It took me about 0.1 seconds to choose my wine of the year for 2021.
This was the standout - so interesting, exciting, complex and delicious. Has taught me that there is nothing humble about rose:
It took me about 0.1 seconds to choose my wine of the year for 2021.
This was the standout - so interesting, exciting, complex and delicious. Has taught me that there is nothing humble about rose:
It also only took me a split second, then I scrolled through my CT records to confirm. A revelation, consumed with like minded people and fantastic food.
Not a grand wine by any means but an absolute standout for me this year in terms of being, well, delicious.
This is Mission Impossible…
So I’m going to have to cheat and choose a favourite white and a favourite red
My top white (and maybe top wine full stop) was consumed on my birthday - Comtes d`Eguisheim Pfersigberg Riesling Leon Beyer 2011
The complexity of it just blew me away…! Every sip revealed more layers. Quite something…
Favourite red was (despite some strong competition from many others) - Ziereisen Spätburgunder ‘Tschuppen’ 2015
For its sheer drinkability - but not at the expense of interest. Smoky, autumnal, brambly and featherlight… a wine of real finesse!
It was this (the 2011), back in February:
Sublime, red velvet.
For value for money it has to be the Bin 006 Tasmanian Pinot Noir was unbeatable.
Would be my Red choice as well - only wish I had bought more. For my white, is has to be Les Terres Dorées 2019 Beaujolais for £12.50, very much hope it reappears next year. Although a Chardonnay, it still had individual Beaujolais character.
I have three equal top scorers: Château Batailley, Pauillac 2003, Châteauneuf du Pape, Bois Pointu 2010, Côte-Rôtie Les Rochins, Domaine Garon 2007.
All marvellous examples of well matured wines. However the Pauillac and the Cote Rotie were as I would have expected but the CNdP was a revelation and probably the first time I’ve really been wowed by a CNdP.
An Anne Santi from Umbria. Made from trebbiano grape. 10 months in terracotta with skins Wonderful golden colour in the glass. Strong nose of green apples, some melon perhaps. Had a slight spritz and great mouth watering freshness. Might have been partly down to place and being reunited with family but a very welcome simple pleasure back in July.
Honourable mention to a 2009 La Rioja Alta 904 which if judged on nose alone would be a clear winner but with fruit not present to same extent on palate will have to wait until I try again next year.
Haven’t had anywhere near the amount of wines I’d normally drink this year due to my wife being pregnant for most of it, but my most memorable was probably the below…
Well it’s been an unforgettable year (for a variety of reasons, Open-Heart Surgery, 50th wedding anniversary and my 70th birthday) a cornucopia of riches. I along with other have selected more than one wine, impossible to separate. One I didn’t buy but just tasted, the other three, lovingly kept from EP purchase.
These times are once in a lifetime years!
Thanks for sharing it, I’ve not checked notes/thought too much, but there’s a pretty high chance this is mine as well. A stunning wine with great company (shame about that guy with the big beard and pony tail sat between @MikeFranklin and @NicolaR!).
My other highlights were the first time I had the wine I brought with me that night. In March I opened a first (of three) Produttori di Carema 2017, to celebrate my birthday (with duck wellington, which was also my best cooking of the year).
and the Jane Eyre Cote du Nuit Village 2017
I wondered about listing those two Hermitage whites (thanks to @szaki1974 and @NicolaR for sharing them). I was certainly blown away by them as whites and they are motivating me into further exploration of white wine. A white style I can fall in love with maybe? But ultimately when it comes to my favourite of the year they were, after all, still whites!
I have two stand-outs from this year; a white and a red, both new-to-me varieties discovered on my travels (and hugely commended to TWS buyers)
These are yiannoudis vines about to be harvested (13th Sept)
From a wine perspective, my favourite evening of the year (so far!) was the TWS Naoussa tasting with Matthew Horsley.
Turned out to be both informative and expensive , and most importantly, widened my understanding and discovery of Naoussa, and made way for my second favourite wine moment of the year - a 2013 Markovitis. But as part of the tranche of new Greek wines in spring this appeared…
I suppose it’s exactly what TWS says on the tin - a new one on me, but expertly made, not just quirky, with incredible balance, concentrated yet restrained. I hope it reappears at some point.
(Incidentally, I think this year saw a future-winner-in-the-making in a 2013 Castello Di Verduno Barbaresco Rabaja recently. A wine of incredible promise).
Riesling GC Osterberg, 2010, Louis Sipp was probably my highlight, but special mention to two wines from Furleigh Estate in Dorset - a white PN and a sparkling wine, Oenothque 10, which was quite expensive but superb (at least at the tasting, I’ll report back if one gets popped over Christmas or NYE).
Hear Hear, they make one of the best English cuvée bruts. And it belies the received wisdom that you need to grow the grapes on chalk (Furleigh is on slightly acid loam )
I can’t argue with @cgoldin. Unquestionably my wine of the year - the 2007 rose was outstanding and unique.
A strong second place:
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/pittnauer-ungerberg-blaufrankisch-burgenland-2009
Again unique and different, and one that will shape future purchases and cellaring plans.