IN VINO CARITAS 21 January 2016 TheWineForum Hotel Grischa Benevolence Dinner Davos, Switzerland Contents Welcome to Welcome to The Wine Forum 1 The Wine Forum Biographies 2 The Programme 6 Dear Guest, Interesting Facts 8 Welcome to The Wine Forum’s Sixth Annual Benevolence Dinner. At these dinners, we seek to For Your Notes 10 celebrate those who make wines to superlative standards and those who donate so generously philanthropically. This year we are delighted to sample once again some of the world’s finest and rarest wines. Prior to dinner, we will enjoy some elegant champagnes. Following this treat, we will enjoy a multi- course dinner where we show four vintages of Bonneau du Martray and three of Château Palmer. Bonneau du Martray is a fabled burgundy white wine occupying the most prestigious region of Corton Charlemagne just south of Beaune. The winery has changed hands only three times in the last 1,200 years. The current owner and winemaker, Jean-Charles Le Bault de la Morinière will give us an idea of this fabulous heritage and what we should look for in his wines. No doubt you will notice the aristocratic nature of this beautifully crafted, finely tuned, and resonant wine. Château Palmer has long been a favourite of professional Bordeaux critics. Occupying unique terroir in the heart of the Margaux commune in Bordeaux, it is noted among left bank properties for planting a high percentage of merlot vines. These allow Palmer to shine when certain vintages favour Cabernet Sauvignon and others Merlot. Known for its power, complexity, yet velvet nature, Château Palmer is now one of the most sought-after wines in the world. Thomas Duroux, the current winery director will describe to us the wines and his philosophy. As always we are grateful to our member benefactors for sponsoring this event and to the Hotel Grischa for so carefully planning with us to ensure your enjoyment is maximised. We are most grateful, too, for your kind patronage and wish you a superlative evening. David Spreng Vidhi Tambiah Co-founder Co-founder The Wine Forum The Wine Forum 1 Biographies Jean-Charles Le Bault de la Morinière took over the management of the Domaine in 1994 and was determined to make an impact, preserving, protecting, and improving natural terroir and, in so doing, raise the profile of Bonneau du Martray. He suggests that the Corton-Charlemagne produced by Domaine Bonneau du Martray is a product of light rather than heat. The Domaine, in a sense faces the “wrong” way, in textbook terms, its unique aspect facing west. This increases the influence of light on the vines, particularly in the afternoon and early evening, without running the risk of excessive heat. The hallmark of a Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton- Jean-Charles Le Bault de la Morinière, Charlemagne is the combination of richness, Bonneau du Martray, Grand Cru purity, and supreme elegance. The Domaine has achieved and sustained a fundamental Look at almost any image of the and even majestic quality, which is clearly unmistakable hill of Corton and you will, acknowledged throughout the world. essentially, be looking at the Bonneau du Martray estate. With 11 hectares in one block, this is the largest single Grand Cru vineyard holding and exactly the same land gifted by the Emperor Charlemagne in 775 ad. The recipient at that time was the Abbey of Saulieu. Today, Domaine Bonneau du Martray is owned by the Le Bault de la Morinière family, only the third set of owners in twelve centuries. Clearly, they bear quite a responsibility to past, present, and, most importantly, future generations. 2 3 by and along the Gironde estuary. On this exceptional terroir, Château Palmer has constantly produced wines of unique character, clearly identified and recognised by fine wines lovers all over the world. Château Palmer’s wines combine power and complexity with delicacy, extreme elegance, and a magnificent velvet texture. Soils, plus Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in equal proportion and an additional 6% of Petit Verdot, give its wines this unique expression of the Margaux appellation. Approachable when young, its wines age remarkably well, developing even more complexity and aromatic richness, remaining still delicate and silky. Thomas Duroux, Château Palmer, Thomas Duroux was 34 when he took over deuxième Grand Cru Classe from Bertrand Bouteiller as CEO of Château Palmer in 2004. A professional agronomist Château Palmer, whose pedigree and œnologist, he brought with him 10 years architecture is a hallmark of its superb of experience in the making of great wines produce, is an undisputed star of the around the world: in Bordeaux, Hungary, prestigious Margaux appellation in South Africa, California, and Tuscany. Bordeaux. Its long history starts as early as the 17th century, but it is only in 1814 A master of equilibrium, always seeking that the estate took the name of Château greater depth, elegance, and refinement for Palmer, when Charles Palmer, an English Château Palmer wines, Duroux brings to his Major General in the army of the Duke of task not only impeccable taste, experience, Wellington, acquired it and gave it his name. and respect for an unequalled tradition but also youth, a spirit of independence, and a Located in the Margaux appellation of the talent for invention and innovation. Médoc, Bordeaux area, Château Palmer is a classified growth of the 1855 classification. Its 55-hectare vineyard lies upon the famous gravel rises of the greatest of Médoc wines, this first terrace of gravels formed 4 5 The Programme Canapés: Focaccia with smoked salmon Dates filled with cream cheese Beef tartare served on white bread served with 2007 Louis Roederer, Cristal Champagne 2006 Perrier Jouët, Belle Epoque Rosé Champagne 2002 Tarlant, La Vigne d’Antan Duet of crab meat cake and tuna tartare served with 2009 Bonneau du Martray, Corton Charlemagne from Double Magnum 2007 Bonneau du Martray, Corton Charlemagne from Magnum Fillet of branzino served with Mediterranean fennel and fine noodles served with 2005 Bonneau du Martray, Corton Charlemagne from Magnum Risotto with champagne and white truffle with medium-roasted barbarie duck breast served with 1999 Château Palmer 1990 Château Palmer Marinated bison fillet on roasted potato terrine and vegetables served with 2005 Château Palmer Brillat-Savarin cheese, Citeaux cheese, and Comte cheese with port wine fix and pistachio pesto served with 1990 Bonneau du Martray, Corton Charlemagne from Magnum 6 7 Interesting Facts From The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition By kind permission of Jancis Robinson MW, editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th edition. JancisRobinson.com Charlemagne Margaux was king of the Franks from 768–814 and is potentially the most seductive appellation intermingled with one estate often comprising was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in of the Haut-Médoc district of Bordeaux. At very different, and often distant, plots of land. 800. Charlemagne is considered to be the their stereotypical best, the wines of Margaux Château Margaux, for example, has vineyards man who ushered in civilisation, order, and combine the deep ruby colour, structure, and in both Cantenac and Soussans. concentration of any top-quality Médoc with prosperity after the long Dark Ages, ruling a haunting perfume and a silkier texture than a Christian kingdom based at Aachen Margaux has in the past enjoyed enormous is found to the north in St-Julien, Pauillac, and réclame, and more Margaux properties were (Aix-la-Chapelle) which included virtually St-Estèphe. Mid-20th-century vintages from included in the 1855 classification of the Médoc all of France, Belgium, Germany, and its two finest properties Château Margaux and Graves (more than 20) than from any Switzerland. and Château Palmer certainly demonstrated other appellation. The appellation clearly still this and helped to develop this conception of Charlemagne’s name is associated by modern has great potential, but in the 1970s, 1980s, Margaux. Margaux is the most southerly, most wine drinkers with one of the greatest white and even 1990s a curious number of châteaux isolated, and most extensive of the Médoc’s failed to keep pace with the substantial burgundies, Corton-Charlemagne (whose communal appellations. Although it is made improvements in wine quality achieved in the vineyards include a plot known as Le of several non-contiguous parcels of the best other three major appellations of the Médoc. Charlemagne), produced on land he gave to portions of vineyard land—inferior parcels the Abbey of Saulieu in 775. Charlemagne’s qualifying merely as Haut-Médoc—the secretary and biographer Einhard tells us, appellation takes in not just the substantial however, that Charlemagne was a moderate village of Margaux, but also the neighbouring man: he never drank more than three cups communities of Cantenac, Soussans, Labarde, of wine with dinner, and he hated to see and Arsac. people drunk. Only a temperate man is truly interested in wine. When he renamed the 12 In total, almost 1,500 hectares/3,750 acres months of the year in his native language, qualified for the Margaux appellation in the he called October “windume-manoth,” the mid 2010s, and within its boundaries there are inevitably considerable variations in month of the wine harvest—which was both topography and soil type. Within the presumably true of the vineyards then apellation is limestone, chalk, clay, and sand, established in parts of northern Europe but most of the finest wines should come considered too cool for viable wine from gentle outcrops, or croupes, where gravel production today. predominates and drainage is good—although properties here are particularly parcellated and 8 9 For Your Notes 10 11 Thank You for attending The Wine Forum’s Napa and Bordeaux Tasting. We aim to attain the highest standards in everything we do.