GRÉGORY PRIVAT: GIVING A VOICE TO A SAINT-EMILION WINE

Can a Saint-Emilion wine be a conductor? It clearly was during the 2015 Saint-Emilion Jazz Festival. In the Salle des Dominicains, in front of an absorbed audience, the wines of the young winemakers from Arômes de Jeunesse association set the pace. “We tasted the wine, whilst listening to the sommelier’s comments and we were focusing on the sensations the wines could give us”, Grégory Privat explains. The rangeof the seven wines was very vast, evolving between tradition and modernity, velvety and fullness. With finesse, Grégory Privat translated those impressions on his Steinway & Sons: “From soft sensations, we play in a certain way. If we felt the strength in the wine or classical, we would go towards other directions”.

GRÉGORY PRIVAT, SONNY TROUPÉ AND GUSTAV KARLSTROM: A UNIQUE CONCERT

The spectators at the Musical Wine Tasting were able to watch a unique concert. The pieces, played and sang, allowed for improvisation: “the wines were very different, we tried to go with the flow”, highlights Grégory Privat. Four pieces were improvised that way from beginning to end. They expressed the very unique moment experienced by the audience, who tasted the wines while the notes were being played. The verdict? The general opinion was that it was a delicious moment. Grégory Privat emphasizes the fact that it is a difficult exercise but also points to the similarities which link the art of the musician to the work of the winemaker: “it’s a sublimation of what is real. When you hear a sommelier talk, it truly is food for the senses”. Accompanied by three musicians, the fans of Saint-Emilion wines, whilst enjoying the tastings, also went through quite an out-of-the-ordinary musical journey.