Top Flight
Photo by Hermes Rivera / Unsplash
‘Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.’-The Dalai Lama.
This year has certainly brought many challenges and hardships, but if we look closely enough and view it through a lens of positivity, there is always something good to find. I have my health, my loved ones are safe and healthy, and we can still drink great wines. I feel so blessed this year, as I have personally had to adapt, evolve and journey inward to find happiness throughout the year. This challenge has made me stronger and better. And along the way, I have been blessed to drink more than my fair share of the best wines of the world. Here is my annual highlight list.
Pinot noir is my favorite grape variety, and so it is always the toughest category to choose from. These two examples rise to the top of the list as not only spectacular wine, showing at their peak, but also a couple that will more than likely never cross my palate again for their rarity. The first is 1949 Clavelier Vosne-Romanee Malconsorts, which has everything that an aged Burgundy could have: heady aromatics of fruit, flowers and earth. It is so refined—pure silk and sexy, sexy wine! Yes, it is not a Grand Cru but because of its age and complexity, it completely crushed the competition save one.
The 1978 Patriarche Richebourg “Couvent de la Visitation,” which is a Grand Cru, is another heavenly bottle. It had a stunning display of aromas: sweet spices, soy, cherries, sandalwood and autumn leaf. Pure splendor on the palate; tender and caressing. So emotive and stupefyingly delicious!
Another great thing about 2020 is that I have been able to drink more Bordeaux than in previous years. Friends have been charging the table with fabulous and regal bottles. And for me, the best bottle of the year was the 1986 Chateau Haut Brion, which edged out 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild. The Haut Brion is in such a wonderful spot right now. It shows all the class and pedigree one could imagine: deep flavors of coffee grounds, gravel, cocoa and mocha along with black currants. I love the velvety nature of great Bordeaux and this one has it in spades. Grand in every sense.
From the Old World to the New, we stay with cabernet. My best New World red of the year is easily 2004 Harlan Estate from magnum from a once-in-a-lifetime vertical tasting of eight vintages, all from magnum! This wine is still so youthful but starting to forge its way into its secondary life. Tons of perfectly ripe blue and black fruit framed by espresso and earth.
It envelops your palate with a firm velvety caress. Like Hercules dancing a ballet of strength and beauty at the same time—superb! My best New World white is a recent bottle of 2000 Kistler Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay.
It also happens to be the oldest bottle of Kistler Chardonnay that I have had. The color was deep golden yellow and screamed of almonds, sweet poached and baked pears and apples, hints of caramel and baked bread. There was still plenty of fruit on the palate, but it finished on a stream of hazelnut toffee. My best Champagne was a multi-vintage Krug Grande Cuvee “Bronze label” which was based on 1996 vintage disgorged in 2002 with the oldest wine being from 1982/83. As many already know, Krug Grande Cuvee does get better with more aging, and this one was truly kaleidoscopic. Beguiling with its fruit, complexity, creaminess, maturity and freshness, it combines the yin and yang of youth and maturity to perfection. It was stupendous.
Lucky for me, I have drunk more Italian wine this year than previously. The best Italian wine for me this year was 1999 Soldera Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. It is one of the purest essences of Sangiovese, bursting with wild cherries, autumn leaves and an almost chalky earthy note. Floral and inviting, I had to work diligently to keep some in the glass. It had this seamlessness that I find only in the best wines. It was so satisfying and pleasurable.
The Syrah of the year for me was 2001 J.L. Chave Hermitage by a mile. It represents the amalgam of all the richness, fruit and earthiness that this special plot of earth called Hermitage can be. Olives, lardons, set stones, spices and blue fruit galore and at almost 20 years old, it is starting to blossom. It took a solid four hours after decanting to begin its opera. And it will probably take another 20 years to see its true zenith. One would be so lucky to be there.
And finally, where would red wines be without a white to precede it? My top white from the Old World is 2017 Blain-Gagnard Montrachet Grand Cru. I have often said that Montrachet is the greatest parcel of white grape vines on the planet and yet again, another bottle of Montrachet has proven it. It oozes class—everything in its place and nothing out of place. There are gobs of white and yellow fruit and flowers, fresh-tilled soil, lifted vanilla and a hint of butter. It explodes on the palate with flavor but never overpowers the senses; rather, it fills them with pure joy. Yes, it is still in its infancy but what a heavenly beginning.
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