An American woman, who is a surgeon, faithful of my dinners, comes to spend a few days in my house in the south. She came to very rare dinners and what fascinates me is that she comes from the United States only for a dinner, as was the case in Mougins or in the Hotel du Marc of Veuve Clicquot in Rheims. We are in the same configuration, she comes to France only to see us, my wife and me.

After a nap naturally corresponding to the jet lag, Sarah is ready for the welcome aperitif. There will be poutargue, a sausage of pork and wild boar, a foie gras, small sardines, breadsticks, breads with black olives to nibble. I open the Champagne Salon 1999 which tends to reach a beautiful maturity. In it everything is natural. It is spontaneous, subtle but without imposing itself, rich but without insisting. This champagne all in suggestion is a treat. Of all what the champagne must accompany, it is the sausage very mellow which is the winner.

For dinner we will have pink shrimps to peel, courgette flowers in tempura, camerones cooked in the pan, Jort camembert cheese and peach salad with pink biscuits from Rheims. To accompany the dinner, I open a Champagne Krug 2000. It is all in power, with a will to show his biceps. While the Salon is a quiet force, the Krug wants to pass in force. But after a while, and notably with Camembert Jort, his will to impose itself fades and he shows us that it is rich in complexities, which corresponds to what we wanted. It is a great champagne that will find in a decade more the serenity that its immense qualities promise.

The 1999 shows it is big and serene and the Krug 2000 is all in promises.

Under the stars of a clear and windless sky, we finished the delicious Krug in the evening calm.