AT MY TABLE
GA I L
SIMMONS
102 APRIL 2019
SO MUCH OF WHAT I KNOW about wine came from a single mentor:
sommelier and wine retailer Jean-Luc Le Dû, who was head sommelier
at Restaurant Daniel when I worked in PR and marketing for Daniel
Boulud from 2002 to 2004. Jean-Luc was known as a force in the indus-
try, with a deep love of wine from his native France and a passion for
unconventional collecting. One of my many jobs was to assist during
his quarterly wine dinners. After one such meal, featuring the wines
of the fabled Bordeaux house Château Angélus, he gave me one of the
unopened bottles that remained, from the 1996 vintage. “Keep it in a
cool, dark place for a few years,” he told me, “and it will be perfect.”
So I did. In fact, that bottle followed me for more than 15 years, to three
different apartments, through marriage and the birth of my first child,
as I waited for the right occasion. Jean-Luc, for his part, left Restaurant
Daniel shortly after I did—to open Le Dû’s Wines, his dream shop in
the West Village, where for years he could be found expertly, joyfully
guiding customers to their next favorite bottle. Then, early last Janu-
ary I learned Jean-Luc had died suddenly in his sleep at the age of 52.
I was heartbroken and in shock, as were so many others in the res-
taurant and wine community. I knew the time had come to open my
bottle—and honor my friend—but I was five months pregnant, so again
the bottle waited. Finally, after my second child was born, I gathered
a few close friends who had worked with us, including Georgette
Farkas, at whose restaurant, Rotisserie Georgette, we met. Over a
lunch of perfectly roasted chicken and tarte Tatin, we swapped stories
and memories of our time with Jean-Luc. And then we decanted my
cherished bottle. I was nervous. There was, in my mind, a good chance
it was off; maybe there had been too many temperature transitions
through the years. And then there was the finality of opening it, the
knowledge that it would soon be finished and we would have to say
our last goodbye. But the wine was just what it needed to be: like a
warm hug, mellow and comforting, with lots of dark fruit and notes
of leather and earth. It was meant to be shared with this exact group,
at this exact time. It brought us together to remember our friend. I
know Jean-Luc wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
photography by VICTOR PROTASIO
FOOD STYLING: CHELSEA ZIMMER; PROP STYLING: THOM DRIVER
