Overview
This evening was a brainstorm by Michael as a way of doing something special. At our last get together in January for a Burgundy Study we pondered what our illustrious friend (now entering his mid-80s) was still curious to try for a future Burgundy Study. Michael did a lot of legwork to engineer this Unique Horizontal. I pitched in where I could, and we managed a very relaxed Saturday all together.
This was one of the most Intellectual Burgundy studies I have ever done. And I don’t mean that necessarily in a qualitative way (positive or negative). These wines have a lot of layers; these wines are very singular in how they present; they are very disparate (despite their tremendous proximity and uniformity of producer); they are genuinely quite complex & layered.
The 2022 Bienvenues-Batard Dinner in Atlanta will always be a benchmark as a Deep, Thoughtful Burgundy moment in my life. That afternoon/evening serves as a demarcation point in my Burgundy journey. It’s where I met Michael, in fact, alongside Brad, Favre, and Lustig. It had Andrew, Don, Fred, and Mike Evans. It was a real moment of Burgundy in my life. One can draw a line, so to speak, between that dinner and these lunches/dinners/voyages these past 4 years. The combination of joy & study really elevated my horizons/training/approach to Burgundy.
I wouldn’t want to necessarily say that a lineup like this weekend’s 2007 Horizontal requires several years of preparation. But, it helps. There’s a lot to think about & contextualize in this lineup.
1996 Salon
Thankfully, a stunning example of the vintage. I’m often a touch hard in my evaluation as to this house. Not to be pedantic, but simply because I think that Salon needs a lot going perfectly for it to really sing. And that an advanced bottle or a tight bottle struggles to fire for special enjoyment (more so than other Big Houses).
[Author’s Interlude: Michael & I got a little side-eye in NY at lunch two weeks ago when we paired '13 CdC with the '13 Salon. He and I were in the minority at the table, but we find the tightly wound/structure-emphasizing Salon a very even, thoughtful comparison with the more harmoniously accessible Comtes. This is a little Inside Baseball, but I think it’s because Michael & I have a much different relationship to White Burgundy than the Atlanta Crew. We view ‘structured’ chardonnay a little differently. These palate quirks intrigue me.]
This 1996 was one of the two best bottles of Salon I have ever had (alongside a 1990 last October with Michael & others). The 1990 was more stately, subtle, and finely poised in a mature/harmonious way. This weekend’s 1996 had so much verve & enormous joy. As Michael already outlined.
Beautiful size and freshness. A little tight & coiled upon opening, but as it unfurled in the glass over each 20 minutes it gained in viscosity and mid-palate complexity. Powerful Chardonnay features & purity. Plenty of power that left a effervescence on the teeth & developed light mid-palate savory notes blended with the blancs de blancs mature citrus & minerals. All held together with fresh, youthful power.
A special example of a Legendary Wine
2007 DRC Romanee-St. Vivant
The first wine poured. I ended up focusing on this wine exclusively for the first hour (as the Richeboug wasn’t accessible early on). A very intriguing wine.
Lots of fresh strawberry on the nose. Maybe a touch of Rhubarb. And then immediately linking into the mid-palate with the full Bramblepatch. Lots of cluster, stem, and medium-earth on the mid-palate. Lots of energy, too. However, I found the ratio of energy on the Aromatics to be asymmetrical to the rest of the wine (and its non-lightweight structure).
I felt this wine was very joyous but needed a top-up every 30 minutes to keep its shape & full flavor. The verve on this wine included a lot of structure surging through its mid-palate & finish. A pretty wine, and a wine worthy of thoughtful exploration for a few hours. A different tier to the two best wines on the table.
2007 DRC Richebourg
A very difficult wine for me to evaluate. Needed a legit 3+ hours Decant. And by the end of the evening the aromatics were very dark licorice/dark earth rather than the strawberry, other red fruits, and teas of its table brethern.
Also, by the end of the evening I was also enjoying an unlisted, backyard Morey St. Denis that was much lighter & aromatically joyous. This Richebourg remained simply a touch too brooding for me. No idea if bottle variation will reveal different wine experiences for other tastings. Or how 10 years will shape this wine.
2007 DRC La Tache
Pretty Stunning.
The truism you hear from others with more experiences like these cross-vineyard Horizontals is that when a La Tache is really on song & beautiful you spend a lot of time talking up the other wines to make it a closer, more even Burgundy Study 
This has joyous power. Beautiful red fruits, and some very lovely, voluptuous Venison loin meat juices on the aromatics. Alongside plenty of Asian spices. Kept very restrained & perfectly in balance by its structure. No tannic bite at the end, so the finish is straightforward and polishing off the exotic, exquisite harmony of the Aromatics & mid-palate of this wine.
Legit. A wine that you could fall in love with whether you had a relatively newly developed palate or have been drinking Burgundy for decades.
2007 DRC Romanee-Conti
A wine of great harmony & intellectual quality.
Not hedonistic on the nose. No immense power of florals or red/dark fruits leaping from the glass. Instead, there’s a lot of rolled tea & gentle aromatics. And the more one sits & trains the nose on this style, the more that tea really unwinds and blossoms into increasing largesse. A beautiful wine to follow for a few hours.
I loved how well-made I found this wine to be. Very delicate in its structure, very rounded mouthfeel. Frankly, more ‘premier cru’ in weight than its tablemates. Which, I use as a compliment here.
As an analogy, I do think this wine has a bit of a celebrated foreign-film quality. It’s not an obvious wine, it’s quiet, and it will help if you’re in the headspace & timeframe to really ponder its themes. I don’t think that’s sentimental groupthink; I’m certainly not writing it as such.
I’m glad to have his wine in such a Horizontal form. And with many hours to think on what it is trying to do (and what it’s achieving to do) in its singularity. It’s a really beautiful wine. It’s fascinating that the volume of this wine is so different compared to La Tache, and that it’s harmony is very long-lasting. It holds up for several hours. It’s quiet, though. Very lovely.
Conclusion
This was a (medium-spontaneous) Spring Study.
I’m very glad to participate and have so many hours with these wines. In general, I manage a sort of charmed existence with my Burgundy Studies. I get to drink with a lot people I really like & admire which makes the study a lot different (and special) than merely collecting wine memories.
Michael & I have very different personalities, but we’re both very intense people. I think sharing great wines (and sharing in wine culture, overall) is a vessel where we can bring the full force of character & intensity into something beautiful. Our Full Force. Which is not necessarily the easiest match for that much intensity.
These Burgundy Studies are beautiful moments in time.