One issue in starting this in November is a lot of wines still may be added. From last night, I would add
2014 Caroline Morey CM Caillerets, even though this wine needs more time.
And, my discovery of the year now is 2017 Ulli Stein Alfer Hoelle 1900 Riesling Spatlese with about 13 grams of RS.
WOTY was 82 Gruaud Larose, by a nose
Runners up:
1994 Eyrie South Block
1986 Rauzan Segla
2002 Bertheau Amoureuses
1983 Mayacamas
1977 Monte Bello
1978 Mount Eden
2002 Cameron Abbey Ridge
09 Peters Chetillons
So far this year:
1988 Spring Mountain Cabernet
2017 Bruno Clair CDB
2014 Kapscandy Grand Vin
2008 AF Gros Richebourg
1989 Berlinger Johannisberg Riesling Late Harvest
2018 Memento Mori VHR
2001 Casanova di Neri Tenuta
2005 Corison Kronos vineyard
That 2001 Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin is a great wine. I recently had it side by side with the 2001 Faiveley Corton - Clos des Corton. I thought the Mazis was the far better wine, at least for current consumption.
Another year, another Riesling:
2008 Schäfer-Fröhlich Felseneck Spätlese
With all the talk on the “Let down by Fine Wines” thread about the importance of the setting/company, this one was special because it was opened for me by a fellow Berserker in my first offline meeting.
The offlines we’re having in Denver are always a blast, so glad I’ve got a group of people I can enjoy with!
The whites: Jura!
The Reds:
Discovery of the year: The village reds from Coche-Dury: Auxey-Duresses, Monthelie, Meursault red… we put them alongside many Burgundies PC GC and they were up there… did not know he could make red wines!!
A few contenders here:
1964 Pinon demi-sec
1989 Foreau molleux
2007 High Constantia Sebastiaan
2007 Grivot Echezeaux
1989 Olga Raffault Les Picasses
1989 Pierre Sparr Mambourg Gewurz VT
Stephane Bernaudeau Les Ongles (I unfortunately did not catch the vintage…maybe 2018?)
Wow call me jealous! And nice to see some Jura mentioned here! That 2003 is the best white wine i have personally ever tasted (and Coche-Dury is my WOTY in this thread).
Hehe it was during my trip to Jura. And I never had a chardonnay Coche Dury in my life, only the pinots.
I am right now buying a ton of Washington State wines but this Napa offering for $39.99 might be my wine of the year.
It’s a fun and fascinating topic. In past years I’ve tried to keep a list of wines that would make my top 10 or 20, but I think I’ve been fortunate this year to drink a lot of great wine and I’ve stopped. Some has been from my cellar, most has been from the generosity of friends. Ultimately it has been the joy of drinking bottles with good friends that makes the difference. Besides, I’m sure some of the wines have already been listed above. It’s not much of a secret that wines like 04 Reynard, 97 Leflaive Chevalier, Collin Roises and 93 Rousseau Beze are good. So I’ll just go with some discoveries:
Champagne:
Pierre Paillard: not a producer I knew much about before this year, but the brothers are making some fabulous wines. As with someone like Bereche, they very much look to Burgundy.
Just how good Cristal is. I mean, I knew it was great, but tasting 4 vintages of the rose out of magnum - wow.
Burgundy:
Just how good the recent Claude Dugat wines are. Some of the best 19s I’ve had.
Guffens - a friend blinded us on some 1997 which I called an 04 Meursault perrieres. I wasn’t the only one.
96 Dujac Clos St. Denis - easily the best 96 I’ve ever had. An absolutely ethereal nose and without the shrieking acidity that dominates what is otherwise an awful vintage. A real testament to Jacques Seyess brilliance.
I’ll close with one bottle. One of my friends brought a 1979 Pousse d’Or Caillerets to dinner last week. A birth vintage for me, and the bottling that was my gateway into burgundy many years ago*. The wine was great, sharing it with friends was better. Gerard Potel was a magician - I’ve never had Volnay like his.
The 1990 60 Ouvrees, if we’re being technical 
I just got a couple old d’Auvenay and I’m so excited to taste that beautiful juice once again.
Last night’s 1976 Ridge Montebello was pretty special.
Too many excellent Champagnes from which to choose. Maybe the ‘02 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvée, and the 2002 Late Disgorged Cristal.
For stickies, the 2001 Suduiraut hit all of the right notes.
WOTY Red: 1991 Soldera
WOTY White: 2009 Comtes Lafon Meursault Charmes
Discoveries: Vilmart CdC, Henri Billiot, LdH Rosado, Sabelli Frisch
Vilmart always good!
Sounds great. Pousse d’Or was really special when Gerard Potel was there. Wish I still had some of those wines. Down to one bottle of 1996 Pommard Les Jarollieres. As I understand it, he made the wine but died not long after harvest.
1996 was Gerard’s last vintage, yes. He hasn’t quite finished all the wines, and there are two different labels - one with his name on it, and one without. His wines in both cases.
I hear you, Howard. The balancing act of choosing when to start this exercise—agree that more than 1.5 months leaves a lot of time to find new candidates (I tend to just add 'em to my OP), but starting early enough ensures that we get a lot of input from people and lots of responses, already great to see that so far. I personally really enjoy the exercise I do at the end to tabulate everything and see where all my fellow winos come out in their WOTY choices. Definitely appreciate your and everybody’s input.
