I will tell you an anecdote that happened to me
about ten years ago.
I have been reminded of a photograph that I
just saw about a Grands Echezeaux of La Romanée-Conti.
It was in San Sebastián-Donosti (Spain). In a
wonderful restaurant called Zuberoa, whose Chef is one of the best in history
for me: Hilario Arbelaitz
Every year a good friend of mine and me used to
attend a prestigious gastronomic congress held in that city, called “The Best
of Gastronomy”. During several days, we took the opportunity to go out to
dinner every night in one of the best restaurants in that wonderful city and
Zuberoa was one of the fixed ones, every year.
Being that congress, of international character
and great reputation, being held, some of these restaurants prepared a special
menu and, in some cases, like Zuberoa, they also suggested the wines to
accompany it.
Zuberoa, at that time, was a true "Temple
of Gastronomy", but wines were not its specialty. It did not distinguish
itself by having the best wine list or the most expert sommelier, although the
quality and emotion of its cuisine more than made up for those shortcomings. I
used to say that in that restaurant, we should have dinner on our knees, not
sitting, trying to honor such extraordinary cuisine.
The first year, when we saw the wines they
suggested to accompany the excellent menu, we decided to reject them and ask
for the wine list to choose from us. And we saw a “horizontal” of vintage 99 of
the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Saint Vivant, Richebourg, Grands Echezeaux…
When being that restaurant somewhat confused
with the wine issue, they had them at prices between five and ten times below
their market price at that time. That is, they would buy them at a good price a
long time before and "forgot" to update prices, in addition to being
a restaurant that was very moderate in general with its prices, both in wines
and in the rest, for its extraordinary high level of quality and prestige.
In the dining room of the restaurant you could
see that it was a place of pilgrimage from all corners of the world. It was
always full of people from Japan, the United States, Germany, France, China ...
they all looked like very rich people, with lots of money ... the poorest
people in the room were always my friend and me.
The first year we ordered the Saint Vivant and
it was a wine that made us dream.
When we returned the following year, the wines were still there (they
only had one bottle of each of them) and we ordered the Richebourg. We went
back to dream ...
The third year, the wines were still there ...
none of the "rich, wealthy and excellent gourmets" who came daily to
the restaurant, had drunk them ... we ordered the Grands Echezeaux ....
That is, for more than a thousand days, in a
world-class restaurant through which thousands and thousands of magnificent
fans of haute cuisine and pleasures would have passed, with money in large
quantities to spend and enjoy, none of them had deigned to order some excellent
wines at impossibly low prices in a dream restaurant.
Were my friend and I very intelligent? Wrong
answer ... we were "normal" ... and when something "normal"
seems extraordinary is because the rest is absolutely mediocre.
I lost track of Hilario Arbelaitz and his
wonderful Zuberoa ... that restaurant where they should remove the chairs, so
we all had dinner on our knees ...
Salvador Lopez
Sun, salt, life and light…SPAIN
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