Name the best tasting wine you ever had.

[Piobaire]

No one critique anyone else's choice. Just name the bottle you have enjoyed the most and why.

Mine was a 2002 Sea Smoke, Southing. Had it in 2005 and it was probably the bottle that made me start collecting seriously. Rich, smokey, pepper on the finish. And this was on a fairly untrained, but not totally virgin, pallette at the time. Just an outstanding bottle of wine.

Name yours and why.

 

[Dragon]

The first really good wine I had was a 1971 Chateau Palmer. Was a birthday wine I had when I was first learning about wines.I was surprised by how fragrant a good wine can be.

Forgot the exact year (1953? 195something) Haut Brion. I think Haut Brion is my favorite among the major 5 Bordeaux.

2000 Bonnes Marres, Comtes Georges Something

First Excellent Burgundy

Those are the ones I remember, because they were when I first started trying different wines.

 

[Tarmac]

JJ Prum Auslese, I think it was a 90 or 93. drank it in 2005
Ridge Monte Bello, late 80s, drank it last year.

 

[Huntsman]

'90 d'Yquem (or was it '91?) in '00. Regardless, it made me a Sauternes fanatic. I have more bottles of Sauternes than any other style.

After that it really must have been the CdP I had the other day -- but that was also the company and the meal and all that other stuff involved also.

~ Huntsman

 

[lawyerdad]

I'm afraid I can't remember. In my defense, I had a lot to drink.

 

[Kaizen]

After an extended decanting last year, I had a bottle of 1977 Taylor's. I had a glass at various times and it just kept tasting better and better. I've got one more bottle, and I'm trying to think of what occasion would cause me to open it.

 

[Wick]

I can't single out one absolute favorite...but a few stand out:

- 1986 Chateau Montrose: Tried in 2000 at La Toque in Napa Valley. First bottle of Bordeaux for me. Been a huge fan ever since (of Bordeaux and Montrose). Too bad Bordeaux is so damn expensive now!

- 1990 Chateau Montrose: Drank in late 2002 with wife in celebration of new job. Way too young at the time but still fantastic. Robert Parker gave 100 points.

- 1994 Shafer Hillside Select: Drank earlier this year. Un-freakin-believable wine. Tasted like liquid silk. No special occassion -- just dinner with colleagues at Tru in Chicago.

- 1999 Penfolds Grange: Drank earlier this year...first Grange for me. Always heard great things but I'm not a huge fan of Ausy Shiraz. But, there is absolutely no comparison between this stuff and the other popular Shiraz out of Australia. Tasted more like something out of the Rhone region. Absolutey fantastic wine.

I have a (unfortunately, only one) 1995 Chateau Latour that may trump all of these. But that's still a few years away.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by Kaizen

After an extended decanting last year, I had a bottle of 1977 Taylor's. I had a glass at various times and it just kept tasting better and better. I've got one more bottle, and I'm trying to think of what occasion would cause me to open it.
I'd wait until armageddon.

 

[edmorel]

Franzia, fresh from the box.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by edmorel

Franzia, fresh from the box.
I'm sure many a night in college consisted of you, your *** hags and a box of Franzia.

 

[whodini]

-Some cheap Beaujolais I purloined and shared with a young Canadian girl on a tour boat one night on the Sienne in Paris.

-Geyser Peak Reserve Shiraz (98?99?) I shared with an ex one night in San Francisco.

I guess it's hard to have good wine without good company.

 

[Baron]

About 5 years ago, dinner with a very close friend from childhood, and his father and stepmother, to both of whom I was also very close. The father was dying, but still in good enough shape to enjoy a fine meal, but it was clear that I wouldn't be seeing him again. We had a spectacular dinner or Prime rib steaks cooked medium rare over charcoal, and they opened the last bottle of a case of 76 cabernet that they'd bought years ago at the winery. I wish I remembered what it was, but it was the only truly spectacular wine I've ever drank. The occassion made it completely unforgetable.

 

[m_wave]

Penfolds Grange Hermitage '80

 

[hisroadside]

lately I'd say a 1984 Nuits saint georges or a 1985 Vosne-Romanee I'm also a big fan of 2005 Saint Amour from Julienas or a Croze l'hermitage, I should also mention I love in the upper Rhone Valley so access to good wine is very easy. each has its own taste, some are obviously more fruitÃ

than others but all were just spectacular, Not sure how to describe these though as I am far from being a connaisseur.

 

[Brad]

'89 Guigal Cote Rotie La Landonne. I never met one of their La Las I didn't like.