The Epicurean’s Atlas continues with its fourth auction – Around the Globe, featuring the greatest bottles from major wine-making regions in every hemisphere – at Sotheby’s New York on 13 September 2024. This article was originally published at the beginning of Sotheby’s five-auction journey through the legendary cellar of Pierre Chen. Read on to learn more about Pierre Chen’s monumental wine collection, and visit The Epicurean’s Atlas to stay up-to-date on this record-breaking series of sales.

P ierre Chen is a very special connoisseur, always searching, always moving forward, with a kinetic approach to his passion for food and wine. The great appeal, for him, of this hedonistic marriage is that it can be enjoyed and shared with friends and family. Of course, there is study and research behind such knowledge, but the opening of bottles and creation of matching dishes are the exciting culmination of much thought and planning. To sit around a laden table with Pierre Chen is an adventure and a privilege.

There is a constant fascination in crossing frontiers when putting together fabulous wines and food of the finest order. When national styles of cooking and content are juxtaposed with the world’s greatest wines, one reaches for the word “nirvana”. Pierre Chen can match Asian ingredients with the most classic wines, but at the heart of his lifetime love of both oenology and gastronomy lies France. This is the country that has taken these art forms to the pinnacle of perfection.

It is a given that Pierre Chen’s own cellar holds the most fabled wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhône, in range and quantity that the producers themselves might envy. Beyond France, though, you witness the truly unrestricted and adventurous nature of this great bon vivant’s taste, with explorations throughout the most renowned estates of Italy, Spain and beyond. You could call this an Olympian collection. The array of vintages and vineyards is breathtaking, enabling him to compose meals of the utmost delight and discovery. Whether in his own home in Taiwan, or at the tables of Paris’ most reputed restaurants, the aim is to experience scents, tastes and flavours that are both complementary and enthralling.

The world’s greatest chefs and winemakers, from France and Italy to Japan and Taiwan, come together in this book that reveals one man’s devotion to both skills, and describes what miraculous moments await us when we pour a unique wine into our glass and take a mouthful of meticulously sourced and prepared food. It is an homage to the talents behind great food and wine, and pays tribute to a man who appreciates to the utmost those who excel in both professions.

Image: Still Life Corton Charlemagne Grand-Cru. ©Vincent Rougeau