May 30, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Brunch - Scrambled Eggs and Almond Croissant. Dinner - Laurent’s Birthday Party at Vara
This was a very special day for food and wine because we were invited to celebrate Laurent Gruet’s 61st birthday at Vara.
I thought it would be a large gathering but it was relatively small, fewer than fifty people. Fabulous bottles of wine were opened, mostly recent bubbly ones made by Laurent for Vara, including a New Mexico sparkling wine that scored 98 points at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.
VARAxLG Blanc de Blancs: Awarded Double Gold at the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Crafted in the classical Méthode Champenoise style in collaboration with winemaker Laurent Gruet. [1, 2, 3]
New Mexico Sparkling Brut 2023: Earned a Double Gold medal and an impressive 98 points at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. [1, 2]
When we arrived Laurent poured us a glass of his newly released sparkling Rose that was impressive.
The other two high points in wine were a magnum of Vara 2023 extended triage and a jeroboam of the Gruet and Fils champagne produced by Laurent’s champagne making family in France .
The food was lavish and quite interesting. The best dish was a lobster and shrimp in cream sauce roll. Close behind it were the mini taco filled with chicken salad and garnished with edible flowers and a pear tart, but there was a long table heaping full of excellent cheeses, charcuterie, and fruits.
I enjoyed talking to PJ who is a realtor by day and a sommelier at night, who was pouring the Gruet Jeroboam.
I also spoke at some length to Roger, one of the owners, who explained in detain how they created Vara’s late harvest Albariño that uses a process for processing the clusters of grapes in straw to allow them to produce greater sweetness and then fortifying the wine produced. It does not use a late harvested grape. It is an amazing wine. I bought two bottles.
We arrived at Vara at 4:30 and left around 7:45 as the sun was setting. A truly memorable day. We were thrilled to be included.
I woke up a bit after 8:00 this morning and ate a Pain au chocolate with a chai.
Then at 9:30 Suzette and I rode the six blocks to the Farmers’ Market where Suzette bought a loaf of pain au campagne, two almond croissants, a regular croissant, and a baguette from the Le Quiche baker, who by the way also attended Laurent’s birthday party with his wife.
We then pedaled around the neighborhood and returned home a bit after 10:00.
Willy was already at home watching the EUFA Championship match between Paris St. Germain and Arsenal that had just won the PL championship last week.
During the match that lasted the 90 minutes of regular time and 30 minutes of extended overtime, Willy made scrambled eggs with sautéed onion and Diced red bell,pepper that he and I ate with an almond croissant. Suzette joined us and ate the regular croissant. We all drank latte macchiatos
I then napped and Suzette and Willy visited two open houses in the neighborhood.
When they returned around 3:00 Willy left and soon thereafter we left for Laurant’s party at Vara with the baguette we had bought wrapped in a c tie dyed cloth bag Suzette made.
When we returned home around 8:30 we watched the last half of Bill Maher and then Suzette wentto bed. I stayed up to watch Mexico beat Australia in a World Cup friendly.
The World Cip competition will start in two weeks so there will be lots more soccer to watch this summer.
Bon Appetit
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