With a friend of mine, Tomo, we opened great bottles in two meals in which we tried to balance our inputs.

First meal to prepare the second meal which should be a great event :

From restaurant : Champagne Billecart Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs. Drinkable, but not giving much emotion

From me : Corton Charlemagne Domaine Jean-François Coche-Dury 1995 a fantastic wine, at a level of perfection. I usually drink the 1996 which is more powerful. Today this one, more delicate is at a greater state of perfection.

From Tomo : Grands Echézeaux Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1965. Torrefied, like burnt, it had some accents of a DRC wine, with emotion on a pigeon, but it was too tired.

Second meal, a dinner, with wines that we chose to create an event. I managed the menu with the chef, to have simplified recipes putting in front only meat and juice

From Tomo : Champagne Krug Clos d’Ambonnay 1998. Nice young champagne, but largely less complex than a Clos du Mesnil. Gets an incredible dimension with kidneys.

From Tomo : on pigeon Romanée Conti Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1960. At no moment did it give the emotion of a DRC wine. Just imagine that we left half of the bottle. It was dead.

From Tomo to replace the dead RC : Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier domaine Henri Bonneau 1990. Nice easy wine, expressive, but we did not come for such a wine

From me : La Tâche Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1962. A miracle. Completely corresponding to the legend : rose, salt, and incredible deepness. Very powerful, invading the palate. But the miracle came from the combination. The roe deer took the soul of the wine. When I drank I did not know if I was drinking the wine or the roe deer.

When I ate, I did not know if I was eating the deer or the wine. Incredible combination. I came back from wine to meat hundred times to impregnate with a pure dream, the ultimate gastronomic dream.

We knew that we were living a moment which is the Graal of every wine and food lover.

From me : Haut-Sauternes Guithon & Cie circa 1904. Just added for fun (see picture on my blog). The bottle was awfully low, but I trusted in it. And ut proved to be a Sauternes nearly perfect, with incredibly exotic fruits.

Despite some bad bottles, the La Tâche is sufficient to create one of our best memories. Tomo was sad to have provided a bad RC. It will justify a revenge !