WINEFOODMUSIC LIVE - PIERRE RICHARD

Gérard Bertrand : Good evening everyone, welcome this evening to Château L'Hospitalet, for the 12th live stream — a very special one — I ask you to welcome Monsieur Pierre Richard. How are you, Pierre?

Pierre Richard : Fine, why particularly?

Gérard Bertrand : Very special, because it's the first time we've done a live where everyone is in the kitchen.

Pierre Richard : That's true!

Gérard Bertrand : Chef Laurent Chabert is here.

Chef Laurent Chabert : Hello everyone!

Gérard Bertrand : And Pierre Richard, when I spoke to him about coming to do this live, he told me he wanted to be in the kitchen. So we granted his wish, and then, as you know he is a winemaker at Château Bel Évêque in Gruissan — he's a neighbour — so it was original. We have a few surprises for you this evening, since there will also be music, and we can say, Pierre, that music is a part of your life.

Pierre Richard : Yes, for me it's the Madeleine de Proust par excellence — I'd hear music and think, ah, that's such-and-such a film from 35 years ago, I was in such-and-such a place, and on top of that I love jazz, and my sons have become musicians.

Gérard Bertrand : I saw — double bass player and?

Pierre Richard : And a saxophonist, but the double bass player took it up quite suddenly later in life, but…

Gérard Bertrand : Is that Christophe?

Pierre Richard : It's Christophe — he suddenly took an interest in and a love for wine, not drinking it but making it, and he's the one who took over the work.

Gérard Bertrand : Yes, that's true. So, in fact, Pierre is an actor, he's a musician, he writes, he makes wine — what else do you do that I haven't mentioned?

Pierre Richard : Oh but I do everything, everything, but all badly… No, no! What else is there? Well, that's already not bad…

Gérard Bertrand : That's a lot, it's fantastic. So in fact, I've known Pierre for 30 years — even more — because I first discovered him as a winemaker. He's based in the commune of Gruissan at Château Bel Evêque, which produces an extraordinary wine, and it turns out, Pierre — you'll remember — that at the start of my career, with your sister, I sold you wine and we had a very good relationship. And at the beginning you had to earn your place — not to sell your wine, but to sell the wines of Corbières and get them recognised in Paris; it was complicated.

Pierre Richard : Yes, it always is a little, actually.

Gérard Bertrand : It's much less all the same, and so we take the opportunity to say hello to our Belgian friends and to Tera, who is your friend and mine too.

Pierre Richard : Who takes care of importing my wine into Belgium.

Gérard Bertrand : Indeed, who imports for Vasco in Belgium, who told us: "I can't do the live if Pierre doesn't call back," because in fact I've known them for 20 years too, and they told me there's only one product in our portfolio that is non-negotiable, and that's Château Bel Evêque.

Pierre Richard : That's kind, thank you.  

Gérard Bertrand : That's wonderful! And all of this to say also that we have a mutual friend called Marc Dubernet.

Pierre Richard : My oenologist.

Gérard Bertrand : Who is a wonderful man, one of the greatest oenologists in the world, and who taught you how to make wine.

Pierre Richard : You know, before buying the property — since I knew I knew nothing, I'm not mad — before buying it I phoned and asked who was the best; they told me Dubernet, and I called him and asked: "If I buy a property, will you follow me?" There were 20 seconds of silence — that's a long time — and he said YES! I said thank you, hung up and bought it. If he'd said no, I wouldn't have done it.

Gérard Bertrand : So in fact he's a man who knows all the terroirs of our region very well and, above all, he seeks to give value to the winemaker in the sense that he leaves responsibility to the winemaker, because the soul of the wine must be the soul of the winemaker. And that's hard for an oenologist, because having the humility to let the winemaker guide and decide at the end — that's a real art.

Pierre Richard : Not at the beginning, because at the beginning you understand nothing — in February we'd look at the pipettes and everything… "Ah, this one is very interesting," but not at all — it's showing off, but in 6 months there'll be nothing left. From time to time I say, well, this one seems to be telling me: "No, this is the one to keep," and I understood nothing. It's like chess players — he's 35 moves ahead; I'm not.

Gérard Bertrand : That's true — can you smell how good it smells? I'm interrupting you. So, Chef, what are we doing today?

Chef Laurent Chabert : We'll start with a small starter based on tomato, with shellfish, a little chorizo, a potato and parsley siphon, potato crisps and parsley crisps. Then we'll move on to sea bass, caught by my friend Benjamin Besse in the Ayrolle lagoon, aubergine caviar with almonds, aubergines, capers, an almond emulsion. I've already started the chicken supreme.

Gérard Bertrand : It's beautiful! Is it Cathar, that one? Near Carcassonne.

Chef Laurent Chabert : Then, PDO chanterelle and truffle.

Gérard Bertrand : Is it melanosporum or the summer truffle?

Chef Laurent Chabert : It's summer truffle.

Gérard Bertrand : Ah! It's summer truffle — you see the difference is that it's white, because in fact winter truffle is black. We're going to have a treat, Pierre.

Pierre Richard : So I had said — I had said, right, from today I'm going on a diet…

Gérard Bertrand : But that's it — that's the Mediterranean diet. On the other hand, shall we have a drink? Because this evening we are going to taste only the wines of our friend Pierre Richard. So the wines are available at Château Bel Evêque — you should go in the evening, because that's when he loves to receive guests — but also on the website www.vinspierrerichard.com Pierre, we start with the Château Bel Evêque, which is the first one I tasted — it's been around a while; it's something of the historic cuvée. This is the one — you can't miss it; it's a gold medal winner too, isn't it?

Pierre Richard : He won the gold medal.

Gérard Bertrand : Wonderful — whatever you do you always win a medal, since you received the Molière this year. You're doing the Grand Slam. Cheers!

Pierre Richard : I'm cracking because I'm afraid of your comment. I've got stage fright.

Gérard Bertrand : Cheers! Let's have a drink first… Did you notice the temperature? It's perfect, and on top of that there are spiced garrigue aromas. What is it? Grenache, Carignan, Syrah?

Pierre Richard : It's the 4 — Grenache, Carignan, Syrah and Mourvèdre.

Gérard Bertrand : I remind you that Pierre is next to the Gruissan lagoon and it's the best place for Mourvèdre. We have a surprise for you, Pierre — we have musicians.

Musiciens : Hello, nice to meet you, enchanté.

Gérard Bertrand : How are you?

Musicians : Very very well!

Gérard Bertrand : So what are we doing? The Chef is here, Pierre Richard is here! So, what are you making for us? A little piece of music? Let's go!

Live music

Gérard Bertrand : Wonderful! Bravo!

Pierre Richard : Thank you very much!

Gérard Bertrand : So you're entitled to a small glass of wine — Pierre, I think we can serve them.

Musicians : Thanks you so much, delicious. 

Gérard Bertrand : You see, tonight it's live, it's improvisation — it's jazz, and jazz is improvisation, and with Pierre Richard I tell you we are never short of surprises.

Musiciens : You're so welcome, we are watching you in Florida.

Gérard Bertrand : Yes I know. So, are we ready, Chef, for the first course? Because Pierre and I are hungry. 

Pierre Richard : On top of that, smells breathe — they breathe smells. Oh my, will you explain to us first what this is?

Gérard Bertrand : So, do we take that with a spoon or not? We're at your command!

Pierre Richard : You mustn't do anything stupid.

Chef Laurent Chabert : So I added the stewed tomatoes, the parsley potato siphon, then the potato crisps, parsley crisps that we just deep-fried in the fryer, and I added the sunflower petals. And now you need to take a perfect mouthful with everything inside.

Gérard Bertrand : We're going to move around a little — there we go — so bon appétit everyone. Here we are, look how beautiful it is, it's magnificent.

Tasting moment…

Pierre Richard : Generally when you're eating, you don't talk — it's hard to speak with your mouth full.

Gérard Bertrand : I manage to do everything at the same time. It's delicious!

Pierre Richard : The green — what's the green?

Chef Laurent Chabert : Potato and parsley blended all together, and then we put it in a siphon — the siphon is this!

Pierre Richard : It's so refined!

Gérard Bertrand : The difference is the crunch of the chorizo — you agree, Pierre? It's extraordinary! Because at the same time it gives your wine character. That's the key, because with the Bel Evêque 2017 it gives that quality, that character, and it lifts it.

Pierre Richard : Even with the Mourvèdre, because it's also very spicy, and obviously with the rosé — you're right.

Gérard Bertrand : You're quite a foodie, actually. Gourmet or gourmand?

Pierre Richard : I'm not greedy, I'm a gourmet. When I'm no longer hungry, I'm no longer hungry. Whereas a greedy person, when they're no longer hungry, they're still hungry.

Gérard Bertrand : Is there a mussel at the bottom?

Chef Laurent Chabert : Cockles and razor clams.

Gérard Bertrand : Ah, there we go!

Chef Laurent Chabert : Cockle, razor clam, chorizo, stewed tomato, the parsley siphon, potato crisps, to add some crunch as well.

Gérard Bertrand : Honestly, it's extraordinary!

Chef Laurent Chabert : Thank you.

Pierre Richard : Who taught you to cook?

Chef Laurent Chabert : I did a CAP vocational training apprenticeship and a professional certificate in the area — I'm originally from the Allier, my parents are farmers. Then I went to the Alps, Haute-Savoie, Savoie, where I was sous-chef to a Michelin-starred chef, then in Corsica, and I arrived here 7 years ago now.

Pierre Richard : How old was he 7 years ago?

Gérard Bertrand : He was 18, he didn't even have his driving licence — well, a little older, all the same. I told him: if you come from Corsica, if you've spent six months in Corsica, all is well and you can come to the Languedoc. So, before we talk, Pierre, I had a slightly more serious question, because you have a commitment — you're an eco-activist, one could say, and you love nature. Has the fact of having lived in Gruissan brought you something extra in terms of your connection with nature and respect for biodiversity? Because you fight battles on that front.

Pierre Richard : Yes, I fight battles in quite a significant way — with the deforestation of the Amazon. I should say I have a wife who is Brazilian, so I have a double claim: the Amazon concerns me, but it always has, even before. I even wonder if it isn't because of the Amazon that I fell in love with my wife. In any case, I am indeed — and I must say it — more than appalled by the turn events are taking in Brazil, the forests being deforested, but it's not only in Brazil.

Gérard Bertrand : No, but above all.

Pierre Richard : But above all — well, that said, we could talk about this for hours, we're not going to spend the whole evening on it — but to answer your question: I was a city dweller, and then all of a sudden I acquired a wine estate, and for the first time, instead of looking at the sky — since people always say I have my head in the stars —

Gérard Bertrand : You looked at the sea and the vines. 

Pierre Richard : I knew the sea, but I looked at the soil, the earth, and I was — it's true that before I didn't see it. How great an admiration I have for the vines; they are warriors. I understood one thing: they are resilient and valiant, because they have to find water, so they go searching far and wide, and a little water is vital for them.

Gérard Bertrand : Exactly.

Pierre Richard : And so I found — I understood — that it was an extremely interesting plant, both strong and fragile at the same time. Secondly, it's true, and coming back to ecology: I noticed over 35 years — I who had never paid attention to this — that more and more we are subject to chaotic weather patterns. It no longer rains when it should, it doesn't rain when it needs to, and when it does rain it rains too much — in short. These were things that had escaped me before. When I hear Parisians in January saying "it's wonderful, 30 degrees in January," I say, oh no, that's dreadful — right now in Siberia it's 35 degrees, it's not possible. And that's when I became aware, through the land, that we have duties towards it.

Gérard Bertrand : Exactly — the Pachamama, as our friend Jean Cormier used to say; he's a wonderful man. And so, in your life as a winemaker — because I genuinely feel, and I say this because when you taste Pierre Richard's wine, I remember it very well from the beginning, since he also used to put his photo on the bottle, but now he no longer does because he no longer needs to, and also above all because Château Bel Evêque has become a recognised brand. And the wine, Pierre — I say this because I am an expert in this field — Pierre Richard has become a true winemaker, meaning that the land speaks to him. So you told me at the beginning, when you were listening to Dubernet, how long did it take before all of that spoke to you?

Pierre Richard : Oh, several years, of course — after two to three years I started to understand certain things, but even last year when Dubernet told me he likes to have conversations with his winemaker, because if he feels that the winemaker is invested in his work, he is invested in the winemaker's work. But I am more and more so, because I realise that it is indeed an art that I possess, and sometimes I read reports about certain winemakers from the west, the east or the north-east — it's poetic too.

Gérard Bertrand : It's beautiful, but poetry in wine is something else, because wine transcends, it opens the heart and enables exchange.

Pierre Richard : But maybe that's also why — ultimately, sometimes people say to me, "what's the connection with cinema?" I say, there's a connection that is absolutely the same: cinema, like wine, is made to be shared, and as a result it's a vehicle for fraternity, for empathy with people we don't know, and then the person you don't know says, "oh, that's good," and you think so too, and suddenly you like that person.

Gérard Bertrand : And we're discovering it.

Pierre Richard : And we discover — ultimately cinema is the same: it's consumed, cinema takes place in rooms where 800 people are moved together or laugh together, and well, wine is the same — we need to be several people; nothing is worse than drinking a glass alone in front of the television.

Gérard Bertrand : And with your friend Depardieu, do you taste each other's wines or not?

Pierre Richard : In the old days we even used to call them experience glasses — we'd buy beautiful glasses and do chromatic progressions, starting with lighter wines and finishing with great Bordeaux.

Gérard Bertrand : And afterwards you finish with great Corbières wines.

Pierre Richard : And afterwards I mostly ended up in bed. He's the one who taught me a bit too.

Gérard Bertrand : So tell me — let's finish on this — yes, so what did Gérard Depardieu teach you?

Pierre Richard : He taught me this philosophy because he wasn't yet a winemaker — strangely enough, I was one before him, though he was still in the region. Ah yes, he taught me one thing, he told me that when you do a chromatic scale you start by drinking two spoonfuls of olive oil. Really? Have you ever tried that?

Gérard Bertrand : I've tasted wine several times with Gérard Depardieu, and when he holds the glass and smells it, he's like this.

Pierre Richard : Because he can no longer put his nose in.

Gérard Bertrand : He's holding the glass at an angle.

Pierre Richard : But it's because his nose has grown bigger now.

Gérard Bertrand : So one day I was drinking, I was tasting at Place des Quinconces in Bordeaux and we had a great Sauternes, and I said to him, it's volatile. So he said: "Oh yes, Gérard, this wine is volatile."

Pierre Richard : He certainly isn't!

Gérard Bertrand : So, Chef, first of all let's taste now — Pierre, tell us a little about the Cardinal cuvée, because that's what he holds dear; it's the top of the range from Château Bel Evêque. There are only great wines at Bel Evêque, but this one is the prestige cuvée, so tell us a little about the Cardinal.

Pierre Richard : It's Mourvèdre and Syrah.

Gérard Bertrand : Here! Let me pour you a drink.

Pierre Richard : The Syrah brings me the fruit and the Mourvèdre brings me a slightly vanilla character. Spiced too, above all. I remember when I started buying the property — I had met a specialist who said to me: "Are you going to be a Château?" and I told him yes, because if you're a Château, you're a Château. He said: "Do as you like, but you'll have precise directives, whereas if you're not a Château, you do as you please."

Gérard Bertrand : You were right to stay at the Château. So, Chef, we're hungry — what are we going to taste now?

Chef Laurent Chabert : So we're going to taste the sea bass from Gruissan, caught by Benjamin who works on the Ayrolle lagoon.

Pierre Richard : That's mine! He's stealing my fish.

Chef Laurent Chabert : The aubergine caviar with almonds, on top we have the remaining aubergine with capers and an aubergine crisp and a little passion berry fish-bone jus, which will add a bit of pep to the jus, and here I'm adding an emulsion — there we go — of almond milk.

Gérard Bertrand : You were right to come, Pierre!

Pierre Richard : I swear, yesterday I said starting from tomorrow, diet.

Gérard Bertrand : So, shall we taste it, Pierre? With this Cardinal cuvée.

 Tasting moment…

Gérard Bertrand : I tell myself, friends, it's Friday, and from 7 to 7:30 I have the best job in the world, because it's actually wine and food pairing with our friends. How does he cut that?

Pierre Richard : Well, that's incredible!

Chef Laurent Chabert : We slice it on the meat slicer.

Pierre Richard : It looks like a tongue.

Gérard Bertrand : It suits you well — look how handsome he is!

Pierre Richard : I'm sticking my tongue out it's so good.

Gérard Bertrand : So I think we're waiting for the music group — Chef, would you mind opening the door? It's warm in here. Ah, here comes Julie back — time for another little taste, so Julie, what do we do now?

Musiciens : How is everything?

Gérard Bertrand : Wonderful! So, what are we doing now?

Musiciens : We would like to sing an original Gospel song by Miss Brooks, whom I met in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gérard Bertrand : I love Atlanta.

Musicians : It's a beautiful song by a woman of great worth.

Gérard Bertrand : Thank you! We'll leave you to it.

Musicians : It's called "you're going to have rain in your lives."

Gérard Bertrand : We need rain for Pierre's vines and mine.

Live music

Gérard Bertrand : Thank you, Julie — see you later.

Musicians : Yes! See you later!

Gérard Bertrand : Because I'm here this evening at Château l'Hospitalet from 8:30 pm onwards, so if you still have time and if you feel like it, you're very welcome to come, but places are very limited this evening — in any case, you're in good shape, you've done the rehearsal. See you later!

Musiciens : Bon appétit! Thank you!

Gérard Bertrand : You see, things are going a bit in all directions here.

Pierre Richard : What's extraordinary is that I watched — no matter how hard I tapped, I was always off the beat, because with jazz, I know — I was always off the beat. They'll say, "for a guy who loves jazz, he knows nothing!"

Gérard Bertrand : But it's normal that you're out of step, because you have a mayor in Gruissan who was the king of being out of step — Didier Codorniou, you know, he used to do sidesteps and runs, so it caught up with you. Nobody could catch him — he was the Maradona of rugby.

Pierre Richard : An extraordinary eel.

Gérard Bertrand : Hello Didier — if you're listening, we salute you from the kitchens of L'Hospitalet.

Pierre Richard : We had a wonderful time!

Gérard Bertrand : With the sea bass from the Ayrolle pond, so right next door to Pierre Richard's place.

Pierre Richard : It borders my property.

Gérard Bertrand : Actually, I don't see why you'd go back to Paris, because you have everything you need at your place. Besides, I've never understood why people who come here go back to Paris from time to time.

Pierre Richard : You're still doing theatre, though.

Gérard Bertrand : There's the Théâtre de la Nature in Narbonne-Plage, but it's not open every day.

Pierre Richard : I mustn't rely on wine to feed myself.

Gérard Bertrand : It's really wonderful, because we get to — I had a question about your musical tastes, Pierre, because I saw Pierre last year at the piano with our friend Jeff Sénégas at the salt marshes — whom we salute, by the way — at the Salins de Gruissan. You were very, very good; you do a bit of storytelling, you sing a little.
Pierre Richard : I was telling stories about Jean Yanne — I'm not sure…

Gérard Bertrand : But what are your musical tastes?

Pierre Richard : My musical tastes are quite broad.

Gérard Bertrand : If you name 2 or 3 people.

Pierre Richard : Are you talking about singers? That's also a very broad topic — I'll mention Nougaro because I adored him, but I could mention Brassens because I knew him well, I could mention Brel, I could name 15 of them.

Gérard Bertrand : And among foreign singers?

Pierre Richard : And among foreign singers, well, there were quite a few — oh my goodness, there was Frank Sinatra, oh my goodness there was Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin — I'm talking about a certain era.

Gérard Bertrand : Did you meet Frank Sinatra?

Pierre Richard : No, never.

Gérard Bertrand : Did you see her on stage?

Pierre Richard : Neither.

Gérard Bertrand : You could have!

Pierre Richard : And now, I love Matthieu Chedid, for example. Matthieu Chedid — I even saw him on his own at the Cirque d'Hiver; I thought he'd be up there alone with a guitar, but not at all — he had pedals everywhere.

Gérard Bertrand : I love — you know who? James Brown. He has a voice, and when he's on stage he's an animal — the voice, the physique. He's passed away now, and what impresses me most, I have to say, is when he sang with Pavarotti. He was moved to tears because he had prepared to sing with Pavarotti. And so when they sing together it's a moment — when you mix soul with opera like that, you have to watch it, it's extraordinary!

Pierre Richard : I'll have to watch that!

Gérard Bertrand : Because we are after all in a Food Wine & Music setting, and so we've invited someone who sits at the crossroads of all these worlds — but you haven't told us yet what dish you like to cook.

Pierre Richard : I'm very bad at it — though God knows I love cooking, but I'm very bad at it; I don't have the hand for cooking.

Gérard Bertrand : But do you like cooking or not?

Pierre Richard : I don't think so, no.

Gérard Bertrand : Who are your favourite chefs in Paris?

Pierre Richard : L'Arpège, at Passard's — the king of vegetables. And since now I'm more into vegetables than meat. There's also fish, which I love too, at…

Gérard Bertrand : Is it from Savoie?

Pierre Richard : There you go! Guy Savoie.

Gérard Bertrand : My mate.

Pierre Richard : On top of that he's an adorable fellow.

Gérard Bertrand : Absolutely — give him our regards, because I know you're opening your restaurant today, and we also salute all the chefs in France, because we are with you. Chef Chabert is here — I brought him along for the video for two months, because in fact I asked him to create a dish for each day for this evening, so he's treating me, but above all because we were doing lives and we developed a taste for it, isn't that right, Chef?

Chef Laurent Chabert : Absolutely!

Gérard Bertrand : And so it's great that the chefs are reopening, and we need you because it's a French speciality, and we as winemakers, Pierre, need these sublime chefs who elevate our products — so that's very important.

Pierre Richard : Because there is a complementarity between a dish and a wine — if you drink a good wine with a mediocre dish, your good wine won't be appreciated.

Gérard Bertrand : Exactly, and I think Chef Goujon is opening soon too — he's opening this evening actually, so Chef Goujon, if you can see us, if you can hear us, welcome back and we'll see you soon. Pierre, we're going to taste the Mourvèdre — tell me a bit about this wine, because actually I don't know this cuvée.

Pierre Richard : Because my thing was Syrah, so one day I asked Dubernet to make me some Syrah, just for me. And the following year he told me: "Done, I've made you a thousand bottles," and I said I'm not going to drink a thousand bottles.

Gérard Bertrand : That's good!  

Pierre Richard : I started with Syrah because one day I went to a restaurant in Pézenas, and I tasted the Mourvèdre and I went back to Dubernet and told him, make me some Mourvèdre.

Gérard Bertrand : You're the one who makes the Mourvèdre — Dubernet helps you set it to music, because he knows the score, but you're the one playing the piano.

Pierre Richard : Yes, because I want to make Mourvèdre.

Gérard Bertrand : What I'm saying is that the lucky thing for Pierre — something he didn't know when he bought the property — is that the best place for Mourvèdre vines is right by the water, because they benefit from maritime influences, and it's a grape variety that is very very sensitive to maritime influences, because the mist that arrives at night, especially when there's a bit of sea breeze, allows the leaves to absorb that moisture and nourish the plant, whereas that's not quite the case with Syrah or Grenache. So Mourvèdre is the grape variety you need to have by the water — that's also why our friends in Bandol have a lot of wine made with Mourvèdre.

Pierre Richard : Do you like it?

Gérard Bertrand : This is my personal favourite, friends, because I already knew the first two, and this one I recommend to you because I think that with a poultry dish — which we'll have the pleasure of tasting shortly — it's a marvellous food and wine pairing, but we'll try it all the same.

Pierre Richard : It's very refined.

Gérard Bertrand : What I love about this wine, Pierre, and what you find in vineyards by the sea or on the edge of the estate, is the iodine quality — so in this area there's an iodine character, and that's very good because it pairs very well with Mediterranean dishes, and we serve it with dishes like chicken with fleur de sel from Gruissan. The fleur de sel from Gruissan is 300 metres from Pierre's place, so a little nod to our friends at the salt marshes — we salute you.

Pierre Richard : What a lovely sea bass!

Gérard Bertrand : A lovely bar, yes, and also a restaurant where I enjoy wandering around, and you have water that changes from blue to pink depending on the rain — there you go!

Pierre Richard : Don't you want to become my representative? Because you talk about it very well.

Gérard Bertrand : I've already tried to take up that profession again, because in fact I did the interlude.

Pierre Richard : Instead of managing it from here, I'll give you Europe.

Gérard Bertrand : Really? Well, that's fine — if you only give me Europe I'll be able to go to the United States for a stroll. What are you preparing for us, Chef? Because Pierre told me: if there's truffle, I'm staying here.

Chef Laurent Chabert : We have the poultry from my friend Serge Verzini, the white truffle, the DPO girolles, the mushroom siphon, and I'm adding the carcass jus that we've reduced slightly.

Gérard Bertrand : You know, here you mustn't have a funny turn, otherwise you'll end up in the carcass juices.

Chef Laurent Chabert : That's it, exactly! And also, of course, the fleur de sel from Gruissan.

Gérard Bertrand : We're going to taste the carcass game — not from Carcassonne — get in position, Pierre! So, first of all, it's quite a landscape, isn't it?

Pierre Richard : Oh yes, really, because it's interesting when it's also beautiful to look at.

Tasting moment…

Gérard Bertrand : I love the chicken because it's not dry at all — it's free-range, it's firm.

Pierre Richard : The chanterelle is one of my favourite mushrooms.

Gérard Bertrand : Will you come back?

Pierre Richard : Tomorrow!

Gérard Bertrand : Dear friends, I don't know if you're having a good time, but I can tell you we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Pierre Richard : Really!

Gérard Bertrand : The one thing Pierre is missing — he never played rugby, but on the other hand I can tell you I often saw him in the stands at Narbonne, because back in the Pech de Laclause days you used to come to matches, and I remember it well because I was still playing for Narbonne and I saw you many times at the stadium.

Pierre Richard : You know, there was a time when we were very very close friends and, what's more, we never said to each other "when shall we meet?" — we just said, "see you tomorrow."

Gérard Bertrand : Jean-Pierre, we salute you.

Pierre Richard : It's the same — it got a hold of me a bit, and it's true that I love rugby, and now I find myself in a rugby country.

Gérard Bertrand : I remind everyone that from the 21st to the 26th of July, if you want to see Pierre Richard — not on stage but among us — we have the jazz festival, which will be here. I remind you: 21st and 22nd July Patrick Bruel, 23rd our friend Cali, 24th Kimberose, 25th Christophe Maé and the 26th Jean-Baptiste Guegan. There are still a few places left, not many.

Pierre Richard : 4?

Gérard Bertrand : 4:30, hurry up and we'll be very happy to welcome you because in complete safety you'll be able to both dine — for those who wish — and for the others, attend the concert, and afterwards our friend Dominique Rieux has put together a remarkable jazz cellar, so it starts at 7 pm sharp and finishes when you're tired, so there we go — it's unfortunately time for us to say goodbye, but Pierre said he'd be back tomorrow, so perhaps we'll send you some information between now and then; in any case, Pierre, thank you.

Pierre Richard : It's I who should thank you.

Gérard Bertrand : We won't do the customary kiss but the heart is there. I remind you: www.vinspierrerichard.com or Château Bel Evêque, and in all the finest establishments in the region — he really makes wonderful wines. See you soon and have a great weekend!

Chef Laurent Chabert : Bye bye!