The oldest known vintage of Ruinart champagnes found in the cellars of Paul Bocuse.
18 bottles of Ruinart 1926 champagne were miraculously found in the cellars of Villa Bocuse, a temple of gastronomy in Lyon.
How many forgotten bottles still slumber in the cellar in the greatest secrecy? Probably thousands, or even more.
It was during an innocent inventory that in the fall of 2021, Maxime Valéry, head sommelier of the Paul Bocuse restaurant – an institution in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, in the Rhône – discovered eighteen bottles of champagne Ruinart 1926, year of birth of the famous chef, which he liked to collect.
“At first I said to myself: these are not real. I see 1926, and I say to myself: it's not possible,” recalls the sommelier, visibly moved.
The oldest known vintage of the house. Stained with black dust to make the label pass for a painting by Soulages, hiding the mention of a town of "Rheims" formerly adorned with a celestial "h", they are today the oldest relics of the house, whose cellars were looted throughout the Occupation.
If the external appearance of the bottles of champagne let predict an optimal conservation, a tasting was all the same necessary. And the result lives up to expectations. "It's beautiful, it's still fresh, and if you concentrate a little, you even perceive a fine sparkle on the tongue" , confided Frédéric Panaïotis (Cellar master of the Ruinart house). “Full-bodied wine, with warmth. Must make a perfect English wine. The wine has not been altered too much by oxygen over time. It still retains aromas of ripe fruit, apricot, candied lemons, candied oranges. It's amazing. »
The Paul Bocuse restaurant donated 14 of the 18 bottles to Frédéric Panaïotis, thus becoming the oldest vintage in possession of the Ruinart house.
