Stories are many and often intertwined and involving many people. This particular one involved Laurent Vonderheyden that I used to work for many moons ago when he was the president of his won company called Laurent Selections with a primarily French portfolio ( many Bordeaux wines as his family owns Chateau Monbrison in Margaux, Bordeaux ) with some American and Italian. That was back twenty years or so. I used to manage the wine department when Laurent hired me to work with him and do sales for him in Washington D.C. I grabbed at the chance to work wholesale for him because it might give me a bit more time with my family on weekends to see and be a bigger part of their lives. I never regretted it except to say that ultimately I always preferred managing a wine department in a store where people came to see me.
Earlier as I drove to the library with my daughter here in Annandale , VA. on Sunday, June 28th, 2008 I thought about how I would write this story about Laurent's wine-tasting in the store and then dinner afterwards at Lavandou restaurant just down at the end of the block. As I said there are always multiple parts to almost any story. I had just been looking at the old picture I took and store here on our home computer. They are not the best I have taken. That's too bad. Some are really quite good though. The ones at the restaurant are darker and much more ambiance/atmospheric in quality , almost as if there had only been candles for lighting. I will include some of them because I think that on a good screen the reflection of light on the people and on the glasses and cutlery on the tables will be quite " moody " and they do create a feeling of night and wine, food and song of long ago. The pictures in the store are much better lit and though sometimes a bit out of focus they create the flow and the energy of these tastings done in the evenings at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits.
Laurent has two chateaux wines, Chateau Monbrison being the principle one and Chateau Cordet being the other. We served some of both because the Chateau Cordet is more affordable and still very good. We organized with John Peters a sweep of these vintages, from 2001 through 2004 I think. The idea was to show everyone Laurent's style of wine-making and we combined with each course two of the wines so that people could compare them with the food and figure out for themselves which wine worked better with which part of the course. No wine usually works well with all ingredients on a plate, usually one does better with the sauce or the vegetables or the main focus of each plate served. That's what makes it all so much fun. I usually tell people to keep some of each of their wines and ask for more glasses so as to be able to compare each wine with each course just to learn. It means little room on the table but it sure can be revealing when you realize how well a certain wine can work with a specific dish, even if it was not initially presented that way. I remind you of my comments on the Paolo COPPO luncheon at Proof restaurant where the 2006 Chardonnay from owner Paolo in my opinion complemented best the penne and small spicy meatballs, even better than the Barberas and the Barolo 2003.
THe night of the tasting and dinner we had wine writer Ben Giliberti come to see Laurent and taste his wines. Ben came with his wife. They are both featured here in many of these photos. They have known each other for years. I may have introduced them, I'm not use. I do know that they knew each other while I worked for Laurent Selections. I would often be the one to drop off samples for Ben to try and see what he thought. Of course the idea was to get him to really like something and include it in one of his articles. Luckily for me this happened many times and I am very grateful to Ben for have given me a bit more ammunition so to speak as I would go around town back then and taste and sell and propose my wines to anyone willing to listen.
Also at the tasting was one of our customers that happened to have her son with her at the time. Ramona and her son, Milan have become good friends over the years. We have watched them both grow over the years. The pictures of Milan enjoying his COLDSTONE Cremery ice cream is priceless and so I have included it here. It was smart of Ramona to get him that just before coming to taste the wines of Laurent. This was she could focus on these excellent Margaux wines while her son attacked the ice cream! The other reason I include these is that just a few days ago Ramona and Milan left Washington D.C. to go live in California with her family. Good luck to you both, may you both thrive there. Don't forget, however to drink other wines and not just those from California.
John Peters and Alan Cohen ( part-owner of LVDH Imports ) are also present. We also had special friend and guest at dinner Antoine Songy at the dinner. I met Antoine Songy when I worked for Laurent. He really wanted to come as a surprise to Laurent and so we kept the secret until he showed up at the restaurant afterwards. And then there were many of our customers, too at the dinner.
Laurent makes some really polished red Bordeaux wines in Margaux. I think that this evening I had more than one favorite. Some I liked better with the food and some I really enjoyed on their own. I remember both really liking and thinking what a great value the 2002 was ; Laurent was in agreement. It had a bit more stuffing and edge and bite, all of which I love when you combine that with some pepper, spice, leather and earth in the flavors, with good measures of baked French sunshine imprisoned and finally released from the liquid/grapes that had held it captive for so long! I smiled several times when these wines finally met my lips and covered my tongue. Oh yeah, Bordeaux sure can be tantalizing.
Here are some of the pictures to help fill in some of the blanks. At some point I will find all my paperwork and include dates, more about the vintages, wines, people etcetera. For the time being this glossed-over recollection of bits and pieces from my memory will have to suffice.
It;s funny as how when you go and load the pictures after you write the text that you remember things that you forgot to write before. One of those things is that our customer named Peter came in and got a bottle signed for his French girlfriend, Veronique.
They are currently renovating an old home in La Rochelle, France into a beautiful B& B and have already invited me over. I can't wait! They are charming and always bring us these amazing food platters during the holidays! Thanks Peter and Veronique. J'ai jamais demander a toi Veronique, est-ce que tu a bien aime le Bordeaux de Laurent ?!?
Marilyn Chilton who I have known almost as long as I have been in the D.C. wine business ( I met her when I worked at the Mayflower Wines and Spirits ) is raising her glass of wine cheering us and the dinner and the wine. Thanks Marilyn. Funny, I just saw you in our store this past Saturday. I'll have to remind you of this dinner next time I see you.
Also, at the dinner I saw two young ladies sitting off to the side and asked them to join Laurent, Alan, Antoine and myself. They readily agreed. They had lots of life and personality and seemed ready to have a great time at the dinner. The blond even got up and danced at the end around Laurent. There are two pictures of that. At the end they closed the restaurant down with us and are seen outside of it in a couple of pictures with Laurent. I waved and went on my way after snapping those last shots. What a grand evening it was.
Cheers, sante, ... merci John Peters, Alan Cohen, Antoine Songy, Laurent Vonderheyden and all the excellent staff at Lavandou. TONY
No comments:
Post a Comment