The Four Seasons Wine Dinners

Wine is to an establishment like The Four Seasons as Beluga caviar is to the fussiest gourmet—only the best quality will do. The wine list presented to diners is a fantastic array of nearly four hundred selections from France, Italy, California, New York State, and a few other parts of the world.

Wine has also been the centerpiece of the restaurant’s private wine dinners, which feature tastings of selected vintages. The dinners got their start at a storied affair held on January 18, 1973. The purpose was for the famous chef Paul Bocuse to introduce Americans to a selection of Georges Duboeuf wines. When word got out that Bocuse himself would cook, more than four thousand callers set the Four Seasons switchboard alight seeking a ticket.

As related by John Mariani and Alex von Bidder in The Four Seasons—A History of America’s Premier Restaurant, “Bocuse brought his own [ingredients] from France, arriving at JFK Airport with foie gras, truffles, cream, [and] butter.” He got them through customs only by choosing a line with “the stoutest customs inspector, believing such a man would appreciate good food and pass him through. After telling the inspector the truffles were only after-dinner chocolates, Bocuse sailed through.” The dinner was a resounding success.

Bar patrons at The Four Seasons benefit indirectly from the wine dinners whenever one of the selections is well received and finds its way to the bar. The bar wines tilt toward the continental, but that doesn’t mean customers can’t enjoy a cocktail made with, say, California Chenin Blanc, Long Island Merlot, Argentine Malbec, or Australian Cabernet-Shiraz.