Episode 28 : Branding Out of The Box - Paris GOOD food + wine

​by Paige Donner

Host-Producer  Paris GOOD food + wine 

Looking to inspire the next generation of food+wine entrepreneurs, Paris GOOD food + wine takes a closer look at French and European food + wine companies that began as single-visionary entrepreneurs.

A rural English potato farmer who turned his potato chips into a global brand (Tyrrell's); a Bordeaux wine company started by a few brothers in the late 1940s that has gone on to be Europe's biggest wine-selling brand and whose market is 80% French (Castel Frères) ; a cookie and snacks company whose founders got their pastry-making degrees while in business school (Michel & Augustin); a cabaret and restaurant that has been resurrected from the ashes of its 1930's glorious past (Le Bal Blomet); and a fine foods grocery shop that retains its Mom & Pop Provençal feel (Maison Brémond 1830).

This episode has been brought to you by the generous support of Paris Food And Wine. Follow us on Twitter @parisfoodwine, Facebook @ParisFoodAndWine and you can find me on Instagram@PaigeFoodWine

Find this and more episodes of Paris GOOD food + wine on Soundcloud,Stitcher, YouTube, Tune IN Radio and also on iTunes.

Paris GOOD food + wine is the first (and still only) English language radio program and podcast about food and wine produced in Paris, France. This episode, Branding Out of The Box, seeks to inspire budding, next-generation entrepreneurs who might have an idea or a dream and simply require the confidence to pursue it. In an era where big companies are only getting bigger and fast becoming monoliths, the entrepreneurial, small-business dream is still real and still scalable.

Sprouts is a weekly program that features local radio production and stories from many radio stations and local media groups around the world. It is produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the country.

All music used is free of rights and royalty-free courtesy FreeSoundTrack.com. This episode features Attacked by Cherubs and also the Sprouts soundtrack Torpedoes on Tuesday by Poison Control. Show Intro/ Outro Theme Jazzy Paris background courtesy of BenSound Music.
This episode has been generously brought to you by Paris Food And Wine@ParisFoodWine http://parisfoodandwine.net and also Bordeaux Food & Wine @bordeauxfoodvin http://bordeauxfoodandwine.com

For sponsorship and advertising, contact Paige. Also for hosting and speaking engagements and for media collaborations: http://Paigedonner.info

More Info @ParisFoodWine
Instagram @PaigeFoodWine

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine on :

All photos copyright 2017 Paige Donner

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Prints available by contacting http://PaigeDonner.info​

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a flask of Chateau Haut-Brion wine

by Paige Donner (all photos copyright 2017 Paige Donner)

As Bordeaux's very first wine château, is it any wonder that Haut-Brion still ranks with such stature in the world's profile of wines and wine estates? Well, a measured answer would be both yes, and no. 

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It's not a given that a wine or a wine estate with such deep-roots and a glorious past would be sheparded forward through the centuries in a fashion that continues to uphold what is best of the property and best for the wine. 

On a recent visit to Château Haut-Brion, my first visit, in fact, I was told by the lovely Turid, the château's press relations manager who has been with the property for 17 years, that Château Haut-Brion is rightfully considered the very first Bordelais wine-producing château as they have come to be known through the ages. Meaning: vineyards, wine production area, chai, vat room, cellars and in Haut-Brion's case, even a cooperage. 

As many French, and it's said the Bordelais in particular, tend to wax eloquent about the history and cultural significance of their properties, I had always taken this singular claim as the original Bordeaux Château with a grain of salt. BUT, I stand to be corrected. As the charming Turid pointed out, and later I was able to verify through my own research, indeed, it was as far back as 1533 that Jean de Pontac bought what was then considered to be a mansion that sat on the locality known as Haut-Brion in the commune of Pessac and united it with his surrounding vineyard land-holdings. 

Thus, it can rightfully be claimed, through historical land records, that Château (& vineyards) Haut-Brion came into existence in 1533. 

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But that is not all that Jean de Pontac did. By 1549 he started building and enlarging on the very site that is still the château today and in fact the north-eastern part of the current château still constitutes this edifice. 

Fast-forward a century or so and the château, always owned by illustrious men of power and King's servants, has gained immeasurable repute for its terroir and its resulting wines. So much so that in 1677 a (famous) philosopher by the name of John Locke, on a visit to the estate, is quoted as saying, 

"The wine of Pontac, so revered in England, is made on a little rise of ground, lieing open most to the west. It is noe thing but pure white sand, mixed with a little gravel.  One wold imagin it scarce fit to beare anything...."

That is probably one of the most remarkable things about Haut-Brion, a Gascon name that derives from its ancient Celtic origins of "Briga," meaning rise or mount, that traces of wine production here date back to the 1st c. AD. Hence as far back as Pax Romana times, this little hillock with its characteristic small white stone gravel soils has been recognized as being especially conducive to growing grape vines. 

First Growth, Bordeaux Grand Cru

On the 25th of May, 1787, America's great lover of wine, Thomas Jefferson, who at the time was the 2nd American Ambassador to France, visited Haut-Brion during a tour of Bordeaux.  According to historical record, this is what Mr. Jefferson had to say about Haut-Brion: 

READ MORE ON  https://localfoodandwine.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/a-flask-of-chateau-haut-brion-wine/

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La Mission Haut-Brion, A Château With True Soul

by Paige Donner (all photos copyright 2017)

Château La Mission Haut-Brion's chapel for me sums up the essence of the property. It has been for centuries, and still is, a family home. A home where people have worshipped, where they have begun their lives and taken their last breaths, where meals have been shared, verses read, fine wines enjoyed after a day's labor in the vineyards. 

The elegance of Château La Mission Haut-Brion is that it blends its luxury and taste with absolutely no aristocratic airs. These are some of the oldest vineyards of Bordeaux. I count myself as extraordinarily lucky to have been invited to overnight there on a recent trip to Bordeaux. Granted, this is why most of the wine estates keep up their châteaux, yes because of the vineyards surrounding them and the cellars and vinification rooms and all the acoutrements that go with making great Bordeaux wines. But also to welcome guests, usually who work in or for the wine industry or those who are especially loyal appreciators of the wines. Few château owners actually live on their properties themseves, at least not in Bordeaux. 

The entire property still has echoes of piousness threaded into all of its structures and its tasting room feels like one in which a monk would feel at ease. Indeed the owner, Prince Robert of Luxembourg, who re-did the tasting room and its reception area only a few years ago, handpicked art pieces and even the the design of the iron-framed high-backed bishop's chairs that encircle the tasting room table. 

If you ever get lucky enough to gain entry into the chapel, look high above, at the molding just above the authentic and ancient (16th c.) stained glass windows. There you will see the years of the château's Millésimes - vintage years - engraved in a band across the four walls.  After 2015 and 2016 are added, there will be room enough only for a few more. So in another 4 or 5 centuries it would be interesting to see if perhaps the entire walls are engraved with numbers noting good vintage years. 

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Dinner At Château Latour Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé en 1855

Bordeaux, June 18, 2017 

by Paige Donner  (photos copyright 2017)

On a hot summer evening in the Médoc's Pauillac, Bordeaux guests arriving for the 1855 Grands Crus Classés dinner held this year at Château Latour were greeted with a marching Scottish-sounding band and flutes of Roederer champagne (who happens to own the closest neighboring château, Pichon Comtesse). 

The Belle of the Ball, namely Madame Salma Hayak Pinault kept herself demurely sheltered inside the reception hall from the intense heat of the evening that persisted until after the sun went down. Thankfully, her and her Kering husband, François-Henri Pinault, offered the option of mingling in the cellar's anteroom (as opposed to outdoors on the inner patio lawn) which was cleared out, save for an elegant display of the Grands Crus Classés en 1855 wines that were to be served at dinner. As a response to the sweltering heat of those few days in June, this ideally accommodated the several hundred privileged guests. 

These dinners, the official opening of Vinexpo Bordeaux held every two years, are always lavish events. It's where international and French journalists/ wine writers meet and mingle with these prestige wine estate owners and venerable Bordelais families, many of whose roots in the soil of the region run deeper even than U.S. modern history. 

The choice of the chef is always a pivotal statement, too, of how the year's chosen chateau will express their taste and style during the event. This year it was Chef Michel Guérard who ranks among the living legends of French chefs. .. .

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Parisian Eating Habits - In Numbers

by Paige Donner

Ever wondered how Parisians really eat? 

A recent study released by the Mayor's office of Paris breaks it down by the numbers. Here are some interesting stats to chew on. (Sorry! couldn't resist that one...)

13,800 Restaurants

There are that number of restaurants in the French capital. Surprisingly, however, that makes Paris only the 2nd densest city in France in terms of dweller to eating establishment. 

7,200 Businesses

This is the number of grocery stores, small and large, in the capital. That breaks down to more than 3 per 1000 inhabitants. Only 135 of these are specialized in organic products. (But that number seems to be mushrooming in recent years.)

70%

Roughly 70% of all food products consumed by Parisians come from France.  And, in addition to that, the products come from nearby regions such as Normandy, Hauts-de-France and such. 

660 Kilometers

This is the average distance that fresh ingredients travel before being served on a Parisian plate. 

MORE Nice Numbers...

Relative to the rest of France, Parisians consume about 15% more fruits and vegetables, about 5% less red meat, about 25% less fizzy drinks (sodas) and about 45% less alcohol (now that's kinda hard to believe! but apparently true).  These healthy eating habits result in an obesity rate much lower - 10.7% - than the rest of France - 15%.

And, finally, Parisians spend even more money on feeding themselves than their fellow countrymen in the rest of the country: 23% of their monthly budget vs. 20.4%. They also consume about 20% more "takeaway" than the rest of the country.  Bah Oui! Bien sûr, ç Paris! 

*All statistics cited according to May 2017 study released by the Paris Hôtel de Ville (City Hall). 

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Episode 27: Chef Mauro Colagreco & Urban Paris Rooftop Gardening: Paris GOOD food+wine

by Paige Donner

One of the World's Best Chefs, Mauro Colagreco,│ and Urban Rooftop Gardening in Paris

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For this episode of Paris GOOD food + wine, we have with us one of the world's top chefs, namely Mauro Colagreco. Chef Colagreco's restaurant, Mirazur, near the Italian border in the South of France, was ranked the world's Number 4 Best Restaurant last month by the prestigious and well-respected San Pellegrino World's Top 50 restaurants list. Chef Colagreco also has 2 Michelin stars for Mirazur.

I caught up with him while he was doing a special Chef's dinner at his other restaurant, Le Grand Coeur, in the Marais, here in Paris. He talks to us about the differences between Northern and Southern French cooking.

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Next, I get to talk to you straight from the rooftops of Paris. This interview with urban gardener and landscape architect, ChristopheGautrand, took place in the rooftop garden of the Mandarin Oriental Paris Hotel. The inspiration for this came from resident-Executive Chef, the 2-Michelin star Thierry Marx. With Christophe's help, Chef Marx uses his Parisian rooftop garden to grow herbs that infuse his dishes for Sur Mesure, his restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Paris. Grown up here are fragrant herbs like curry plant and strawberry mint which smell exactly like their names imply: respectively curry and fresh mint crushed with strawberries.

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Looking for something fun with wine to do this month? Check May 19^th and 20^th off on your calendar:

These are the days, a Friday and a Saturday, when La Revue du Vin de France, France's most widely-read wine magazine, holds their annual wine tasting salon, Le Salon du Vin, in the center of Paris. It takes place at the Palais Brongniart also known as The Bourse, in the 2^nd arrondissement.

Over 200 major wine producers will be present and pouring their wines for you to taste.

Also, for English speakers this year, Franck Ramage, the wine director of Le Cordon Bleu, will be hosting a special workshop on food and wine pairings that will be presented in both English and French.

That takes place on Friday May 19^th from 5 to 6pm with a nominal cost of 12€

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So join us for our Season 3 finale of Paris GOOD food + wine, coming to you directly from the French capital, Paris.

A special Thank You to Paul Reen, our Voice Over artist for the Chef Mauro Colagreco English translation.

This episode has been brought to you by the generous support of Paris Food And Wine. Follow us on Twitter @parisfoodwine, Facebook @ParisFoodAndWine and you can find me on Instagram @PaigeFoodWine

Find this and more episodes of Paris GOOD food + wine on Soundcloud, Stitcher, YouTube, Tune IN Radio and also on iTunes. 

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iTunes - Paris GOODfood+wine / 

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All music used is free of rights and royalty-free courtesy FreeSoundTrack.com. This episode features Ilya Truhanov, Fantasy in EMajor. Show Intro/ Outro Jazzy Paris background courtesy of BenSound Music.

This episode has been generously brought to you by Paris Food And Wine@ParisFoodWine http://parisfoodandwine.net and also Bordeaux Food & Wine @bordeauxfoodvin http://bordeauxfoodandwine.com

For sponsorship and advertising, contact Paige. Also for hosting and speaking engagements and for media collaborations: http://Paigedonner.info

More Info @ParisFoodWine
Instagram @PaigeFoodWine

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine on :

 

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All photos copyright 2017 Paige Donner

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iTunes - Paris GOODfood+wine / ​

Prints available by contacting http://PaigeDonner.info