There are afternoons that stay with you. Picture this: the Prinsenkamer at Hotel de l’Europe in Amsterdam, a room that already knows how to hold a conversation, and seated at the table, Baron Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, heir to one of the most storied names in European history. The occasion was the launch of a new champagne vintage. The setting, needless to say, was appropriate.
The champagne in question was the Barons de Rothschild Blanc de Blancs Vintage Brut 2006, a vintage of which just 7,000 bottles were produced. Of those, 3,000 remain locked in the family’s own collection as museum reserves, which gives you some sense of what the other 4,000 represent. It is a champagne made with the particular restraint that only comes from people who have nothing to prove.
The gathering was intimate: a handful of ambassadors, a few carefully chosen guests, and Yves Gijrath and François-Léon Van der Velden, who had arranged the afternoon. Chef Richard van Oostenbrugge of Bord’eau composed a menu to accompany the tasting, each course considered and quietly brilliant.
The baron himself was easy company: measured, well-travelled, and quietly aware that what his family makes is not simply a product but a continuation of something much older. He spoke about the vintage with affection rather than salesmanship, the difference between someone who has lived with a thing and someone who is merely presenting it.
By the time the afternoon ended, he was already leaving. A private jet, an undisclosed destination. The kind of exit that requires no announcement.