Just Dao Yi It

August 7, 2019 / by Howard Elias

Image above: Deep-fried mandarin fish

Looking to make a sharp impression on your visitors? Take them to The Chinese Library in Tai Kwun, on the top floor of the historic Police Headquarters, and invite them to try any or all of the five new dishes celebrating dao yi – the art of the kitchen knife. One doesn’t usually equate Chinese kitchen knives with subtlety, but in the versatile hands of chef Junno Li Zhenlong, the blade becomes a magic wand as he slices, dices and carves the most delicate and intricate creations. 

Witness the silken “thousand-cut” chrysanthemum tofu in chicken broth (HK$118), in which the tofu is hand-cut to resemble a flower and sits in a light broth; the crystal melon dumpling with kung fu teapot chicken consommé (HK$108), where the dumpling wrapper is made from melon intricately sliced into squares no more than 1mm thick; and the marinated geoduck and jade flower in sesame oil dressing (HK$168), a Sichuan-inspired dish that combines locally sourced seafood and Sichuan flavours with delicately carved vegetables. 

Favourites included The Golden Lion, a deep-fried whole mandarin fish (HK$688) that’s traditionally from Zhejiang province, and the salt-baked meringue free-range whole chicken (HK$698), a version of the traditional beggar’s chicken, where the clay is replaced with a salted meringue exterior that helps the chicken retain its juices. Both dishes are highly complex creations, yet instinctively and simply hit the spot. 

Singing the Blues

August 7, 2019 / by Philippe Dova

When it comes to bananas, get ready to start singing the blues. The “ice cream” banana, which is also known as the Blue Java variety due to its distinctive blue peel, is gaining in popularity. Fortunately, these blues aren’t sad at all.

Most people only know the yellow, rather bland-tasting Cavendish variety that’s widely sold in supermarkets; Cavendish bananas make up close to 50% of all the bananas grown worldwide today. Their popularity is probably due to their greater resistance to disease compared to other varieties. The larger Gros Michel remained the world’s most popular variety until the 1950s, when a fungus devastated many of the plantations in Central America.

But now there’s a new contender for the banana crown – though the fact that it’s not yellow is certain to change more than a few children’s reading primers. The Blue Java is a hardy, cold-tolerant variety that has the consistency and taste of vanilla custard. This creamy texture makes it feel like the banana is melting in your mouth as you eat it. Like the Cavendish, the Blue Java is also an excellent source of dietary fibre, potassium, vitamins B6 and C, and magnesium. They’re also only about 110 calories, so you won’t balloon up if you’re eating one a day.

Zensational Dining

August 7, 2019 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

Image above: Whole sea bream baked en papillote with lemon, herbs and olive oil

When La Petite Maison opened last year at H Queen’s in Hong Kong, the city had nothing like its Southern French-style cuisine, which had already been winning over hearts, minds and palates at its locations in London, Miami, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. 

About a year on, we decided to put the restaurant to the test. Enjoying a pre-prandial Daumas Gassac rosé champagne on the expansive terrace, the locale exudes a sense of laid-back exuberance, complete with eclectic art and Belle Époque accessories. It’s sizeable inside, too; the 3,600sqft space seats more than 100 guests. And on the night we visited, a less than fashionable and particularly rainy Tuesday in June, it was close to full. 

It was soon apparent why. At first glimpse, La Petite Maison serves what appears to be light French Mediterranean and Niçoise fare, but a closer inspection reveals more complex and broader ambitions. Carpaccio de boeuf (beef carpaccio) was a preface to the revelation, coming as it does with approximately 14 separate garnishes. The scrummy, supple red meat (dry-aged Scottish Black Angus beef sirloin, home-cured for four days with salt, black pepper, thyme and garlic) arrived with chopped chives atop and was flavoured with anchovies, capers, shallots, cornichons, pickled garlic and olive oil. Along with the chives came black pepper and olive oil – for a dish so red, it took a surprisingly green turn, like a new game-changing category of eco-paccio. Accompanied by a convivial glass of Saint-Émilion, it’s the sort of dish that makes you marvel at the wonders of this infinite universe. 

Heading under the sea, the crevettes tièdes à l’huile d’olive (warm prawns with olive oil, lemon juice and julienned fresh basil) was a simpler antidote in which a quintet of king prawns, undressed from their shells, were halved and placed in a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and basil. Painterly by way of presentation – somewhere between impressionism and pop art – its effect was most esculent, sating and simultaneously provoking the palate’s cravings.

The beignets de fleurs de courgette (deep-fried zucchini flowers and sage with anchovies) arrived looking otherworldly – a high-bred hybrid of baroque pomp and ceremony, marine coral, fairy-tale storytelling and the 1960s sci-fi film Day of the Triffids. The succulence and artfulness of the flowers (the zucchini are deep fried in the Japanese tempura style, lavished with parmesan cheese and accompanied by a tomato-based dip) was moreish and addictive. It was very this-worldly, despite its Triffidy mien, and the textures fit like couture. 

And so it was on to the main event: daurade au citron (whole sea bream with lemon and herbs), which was notably supple and soft. This dish invokes a gilt-head bream, found only in the Mediterranean and renowned as being one of the world’s leading white-meat fish. It was deboned at the table and plated with a flowing frock of freshly shaved fennel, in turn dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, chopped chives and salt. 

Another intriguing, intimate garniture sat aloft, comprising fresh lemon skin and lemon juice, tamarind, onion, green chilli, Provençal herbs, ginger, garlic, fresh thyme and olive oil. This scaled the heights and had us hook, line and sinker gloating over its poise and balance. It was Christian Dior’s New Look on a plate, as fine and uplifting a line as ever took shape in a René Gruau illustration. Some things are just instinctively right – and daurade au citron was the rightestest. 

Back on terra firma, we dried off with côtelettes d’Agneau Vivienne (grilled lamb cutlets with smoked aubergine), featuring Welsh lamb less than a year old – lean, tender and with delicate flavours, and again wrapped up with plenty of love. The cutlets are first marinated in a mixture of Kalamata olive paste, cardamom, paprika, honey and sherry vinegar, then grilled and served on a bed of shallots seasoned with icing sugar and olive oil. This arrived alongside quenelles of smoked aubergine caviar, which comprises roasted aubergine pulp, hot paprika, cumin, lemon juice, pine nuts, chopped mint and olive oil. 

The Humble Onion

July 24, 2019 / by Philippe Dova

Image above: Sweet Onion of Cévennes with Black Truffle

The head chef of Épure in Hong Kong, located at Ocean Centre in Harbour City, since 2013 and the proud holder of a Michelin star since 2017, Nicolas Boutin sheds light on the authenticity of French products through his original, precise and tasty cuisine. It’s in this spirit that he created his famed signature dish: sweet onion of Cévennes with black truffle (oignons doux des Cévennes à la truffe noire). Here, Boutin shares this recipe exclusively and for the first time with CDLP. 

What is the origin of  this recipe?

Well, I wanted my cuisine to become increasingly minimalist, so I created recipes with products that are little used or misused in traditional dishes in order to sublimate them. I had been thinking of this recipe over the course of two or three years. My team and I ended up doing tests with different varieties of onions, and gradually we arrived at the result that we have today.

Three years of testing?

I had been thinking about creating a recipe based on onions, an ingredient rarely presented on its own, for a long time. During those two to three years, I took the time to test ideas, but also to take breaks from the project for it to mature. It’s like this for every recipe. The process is similar to the one of a music composer or an author… 

The onion is a rather commonplace vegetable – why associate it with something as high-class as truffles?

As with any vegetable, there are different varieties of each product – and this is also true for onions. We had to find an onion – and not the basic yellow onion most commonly used to make sauces or to cook. As the chef of a French restaurant, the idea was to find a variety of French onion, either Roscoff or Cévennes. After many trials, I chose the Cévennes onion. I managed to reach a certain texture that’s neither overcooked nor undercooked, which retains its crunch and sweetness. The idea of the truffles came quite naturally because of the season in which I started to think about this recipe.

Which variety of truffle should one use for this dish?

You need fresh black winter melanosporum truffle – it is very important for the taste. Depending on the season, it can come from either France or Australia. We did some tests with summer and autumn truffles, but this was of no use because those truffles have little to no taste. If one cannot find fresh truffle, I suggest using frozen or canned black winter melanosporum truffles.

• 1 medium-sized sweet onion from Cévennes (or, failing that, a white sweet onion)

• 1 black melanosporum truffle (12–15g)

For the sauce:

• ½ large shallot, very finely chopped

• 100ml chicken juice 

• 20g butter

• 1 tbsp port wine

• ½ tbsp powdered sugar

For the tile:

• 30g spelt or buckwheat flour

• 140ml grapeseed oil

• 140ml water

• 140ml chicken broth

Summertime and the Cookin’ is Easy

July 24, 2019 / by Howard Elias

Marinated Pasta Salad

With Hong Kong’s hot, sticky summer weather now upon us, what could be better than a light and cool pasta salad to tempt the taste buds of your family and friends? Whether it’s for an outdoor barbecue or a potluck party, this delicious and colourful side dish will have everyone asking you for the recipe. What’s even better is that it’s easy to make, too.

Dressing

• 120ml olive oil

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tsp oregano

• ½ tsp basil

• ½ tsp dry mustard

• ¼ tsp paprika

• ¼ tsp thyme

• 1 clove garlic, crushed and minced

• Dash of salt and pepper

Combine ingredients and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Zesty Fruit Salad

Call me crazy, but I love being in Hong Kong during the summer. Sure, the temperature often climbs into the 30s and stays there well into the night, and the humidity can be oppressive at times – but the taxi queues are shorter, the traffic is lighter and it’s easier to get a table at a decent hour at your favourite restaurant. Summer is also a great time for getting together with friends and family, whether it be for a rooftop barbecue or a potluck outing in one of the country parks. If you’re looking to up your dessert offering from the standard sliced watermelon (not that watermelon is bad, but it’s not exactly very fancy) and you don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen getting something ready, look no further than this deliciously zesty fruit salad, made with poppyseeds. Everyone will love the hit the ginger adds to the citrus and honey flavours. Bon appetit!

Dressing

• 1 medium lemon

• 1 lime

• 1 navel orange

• 60ml honey

• ½ tsp fresh ginger, grated

• ½ tsp poppyseeds

Wash and dry the lemon, lime and orange. Zest the fruit with a zester or fine grater. Cut each fruit in half and squeeze the juice into a cup. Add the zest, honey, ginger and poppyseeds, and whisk together until combined. Refrigerate.

Fruit

• 3 navel oranges, peeled and sectioned

• 1 pineapple

• 5 kiwis

• 3 mangoes

• 250g strawberries

• 125g blueberries

Home on the Range

July 10, 2019 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

Image above: The parlour peeks into the Drawing Room

Though the slow-food movement exists worldwide, such languorous approach to cuisine and eating seems little appreciated in Hong Kong. However, five years after launching Aberdeen Street Social, a glamorous collaboration in the gardens of PMQ between JIA Group founder and CEO Yenn Wong and multi-accoladed British chef Jason Atherton, the space has been reinvented as Louise, with French chef Julien Royer taking the helm. Royer’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant Odette in Singapore was honoured with the No. 1 position in last year’s Asia’s 50 Best awards and this marks his first venture outside of the Lion City. 

Louise presents a fresh approach to traditional French cuisine and, much like its British forebear, will continue to offer both casual and refined dining across two levels. Wong says the project embodies her and Royer’s shared passions of food, design, art and culture. (JIA also owns one-Michelin-starred Duddell’s, which combines the same mentality, as well as 12 other food and beverage venues in Hong Kong). 

The aesthetic has undergone a high-key makeover, with architect André Fu and his AFSO studio transforming the two-storey heritage building into an intimately chic colonial home. Welcoming guests in, Louise offers all-day dining and drinks in the Tropical Greenhouse Lounge or an invitation up the striking staircase to her Ivory Boudoir dining room, where lunch and dinner are served à la carte. 

Royer is treating Louise as an ode to homegrown French cooking and will serve such heart-warming fare as sautéed potatoes with Cantal cheese, garlic and parsley (served with an option of black truffle); red wine-braised beef cheek with confit carrots and baby onions; and yoghurt cake with yoghurt ice cream and confit lemon. 

Vintage Art

June 26, 2019 / by Philippe Dova

Image above: Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild

Renowned for being among the most expensive wines in the world, the vintages of Château Mouton Rothschild, a Premier Cru Classé de Pauillac, have featured a different contemporary artist each year since 1945. Since 2013, the collected works have been visible as part of the winemaker’s Paintings for the Labels exhibition, which comprises the original works by the likes of Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Georges Braque, Antoni Tàpies, Balthus, Jeff Koons and even the Prince of Wales. 

What is the origin of the first artistic work on a Mouton Rothschild label?

My grandfather, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, thought of the idea in 1926, for the 1924 vintage. As the new owner of the estate, his ambition was to bottle the entire wine harvest at the château. This was a huge innovation at a time when the majority of the vine production was bought and bottled by the Bordeaux trade. My grandfather decided to become independent, and further did so by adding his personal touch to the wine label: an artistic work by poster designer Jean Carlu. 

Would you say it was a revolutionary decision for the time?

Indeed! Combining art and wine on a bottle, a consumer product, had never been done before. Carlu, this avant-garde artist, completely embraced the cubist movement of his time to create a unique work of commercial art. Unlike the subsequent labels of Mouton Rothchild vintages, which distinctly separate the artistic and the technical space of the label, this first label is unique as it integrates all its descriptive aspects within, and is therefore a complete and wholesome piece of art. 

What are your selection criteria for a label artist?

The artist must be internationally known. However, it is not because the artist is famous that we choose them. They must speak to our artistic sensibilities, and not be subversive or polemical. This last point is extremely important – on the one hand, because our family does not appreciate creating controversies. On the other hand, Mouton is a marketed wine, which means we are subject to certain constraints. We like to choose artists who carry a unique perspective on the world and express fantasy through art.

Interestingly, the Prince of Wales illustrated the 2004 vintage.

The Prince of Wales is a talented painter. While the label is customarily dedicated to the vine and wine, it sometimes celebrates a historical event. The year 2004 marked the centenary of the Entente Cordiale between Great Britain and France. It was in this spirit that Baroness Philippine de Rothschild approached the Prince of Wales to illustrate the label for the 2004 vintage with one of his watercolours: Mediterranean Pines on Cap d’Antibes. The label is particularly unique, as the Prince of Wales gave us the honour of adding the following handwritten note to his piece: “To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale – Charles, 2004”.

Are there any technical constraints for the artist?

We believe artists should have complete creative freedom; therefore, we don’t impose any size restrictions for those who collaborate. The works can be gigantic, like Karel Appel’s, or tiny, like Hans Hartung’s. Every year, the artists take possession of the space and take hold of it in their own way. 

The medium and format of the original works can vary quite a bit...

The artists who illustrate the labels are not only painters; they are also sculptors such as Bernar Venet or scenographers such as Robert Wilson. We love the diversity of these artists and their media. I was delighted when David Hockney created his work on an iPad.

Which artists do you wish you had been able to collaborate with?

Louise Bourgeois and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, who passed away before we had the time to collaborate. Personally, I would love to have worked with Karl Lagerfeld. He was internationally recognised for his talent as a fashion designer and I believe that the art of fashion is an art of drawing. He would have been a fantastic contributor to our beautiful collection. I was deeply moved by the news of his death. 

Do you have any plans  for Le Petit Mouton, the château’s second wine, to reproduce the concept but with little-known or emerging artists?

We love Le Petit Mouton; it’s a wonderful wine that achieved great success, especially in China. It leads a remarkable existence next to our great wine. It would be very tempting to reproduce the concept for Le Petit Mouton, but it is extremely important for us to stay faithful to our message. The message is that Château Mouton Rothschild, the great wine, is the domain of great artists.

The Petit Mouton label will continue to be illustrated with a work by Jean Carlu. This particular work had not been chosen to illustrate a label in the 1920s. We decided to reinstate it as a tribute to the first artist who illustrated the first label of the great wine. It has become, over the years, an homage to the unique identity of Château Mouton Rothschild.

A Lillet Goes a Long Way

June 26, 2019 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

Image above: Outdoor shot, 2012

There’s a remarkable moment in Ian Fleming’s debut novel Casino Royale (1953), which first introduces the British man of mystery and secret agent, James Bond. As early as chapter seven, 007 meets CIA agent Felix Leiter for a drink; Bond looks at the barman and first orders his trademark cocktail. 

“A dry martini,” says Bond. “One. In a deep champagne goblet. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large, thin slice of lemon-peel.” Bond then turns to Leiter: “This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.” The following night, Bond christens it the Vesper, after the woman he has just met and ultimately falls in love with – sidekick Vesper Lynd. 

What makes the reference all the more remarkable is that, over the series of James Bond novels, which contain no less than 122 references to bespoke champagnes such as Dom Pérignon and Krug, this is Fleming’s first and only reference to any recipe for a dry martini. It’s proof that a little Lillet has come a very long way – 66 years, in fact. 

It’s come some way before that, too. The wine-based aperitif hails from Podensac, a small village south of Bordeaux in the heart of the Graves vineyards region, adjacent to Sauternes. Founded in 1872 by Paul and Raymond Lillet as Maison Lillet Frères – a merchant of fine wines, liqueurs and spirits – the brothers were smart entrepreneurs and remarkable connoisseurs. The drink was originally called Kina Lillet because it contained a small amount of Peruvian cinchona bark known as Kina; as quinine is a component of the bark, it was both fashionable and medicinal in its day, as it was thought to allay symptoms of malaria and prevent mosquito bites. 

Lillet won a gold medal at the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris, proclaiming itself as “very agreeable to the taste, drunk by the most delicate people, at any age, to their great benefit”. During the Roaring Twenties and the ’30s, it took off; in that era, British bon vivant Harry Craddock, the man behind London’s famous Savoy Cocktail Book, included no less than 22 Lillet-based cocktail recipes. 

So what’s its secret? Lillet consists of Bordeaux wines – 85% semillon, muscadelle and merlot – combined with 15% liqueurs that are obtained by macerating sweet and bitter Spanish and North African oranges and their peels in alcohol for several months. It’s traditionally matured in oak vats for eight to 12 months, during which time it receives the same careful attention as Bordeaux grand cru wines, undergoing fining, racking and filtering. While similar to vermouth, Lillet espouses greater versatility, with distinct flavours of honey, orange, lime and mint. 

Lillet won many fans in its heyday, among which was the trend-setting Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, who insisted that high-end venues should carry the drink, including the Ritz and George V hotels in Paris, as well as stately ocean liners crossing the Atlantic. (She allegedly travelled with her own bottle.) And so it became a fashionable tipple among the high-society set and was even quaffed by Jackie Kennedy Onassis. 

One Tequila, Two…

June 12, 2019 / by Howard Elias

Social media has been abuzz of late with news that drinking tequila can aid in weight loss. Don’t start lining your frosted glasses with lime and salt just yet, though. In a recent study, researchers from a university in Mexico claimed that agavin, a natural form of sugar found in the agave plant, doesn’t raise blood glucose levels and can be used as an alternative sweetener for people who have type-2 diabetes or who wish to lose weight. Unfortunately, those health benefits don’t really extend to tequila, because in the distillation process to make the Mexican spirit, all that health-giving agavin gets converted into unhealthy ethanol.

The good news, though, is that even without agavins, tequila packs no more calories per ounce than scotch, rye, rum, gin or vodka. In terms of carbs, however, tequila loses out to all of these other spirits. When it comes to mixed drinks, wine and beer, tequila doesn’t fare too well, either. A margarita has as many calories as a pint of dark Irish dry stout. Red and white wine and cosmopolitans are at the low end of the calorie spectrum, while rum and colas, mojitos and a certain popular beer from the Philippines are way up there at the top. Hong Kong’s favourite lager and gin and tonics are in the middle.

But just so we don’t leave tequila lovers crying at the bar with all this bad news about their favourite beverage, here’s a great recipe for a deliciously refreshing watermelon margarita. Because there’s no added sugar, it’s lower in calories than the average ’rita:

• 3½ cups seeded watermelon, cubed

• ¾ cup white tequila

• 3 tbsp lime juice

• 1 tbsp triple sec

• 2 cups ice

• Sea salt and lime wedges (for rimming the glasses)

Puree the watermelon together with the tequila, lime juice and triple sec in a blender. Strain the mixture and pour into a container. (This can keep in your refrigerator for a few days.) Crush the ice in the blender, then fill salt- and lime-rimmed glasses with the ice. Pour the margarita mixture over the top and garnish each glass with a lime wedge.

So Sonoma

June 12, 2019 / by Ben Berg

Image above: Château Lassègue’s barrel room

Napa Valley is an amusement park for grown-ups, with a slew of acclaimed wineries and restaurants such as Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred The French Laundry and The Model Bakery, which landed itself on Oprah Winfrey’s favourite-things list; the celebrity claimed the latter was her “greatest extravagance”. As such, Napa has become like a Disneyland or Las Vegas of the wine world, while its less-assuming neighbour, Sonoma County, has asserted its authentic and original wine smarts. Less touristy and commercialised, Sonoma is twice the size of Napa, contains a 60-mile Pacific Coast shoreline and grows more grapes across a greater variety of conditions. 

The area’s attributes were recognised by French winemaker Pierre Seillan more than 20 years ago. “Sonoma has finesse and sophistication,” he says. “You can’t hide the quality of the terroir and each type of soil provides a different energy in the wine, which provides different styles.” It’s a region he now thinks plays into the younger demographic of consumers. “It’s more avant-garde and more for the explorer, you might say. The younger generation will discover more and more of Sonoma. It’s their discovery to make.” 

Prophetic words from a man whose epiphany came in 1995 during a Vinexpo wine event, where he met the visionary Barbara Banke of US wine powerhouse Kendall-Jackson, who later introduced him to her husband, Jess Jackson. The pair was looking to create something other than the ubiquitous ultra-oaked Napa Chardonnay style of wine. 

Seillan’s career in the wine industry began at Bellevue, his family’s estate in Gascony, France, where he learned to grow cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, and several white varieties. Later he focused on cabernet franc at Château de Targé in the Loire Valley, then spent two decades in Bordeaux making wine at several châteaux for Raoul and Jean Quancard. 

While working across eight different appellations, Seillan discovered the many nuances within various vineyard sites. This became the backbone of his micro-cru philosophy, which allowed him to build the elegant and complex architecture of his wines. Meeting him in person in Hong Kong, he has the vigorous, geometric physique of a Picasso, yet the eye and sensibility of an impressionist Monet. 

In America, inspired by the great wines of Bordeaux, Jackson challenged Seillan to create a California merlot as good as a Pétrus. The pair spent several months scoping out potential sites in Sonoma before Jackson offered Seillan a vigneron position, resulting in Vérité. The winery has since produced three renowned blends: La Muse (majority merlot), La Joie (primarily cabernet sauvignon) and Le Désir (primarily cabernet franc). The first vintage was in 1998 and the wines have since achieved some of the greatest acclaim for any winery in California, including 14 perfect 100-point scores from US wine bible Robert Parker Wine Advocate. In fact, the 1998 vintage is now one of the most collectible and expensive among the Sonoma wines. 

“I cannot stress enough how truly singular the wines of Vérité are,” writes Lisa Perrotti-Brown of Robert Parker Wine Advocate. “This makes sense when you consider the far-flung vineyard locations in Knights Valley, Bennett Valley, Alexander Valley and Chalk Hill; the many soil types, topographies and exposures they encompass; and how dedicated Seillan is to bringing to the forefront the unique signatures of these places.”

It’s testament to Seillan’s shared vision with the late Jackson, who died in 2011. “Jess asked me to join his company with a view to elevating the elegance of the wine, and to elevate the complexity and diversity of the wine of California, according to the different regions,” he recalls. “And he asked me, ‘Where do you want to do that?’” Seillan knew that Sonoma made sense, having seen the one-dimensionality of the approach in Napa. “I understood quickly from my experience of visiting Napa that the enemies of finesse and elegance are too much heat and warm weather.” 

How do Sonoma and Napa compare, exactly? “I think it’s hard to compare, as they are so very different,” he says. “It’s mostly about the diversity of Sonoma, so much more than Napa. It’s the influence of the greater temperatures. And what would Sonoma be without the mistral? Every hillside, every elevation and every aspect offer us a different micro-cru. The pure expression of these unique sites has, from the beginning, defined our winemaking philosophy.” And how does Seillan describe that philosophy? “Our wines embody the timeless traditions of France and the limitless possibilities of California.”

For one, Seillan was drawn to the Sonoma soils. There are different vineyards from numerous appellations, with distinct soils in terms of elevation and exposure to the sun and wind. “The soils are clay, basalt, volcanic, white volcanic ash… Sonoma has the most complex soils of the entire California,” he says. The only type it really doesn’t have is limestone, such as one finds in Bordeaux’s Saint-Émilion. 

Wind is also a factor in the region’s richness. “The wind is the key part of the circuit of Sonoma County,” he says. “The passage changes the temperature between day and night in a big way; it can be 30 degrees during the day, but then the breeze comes in from the Pacific, and the temperature drops to around 10 or 12 during the night. This means the vines breathe.” 

There’s also the sheer variety of Sonoma’s topography. “The place has valleys, plains, mountaintops, forests, riverbeds and ocean cliffs,” says Seillan. “So you get very different topography in, for example, Bennett Valley, Knights Valley or Alexander Valley. Then you have the Mayacamas Mountains forming the eastern boundary of the county. The eastern inland appellations are warm, dry and ideal for Bordeaux varieties, such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc.”

So successful had they been in their endeavour that Seillan again partnered with Jackson to take over Château Lassègue in Saint-Émilion and bring French cabernet franc to the Jackson Family Wines portfolio. “Jess found this beautiful estate – 24 hectares – and it was great,” he recalls. “The youngest vines were 35 years old. We get great south-southwest sun exposure, but then the diversity of soils go all the way from the foothills to the top of the hill, and we are protected by the north-side hills, which is rare in a château in Bordeaux. Usually it’s ten hectares with the same soil. We have about ten different soils.”