Hey—no sassing. I waited all the way till the beginning of November!
As always, feel free to jump on with your respective lists. This has already been an excellent year for me (although not yet with any true soul-drenching-standout) and that’s without the major road trip in a couple of weeks. I expect there to be a number of additions. We’ll see if anything displaces the Prager.
I haven’t had my Discovery of the Year, but I’m sure I will this coming Sunday. That’s when I’ll be at a dinner at which a 1715 Madeira will be opened. I feel privileged and very fortunate to get to try. Edit—Yup. The 1715 Terrantez Madeira is DEFINITELY the DOTY
As usual, I have provided a score only where my tasting note on the wine prompted that extra level of “description”. Also as usual, I will do the tabulations in the first week of January. Also, if there are any other WOTY threads already started (e.g. halfway-through-the-year), please feel free to link them so that I can add any wines in those threads to the tabulations. Thanks all!
2016 Prager Achleiten Gruner Veltliner (96)
2010 Siro Pacenti Brunello (95)
2013 Westcott Brilliant Sparkling
2018 Greyscale Cab
Ulysses Collin Les Perrieres BdB NV (91)
1995 Krug
2017 Rousseau Ruchottes Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes
2016 Canalicchio del Sopra Brunello (93++)
2019 Beta Maus Cab (92+)
1966 Chateau Boyd Cantenac
1985 Castella di Rampola Chianti (92)
2002 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano D’Abruzzo (94)
2015 Meo Camuzet Corton Charlemagne
2015 Trapet Chambertin (92+)
1992 Vina Tondonia Blanco
1979 J.J. Prum Wehlehner Sonnenuhr Ries Auslese
2018 Hubert Lamy St. Aubin Murgers des Dents du Chien
2014 La Clarte Haut Brion Blanc
1995 Bartolo Mascarello Ca’ D Morissio Barolo Monprivato
2008 Zind-Humbrecht Clos Jebsal Turckheim PG SGN
2022 Roulot Meursault Clos des Boucheres
2019 Poggio Salvi Pomona Brunello
2005 Pignan CdP
2000 Chateau Musar
2016 Rhys Alpine Chard
1840 J. Borges Boal Solera Madeira (94)
1982 Chateau Figeac
2010 Copain Kiser Combe de Gres (95)
2001 Monchhof Erdener Pralat Gustabfullung Ries Auslese
2000 Rousseau Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes
I was wondering when you would start the thread this year
Here’s my list so far (not showing wines that made the list in previous years but would have been up there from recent bottles). Hopefully it will change by the end of the year, especially for the reds that were clearly behind whites this year so far…
White
2013 Keller G-Max (WOTY)
2006 Ganevat Vignes de Mon Pere (close second)
2001 Lopez de Heredia Blanco Gran Reserva Tondonia
Red
2019 Burlotto Monvigliero
2006 Soldera
1999 Overnoy Poulsard
Champagne
2002 Krug Clos du Mesnil
2014 Cedric Bouchard Ursules
2006 Krug Clos du Mesnil
I had some wonderful champagnes for the second, third, or fourth times that I think are among the best wines I drank this year, but the one I had for the first time that blew me away is a wine I don’t usually love:
2008 Bollinger R.D.
White was probably the 2020 Sauzet PM 1er Champ Canet I drank over the past two nights.
Wine of the Year
2023 Jasud Own Rooted - sorry Ketan, it was THAT good.
Best of the rest
2015 VCC - a close second
2018 Poggio di Sotto Riserva
2009 Leoville Poyferre
2004 Leoville Barton
2015 Chateau Haut-Bailly
2019 Robert Craig - Robert’s Block
2008 Dominus Estate
2017 Saxum Bone Rock
2007 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Auslese
Discovery of the year
15 Poliziano Asinone - paired with a dinner in Trastevere our last night in Rome.
I struggled between that and VCC as my pick. Own Rooted is that damn good. I had some killer in person tastings this year so I may have missed a few wines I need to go back and add. Like some Brunello while at Antinori…
Fun to think back… it has been quite the year for old wines for me, but the highlights would include:
1945 de Vogüé Musigny
1934 Clos des Lambrays
1988 Coche Perrières
1865 Louis Affre Beaune
1846 Montrose
1993 Leroy Musigny
great bottles that made me think:
1986 Stony Hill Chardonnay
1981 Kalin Cellars Zinfandel (tastes like a great bottle of Gentaz)
2005 Guffens-Heynen Mâcon-Pierreclos Le Chavigne Tri de 25 ans
biggest high-and-low with one wine:
1945 Lafite, one perfect bottle and one totally oxidized
This is by far ‘peak wine year’ for me. I met some great berserkers and I see what this website can do for your joy about this obsession we share. I’ve found retailers/importers who I trust and want to build a lasting relationship with. Several bottles in my top 3’s was enjoyed with members of this board.
Goal for next year is to empty out a bit the stuff that I don’t see myself drinking and do maybe my first wine trip, which I hope to be with a focus on Loire, Beaujolais and Jura.
At a recent dinner at Blue Hill we tried to order two late 80s Stony Hill Chardonnays which were both oxidized. Unbeknownst to us Dan Barber made a sauce out of the oxidized bottles for one of the dishes just for our table, which provoked interesting reactions - some in our group liked it better than others and were vocal about it!
White:
2019 Dana Estates Sauvignon Blanc, Hershey Vineyard
Red:
2021 Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah! Family Band
Discovery:
2022 Championship Bottle Lusty Little Crushes*
*I fell in love with Lusty Little Crushes, but honestly every bottle I’ve had from Championship has been just superb. The best discovery this year was actually just Saul.
