La Romanรฉe Conti in the heart of Japan
In 1991, I was living in France and was becoming more and more intrigued with Japan.
I wanted to create a striking event linking the essence of French wine, La Romanรฉe Conti in Vosne Romanรฉe, the pearl of Burgundy, with the essence of Japanese culture, the tea house Ichi Riki which is in their beloved former capital, Kyoto.
The mythical Romanรฉe Conti is the oldest and most renowned wine domain in all of Burgundy and probably in the whole world, it is the wine all french wine connoisseurs have heard of, but never tasted. The vineyard Romanee Conti was first mentioned under the name of โCros des Clousโ in 1131 and in 2019,ย the climats, terroirs of Burgundy were inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list.ย
The venerable Ichi Riki is the tea house all japanese have heard of but that almost nobody has had the privilege to visit.
It is located at the epicenter of Kyoto, in the discrete select neighborhood called Gion. But don’t try to stop there for dinner, not even just to come in and take a lookโฆ To cross the threshold, you have to be invited by two of their select honorable guests.
Ichi Riki is an exciting place full of history, where the events of the legend of the 47 Ronins took place.
Every Japanese you will meet knows this legend.
In this story, the 47 Ronins lost their master who was wrongfully forced to commit the ritual suicide โDaimyoโ, following a dispute with his enemy Kira Yoshinaka. As a result, the vengeful ronin fighters pretended to lose their way in alcohol and pleasure in Ichi Riki. After many months, no longer expecting retaliation from the ronins, Kira Yoshinaka lowered his guard and was easily slayed by the 47.
So on November 30th, 1991, I organised the first Romanรฉe Conti tasting ever in Japan, a tasting of 10 vintages 1940 to 1986 for a select group of wine lovers in this legendary place.
Among the tasters were the French Ambassador Loic Hennekinne, three of the most prominent sommeliers at the time, notably Shinya Tasaki, who in 1995 won the title of the worldโs best sommelier; Masaharu Oka of Royal Hotel; Tokimaru Takahashi, ANA Hotel Tokyo.
Present were also the most prominent personalities in the wine Japanese society, Hiroshi Yamamoto,Takahaaki Shimoya and Hiroshi Kojitani.
This was followed by a memorable dinner in Ichi Riki accompanied by other wines from Domaine de la Romanรฉe Conti. The creation of the accompanying dinner was prepared by five three star chefs of Kyoto. Each chef created one dish specially composed to be the perfect marriage to each wine tasted.