Your 12 Most Special Bottles?

Which 12 bottles in your cellar are the most special?

As I contemplate getting a separate, additional fridge to put my most special bottles in (see backstory in the Mike Smith thread) it made me wonder about this. I plan on getting more than a 12 bottle fridge, but a thread about more bottles would be unwieldy.

So, let’s have fun. You can pick a case-worth of your bottles. 12. These 12 are your most cherished, special bottles. Special could mean most sentimental, highest scoring, most expensive… whatever it means to you.

What are your 12 most special bottles?

mostly bottles that evoke memories–for example, a magnum of 2005 La Tâche from Hank Gillespie when he owned a Canadian wine store. His kindness in selling it to me, storing it, and finally shipping to my Toronto hotel when I came to Canada a year later. He could have sold that bottle 10 times without the hassle.

Other bottles too numerous to mention or that I have already drunk.

But the 05 LT really stands out. I miss Hank and his gentlemanly contributions here.

I could only come up with a Top 10.

1962 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache
1947 Cheval Blanc
1961 Petrus
1982 Latour
1999 Vogue Musigny Vieilles Vignes
2000 Petrus
1961 Paul Jaboulet, Hermitage La Chapelle
1955 Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino
947 Lafleur
1945 Mouton Rothschild

I’m going rogue and saying my most special bottles are wines that I can drink anytime, for any occasion. A I’m opening this because I can, not because I waited 10 years to open a 2007 California Cabernet for just the right moment.

Current qualifiers:

Bedrock
Paumanok
Navarro
Tercero

that is certainly rare!

Would check drinking window on CT

Bravo. [/thread]

Seems like mine are based on when I open them and who I drink them with that makes them special. I have a few bottles I save for special occasions but it’s the occasion that makes them special.

That’s amazing, Alan. :slight_smile:

Do you already have a plan for when you’ll open it, or will it just have to feel like the right occasion?

Perfectly put.

I’d have to agree with this.

no idea–would have to be retirement or hitting Lotto, kid’s marriage . . . not ready for decades and I am getting older . . .

I do not agree so much with David, Barry Paul and Ian because some bottles are such legends that they are special even before thinking of the occasion.

Some bottles are special “per se”, not because of the occasion. And you create an occasion because they are special. And it is not the occasion which makes them special. They were special before the occasion.

I will give an example. The most precious bottle of my cellar was a 1929 Romanée Conti. I thought that the only persons with whom I could open this bottle were my children because the problem of “balance of inputs” does not exist with them.

In a familial lunch at home I opened the bottle. The bottle was dead. We tried to catch all the possible messages of this wounded bottle. But obviously it was not a great wine.
The emotion of opening the bottle for my children was complete even with a wounded wine. I was happy to have shared this moment with my children because for me the important is the intention to give pleasure to my children. Of course a good wine would have been a plus. But the intention created a special event.

Dave,
In your list, you mentioned bottles that you intend to drink or that you have drunk, (knowing that you can intend to drink bottles that you have already drunk) ?

I understand the question of Barry Paul as bottles that you intend to drink, even if you have already drunk.

In my case :
1869 Lafite (not already drunk = NAD)
1945 Romanée Conti (AD)
1858 Yquem (NAD)
1829 Champagne Juglar (NAD)
1811 Cognac Napoléeon Chateau de Fontainebleau
1875 Romanée Conti (NAD)
1961 Hermitage La Chapelle (AD)
1964 Salon (AD)
1943 Dom Pérignon Coronation Elizabeth II (AD but not coronation)
1899 Romanée Conti (NAD)
1900 Mouton (AD)
1945 Mouton (AD)

I own some yquem and 2nd and 3rd growth bdx and a few 1er grand crus burgs but none of these are my special bottles.

My special bottles are those that bring me the most palate pleasure. Which currently is Realm Bard or To Kalon. I also like Riverain, Rivers Marie and Becklyn as well as some Turley Dragon or Rattlesnake.

All of these will bring me to that very happy wine place.

In the spirit of of the game, here are what I consider to be my dozen most prized bottles, as of this moment (though it’s not an exclusive list). These are not necessarily the most valuable bottles I own; rather they are the ones that I look forward to drinking the most, or that I have a particular attachment to. A current desert island case from my collection I suppose:

  1. Laville Haut Brion 1945 (in perfect condition, still in its paper wrapper - it makes me happy just to look at it).
  2. Leoville Barton 1929 (bottled in Ireland, in the village where my father’s family come from).
  3. Pierre Ponelle Musigny 1937 (again in perfect condition, with a 1,5 cm ullage - reputedly made by Georges Roumier).
  4. Climens 1921 (the first bottle of truly fine wine I bought).
  5. Haut Brion 1966 (perhaps not the most acclaimed vintage for HB but my first experience with great Bordeaux).
  6. Mas de Chimeres Coteaux du Languedoc 1993 Magnum (one of my favourite producers in the south of France - my only bottle from this vintage, which is also the only one I have never tried. It is a wine that always puts a smile on my face).
  7. Groffier Leger Richebourg 1970 (an utterly spellbinding expression Richebourg - I was once ‘forced’ to drink a bottle of this when the cork fell in during a reorganisation of a few racks - probably the most happy accident of my life).
  8. Hohe Domkirke Scarzhofberger Auslese 1983 (it won a blind tasting of all 8 Scharzhofberger Ausleses of the vintage, reported in the New York Times in 1987 - the first time I drank this was off my floor with a straw as I smashed one of my precious 6 bottles - that moment was the beginning of my love affair with the Saar).
  9. Leflaive Bienvenue Batard Montrachet 1999 (my last bottle of the greatest white Burgundy I have ever tasted).
  10. Cebene Falgaria 2009 Magnum (a phenomenal 100% Muvedre from Brigitte Chevalier in Faugeres - I absolutely love the wine, the winery, the region, and the view from her tasting room).
  11. Jean Macle Chateau Chalon 2006 (I am in love with this wine - far too young but utterly perfect in every way).
  12. Egon Muller Scharzhofberger Eiswein 2012 (I’ve never had one of his Eisweins and cannot wait to try it!).

Eric,
Next week I will drink the 1948 Laville !

Laville amazes me because it remains so clear with age !

Just a little side note, Francois, I was wondering if you’d happened across any old Bollingers and what you thought? Thanks

That looks like a fantastic bottle - pleased do let us know what it’s like!

Here’s my '45; it is beautifully clear also. A wine that always amazes me with its depth yet precision (though I’ve never had the '45 nor the '48).
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And here is my very sad '83 Scharzhofberger Auslese;-(
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  1. D’Oliveiras 1850 Madeira: their first vintage and by far the oldest wine I own, and the only old wine I own that I know will drink well
  2. 2013 La Tache: I don’t buy DRC because I have no access to it and I could t afford it anyway but this will be my 25th wedding anniversary wine
  3. 2014 Haut Brion: for my daughter’s 21st birthday
  4. 1977 Ridge York Creek: still the best birth year wine I have ever had, hard to find and my last bottle.
  5. 2008 Giacosa Rocche Riserva: could only afford this because Galloni panned it. I thank him for the opportunity
  6. 2001 Yquem: the first old world “100 point” wine I splurged on.
  7. 1989 Lynch Bages: just because.
  8. 2014 Ridge Monte Bello 3L: hard to find occasions for these bottles but I’m think my daughter’s wedding someday.
  9. 2003 Ganevat Vignes de Mon Pere: the most compelling white wine I own, despite oodles of white
  10. 1980 LdH Vina Tondonia GR: I’ve picked up tons of birth year wines for my wife but this is the only one I’m truly excited to drink someday.
    11: 1994 Ravenswood Woods road Belloni son: my first WineBid purchase when I was still in school and which made me realize I loved old wine flavors. Found another bottle recently…
  11. Not sure.