Not really a discovery of the year, but definitely something I have come to love in this Covid era is champagne, and the 2004 Krug Clos Du Mesnil that I had a couple weeks ago was likely #2 on my WOTN list behind the magnificent 1982 Chateau Haut Brion. Scrolling through some photos, I appear to have had a lot of 2008 Dom and NV Krug this year.
Honorable mentions:
2008 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault-Blochet
1982 Chateau Magdelaine
2000 Chateau Trotanoy
2001 Chateau Haut Brion
2014 Marcel Juge
2005 Clos Rougeard Les Poyeaux (2014 smokes as well)
Lots of Vatan. One cannot have enough.
And then this, with the boys, Todd, Jorge, Meats, Kane, Fu and moi, drooling over this 1969 Burg from some obscure producer…
Not as many opportunities to open good stuff but standouts include:
White: 1994 Weingut Hermann Ludes Klüsserather Bruderschaft Riesling Auslese
Red: 2001 Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva
Sparkling: 2012 Moussé Fils Champagne Terre d’illite Blanc de Noirs
Runners-up:
2004 Daniel-Etienne Defaix Chablis 1er Cru Les Lys
1998 Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito Vigna la Delizia
2015 Cédric Bouchard Champagne Millésimé Blanc de Noirs Les Ursules
My discoveries were I wish I bought more Congruence at close out prices and I like the pyrazine stem filled style more than anyone else.
Nothing has stood out as being above and beyond. I have enjoyed a lot this year. I think I finally figured out where my palate has settled. (N Rhone, White Burgundy and Italy)
Discovery of the year would be affordable and great white burgs. Bongran, Guffens, Dureuil Janthial and Fornerol.
My wine of the year was a 2006 Didier Dagueneau Silex that my wife bought me for my birthday and we opened together with dear friends. My runner up was the 1996 Krug that we also opened that weekend.
I think getting the Silex as a gift from my wife (that could care less about wine…but likes to drink what I open) was certainly the surprise gift from her this year.
I think that anytime we get a chance to drink wines from people that have passed it’s a bit like we are inviting them back into our lives to share with those that we love most.
My discovery of the year is definitely Tement from Austria. I’ve really loved each & every wine that I’ve opened from them.
Imaging how amazing it would have been if it was properly decanted and entire free of sediment!!! The next time you get to enjoy something like that, give it a try the ‘right’ way - you’ll be a convert!
No WOTY for me, but two discoveries of the year, one thanks to Alfert up here - Baudry Chinon, and the other is the variety Godello, of which I’ve been enamored lately. The wines of Veronica Ortega and Raul Perez have proven to be complex, interesting, refreshing, and flexible with or without food.
We have a winner!! Two of my very favorite wines of all time.
Here are a few of mine from this year:
2008 Dom, 2008 Cristal, and 2008 Vilmart CdC
2009 PYCM Batard, 2011 PYCM Montrachet, 2001 Leflaive Chevalier
2000 Rousseau Chambertin, 2002 Rousseau Beze
1989 Clinet, 1989 Haut Brion
1977 Fonseca, 1963 Dow
1986 Yquem, 1984 Yquem
Bad Mikey! Good Shan! I PM-ed Shan to say he must have read my mind, to open the post on this the day I…finally…remembered that I hadn’t started one of these yet. Much thanks, Shan, for getting this going.
I will, as in other years, do the tabulation work at the end of this year.
For now, my WOTY List
2011 Lillian Gold Label #1 Syrah
2018 Kutch Trout Gulch Chard
2016 Pax Alder Springs Syrah
1986 Chateau Lafite Rothschild
2012 Camille Giroud MSD Les Chaffots
2012 Chateau des Rontets Pouilly Fuisse Clos Varanbon
2010 Cedric Bouchard Roses de Jeanne Les Ursules
2010 Dubreuil-Fontaine Pommard Epenots
2014 Dirty & Rowdy Semillon
2010 Sojourn Georges III Cab
2016 Paolo Bea Il Censo Praruar (Catarratto grape)
2014 Kutch Santa Cruz Chard (94-95) 2010 Argiano Brunello Riserva (98)
2016 Kirrenbourg Schlossberg Grand Cru Ries
2017 Joseph Colin Chassagne Montrachet Vide Bourse
2010 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin (94++)
1970 Graham’s VP
1994 Beringer Cab
2016 Myriad Halcon Syrah (93-94)
1997 Domaine Weinbach Clos des Capucins Cuvee St. Catherine Schlossberg Ries (91+)
2011 Chateau Climens
2017 Kutch Falstaff Pinot Noir (94+)
A suspicious number of these–4—were contributed by my close friend Heather.
Discovery of the year had a number of contestants, but the winner is the 2016 Zaha Altamira Malbec. It would get a 89 or 90, which on my strict scale is pretty darned good. The catch? It’s C$23. I should have bought many more than I currently have
The Argiano remains my lead dog, tried in July. And there’s something wrong about the fact that I only have two white Burgs on the list this year.
1982 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc Late Harvest Rutherford Gold is my WOTY right now and will very likely still hold the top when everything is said and done. My friend picked it up for something like $18 recently, but wow did it blow us all away.
First entry here:
Best 2017 Bordeaux En Primeur wine: Canon La Gaffelière
Best Napa PNV 2018: Spottswoode 2018 ( If you tried it you know why!)
Best Napa 2016: Maya 2016 (close second Bevan Tench 2016/Hershey 2016)
Best White: SHL Blanc 2017
Worst wine of the year: Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon Indian Wells 2017
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