Gigondas Sur Table

Imagine this.

Forty-two producers of the best of the wines of Gigondas. Six top regional chefs, including two with Michelin stars, cooking and presenting their plats. The region's best chocolaterie with plenty of free tastings. Plus a 3-course menu for children. All happening on the place, or square, of one of the most famous wine villages on the globe.

That's the annual food and wine celebration, Gigondas Sur Table, in the heart of Côtes-du-Rhône wine country.

When we arrived and presented our tickets we were each given a pouch with a neck strap that contained the evening's food and wine offerings as well as recipes from the chefs. We also got a pen for taking notes and one of those perfectly-shaped Spiegelau wine glasses, engraved with the seal of the Gigondas appellation.

Every Gigondas producer you've ever wished were available at your local wine store was there for you to sniff, swirl and, of course, taste. Most of the producers had on offer multiple vintages and cuvees. Domaine Brusset, offering up Le Secret de Montmorail; Domaine Raspail-Ay with a couple of bottles that simply cannot be bettered; Château de Montmirail from nearby Vacqueryas; Saint Gayan, Tête Noire, Longue Toque from Gabriel Meffre, Notre Dame des Pallières, Les Goubert, Pesquier, the Perrin family...the list goes on. I drank Gigondas from wineries I had never heard of, much less tasted.

My most memorable tasting was from a dust-encrusted Jereboam (that's a really big bottle) of the 2007 Valbelle from Château de Saint-Cosme (whose Côtes-du-Rhône is one of our house wines back home).

MIchelin Star Eating

The fête ran from 7 PM until 11 PM and by the time the day's light was fading the place was filled beyond capacity with people, almost all of them, from my admittedly small sample of eavesdropping, local wine aficionados. Luckily we arrived early so we were able to find a place to park only about seven minutes down the hill and we were able to sample some of the food before the lines got long. So long, in fact, that the line for sampling the food from Chef Julian Alano's restaurant Le Clair de la Plume (in distant Grignan) snaked out from his table, through the place and beyond the entry gates. And it stayed that way the entire time I was at the food fest.

We saw Chef Jean-Jacques Prévôt, who holds one Michelin star at Restaurant Prévôt at Cavaillon, a good hour's drive away, along with his daughter and sommelier, Sandra-Rose Prévôt. Also serving was one-star chef Laurent Azoulay from Le Saule Pleureur in nearby Monteux.

Chef Julian Alano, by the way, was a protégé of notre ami, local restaurateur Jean-François Sylvestre, cooking in J-F's restaurant at the age of nineteen. Now Alano is a top regional chef and his restaurant is on everyone's watchlist for restaurants most likely to be awarded a Michelin star.

P.S. Despite the rumour started by our Provençal pal Julie Mautner (of ProvencePost.com), Brad Pitt (who has partnered with the Perrin Family to produce wine) did not make an appearance, much to the disappointment of our British friend, Jane, who has children from both Vietnam and Cambodia. Jane was looking forward to bonding with Angie.