Lunches at Le Bistrot du Sommelier in Paris and at the Trianon Palace in Versailles weren’t only occasions to eat and drink well but also opportunities to meet historical wine producer Isabelle Orliac, gold-medalist sommelier Philippe Faur-Brac, and gastronomic chef Simone Zanoni.
* * *
Isabelle and Catherine Orliac, two sisters in Aquitaine, are heirs to a property in southwest France that supplied wine to Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and the Court of France in the 1780s. The Orliac domain lies in the little-known Côtes du Brulhois, 100 miles southeast of Bordeaux, 60 miles northwest of Toulouse.
The date 1780 appears on the label of Royal Heritage, the Orliac sisters’ deep red wine, because it was on Jule 11, 1780, that Louis XVI signed a letter at Versailles inviting the sisters’ ancestor Jean Orliac to provide the Court of France with his wines.
Based on the original recipes, the sisters now produce three wines—Royal Heritage and two flavored wines called Secret de Famille (Family Secret). These are luxury products, available in only a few restaurants and select shops as well as though a form of direct sale in which buyers “sponsor” a vine.
I met Isabelle for two friendly lunches in restaurants where Orliac wines appear on the wine list: Le Bistrot du Sommelier in Paris and La Veranda (Trianon Palace) in Versailles. The two restaurants are described in the second half of this article.
Royal Heritage is made, as it was 230 years ago, from a blend of four grapes: tannat, cabernet franc, merlot, and abouriou. The Orliac sisters produced their first modern vintage in 2005, which is the vintage I tried. It is hefty, full-bodied, dark fruity, mildly spicy wine. Isabelle recommended serving it with lamb, which I did one evening with friends at home, with much success.
For 140€ or 168€ ($190/225), depending on the vintage (2005-2009 are currently available), one “sponsors” a vine on their 10-hectare (25-acre) domain. Eighteen months later, a bottle of wine from the domain awaits you with its wax-sealed cork and its handsome black box. You can have the bottle sent to you (at additional cost) or you can drive over to the Orliac family’s Chateau la Bastide to pick up your bottle.
Royal Heritage is indeed pricey for a Côtes du Brulhois, albeit a big Côtes du Brulhois. This is a confidential wine whose price reflects a combination of quality, limited production, and the added value of marketing a so-called historical product.
I leave it to readers to decide on the added value of royal history on the price of this wine. However, I note a supplemental value for those able to take advantage of it: the possibility of one day visiting your vine and meeting the wine-growers in this rustically beautiful and little-known area of France. Sponsor six bottles and you’ll likely be invited for lunch at their domain.
That’s a delightful and informative supplemental value indeed, to judge by my lunches with Isabelle in Paris and Versailles, where I got a taste of the Orliacs’ other two wines: one red, one pink, both called Secret de Famille.
The Secret de Famille (Family Secret) wines, which the sisters began producing in 2007, largely follow Jean Orliac original recipes for flavored wines, with modifications to properly stabilize them. Isabelle says that she and her sister are also in possession of other recipes, but those can no longer be marketed, at least not as wine, since they call for the inclusion of various of herbs and flowers that would now classify them as drugs.
The pink Secret de Famille is a white wine at heart that has been blended with essence of rose and of ginger. One would naturally refer to its color as rosé in wine terms, but I can’t help but think of it as pink. Distinctly but not overpoweringly rose flavored, it has a zesty peppery taste. It’s a lively, entertaining flavored wine as Marie-Antoinette would have enjoyed. Indeed, it was produced by Jean Orliac and ordered for the Court precisely because it could satisfy the queen’s taste for all things rose (and pink). More floral than sweet, it can be served as an aperitif, though I’d favor it as a dessert wine.
The red Secret de Famille in which the red wine has been macerated with berries, currants and spices, has a dark fruity, slightly peppery taste. On a whim it could be served with meat that has a fruit-based sauce, but I’d recommend saving it, like the other, for dessert, when one is ready to sit back and delve deeper into personal and wine history while sharing one Secret or the other.
The Secrets cost 40 euros (about $55) each through the Orliacs’ website. They’re also available in the museum shops at Versailles, as is appropriate for a product that Marie-Antoinette enjoyed.
– For information about all three wines see Royal Heritage, 2 Soeurs en Aquitaine (2 Sister in Aquitaine), Chateau la Bastide, 47270 Clermont Soubiran. Tel. 05 53 87 41 02. Complete information on vine sponsorship, bottle and shipping costs are available on at www.royal-heritage.eu once you’ve requested and obtained the proper access code on the site.
Le Bistrot du Sommelier
97 boulevard Haussmann, 8th arr., Paris.
Philippe Faure-Brac opened his Bistrot du Sommelier in 1984 at the age of 24, so the bistro’s longevity alone in this tony business/residential neighborhood is laudable. Of course it helped when, in 1992, he made the leap to superstardom among wine connoisseurs by winning the title World’s Best Sommelier in 1992. Other honors have followed (Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole 1995, Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite 2005, Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence 2007) as have books on wine and on wine and food pairing.
This is a place to enjoy hearty, flavorful fare that’s traditionally French and well-constructed without being passé or over-wrought. A gentleman farmer—or in the case of my lunch with Isabelle, an gentlewoman winegrower—might come to feel urban but not too removed from the country… and to enjoy top-flight wine wisdom and wine talk.
Isabelle Orliac is rightfully proud to have her wine on Mr. Faure Brac’s extensive list.
– Bistrot du Sommelier, 97 boulevard Haussmann, 8th arr. Tel. 01 42 65 24 85. Metro Saint-Augustin. Open Mon.-Fri. noon-2:30 p.m. and 7:30-10:30 p.m.
La Veranda at the Trianon Palace
1 boulevard de la Reine, Versailles
Internationally renowned English chef Gordon Ramsay gets top billing at the Hotel Trianon Palace at Versailles since his name brands the gastronomic restaurant here. But Italian chef Simone Zanoni is the one who makes it happen—“it” being the high gastronomy served at the Gordon Ramsay and the polished contemporary cuisine served at the hotel’s second restaurant La Veranda.
La Veranda is a spacious, elegant setting whose décor is unobtrusive enough to allow the main focus of the room to be the wall of windows giving out to a sublime view out to the pastures of the Domain of Versailles, where the troop of sheep may be grazing nearby. Or ignore the windows altogether and request, in fine weather, a seat out on the veranda.
This restaurant is recommendable for a well-polished lunch for those taking the leisurely and luxuriant approach to visiting the town and palace of Versailles for the day or longer. We were certainly in no rush.
– La Veranda at the Trianon Palace, 1 boulevard de la Reine, 78000 Versailles. Tel. 01 30 84 50 18. Reservations typically not necessary on weekdays but recommended for Saturday lunch and more so for Sunday brunch. In any case, it’s worth calling ahead and requesting a window or veranda table. Moderate-expensive. See website for menu.
– The Trainon Palace is a part of the Waldorf Astoria Collection of hotels, Hilton’s luxury line. Though the personality of the rooms and suites is rather subdued, they are handsome and spacious and certainly attractive for business and meeting travelers. Thanks to the hotel’s situation, restaurants and Guerlain spa (with indoor pool), the Trianon Palace is also a setting from which to explore the overall luxuriance of Versailles, both the town, the palace, and the park which begins just outside, so it can certainly lend itself to a romantic getaway from Paris.
© Gary Lee Kraut