Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Jean-Claude Vrinat of Taillevent Passes Away

Jean-Claude Vrinat, one of the world's foremost restaurateurs and wine promoters, passed away on Monday morning in Paris, as reported posthumously yesterday on his blog La Nouvelle Du Jour.

He was 71 years-old and was very much active in running Taillevent, his bistro L’Angle du Faubourg, and his wine store Les Caves Taillevent.

Mr. Vrinat is, of course, synonymous with the world famous Paris restaurant Taillevent, which has been under his direction for nearly the past half-century. Aside from being a legendary gastronomic destination with a wine cellar consisting of over 300,000 bottles, Taillevent has been the venue of many high-profile wine dinners and wine tasting events because wine is Mr. Vrinat's greatest passion, as reported in a lengthy Wine Spectator article about him and Taillevent.

In 2006, a historic vertical tasting of 38 vintages of Château Montrose going back to 1888 was held there. Several years ago Mr. Vrinat also started a wine store near the restaurant called Les Caves Taillevent, which has opened other locations in Paris and in Tokyo.

Among Mr. Vrinat's friends leaving messages of condolence in the blog is wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr.: " J'ai une tristisse profonde...un tres grand homme....le plus grand restaurateur de ma vie...mes condoleances a la famille..."

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