Chateau Palmer & Louis XIII

Château Palmer and Louis XIII had their first dinner on the Indian subcontinent, organized by Ishaan Ahuja and Ayesha Chenoy, Founders of Drayton Wines [ they were lovely hosts and my camera was in love with both of them as well! ]. The guest list was exclusive and small and on the table were two delicious French brands and delectable French food by the very talented Jean Pierre at the French Embassy.

Below: The evening started with sorting and collation in the kitchens.

Château Palmer is a wine. And that’s an understatement. Château Palmer is a winery in the Margaux appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. You can find them on Twitter @ChateauPalmer and Facebook. The main word I took away after tasting the various vintages at this dinner is “Velvet”. The 1990 was my favorite and the 1999 was a close second.

“Prices range from $200-375 for the listed auction wines; about $400 for the 2000; $250-300 for 2005; and $300-400 for the 2009. The lesser vintages can be purchased in the range of $175-250 (be certain the wine has been in temperature-controlled storage).” Source.

Below: Bernard de Laage de Meux, Directeur Développement at Château Palmer organizing the wine bottles in the order they will be served to the guests.

Below: Bernard describing to the servers, the ideal amount of wine to be poured in each serving for the guests.

Below: Riedel wine glasses [ you can find them on Twitter @RiedelAustralia and Facebook ]. Gorgeous clarity.The box carrying the Louis XIII Cognac package. Louis XIII is a 100 year old Cognac. Vincent Cleme & LOUIS XIII are available on Twitter and Facebook at @VincentCleme and LOUIS XIII, India.

Below: The special glasses for serving Louis XIII

Below: Guests signing in as they arrive at the French Ambassador’s residence. There was conversation and champagne before the start of the wine tasting and the dinner.

Below: Ayesha Chenoy of Drayton Wines.

Below: Guests were then seated at the dinner table and Bernard gave them a background and description of the Château Palmer wines and started the wine-tasting.

Below: There were diaries for wine-notes and many of the guests spent time nosing the wine, tasting it and then writing down their reactions.

Below: Ishaan Ahuja of Drayton Wines. There’s another portrait of his from the evening – further down this blog post – one of my favorites from this lot.

Below: Ishaan Ahuja of Drayton Wines – the portrait I was talking about earlier? This is that.

Below: The wine glasses are cleared at the meal comes to and end. A palette cleanser is presented to the guests and the Louiz XIII Cognac bottle is brought out by Vincent Cleme of Remy Martin.

Below: Vincent described the Cognac and gave more background about its history and production. It was a strange feeling to be tasting a Cognac produced by people who are no longer alive.

Below: The French Ambassador to India helping the evening along by opening the crystal decanter.

The lovely evening was organized by Ishaan Ahuja and Ayesha Chenoy, Founders of Drayton Wines. Looking at the images from the evening above, the feeling I get is that it was a grand evening. Always a pleasure to re-visit the French Embassy! Oh. Did I tell you that a glass of the Louis XIII Cognac retails in India at Rs. 10,000 per glass? Cheers!