Soirées Inoubliables

Melt in the Mouth Duck with cherries

Georges Guilhot, caviste extraordinaire has his own boutique in the heart of Perpignan where he stocks his favourite selection of mostly local wines.
I've been attending his wine tasting/ food pairing evenings for over 10 years and at every soirée, he pulls something out of his hat that knocks us all for 6.
There was the time we arrived one evening at his wine shop he used to run on Place Republique - we were all handed lighted candles and told to descend a rickedy ladder that led through a trap door to underneath his cave, where Georges had discovered a warren of tunnels and ancient old stables. In the candlelight we tasted his selection of champagnes ..
Another time, he whisked us off to the opening of a Japanese restaurant where we got a lesson in sushi making from the Japanese owner and he matched his selected wines perfectly to the sushi ..
Then there was the evening , he shared a present he had been given with us : a bottle of 1924 Bouchard et Fils. You could have heard a pin drop as he opened this little bit of history and we all shared a truly magical moment. See here
Tuesday night was no different. Another totally unforgettable evening. Paired up with Bruno Leger who is one of the top chefs in Lycée Leon Blum and with the down to earth Laetitia , owner and vigneron from Domaine Piétri Géraud of Collioure , we were treated to a 5 star evening of food and wine.

Nectar from Collioure

We started off with rillettes of rouget lightly seasoned with locally grown saffron from Vingrau and thereafter followed an explosion of flavours and tastes matched exquisitely  to Laetitia's wines. Foie gras foam on a bed of poivron coulis, brochettes of magret de canard with cherries, a mini coco lamb curry, desserts of pistachio ice-cream and cherry clafoutis ...

As usual , Georges had a few surprises up his sleeve, one of them being a bottle of 1959 Rivesaltes from St Esteve. Choclately velvety heaven..

It's not every day you get to taste a 54 year old bottle of wine

I'm going to miss these soirées when I move back to Ireland ... only thing for it, they're all just going to have to come and visit me!
Merci encore Georges et Bruno!

All the dead men

Maison Guilhot

13 Place des Poilus  66000 Perpignan 04 68 66 50 78 Perfect English spoken