Michelin has awarded stars to a record 75 new restaurants in its France 2019 guide, with debuts for the Perrin family’s L’Oustalet restaurant in the Rhône and Lafaurie-Peyraguey’s newly opened ‘Lalique’ in Sauternes.
The Perrins, owners of Château de Beaucastel, run L’Oustalet in Gigondas with chef Laurent Deconinck, who has overseen food at the restaurant since 2009.
Although newly starred in the Michelin France 2019 guide, L’Oustalet itself has been going for 40 years.
Owned by the Perrins since 2009, its focus on seasonal food and wine pairings, backed by a current cellar of 1,200 different wines, has already made it a destination for those in-the-know.
‘It’s just wonderful,’ said Deconinck of his star. ‘Michelin has followed my exploits and the evolution in my cuisine, and today has made sense of it all.’
Further west, Michelin also recognised the rising profile of Sauternes as a destination by awarding a star to ‘Lalique’ restaurant at the newly refurbished Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey.
The estate is owned by Lalique chairman Silvio Denz and the restaurant at Lafaurie-Peyraguey is run by young chef Jerôme Schilling. It has only been open for around six months and the restaurant is accompanied by a luxury accommodation at the estate.
Denz bought Lafaurie-Peyraguey in 2014, kick-starting fresh quality assessments of the vineyards and plans to renovate the château building; with a view to improving the luxury tourism offering in this rural, sweet wine-producing region south of Bordeaux.
Both Lalique and L’Oustalet formed part of a record year for Michelin France. Inspectors awarded one, two or three stars to a record 75 new restaurants.
See Decanter’s insider guide to Bordeaux châteaux restaurants
There were several high-profile surprises in the 2019 Guide.
Among them, chef Marc Veyrat lost a star only one year after being upgraded to three stars at his La Maison des Bois restaurant in Manigod, Haue-Savoie, eastern France.
And chef Sebastien Bras found himself back in the guide in 2019, despite handing back his three Michelin stars in autumn 2017 – citing the pressure of cooking to a particular set of rules.
To the apparent surprise of Bras, Michelin re-instated his two stars at Le Suquet restaurant in Aveyron, according to French media reports.
Those awarded three stars in the 2019 guide included Mirazur, located near to Menton on the French Riviera and led by chef Mauro Colagreco, as well as Le Clos des Sens, run by Laurent Petit in Annecy-le-Vieux.
‘From remarkable regional dynamism, to showcasing new talented youngsters, and to an unprecedented number of new star-studded restaurants led by women, the 2019 vintage shines brightly in many ways,’ said Gwendal Poullenec, international director of the Michelin Guides.
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