I was a grad student in Durham NC when this was released and just getting into wine when Wellspring Grocery (the local “Whole Foods” who merged with them a few years later) got this in for $15 and my wine buddy called and said I should buy as much as I could before it was all gone. My wife reminded me was a lot of money for a bottle of wine for a grad student family, so I only bought three hoping to enjoy a WOTY experience of a nearly 100-pt wine in 20 years. After a few months, I noticed wine was leaking from under the capsule so opened that bottle, which was an okay CdP, but nothing to write home about. The other two looked okay until after another year or so when another started leaking, so I drank that one with the same result. The last bottle never leaked and I opened it with great fanfare with friends in 2009. It was corked. Glad you got a good one!
WOTY: Toss-up between 2010 Baudana Serralunga Barolo and 2015 JB Neufeld Cabernet Sauvignon Yakima Valley
Discovery: 2019 Accornero Barbera del Monferrato Giulin. Can’t wait to pair this up with Bedrock Shake Ridge Ranch!
This is like a Hemingway short story. I am sorry for your misfortune, and hope you are in a position now to source a few perfectly conditioned bottles.
1995 Verget Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée
1996 Paolo Scavino Bric Del Fiasc
2009 Vietti Rocche
2014 Teso la Monja Alabaster
2016 Chateau Pavie Macquin
2020 Williams Selyem RRV
2016 Casanova di Neri
2017 Casanova di Neri Tenuta Nuova
Had a lot of swings and misses with older bottles purchased through WineBid.
DOTY
Lamy-Pillot (I tried a couple and they have been awesome, have some cellared that I’ll have to wait patiently to try)
Time & Direction Syrah Solaksen Vineyard
My list as someone who has just gotten into wine this year.
Discovery
2016 Opus One - This is what launched me into wine this year. It taught me that wines do not have to be so bold and big all the time.
2002 Joh Jos Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese - Opened the door into the magic of aged Rieslings for me.
WOTY
2000 Chateau Latour - Easily beat out all of the other first growths that I have tried so far.
2012 Keller G-Max - This launched me into Rieslings, creating a chase to re-create this drinking experience at a lower cost.
2017 Roumier Les Cras - This completely blew out my already high expectations for a wine.
2016 Maybach Family Materium
1993 Pazjos Tokaji Essencia
At this point of my wine life, it may seem that everything could be a discovery or epiphany. So I narrowed it into the wines that had the most impact. For reference, I went from drinking and tasting maybe 15 bottles a wine a year to having tasted over 500 wines this past 11 months.
Interestingly, as I think back on my favorite wines of the last year, they were mostly white wines and champagnes. My collection is 90% red wine but this year was the first year I started buying much more White Burgundy and Champagne relative to the reds. My palate seems to be evolving.
Champagne:
1995 Krug - one of the best champagnes I’ve ever had.
White:
2010 Jadot Domaine des Heritiers Les Demoiselles Chevalier-Montrachet - just a perfect white burg experience.
Favorite “discoveries” (producers I just started drinking):
-Hubert Lamy
-Laherte Freres
-PVG - maybe started in 2021 but I can’t get enough
-Extradimensional Wine Co. YEAH!
Looking back at 2022 so far, I have had very few “exclusive” bottles in 2022 (Burlotto’s 2018s is probably one exception, though a larger tasting and dinner), for the most part it seems I have quite fully embraced drinking more humbler wines. Probably a few reasons for that, among other having a toddler at home and a cellar with many wines ready to action (steering what goes into rotation) and so on. I have also had a preference for younger, energetic wines in general this year.
With one and a half month to go lets see if (and hope) updates will be required.
It was a magnificent bottle opened for NYE, yet most of it drunk on NY day. Couldn’t think of a better way to end a year and start a new - Bursting with energy, flavors and an incredible texture/finish dancing along for ages. A don’t brush your teeth before bed type of wine/finish.
Other white wines I have really enjoyed over the year have been:
2021 Keller Riesling von der Fels (impressive with incredible fruit purity and intensity - never had a dry riesling handling spicy food like that. Crazy energy)
2018 Skerk Carso Ograde (love the texture and just a terrific wine)
2021 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken “Egon” #19 (Loved it and the way it kept developing over days - a wine that makes me think and feel)
2016 Grosjean Petite Arvine Valle d’Aosta Vigne Rovettaz (first time and loved it - also my find of the year!)
2019 Ziereisen Weißer Burgunder (wow for a wine at this price point!)
Among the red wines it is a dead race between:
2014 Enderle & Moll Pinot Noir Liaison
2016 Elio Sandri Dolcetto
As for the E&M I like it more than any 2015 bottlings I tried of the years (know many here prefer the warmer 2015). Short notes saying: Sensational. Herbal, spices, dark and red fruits. Texture is silky woven, yet with quite some tannic grip.
The Sandri Dolcetto on the otherhand smashed me expectations and I have loved every bottle opened before. If served blind I could have taken it for a barolo yet with a slightly different fruit and texture profile (slightly less refined than a nebbiolo would have been).
Other memorable red wines:
2004 Giacomo Brezza e Figli Barolo Sarmassa (it’s quite big and powerful, maybe less about elegance but still gracious)
2014 Ronchi di Cialla Schioppettino di Cialla (I have loved the good 2014 wines in Friuli even if a difficult year with loads of rain, regret not having more of the ReNera 2014)
2011 Franck Balthazar Cornas Cuvée Casimir Balthazar (my first with some age and what a texture)
2012 Esencia Rural Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León De Sol a Sol Natural Velasco (herbal bomb and an incredible energy. The old ungrafted vines from this estate give wines that sometimes are too energetic and intense - this is now starting to calm down, just a bit)
2013 Adriano Marco e Vittorio Barbaresco Basarin (think I paid eur15 for this, a very good barbaresco and with Vittorio’s sad passing earlier this year it become more memorable)
2020 Roagna Dolcetto d’Alba (finally I got hold of it without crazy markups - lovely dolcetto, and yes this has been a year of dolcetto! Love the grape when in the hands/land of great winemakers)