I commented twice in the past week that X was one of the five greatest wines I had ever tasted, so I thought I would ask the rest of you. I actually have difficulty listing five, but here is my Best of the Best list, in random order:
1998 Zind Humbrecht Clos Jebsal SGN. The finish on this wine lasted so long that I left BLT Prime on 22nd St. in Manhattan after drinking it and I could still taste it when I arrived at my MTA train station in White Plains. And it was not from my mustache.
1970 G. Conterno Monfortino. A perfect blend of power and finesse. Red fruit, truffles and forest mushrooms, minerals and, yes, a tiny touch of Piedmont creosote just to round things out.
1976 Clos de la Maltroye Chassagne Montrachet Rouge. Bought on release. We drank this in 2005. Decanting it made our entire dining room smell like someone had smashed 5 pounds of ripe cherries on the floor.
1922 D’Oliveras Boal Madeira. Sometimes context is important, and this wine’s position on the list is in homage to context. Served in scant one ounce pours to about 30 members of my family for a Havdalah (end of the Sabbath) service conducted at the beginning of my mother’s 90th Birthday party. Her birth year wine.
#5 is a tough choice, but those four stand out.
Reading the responses below, it reminds me of some candidates for #5 . . .
1945 Grahams in 1981.
1989 Haut Brion in 2005.
1982 La Mission H. B. (the infamous Jets Parking Lot glass of it)
Nope, got it, finally
1962 Delas Hermitage La Tourette From a 375. At that place where what goes on there, stays there. Astounding purity of fruit with a delicate spice back bone.
2002 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Proprietor Grown
2001 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Morisoli Vineyard
2000 Château Pavie
2011 Quivet Cellars Syrah Hulda Block Las Madres Vineyard
1967 Chateau Lafite from magnum (in 1987)
Very hard to choose. Here’s what comes to mind right away:
93 Rousseau Chambertin - On my Honeymoon at Troisgros. The heavens opened up. The wine that started me down the rabbit hole.
93 Drouhin Musigny - An anniversary celebration. The nose, the finesse, the depth – this epitomized everything I love about wine.
85 Dom Oeno - Drank this at the Wheatleigh the night my wife and I got engaged. Don’t remember much about the wine except that it lived up to the occasion.
04 Raveneau Blanchots - In a small bistro in Paris, bought for a song off the list. Perfect wine, perfect setting.
01 Mugnier Musigny - Utterly spherical and weightless beauty.
I’m not going to list some incredible stuff I have had at Bern’s (including some Bordeaux back to the '20s), honoring the Vegas-style motto there, but some of my all-time faves are worth noting because I experienced them more than once (all within the last few years, mature), and each time they were quite spectacular:
1989 Petrus (twice, shared one bottle between two people, both times perfect)
1982 Mouton (three different bottles, all spectacular)
1989 Haut Brion
1989 d’Yquem
Just to make it an even five, I will toss in the greatest Chinon I have had, and sadly, the vineyard is now gone:
2005 Charles Joguet Chinon Franc de Pied Les Varennes du Grand Clos
Was going to start with a 1945 Mouton, but I’m now 99.9% sure it was a fake-- which is to say I liked whatever wine that was pretty well. I suspect it was a refilled 85 or 90 Mouton based on the tasting.
Anyways…
1 Unknown vintage and producer Gevrey-Chambertin – epiphany wine, decided on career change to wine b/c of this. I’m sad I don’t know what it was.
2. Unknown vintage Ramonet Batard Montrachet (prob 2002ish) – changed my whole attitude about Chardonnay at the time.
3. 2001 Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet – A stellar wine made by Mark Aubert from a stellar vintage with the top 9 rows of the equally stellar HL vineyard while it was still on AXR. Sadly I only have one bottle left.
4. Various unknown vintages of Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet-- I just love that wine and sadly I don’t have any around right now and I should remember how much I like it. The only wine I can blind almost perfectly. Have no idea why, I suck at blind tasting. Maybe I just really really like eucalyptus.
5. TBD – but the contenders are '89 Haut Brion, '85 Mouton, '67 Yquem, '79 BV GdL, '95 Maya, '78 Oddero Barolo, ahh the list goes on and on.
Definitely jealous of all the people picking up old school Bordeaux/Burgundy back in the day or who can afford to drop the money on it now, but fortunately time is on my side.