Michelin Guide France 2017: Haut-Brion, Angélus owners taste success

Highlights

Restaurants connected to the owners of Bordeaux heavyweights Château Haut-Brion, Château Angélus, Cheval Blanc and Pape Clément are among those celebrating after the Michelin Guide France released its new star ratings for 2017.

Inspectors awarded 70 new stars in the Michelin Guide France for 2017, revealed at a ceremony in Paris today (9 February). Several Bordeaux château owners had reasons to celebrate.

Chef Yannick Alléno was awarded three stars at his Le 1947 restaurant located at the Cheval Blanc hotel in Courchevel in the French alps.

Le 1947 – a reference to the highly regarded Cheval Blanc vintage of that year – was the only upgrade to three stars in this year’s Michelin Guide for France. It is owned by Bernard Arnault of LVMH, co-owner of Château Cheval Blanc in Bordeaux. Alléno already has three stars for his Paris restaurant Le Pavillon Ledoyen.

Among other successes, the Logis de la Cadène restaurant in St-Emilion gained its first star.

Tables for watching the world go by at Logis de la Cadène. Credit: Logis de la Cadène.

Logis de la Cadène is one of St-Emilion’s oldest restaurants. The Michelin star will be a welcome endorsement for Boüard de Laforest family, owners of nearby Château Angélus, who acquired the restaurant in 2013. It is also a fillip for the restaurant’s 29-year-old chef, Alexandre Baumard.

It’s been a good few years for the de Boüards, with Angélus being upgraded to Premier Grand Cru Classé A status in the St-Emilion wine classification system in 2012.

Château Pavie, which was upgraded alongside Angélus, also saw its Hostellerie de la Plaisance restaurant upgraded from one star to two.

Corks will also be popping on Bordeaux’s Left Bank this weekend after the owners of 1855 first growth Château Haut-Brion saw their new Paris restaurant awarded two Michelin stars in the 2017 guide.

Haut-Brion’s new restaurant and wine shop, Le Clarence, in Paris. Credit: Haut-Brion.

Domaine Clarence Dillon opened Le Clarence in Paris in late 2015 and chef Christophe Pelé paid tribute to his team and suppliers for fuelling his Michelin success.

Bernard Magrez, owner of four classified Bordeaux châteaux including Pape Clément, will also be pleased with the transition from chef Joël Robuchon to respected counterpart Pierre Gagnaire at his La Grande Maison de Bernard Magrez. The Bordeaux restaurant retained its two Michelin stars.

Pierre Gagnaire outside Bernard Magrez’s La Grande Maison. Credit: Institute Culturel Bernard Magrez.

A Bordeaux success story with an anglophile twist was Gordon Ramsay’s Le Pressoir d’Argent restaurant at the city’s Grand Hotel de Bordeaux & Spa – lying in the centre of town and just across from the ornate opera house.

Gordon Ramsay’s Le Pressoir d’Argent in Bordeaux includes English wines on the menu. Credit: Le Pressoir d’Argent

Michelin inspectors upgraded Ramsay’s restaurant from one to two stars, despite the chef causing a stir by adding English wines to the menu.

However, it wasn’t good news for everybody in Bordeaux.

The well-regarded restaurant at Château Cordeillan-Bages in Pauillac, owned by Château Lynch-Bages proprietor Jean-Michel Cazes, lost its two Michelin stars in the 2017 guide. But the restaurant is currently closed until April. It recruited a new, young chef at the beginning of this year and, under Michelin guidelines, that means it must build its reputation afresh.