Once again I present my Wines of the Year – the best wines I have tasted in seven different categories, plus two extra categories: ‘Dud’ of the Year, and ‘Thing’ of the Year. There is a link to my tasting notes on all of the wine featured.
A great year of tasting with plenty of new experiences including my first wine tasting tours of Cyprus, Puglia, Western Australia and Chile’s remote northen valleys. Of course there were some amazing tastings, dinners and great bottles much closer to home too. Amongst the special occasions, highlights included an extraordinary dinner including La Tache, Cheval Blanc and more, a vertical of Vega Sicilia and a dinner at London’s ‘The Square’ themed around 1972 red Burgundy. The Vega-Sicilia was part of a vertical where three or four of the vintages on show could have scooped the trophy, whilst the Roederer Champagne is their regular NV, even though I drank much more expensive and, admittedly higher scoring fizz during the year. But Roederer is just one of the few high street Champagnes that is properly mature and consistently delicious straight from the bottle. It never ceases to delight. The Joguet Chinon gets the ‘dud’ vote because somewhere in there is a brilliant wine, totally ruined by high levels of Brettanomyces (tasted several times). New York and Majorca? I’ve recently returned from my first visit to NYC in about 10 years and just loved it – especially the dining scene. My first ever visit to Majorca in late summer saw a week of torrential rain and could have been a wash out, but as those who have read my restaurant guide to Majorca will know, the food scene saved the day.