Bar Pilar Newsletter (May 31)

Blair Waldorf Summer has commenced

Hi BP crew,

I’m coming off a week of beaches, Paris, and multiple bucket list events. My boyfriend has dubbed this my “Blair Waldorf Summer” and I can’t say I disagree with him (I had him watch Gossip Girl Seasons 1 and 2 - original Gossip Girl, of course - and Blair is his favorite character. The guy has great taste). But nothing - not Cannes Film Festival, Roland Garros, or parties at Versailles (just kidding, I didn’t do that last one. But I’m manifesting!) - can beat the satisfaction I get from discovering great wines and restaurant wine lists, and getting to share these discoveries with our crew. So I’m treating the travel as a scouting trip for you guys, to make sure you have the best summer vacations possible and don’t eat, drink or do a single subpar thing. Please chime in in the comments or in the group chat if you have any recommendations to add! These next few newsletters will be extra fun.

One thing I’ve noted while making my way through top Parisian wine lists is that our Cult Classics Cellar (which I continue to update as I try new wines) could be a globally acclaimed wine list on its own. At every groundbreaking restaurant wine program I’ve tried across the city so far, I’ve seen as least 20 of the producers from our list. So, if you haven’t checked out our Cult Classics Cellar yet, definitely go do so. With this list, you can experience the wine lists I’m reviewing, even if you’re not traveling at all this summer!

As usual, this newsletter is too long for email, so reminder to click “View full message” at the bottom of your email to read to the end. Now into our usual programming….

CHAMPIONS (the best wines I’ve tried since our last newsletter)

The first week of my trip consisted of bopping around the South of France on a (very generous) friend’s boat. He’s a big Napa cab fan and, while I’d usually say it’s blasphemy to drink anything other than French wine on a trip to France, he made it impossible for me to complain about the wines he brought onboard. As one of you rightfully said in my DM’s: “I’d drink those wine in Timbuktu!” The week was basically a parade of our Name-Drop Wines. The highlight, however, of the nautical Napa cab features was a bottle of Macdonald (pictured above), an extremely tightly allocated wine with only 500 cases produced per year, with unbelievable concentration and length of finish. It has joined Tusk as a top two favorite of mine among Napa’s elite, pricier wines. We also, of course, enjoyed some elite French wines; namely, a fabulous bottle of 2008 Château Palmer (forever one of my favorite Bordeaux producers) and multiple bottles of 2010 Lafite which our group hauled into France split across various wine suitcases (it was actually cheaper to buy in the U.S. than in Cannes or Saint-Tropez, go figure). If you’re on the hunt for a wine suitcase, I can vouch for VinGardeValise.

Let’s be real though, as much as I’ll never turn down wines like what we had on the boat, I lean more into the somm favorite (and often great value) Cult Classic wines, and those are what I reverted to immediately upon arriving in Paris. I’ve sampled some of the best wine lists of my life within just the first few days here (and have a few more promising spots lined up to test out for you guys). I’ll get into the full restaurant details in our “Wine & Dine” section below, but some bottle highlights have included the Breteaudeau “La Justice” I had at Le Bon Georges (reminded me that I need to add Breteaudeau to our Cult Classics Cellar! Will do that this week!) and a limited bottling of viscous, semi botrytis-affected (gorgeous notes of mushroom!), but totally dry Jurançon from Camin Larredya at Vantre (I wish we had more Jurançon on lists in the states! Ugh!). Both bottles are pictured below for your viewing pleasure.

POWER COUPLES (the wine & food pairings I’ve been obsessing over)

I paired the Paris wine highlights mentioned above (the Breteaudeau and the Camin Larredya) with a classic white asparagus dish and an Indonesian peanut sauce-seaonsed pork, respectively, and both pairings made me want to cry because they were so good. The acidity of the Breteaudeau perfectly complemented the white wine vinegar and lemon-dressed white asparagus, and the viscosity of the Jurançon, as well as the perception of sweetness from the botrytis, balanced the spice and heft of the pork. Going to try to recreate these at home. I need more white asparagus in my life in L.A.!!!

WINE AND DINE (what’s on my radar for eating & drinking well - in LA and around the world)

Within the self-proclaimed foodie community, Paris actually gets a lot of flak for it’s traditional dining culture and historical lack of fusion options, leading many to dub it “boring” and “repetitive.” But for a wine lover, I maintain that Paris remains the best city to dine in the the entire world (not to mention, its food scene is finally getting more experimental). The wine lists here consist of allocations and prices that we couldn’t dream of in the United States.

I’m only halfway through my week here, and will make sure that I emerge with a definitive list of where to wine and dine when you’re here next, but there are some places that I already know are making the list. These three have had me literally gasping for air:

• Le Saint Sebastien - Selosse for 140 euro!!!! (I don’t think they advertise this on the website and may even list a different price… but I saw it with my own eyes!) An overflow of Cult Classics (Envinate! Gauby! Tissot!), a huge oxidative wines BTG list (why don’t we have more of this in the U.S.?!), and several bottles where only one barrel has been made! The excellent tapas are a huge plus.

• Le Bon Georges - Wine MECCA! The wine list is so long that you could get all your weight training in for the week just by dining there and attempting to hold up the monster of a list they’ve created (I’m getting my weight training in with their list in the video above). My boyfriend patiently waited while I flipped through every single page and took notes on producers to try for the future, which took up most of our meal time. There are, of course, a huge number of Cult Classics on the list (De Moor, Dagueneau, Marguet, Mas Jullien!!! Several of which they somehow have in magnums!), as well as sizable collections of wines I’m dying to try (Grillet, Domaine du Collier, etc.). One thing that did surprise me is that they had an extremely limited dessert wine menu, but I assume there’s a respectable off-menu collection in their cellar. I just forgot to ask about it. I also happen to love traditional French food, and this restaurant is the pinnacle of its category.

• Vantre - This was the most recommended restaurant from our community, and it’s easy to see why. The wine list is the size of one of my old law school textbooks (and of course, features tons of our Cult Classics), and that doesn’t include the acclaimed “off-menu-menu” of wines that the owner will bring out to you if you cozy up to him. What really won me over were the depth of the Alsace and Jurançon collections. I see a lot of fantastic Burgundy and Jura lists across Paris, but not so much of those and I’d love to see more!

SPILL IT (industry news, trends, and my two cents)

I’ve recommended

Nadine // The Stanza

here before (it’s the investor’s perspective on luxury and hospitality that I had been wishing existed for years!) and am a big fan of her newsletters. In her most recent newsletter, she cited the importance of a great food and beverage program in attracting travelers to hotels in rural areas (along with art, leisure options, etc.).

I’m curious to hear from you guys on this as we head into peak travel season: How heavily do you weigh a hotel’s food and beverage program in deciding whether to stay there? Would you travel to a hotel specifically for the opportunity to dine with a celebrity chef (like at Casa Maria Luigia) or access tightly allocated wines (such as to get your hands on some Selosse at Les Avisés)? Or is the food and beverage program second to the desire to be in a specific location? Is a hotel’s food and beverage program less important to you if you’re staying in a city, versus in a rural area?

I have my own thoughts, but want to hear from you guys first, Will start a thread in the group chat!

AFTER HOURS (everything else I’m obsessing over at the end of the day, over a glass of wine - travel, fashion, music, etc).

I rarely get the chance to attentively listen to music, so I treasure the time I get on long haul flights to catch up on some of the best albums of year. My favorites so far have included Mdou Moctar’s “Tears of Injustice”, Coco Jones’ “Why Not More?,” and Populous’ “Isla Diferente” (I’ll be adding several songs from this album to our Oloroso playlist on Bar Pilar Spotify).

In Paris, it’s impossible to resist shopping. The city is second only to Tokyo (or the GCC countries if we’re talking perfumes specifically, but Paris is also teeming incredible perfume shops). So far I’ve picked up some sandals from Berlin-based brand Trippen (the ONLY fashionable shoes I’ve bought that have been comfortable for city walking on the first wear! I’ve walked 45K steps in them so far and have zero blisters! I’m officially a fan), the vest pictured above from Kwame Adusei (who splits time between Paris and L.A.) and a saffron-hued vintage Issey Miyake dress at Plaisir Palace (excellent curated vintage from the grand dames of Paris’ past).

OK that’s it for now! Love you guys and reporting back with more soon!

xx Pilar