Holiday Gift Guide & Year’s Best…
First, some shameless self-promotion. Some great gift ideas as we edge closer to the big day:
For the Pinot Lover who has Everything: Here’s one thing I can guarantee they don’t have – a 6-pack of our 2008 Audrey Futures! Our best wine of the vintage, only 200 cases produced from our old vines at Maresh Vineyard atop the Dundee Hills, planted in 1970. Consistently one of Oregon’s silkiest and most elegant Pinots, and available only direct from the winery. It’s $44 a bottle as Futures (sold in 6-packs only, or multiples thereof) – will be $65 on release next April…
For the Burgundy lover who has Everything: How about a Magnum of the delicious 2007 Hospices de Beaune Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Maurice Drouhin, one of only 12 magnums bottled from the barrel I bought at the famous auction in November 2007. $105 secures yours for the burg-head on your list…
For the Bubbles lover who has Everything: There are only about 3-4 cases of this in the country, and when it’s gone it’s gone. I’m talking about the 1999 Special Club from Champagne Marc Chauvet - citrus, brioche, and a great intensity of flavor from nine years on the lees. The best-of-the-best from one of Champagne’s top micro-producers – yours for $55, a total steal for juice of this quality…
It was a banner year for great Burgs that I had the privilege and pleasure to enjoy these last 12 months. Many wonderful wines made their way into my glass. Here then are my favorites of the year (so far – we’ve still got a couple weeks to go, anything could happen! If you happen to run into a bottle of ’29 Romanée-Conti, let me know…)
The Whites
’78 Montrachet – DRC. Words fail. Beyond marvelous. An emotionally thrilling experience.
’90 Meursault Perrières – Coche-Dury. I’m not a die-hard Coche man, but this bottle was astonishingly great.
’64 Chevalier Montrachet – Latour. Of course, white wines don’t age very well…
’57 Batard Montrachet – Ramonet. Further proof that whites don’t cellar well…
The Reds
’45 Musigny – de Vogüé. One of my top two or three all-time favorites. Had this twice this year. The domaine bottled versions seem to consistently edge out the ones bottled by Drouhin, but I am picking at nits here. A full-on emotional, sensorial, and hedonistic experience that is about as good as it gets. (In my mind ’29 or ’45 Romanée-Conti are better, but I’ve never had them, so maybe I’m just romanticizing…)
’66 Richebourg – DRC. I’m a Richebourg slut, what can I say? Velvety hedonism at its purest…
’47 Volnay Clos de Chevrey – d’Angerville. Wow. Simply wow. Look up “spectacular Volnay” in the dictionary and this is what you should find. Reference-standard quality. Amazing.
’23 Bonnes Mares – de Vogüé. Alive, vibrant, amazingly complex, and pure as the finest silk. Pinot Noir, of course, also does not age well…
Bubbles
’64 Salon. A tremendous example of what older Champagne can be when you hit that magic bottle. Still showing fruit, a gentle but consistent mousse, and layers and layers of flavor that open up like a lotus flower. Simply fascinating…
Back soon. Time to trim the tree and revel in Arsenal’s huge victory over Liverpool yesterday…
