I don’t believe there is a greater chef in the world than Joël Robuchon. Furthermore, his ability to train staff and assistants who run his restaurants throughout the world, whether it’s a l’Atelier or other venues, is amazing. I have eaten in l’Atelier in New York City, Las Vegas, London, and Paris, and you would think the great chef himself was manning the stoves. This restaurant is at his luxury château in downtown Tokyo. Several years ago he created a twenty course meal with twenty separate wines that remains one of the meals of a lifetime. While this dinner was a lower-keyed event, it was still a testament to his remarkable genius. We started with gorgeous, perfectly cooked slices of Brittany lobster that worked marvelously well with a delicious, dry, toasty yet richly fruity Bruno Paillard 1999 Brut Assemblage Champagne. We then segued into one of the masterpiece dishes Robuchon created over three decades ago, his gelée of caviar and cauliflower. At this dinner, his presentation was slightly different as it was served in a crystal ball, but the caviar with the gelée of cauliflower was utterly compelling. It was an extraordinary marriage that seemed to intensify the flavors of the entire dish. We then moved to a beautifully simple, but perfectly prepared dish of sautéed scallops bursting with flavor. It was the simplicity that made this offering so extraordinary. That was served with a sumptuous, full-bodied, heady 2003 Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Combettes. This big, backstrapping, full-throttle white Burgundy is typical of the vintage, but its fragile acidity and evolved style suggest drinking this wine over the next several years. With the gorgeous foie gras of Canard, which was almost caramelized it was so beautifully cooked, we had the 2005 Hospices de Beaune Mazis-Chambertin Cuvée Madeleine Collignon. As one might expect, this is a young Burgundy, offering a deep ruby/purple hue as well as a gorgeous bouquet of boysenberries, blueberries, earth, and toasty oak. Powerful and full-bodied with terrific acidity, its mouthseering levels of tannin are balanced beautifully by the wine’s extraordinary concentration and depth. Although it is infanticide to drink it now, wines such as this are so special and the vintage is so distinctive in its grandness and balance, it offers extraordinary drinking even at this youthful age.

We next moved to the totally perfect 2003 Château Montrose, which was decanted well in advance. With the spring lamb and gateau of eggplant, it was another incredible wine and food marriage. I have had this wine several times in the past, but it always seemed totally shut down, and in need of a decade of cellaring. This dinner proved how aeration and the correct food can bring out the best, even in such a young, surreally concentrated wine. It is a quintessential Montrose, and does not reveal any of the pruny, baked characteristics that can afflict some of the wines of Graves, Pomerol, and St.-Emilion from sandy, gravelly soils. The clay soils of St.-Estéphe were the perfect antidote for the searing heat and drought of 2003. The result is a superb wine that should last 40-60 or more years.

Lastly, having the 2001 Yquemseveral times during my Asian trip is a reminder of just what a legendary and mythical vintage this has already become. It is everything that Yquem should be in a great vintage, i.e., pure perfection. While I am not generally a lover of sweets, this dessert was an incredible sphere of sugar, perfect in diameter, and filled with passion fruit, pineapple, and pamplemousse in a honey liqueur. It was an incredible match for this great Sauternes. In spite of its youthfulness, it is another example of the world’s single greatest sweet wine.