Festival dinner with a grand cru
In 2010, Xavier Planty started a tradition by celebrating the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival at his winery in Bordeaux, France, with 50 dinner guests.
For the eighth year of celebrating the festival, he decided to move the soiree to Beijing, more specifically at Guigongfu, the mansion of a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) empress.
Bordeaux, however, was not forgotten completely. For the moon festival dinner, he brought a 6-liter bottle of Imperial de Chateau Guiraud 1998 from his winery, which is one of the first Classified Grand Cru producers (of 1855) in Sauternes.
“A special wine is for a special moment,” extolls Planty of the tipple, which was one of just seven such bottles that remain. “Plus,” he adds, “our Chateau Guiraud goes well with the skin of Peking duck.”
Born in 1955 in Bordeaux, Planty is now the co-owner of the winery. He obtained his master’s degree in psychology and plant genetics and got a national diploma in oenology before becoming the manager of Chateau Guiraud in 1996. He subsequently initiated a revolution in the vineyard’s growing culture, which now prohibits the use of all synthetic products.
In 2011, Chateau Guiraud became the first Premier Grand Cru Classe to be awarded the Agriculture Biologique certification in France.
Planty’s philosophy at Chateau Guiraud is guided by constant inquisitiveness and a desire to let nature take its course, allowing the vines to achieve their full potential.
“The movement of the moon is very important for us,” says Planty. “It’s also one of the oldest harvest celebration festivals in the world.”
Back in 2010, Planty had noticed an influx of young Chinese women in and around Bordeaux, many having been hired by local wine merchants. Naturally, they grew homesick during the Mid-Autumn Festival, so he decided to organize a dinner, inviting them to celebrate the festival and the moon over good food and wine.
During a dinner celebration, the guests observed the moon through a telescope, and one year, he even held a competition for local French pastry chefs to see who could make the best mooncakes.
Last year, 200 people joined the dinner, and for the first time, he invited Chinese chefs to concoct Chinese dishes to pair with the wine from Chateau Guiraud.
“This year was the perfect time to move the event to Beijing, and to such an historical place,” explains Planty. “I was fascinated by the Chinese taste.”
The pairing of the wines with Chinese dishes was done by Feng Wei, who does cultural promotion in China and France, and who has previously spent six years living in Bordeaux.
Beijing native Feng co-authored a guidebook to pairing Chinese food with French wines in 2016.
“Pairing food and wine is like marriage,” she observes, adding that “the two have to elevate each other”.
“To find the perfect match for the food, you can’t just look at the label of the wine bottle,” Feng says. “Also, the same brand of wine tastes differently with every year’s bottling — like a man who is growing.”
Feng chose Peking duck as the main dish for the dinner, as she thinks the fat of the duck skin goes well with the wine from Chateau Guiraud. “The smoky flavor of the duck combines with the aromas of the wine, which is rich in your mouth,” she explains.
Feng thinks Peking duck is the most popular Chinese dish among French people, as it has a rich flavor and can be eaten in many ways.
“When my French friends visit Beijing, they would order a whole Peking duck each because they love it so much,” Feng says.
Feng spent four months preparing the dinner from the design of the menu to the decoration of the dining room. She even arranged a lute performance during the dinner, which included a rendition of A Moonlit Flowery Night on the Spring River to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival.