Glass by Glass Through the Joël Robuchon Grand Cru Pairing
Nine wines across an evening is either a statement of intent or an act of hospitality, and at Joël Robuchon, it manages to be both.
There is a silver plaque near the entrance of Joël Robuchon that marks the restaurant's three Michelin stars from 2009. The wine program holds its own parallel distinction, a Wine Spectator Grand Award received every year since 2009, built around a cellar of 1,645 selections and over 12,500 bottles with particular depth in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, and the Rhône. On the night of the Grand Cru pairing, both of those things are present in the room at the same time.
The Grand Cru pairing runs $995 per person and is the top tier of three options offered alongside the Menu Dégustation. What follows is a record of nine glasses, in the sequence they arrived.
The Sommelier
Kelly to add name, background, and any personal details from the evening here.
Louis Roederer Cristal, Champagne 2013
Paired with Le Caviar Impérial
Cristal opened the evening before the first course landed, which is the correct way to begin. It is precise and linear in the glass, orchard fruit and a very fine mousse, the kind of Champagne that does not announce itself. Against Le Caviar Impérial, crustacean gelée, cauliflower purée, caviar at the center, the acidity cut through the richness of the gelée without competing with the caviar. Clean and exact. The right call.
Riesling "Grossi Laüe," Famille Hugel, Riquewihr Grand Cru, Alsace 2014
Paired with Le Homard du Maine and La Pomme de Terre
A Grand Cru Alsace Riesling from Famille Hugel, a family that has been in Riquewihr since 1639. Dry, structured, with a mineral edge and a long finish. It was carried across two consecutive courses, the Maine lobster and the truffle-and-foie-gras potato, which tells you something about how the program thinks. The wine had enough weight to hold against foie gras carpaccio and enough freshness to stay alive against the lobster. Both courses needed something that would not disappear on them. This didn't.
Château d'Yquem "Y" (Ygrec), Bordeaux 2022
Paired with La Saint-Jacques
"Y" is the dry white that Château d'Yquem produces from the same vines as its legendary Sauternes. Very few people know it exists. It is floral and taut, with citrus and a real salinity underneath. Paired with seared Hokkaido scallop in apple cider jus with walnuts and white truffle shavings, it was not the obvious move. But the wine's acidity threaded through the truffle without flattening it, and its weight matched the weight of the scallop. It worked in a way that made you think seriously about whoever made the call.
Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru "Blanchot Réserve de L'Obédience," Burgundy 2020
Paired with Foie Gras
Domaine Laroche's Réserve de L'Obédience is a Chablis Grand Cru from parcels farmed since the 12th century. Cool, chalky, and precise in the way that only Chablis at this level can be. It arrived with seared foie gras, confit of bell peppers, ginger gastrique. Against the richness of the foie gras it held its ground. Against the acidity of the gastrique it gave something back. Pairing Chablis with foie gras takes conviction. This one earned it.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape "Magis," Rotem & Mounier Saouma, Southern Rhône 2020
Paired with Le Bar
A Southern Rhône red with a delicate white fish course is the move most likely to raise an eyebrow. Rotem & Mounier Saouma is a small, serious producer in Châteauneuf built on restraint rather than power. Paired with pan-fried sea bass with lemongrass foam and stewed baby leeks, it held without overwhelming the fish. The lemongrass kept things bright. The wine stayed in its lane. Harder to pull off than it sounds.
Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Domaine Frédéric Esmonin, Burgundy 2022
Paired with Le Poulet
Ruchottes-Chambertin is one of the Gevrey-Chambertin Grands Crus, and Domaine Frédéric Esmonin is a small family estate with old vine holdings across several of them. It arrived with farm chicken braised with Château-Chalon, matsutake simmered in a cocotte, finished with shaved alba white truffle. The earthiness of the matsutake and the truffle pulled directly toward the wine. This is where the kitchen and the cellar felt most like they were working from the same page.
E. Guigal Condrieu "La Doriane," Northern Rhône 2022
Off-menu, sommelier's recommendation
This bottle was not part of the Grand Cru pairing. The sommelier brought it anyway, because he wanted me to try it. Condrieu is a rare white from the Northern Rhône, 100% Viognier, stone fruit and white flowers and a waxy texture that stays with you. Rich without being heavy. The note from that evening says it all: "Not Grand Cru but the sommelier wanted me to try." That gesture, a bottle brought to the table because someone genuinely wanted to share something good, is what separates a wine program from a wine list.
Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac Grand Cru Classé, Bordeaux 2005
Paired with La Joue de Boeuf Wagyu
Twenty years old and fully in its window. Lynch-Bages is one of Pauillac's great names, and the 2005 has aged into something dark and savory, graphite and cedar and dried fruit with a long, authoritative finish. It arrived with braised Wagyu beef cheeks, red miso, confit carrot. The miso's fermented depth met the wine somewhere in the middle and neither one backed down. The most classically Bordelais moment of the evening, and it knew it.
Château d'Yquem, Sauternes Premier Grand Cru Classé Supérieur, Bordeaux 2003
Paired with La Poire
Château d'Yquem has been making Sauternes since the 16th century and the 2003 is over twenty years old, deep amber, honey and dried apricot, sweet in a way that never feels heavy because the acidity holds everything in place. It arrived with pear confit, ginger chantilly, hazelnut streusel, pear sorbet. The Yquem brought something the rest of the evening had been moving toward without naming it. A closing glass should feel like an arrival. This one did.
Notes
Address: 3799 S Las Vegas Blvd, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV 89109
Reservations: jrobuchon.com or via the MGM Grand concierge
Hours: Thursday through Monday, dinner only
Grand Cru Wine Pairing: $995 per person; Village pairing $325, Premier Cru pairing $450
Accolades:Wine Spectator Grand Award (annually since 2009); formerly 3 Michelin Stars (the only restaurant in Las Vegas history to receive this distinction)
Instagram: @joelrobuchonlv
About the Author
Kelly Gomez is a creative director who eats well, travels far, and lives with intention. She has sat at tables that required months of planning, flown routes that cross a dozen time zones, and found herself in rooms most people never find. She is precise about what she loves and honest about what falls short.
A WSET Level 2 Wine Certified writer and Advanced Open Water Diver, Kelly covers luxury travel, hotels, fine dining, wineries, diving destinations, and the trips built around them.
Her work reaches a US-based audience of travelers between 25 and 44, with a near-even gender split and a meaningful following.
