine with ‘a hint of citrus’ and averred that it is important to have some savoury herb notes too. Pinot Blanc and dry Chenin  Blanc ‘can work very well’ apparently – so I look forward to experimenting with some of those forthwith. David dis-recommended Chardonnay as a general rule “you don’t want anything too heavy, oaky or buttery” and surprised me with the revelation that his personal preference is for a Corsican Vermentino!

So what are you waiting for? Get the green spears of goodness on the stove and start experimenting with some fresh, clean Spring whites in the newly shipped 2010 vintage.

It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it!

One of the rewards of having a gastronomically obsessed father is a bi-annual block booking for 100 lunch covers at Le Gavroche. Commendably, this peerless temple of high cuisine refuses to partner a dish with a wine that they haven’t previously road-tested and yesterday was the day of judgement. I was off to meet the Chef-patron Michel Roux, Head Sommelier David Galetti and Director of Operations Silvano Giraldin to trial different wines with specially selected dishes. As ever I felt slightly shabby alongside Michel’s crisp chefs’ whites and Silvano’s faultless Italian tailoring but our first task was relatively straightforward. What fizz should we serve to accompany a palate-stimulating selection of canapés? Nothing too heavy, this is for a lunch-time function after all, but we need enough weight to partner food. After a quick tasting and short discussion we settled on a Saint Péray Mousseux Brut from Jean-Louis Thiers. Silvano proclaimed this bottle-fermented Marsanne from the Northern Rhône to be an ‘interesting crowd-pleaser’ and dry enough to benefit from a shot of Crème de Cassis for those that are that way inclined.

As Silvano and I settled at the table the kitchen then went into overdrive and a succession of amuse-bouches and starters arrived thick and fast. A charlotte potato terrine with friseé salad and duck gizzards was subtle and superb but was soon trumped by a divine dish of seared scallops, langoustines and whelks with a parsley and garlic sauce. Curried mussels with wilted spinach lifted the palate but proved less wine-friendly than its predecessor which had married brilliantly with a rare white Brézème and an on-form Pouilly Fumé ‘Les Loges’ – both in the superb 2009 vintage. Just as we were fixing upon a piscine theme a game consommé arrived accompanied by a partridge mousse and ceps which opened the betting wide. Seafood fought back as two classic coastal wines were served – a 2009 Picpoul de Pinet from Domaine Peyreficade and a 2008 Cassis from Clos Sainte Magdeleine. A dish of gurnard with artichokes, porcini and Bayonne ham was heavenly as was a fillet of Terriyaki cod served with a rice cake and citrus sauce, although only the white Brézème was weighty enough to juxtapose the salty cod. Yet more langoustines then appeared, this time with a crispy chicken wing, pickled peppers and a sweetcorn sauce. This worked well with all four wines and we were pretty sold upon it until the kitchen produced a final starter of seared scallops with squid ink tapioca and parsley sauce. Quel choix. You wouldn’t want to leave this to amateurs. We finally decided to lead with the squid and tapioca as an appetiser and have a more substantial portion of the gurnard and porcini mushrooms to follow, both to be partnered with the Pouilly Fumé and the Brézème blanc.

Silvano Giraldin and lots of wine glasses

Unbuckling my belt a notch or two as Silvano greeted some regulars, I braced myself for the main courses. Neck of highland beef with fondant potatoes, red onion confit and broccoli set the bar quite high when paired with a brace of classic Rhônes – the 2005 Gigondas from Domaine Saint Gayan and a Domaine Biguet Cornas in the same vintage. It also showed well against two outsiders – the 2008 ‘Cuvée Tradition’ Côtes de Provence from Domaine Richeaume and a precocious 2007 Faugères from Château des Estanilles. Any normal selection committee could have flipped a coin and happily retired at this juncture but at Le Gavroche the highest standards must be maintained. A sublime veal fillet with morels, mashed potato and baby carrots was sidelined for being a touch out of season and too similar to what was served last time we convened. Roast partridge with roast chestnuts and game jus upped the ante considerably but a wild card entry of Chausson de Canard (a posh pasty to the uninitiated) brought the house down and was declared a clear winner. All four red wines had an affinity for the duck in pastry but after much deliberation we settled on the Côtes de Provence and the Gigondas.

Having partaken of 12 dishes at this stage we were fully warmed-up for desserts. A bitter chocolate praline with gold leaf made for a very tough wine match and only a dark Banyuls Réserva from Domaine la Tour Vieille proved capable of coping with its intense flavours. This was (sensibly) considered too heavy a dish to follow the duck but the ‘Assiette du Chef’, a plate featuring small portions of (at least) five desserts was a real show stopper but again made for very difficult wine pairing. A 2009 Coteaux du Layon Rablay from Château la Tomaze and 2007 Monbazillac were then bought into play alongside a classic Tarte Tatin served with the best vanilla ice-cream I have ever tasted. Just when it appeared things couldn’t be improved upon we were served a pear sabayon that married perfectly with the delicate orchard fruit flavours of the Coteaux du Layon, so it is that exquisite partnership that they will serve at our lunch party next Thursday 14th October.

We do still have a few places left next week so if you want to sample the cuisine of the master ‘Master Chef’ give us a call on 01747 860 423 or e-mail us at: sales@yapp.co.uk

My diet commences tomorrow….

Michel Roux Jr

A couple of weeks ago, I was excited to attend our annual lunch at Le Gavroche, Michel Roux Jr’s two Michelin star restaurant in Mayfair.  Having become an avid fan of Masterchef recently, I was eager to see if Chef Michel himself would be in residence and I was not disappointed, finding him mid-photo shoot, as I arrived at this iconic French restaurant.

Yapp Brothers have been holding such an event for customers at Le Gavroche, once or twice a year for over twenty years. Today, we were expecting around 100 for a lunch specially devised for us by Michel and accompanied by carefully-matched Yapp wines to complete the gastronomic experience.  And what an experience it was!

Our guests were greeted with a glass of Crémant de Limoux Brut from Philippe Collin, a Champenois who moved to Limoux in 1980.  This excellent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend has become a staple of the Yapp portfolio, gaining much kudos with the press and featuring in the Independent’s ‘Top 50 Wines for Christmas’ last year.

Suitably gee’d up by the fizz, the assembled crowd moved downstairs to the restaurant to enjoy a pre-starter of Ballotine de Volaille, Celeri Remoulade et Vinaigrette de Truffes with a 2008 white Côtes du Luberon from Château la Canorgue, famous as the setting for the film ‘A Good Year’ starring Russell Crowe.  The wine was showing particularly well and the lemony flavours were ideally suited to the richness of this immaculately-presented dish.

Next up, Ragout de Langoustines et Pied de Cochon à la Graine de Moutarde.  The sauce was so full of flavour and our white Crozes Hermitage 2008 from Olivier Dumaine lived up to it manfully.  A new wine to the Yapp stable this year, it was recently recommended by Jancis Robinson as a wine with ‘explosive fruit on the palate and very fresh and mouthfilling.’ The main course of Roasted French Partridge with a Brandy Shallot Jus was served with a brace of reds – Domaine Paul Misset’s sublime Nuits Saint George 2002 and a Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalan Carignan 2007, from Domaine Ferrer-Ribière’s precious parcel of 130 year-old vines, that is brimming over with warm, autumnal fruits making it a current favourite with everyone at Yapp Brothers.

Jason Yapp had met with the Gavroche team the previous week to do some serious food and wine matching and this was not lost on the guests on my table who pronounced the dessert, Golden Pineapple and Warm Almond Cake with Rum and Raisin Ice Cream, to be the most heavenly match for a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2006 from Domaine de Durban.  Indeed it was,  with neither the wine nor the dish being outshone by the other but coming together to round off the meal to perfection.

After much witty repartee from Jason Yapp, a brief, insightful address from Michel Roux Jr, and the most divine menu with some superbly matched wines, our 100 or so guests couldn’t fail to go away happy and nor, for that matter, could I.