I am just back from a stupendous tasting of top German wines in Weisbaden in the Rheningau, followed by personal foraging throughout the Pfalz and Baden. My head is spinning and my teeth are zinging and wow; what a whack of tasting notes I had compiled in a brand new Mac Pro 13" to share with you, especially my scribe about the tour de force that is Salwey and his formidable array of Pinot Gris (Grauburgunder) and Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder). Yes, these trollopes of grapes can work some magic when the meld of soil, site and man's hand is as fortuitously prescient as at Salwey. Alas, that tale will have to wait! Upon pulling my bloody computer out at a freeway truck-stop to search for an address I heard the ominous beep, beep, beep, beeeeep which a geek on the Apple hot-line told me alludes to a broken hard-drive. I didn't even drop or bump the thing but machines have mysterious ways.
So it is to another wine-bar tale, sordid and late that landed me in a salubrious apartment atop Roppongi's Mid-Town complex, laden with lassies and merrymakers playing cards and singing karaoke around a TV set showing Japanese teen idols and their yet-to-be broken voices, screeching amidst lots of cheap wine. No Western-style debauchery to be seen. Before the witching hour though, there was a wine bar and its name is Salon des Salutations. It is conveniently located next to an American military base in one Tokyo's most fashionable neighbourhoods, Nishiazabu. The quirky juxtapositions of interacting realities in Japan!
Salon des Saluts (Nishiazabu 1-4-20, Tokyo, 03-5786-0141) is open until 3am. or, until the last customer leaves. That is a good thing if one is seeking fine wine at a late hour. It is also within stumbling and/or grappling range of Tokyo's night-club district, Roppongi; another positive for the denizens of the night that suddenly want a tipple of fine Burgundy after lots of beers or whatever else in a club. Better, it is just around the corner from Tokyo's premier house music-oriented club, Yellow. The bar is closed on Sundays.
Salon des Saluts focuses on Burgundy and Champagne with a broad selection of top producers' wines and some aged examples ready to roll. Prices are not easy on the wallet but nor should they be given the opening hours, selection of wine and fine service with brio and a smile from sommelier Itoh. Itoh is cloaked in tuxedo and garb although his easy-going irreverence and passion for wine belies his attire.
The bar also offers good moreish food such as top quality bacon and roasted potatoes with rosemary, pate and the like. There is a table charge of a minimum of JPY 5,000 per per person although if one delves into a bottle of Burgundy that is easily absorbed.
Here is a map to help you find the place:
http://www.mapion.co.jp/phonebook/M01007/13103/G0357860141-001/
