Three-star chef Yannick Alleno's “Pavillon Ledoyen” on the Champs-Élysées in Paris was the setting for a lunchtime culinary celebration hosted by the Perse family from St-Émilion in Bordeaux. It was a double anniversary: 30 years ago, in 1993, Chantal and Gérard Perse acquired Château Monbousquet, followed 25 years ago by Château Pavie, which in the meantime, after enormous investments in the quality of this growth, has risen to 1er Grand Cru Classé “A”, i.e. to the highest category of the appellation.

Friends from home and abroad accepted the invitation to taste the best vintages. It was followed by a great lunch with matching wines organised by the chef of the Perse’s two-star restaurant "La Table de Pavie", Sébastien Faramond, and host Yannick Alleno, who acts as a consultant for Pavie in culinary matters. In addition to friends from the French and international press, well-known Parisian artists such as actors Elsa Zylberstein, Stéphane Freiss and Stéphane de Groodt were invited to enjoy this superb pairing of food and wine.

As Gérard Perse was personally unable to attend the event in Paris, son-in-law Henrique da Costa took the role of host and speaker:

 Both wineries were like sleeping beauties, it didn't take a magic wand to wake them up but a lot of work. Pavie and Monbousquet were already two pretty names in the appellation. All that remained was to make them shine again. The gravelly terroir of Monbousquet offers us wines of great finesse with wonderful fruit, round and silky tannins. At Château Pavie, we have learned over the years to listen to this magical terroir and to workt with it. The famous Côte Pavie and its southern exposure gives us today a Cabernet Sauvignon with delicate fruitiness and floral notes. The limestone plateau of St-Émilion gives the wine a salty side and depth. Today our wines offer a perfect balance: they are elegant, intense and harmonious, wines that will accompany us into the future.

As a prelude to lunch, there was a tasting of the vintages that have marked the history of Château Monbousquet, Grand Cru Classé of St-Émilion (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020), and Château Pavie 1er Grand Cru Classé “A”. (1998, 2005, 2009, 2016, 2020).

Here were five vintages of Monbousquet as well as five of Pavie from very great years, very different from each other but all showing the “backbone” characteristic of Gérard Perse’s wines. The finale was the presentation of the special bottle decoration for the latest vintage of Château Pavie 2022, a highly visible tribute to this twenty-fifth anniversary.