The French triangle day 1: a quiet evening at Yquem

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After a long car ride from Saint-Emilion to Sauternes, I finally arrived at Château d'Yquem, which will be my home for 2 nights. I haven't stayed in a French château since my last trip to Bordeaux, and I felt very privileged to be a guest here.

[360° photo] The property had seen a renovation nearly 2 decades ago, as it hosted the reception for Delphine Arnault's wedding.

[360° photo] My room was in one corner of the château, and the furnishings were pretty classic.

[360° photo] There was a sitting room attached, which happened to be in one of the towers of the château. Sadly I did not spend enough time here.

[360° photo] The bathroom was equipped with modern furnishings but maintained a classic feel.

[360° photo] After resting up a little - and changing out of the clothes I have worn for more than 24 hours - I went down to join the Caprice team for dinner. Hosting us in the dining room were Estate Manager Lorenzo Pasquini and Mathieu Jullien from LVMH Vins d'Exception. Hairy Legs is missing in action, and I found out later that he crashed in his room due to jet lag.

The first course looked very pretty in terms of presentation. In the center we have a ginger gelée, topped with some whipped cream and fragrant thyme. A very refreshing dish.

A little caviar never hurt anyone...

The shredded crab meat came topped with a sablé flavored with cumin. This was very tasty.

Sea urchin from Brittany - not as sweet and creamy as ones from Japan, but not too much idione here as I expected.

The breast came with three different purées made with the white part of citrus rinds: grapefruit, orange, and lemon. These were very nice and, of course, paired very well with Yquem.

The leg on the side came with slices of peach. Also great with Yquem.

They have, apparently, chosen to age Roquefort for an extended period of time.

The cheese now has a texture that's more like ice cream. Of course this was best paired with grapes... both fresh and ones marinated in wine. And yes, Roquefort and Yquem is a very classic pairing.

We have both fresh and poached pear, served with miel de Sauternes.

This was some kind of mousse with honey inside.

This was a casual dinner, so the number of bottles tonight was very modest. They were still delicious, though.

2020 Ygrec de Yquem - nice and flinty just as I expected, with green apple and muscat grape on the nose.

2007 Yquem - very high level of botrytis, with orange marmalade and almost candied clementine, a little bit of saffron and beeswax.

1988 Yquem - really rich in botrytis and lots of saffron on the nose. Surprisingly not too sweet on the palate.

It's been a very long day for me, so I was pretty happy to retire to my room, clean up, and catch up on some of that sleep I didn't get on my flight.