French president Emmanuel Macron and Chinese premier Xi Jinping were served Petrus and Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill Champagne at a private dinner in southern France, according to reports.
China’s president has spent the last three days on a visit to France and, before a state dinner at the Elysée Palace in Paris, enjoyed a private dinner with president Macron in Beaulieu-Sur-Mer on the French Riviera on Sunday evening (24 March).
Three-star Michelin chef Christophe Bacquié, of Hotel du Castellet, oversaw the meal alongside top chefs from the French president’s official residence, who were flown in for the evening at Villa Kérylos.
Macron’s wife, Brigitte, and Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, were also present.
According to a report in France’s Le Figaro newspaper, wines served during the meal included Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2000 Champagne, Petrus 2002 and Joseph Drouhin’s Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet grand cru from the Burgundy 2011 vintage.
Food included asparagus, crab and fillet of veal, as well as local specialities, the paper reported.
Details of the subsequent state banquet in Paris on Monday night (25 March) had not emerged at the time of writing.
Wines served at official government functions are very much part of the diplomatic scene.
There is a hierarchy employed so that the bottles uncorked match the occasion, although there is often also an element of patriotism involved in the menu choice for wine-producing countries old and young.
At a state dinner for Xi in at Buckingham Palace in the UK in 2015, guests enjoyed Haut-Brion 1989 and English sparkling wine.
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