Known as the "Emperor of French cuisine," the late Joël Robuchon was the world's most decorated Michelin-starred chef and a pioneer who pursued the possibilities of fusing French cuisine with Japanese sake.
Inheriting his father's passion, Louis Robuchon has visited sake breweries all over Japan in search of the best sake to go with the finest French cuisine. His extensive search over many years has led him to two worthy breweries.
The first was YAMAMOTO Brewery, which brews FUKUHACHI using ultra-soft water sourced from the Shirakami Mountain Range in Akita Prefecture.
The other was Kiyama Shoten, helmed by a small group of expert brewers in Kiyama-cho along the eastern border of Saga Prefecture.
Louis R has developed two captivating and stunning sakes with these breweries: FUKUHACHI 80 Joël Robuchon and KIYAMA Joël Robuchon.
This sake has a clean, mineral flavor that is smooth on the palate, offers the perfect balance between pleasant sweetness and mellow acidity, and is tinged with a subtle hint of bitterness in its aftertaste. This sake has sufficient body that allows it to be enjoyed not only alongside Japanese dishes but also with Western cuisine such as meat dishes and caviar.
This sake has an elegant attack featuring a light and vibrant acidity before the fruity aromas of apples and citrus fruits grow on the palate, giving rise to an exquisite balance between the sake's acidity and minerality throughout. It has a dry midpalate until the aftertaste emerges, allowing you to savor the harmony between its umami notes and its crisp acidity.
Using largely unpolished rice with a rice-polishing ratio of 80% gives FUKUHACHI 80 Joël Robuchon a solid body and great depth of flavor that allow it to be paired with meat dishes and other items in French cuisine. It is recommended to be served at room temperature in a sake cup. Meanwhile, the Yamada-nishiki rice used for brewing KIYAMA Joël Robuchon is fermented at a low temperature for 70 days to create a sake with a velvety texture. This sake is perfect with dishes containing olive oil and teriyaki dishes, and it is recommended to be served cold in a wine glass.
Louis Robuchon is the Representative Director of Louis R Ltd., a trading company focused on the import of wine and export of sake. He is also the Representative Director of the Joël Robuchon Group headquartered in France. He is the co-owner of L'ABYSSE, the only Japanese restaurant in France to be awarded two Michelin stars.
Based in Japan, Robuchon is a young importer who often travels back and forth between Europe and Asia. In addition to going on private visits, he is also involved in the development of wineries in Europe and sake breweries in Japan.
As someone with a strong affinity with both Japan and France, Robuchon spent his early childhood in Fukuoka, his later childhood until his high school years in Paris, and his university years at Keio University's Faculty of Policy Management (with a one-year exchange program at HEC Paris' Graduate School of Management in France), which allowed him to cultivate an acute awareness of the wonderful flavors and sensibilities of both countries. He has since been drawing on his knowledge and global connections with Michelin-starred restaurants around the world to serve as a bridge between Japan and the rest of the world.
In recent years, he has given lectures in various places on the theme of export strategies to Europe at the request of local governments and agencies, while also organizing many business meetings, trade shows, and brewery dinners in France to showcase the products of Japan.
His father is the late Joël Robuchon, the world's most decorated Michelin-starred chef who is known as the Emperor of French cuisine.
YAMAMOTO Brewery was founded in 1901 (Meiji 34) in Yamori (now called Happo), a fishing village on the Sea of Japan coast famous for its sailfin sandfish, which is the prefectural fish of Akita Prefecture.
Loved for its Shirataki brand, the brewery pioneered the commercialization of daiginjo sake from the mid-1960s, offering it in Japanese restaurants in Tokyo and Kobe to high acclaim.
The brewery eliminated its head brewer system in order to create an environment in which every brewer could have their voice heard and be involved in the creation of the sake.
In 2020, Kiyama Shoten celebrated its 100th anniversary since its founding. Located in Kiyama, a town at the eastern edge of Saga near the prefectural boundary with Fukuoka, this small brewery produces only about 300 koku (54,000L).
The brewery began in the early Meiji era, when local supporters started making sake together. Thereafter, Hatsuzou Komori took over as the first head brewer, and on September 24, 1920, the brewery incorporated as Kiyama Shoten LP.
