With Patrick Henriroux
Patrick Henriroux is the Chef and the proprietor of La Pyramide at Vienne, France. In 1989, he bought this mythical hotel-restaurant which was then in jeopardy. He has transformed it into a must-visit in the Rhône Valley.
You have one of the most exclusive wine lists on the planet. What is included?
When taking over La Pyramide, I inherited an exceptional array of historical vintages. In Bordeaux wines, for instance, we start with Napoleon’s time: a Laffite Rothschild 1806. Our Cognac dates to 1788 with the French Revolution and our Chartreuses Liquor even goes back to 1760…
Located in the vicinity of Burgundy, we buy all the millennium of its best wines. We also source wines from all over the world including France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Argentina and the United States. For each of our millenniums (even the oldest ones,) we often have 50 to 100 bottles in our cellar. We taste them to make sure that our wine list displays only the ones that deserve to be drunk now.
How can one appreciate such a wine?
To spend a unique moment, I suggest you to start by choosing your wines. Take your time to absorb the list. For every customer, there is something magical as they get a sense of the magnitude of the history available here. Once you have made your selection of wine at 100 €, 500€ or 1000 €, we can help you build the perfect meal.
Then, our wine waiters bring special care to the conservation, the preparation and the discovery of each bottle. Even if an old bottle has its tags a little tattered, our guests will be delighted with the contents.
How do you decide what to charge for a 50 year-old or 100 year-old bottle?
Of course, I could sell most of my bottles for premium prices at Sotheby’s. I have not chosen to set up in Paris, Tokyo or New York. I am more interested in offering reasonable prices to my guests (from this region or traveling here) who are looking for those exceptional vintages and an authentic experience.
What are you passionate about?
Guilds matter a lot to me because they are about transmitting our heritage to future generations. I was one of the lucky beneficiaries. For me, meeting a well-known Chef like Georges Blanc or Pierre Trois-Gros, even for a short while, is a moment of great emotion and pride.
Though these informal Chefs’ guilds, our team members get valuable experiences. I also appreciate it when the Chef is at the piano in the kitchen and not just traveling to his restaurants in five continents. I also love making my visit to the daily market. We have about one hundred great producers within a 20 km radius of Vienne.
Patrick Henriroux is the Chefs’ Coordinator at Relais & Châteaux, a family of 480 prestigious hotels and restaurants in 56 countries. He is also the owner of the Relais & Châteaux La Pyramide in the Rhone valley, France.
