I’m in the same boat.
Sierra Carche.
Oh, wait…
'55 DRC RC.
2000 SQN Inflagrante
2006 SQN Shot in the Dark
2006 Schrader CCS
1990 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle
Mikey - how is this wine now? I have one bottle, and am saving it for a special occasion. The party celebrating the return of our Major Franks might be the right time to crack it. I understand that there is a lot of variance in this wine, with all their different release waves, but I’m interested to get as much feedback as possible.
I love complexity too. Different wines offer different versiosn of it.
Sauternes:
2001 Doisey Daene l’Extravagance
Cabernet:
2000 Cheval Blanc (even at release tons and tons of complexity) and 1990 Beaujosiour Duffue (spelling error big time but you know what I mean)
Cali pinot
2001 Skewis Bush (could substitue for a premier cru Vosnee Romanii) and also the 97 Testarossa Pinot (prior to it falling apart)
Eric,
Angelica…a very sweet dessert wine made in Calif. Usually from the Mission grape, back in ancient times (Spanish). You take fresh grape juice & add grape brandy
up to 18%-20% alcohol level to kill off a fermentation. In France, the same wine is known as Ratafia and Pineau des Charentes.
Back in the days of the Spanish missions, it was a way of making a stable wine, rather than thru fermentation. In the late 1800’s, they would make angelica and age it in glass
carboys for years. I’ve had several from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that were incredible.
Back in the '70’s, both SanMartin Wnry and EastSideWnry had some old/incredible stocks of Angelicas. SanMartin bttld theirs up in a cute square btl under
the name Montenico.
Currently, there is a lady down in the StaRitaHills, Deborah Hall, who has an old Mission vnyd she revived, probably dating to the days of the Spanish mission nearby,
makes a traditional Angelica under her LostCanyon label. It is very authentic, quite good, but not that much age on it.
The Quady Elysium (Muscat Hamburg) and Quady Essencia (Orange Muscat or Fior d’Arancio) are both made as an Angelica. The orangeMuscat grape has an incredible
aroma of orange blossoms, which doesn’t always translate into its wines. So AndyQuady makes it as an Angelica in an attempt to capture in Essencia that
elusive orange blossom fragrance.
JimOlsen made some authentic, Mission-based, Angelicas under his JWMorris Port Works label.
Now you know the rest of the story.
“Experience”…sometimes that’s all old-folks have to offer up!!!
Tom
1795 Barbieto Terrantez and the 1827 Quinta do Serrado Bual. Also the 1863 Krohn Colheita Port.
Can’t just pick one wine.
Sparkling: '66 DP
Dry white: '63 Meursault-Genevrieres, Lafon
Cab-based: '49 Latour
Pinot Noir: '55 Musigny VV, de Vogue and '49 La Tache
Sweet: '67 d’Yquem, '31 Quinta do Noval, '14 Massandra Malaga
Ask me in 5 min and I may have a different answer for dry white and Cab-based. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
FWIW, I’d say open it. You really don’t know with this wine. I’ve had it three times. All from the same source (my cellar) and all different. One bottle, opened about 2006 was really, really great. Another, opened abut 2001, quite mediocre. The one I had a few months ago was very good but not exceptional. The one I had in 2006 was really a singular experience. It truely bore no resemblance to the other bottles. In fact I’ve never had another wine like that. An all time top 3 bottle for me (excepting ports, which is not a fair fight) along with a 1990 Pichon Baron and the 91 Dominus I just had.
For aromatic complexity - aged Barolo keeps my nose in the glass. I had a pristine bottle of Produttori’s 1970 Rabaja (probably my wine geek moment) that I still think about nearly 5 years later. 
Hummm, thinking about Bordeaux, 1961 Latour, 1982 Latour, 1982 Cheval Blanc, 1986 Leoville Las Cases and 1989 Petrus come to mind. Thought provoking and profound wines.
And not to ignore California, a recently tasted 1945 Beaulieu Vineyards Beaumont Pinot Noir. Thought it would be long past its prime, but surprised to find it youthful and highly complex!
Tie between 1975 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano and a late 80’s Bea Sagrantino
1962 Leroy La Romanee, twice in the last two years
John
Most: 1996 Alion opened three years ago (with Todd and Saxon IIRC)
2nd most: 1998 Torre Muga opened in 2003
Alion just blows my mind.
I was going to say that complexity can be good or bad.
I was going to nominate “Old Tavern,” a Moldovan wine I bought out of curiosity a few years ago.
96 DRC Romanee-Conti
Impossible to say. In general though, I am most impressed with the complexity of older German Riesling, red and white Burgundy, Bordeaux, Tokaji, Champagne, Rioja, Sherry, Montilla-Moriles, and Vin Jaune.
Cheers,
Bill
I wonder how much overlap there is between people’s most complex wines and their favorite wines?