The LVMH-owned champagne house Ruinart celebrated the 50th anniversary of their prestige cuvée Dom Ruinart by organising a vertical tasting of just about every vintage of it ever made, at the restaurant Apicius in Paris. In a particularly civilised fashion, this international event was scheduled for a Friday, which made it perfect to graft on to a weekend in the City of Light.
Chef de cave Frédéric Panaïotis, pictured here with me in the background, 
welcomed wine writers from all over Europe and at least one American and pointed out that the cellars at Ruinart were not particularly well stocked...