I love experiencing new enjoyable wine discoveries. I have found that wine geeks’ excitement for wine can be invaluable.
So I want to know, what wine gets you excited? What wine makes you prepare a whole meal around it. What wine do you shout about to all your wine geek friends? What wine makes you look forward to the next moment it is poured into your glass? What wine makes you feel like everything in your life has achieved perfect harmony?
This could be a specific bottle, producer, year in a region, etc. Excitement can be contagious so spread it around!
Some wines that I own a fair bit of but which really do get me excited to pop, are:
Vatan
Magdelaine
Rougeard
Jamet
Juge
Anything 1998 Pomerol - so in the zone and awesome
Wish that I had more Allemand. And wish that i had Rayas. A 2008 that I popped with some buddies 2 years ago was beyond spectacular. That wine makes an evening, a weekend, a true memory. I chose a Michelin 2 in Nîmes, France, back in May only because they had 2 vintages of Rayas on the menu (and then funny enough, it was all gone when I got there, but I had a most excellent 2010 Pignan).
I’ve also had two guy’s trips recently with amazing wines, and that 2005 Vatan both times was WOTW. Another spectacular, singular wine.
I find new reasons to be excited virtually every day. Quinta da Biaia is producing unexpectedly fantastic wines in the Beira Interior. Bairrada’s Baga based reds have never been so stylistically diverse. Textura Wines have brought to reality the dream of Burgundian-Barolian expressions of the terroir in Serra da Estrela. Not only are the Vinhos Verdes producing serious wine, they’re producing serious bubbles. Previously undiscovered old vines are producing profound wines n the Tejo region (the Tomaralmá project). The Portuguese wine revolution is frenetic and seemingly unstoppable. Everyone has a project, a new idea or at least a word to say.
That sounds like a real special wine to receive those honors. Any experience with other vintages of Vatan? I see a mag of 2018 nearby that I would consider aging.
What is your preferred drinking window? I see the 2014 vintage available and the drinking window on cellartracker is quite expansive (2029-2080).
I am a big fan of Champagne and follow the long running Champagne thread so I am not surprised with your response . Are there a few Champagnes across different price points that you are particularly happy with at the moment?
My excitement for Ganevat has been reignited recently after a great bottle of '16 Antide, Ganevat’s domaine bottlings in general is probably my answer. I too would love to drink Les Vignes de Mon Pere whenever I felt like.
Outside of that, the wine that would get me going most right now might be Michel Grisard made vintages of Prieure Saint Christophe Tradition Mondeuse.
I’m in the fortuitous situation of having enough Champagne to last several years, so my buying and hence focus and excitement about new releases has waned a bit.
I’m excited about the following wines (priced fairly last I checked):
Larmandier-Bernier VV de Levant
Guy Larmandier Signé François
Vilmart GC d’O and Couer de Cuvée
Clouet Un Jour de 1911
Click is you want to see a bigger list. I hate to flood the thread with too many...
Extremely high priced to stratospherically priced champagnes that get me excited when I open most vintages or iterations:
Krug MV
Cristal
DP
Egly-Ouriet VP, Crayeres and Rosé
Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle
Deutz Amour de Deutz (all types)
Billecart-Salmon (Louis, Elisabeth, Nicolas)
Piper Heidsieck Rare
. Are there a few Champagnes across different price points that you are particularly happy with at the moment?