President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, ended their first day in the UK with an opulent state banquet hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle, showcasing a menu that prominently featured Anglo-French elements.
The menu included a selection of luxurious wines, featuring the acclaimed Bordeaux first growth, Château Haut-Brion 1996, and grand cru white Burgundy, specifically Etienne Sauzet’s Corton-Charlemagne 2022. This was reported by ITV News.
For the pre-dinner drinks and the official toast, guests were treated to an innovative English sparkling wine produced by the Champagne house Taittinger and their UK agency, Hatch Mansfield. This wine, known as Domaine Evremond’s Classic Cuvée ‘Edition 1’, was unveiled this year as the result of a nearly decade-long project aimed at establishing high-quality English sparkling wines.
During the banquet, King Charles referred to the impressive progress of the UK’s winemaking industry, noting, “This evening, we have drunk English sparkling wine made by a French Champagne house. This would have been scarcely believable to at least some of our predecessors.”
The banquet menu also included a non-vintage Champagne from Louis Roederer, Carte Blanche NV, prepared by renowned chef Raymond Blanc OBE. The multi-course meal commenced with canapés followed by a first course of tender summer vegetables dressed with olive oil and sage, followed by a supreme of Rhug Estate chicken accompanied by Norfolk asparagus and tarragon cream. For dessert, the guests enjoyed an iced blackcurrant parfait on a blackcurrant-soaked sponge with elderflower jelly.
Traditional British state banquet menus have used French as their formal language since the 19th century, as noted by the Royal Collection Trust.
After the main courses, guests were offered a choice of beverages, including Taylor’s 1977 Vintage Port, celebrated for its quality and coinciding with Macron’s birth year, along with an exceptional 1948 Grande Champagne Cognac from Frapin & Co., corresponding to the year of Charles’ birth.
This isn’t the first occasion that King Charles III and President Macron have shared fine wine; a banquet at Versailles in 2023 featured renowned Château Mouton Rothschild 2004 among other illustrious wines during the royal couple’s tour of France.