Beau Paysage, a Paris Tasting

A month after the 2015 Bataclan massacre—an impossible 9 years ago, I was in Paris, as bruised and bleeding a city as I’ve ever seen it. And it is not for nothing that I made it a point to eat at the Clown Bar, just a short sprint away. With me were some New York friends and Aaron Ayscough. We sat outside in the chill fall night when Lulie Cross, dancer, sommelier, importer, arrived as well. Upon seeing me, she had the strangest reaction. She burst into tears. I still don’t know why, and rushed back to the A.T restaurant because there was a bottle she had to share with me. It was a 2012 Beau Paysage La Montagne, a merlot and the very first Japanese wine I tasted. Ushered into life through Eishi Okamoto in Tsugane—Yamanishi prefecture, on volcanic soils, under the shadow of Mt. Fuji, a difficult climate but emotional time or not, I was impressed.