PRIMA’s TOP TEN WINES OF THE YEAR
A Top One Hundred? Are you kidding me?
Ok….let me start off by saying that ‘Wine of the Year’ lists are absurd and a sheer marketing ploy to sell newspapers and magazines. Having said that, with so many calls for one publication’s ‘Wine of the Year’ (a wine that has been sold out for over a year), it dawned on me that this is one shameless marketing ploy that might be fun for us to do too. I threw it out there to my staff….what wines have we sold this year that, for whatever reason, have really resonated with our customers? The debate was, predictably, very lively! In most cases, we still have the wine (unlike some other publications, we are loath to reward a wine posthumously, as it were) so have at ‘em!
And the biggest award we’d like to bestow is ‘Customer of the Year’ and that goes to all of you! Thanks for seeing us through a very ‘interesting’ 2009. Best Wishes for a invigorating, healthy and prosperous 2010!
10) 2007/2008 Maranet Pinot Noir, Russian River $32
DuMOL has been a rock star at PRIMA since its inception but a bear to keep in stock. Thank heavens for Maranet. Here is 80% of DuMOL’s panache for 50% of its price!
9) 2000 Livio Sassetti-Pertimali Brunello di Montalcino $75
This wine, from a so-so vintage, hit its stride this year and just has kept on going! Customers asking for mature Brunello but don’t want to pony up for the 1990 Pacenti or Altesino Montosoli, are rewarded with an outstanding drink! JD is going to be very sorry when this is gone…..by the way, the 2004, also $75, is a world-beater.
TIE: 8) 2007 Ciacci Rosso IGT-2007/2008 Avignonesi Rosso di Montepulciano
This was the year for Tuscan IGTs; sweet, overachieving Sangiovese-based wines that provide a lot of Tuscan sun for not a lot of money. It was toss up here. Both are around $12.50. Take that Chianti!
7) Parr Selection Pinot Noir, Seven Springs Vineyard, Oregon $60
No Pinot Noir this year has so captured our imagination more than this whole cluster fermented beauty with its captivating exotic bouquet made by good friend and famous sommelier Raj Parr.
6) 2007 Vincent Girardin Macon-Fuisse $17
Most wines have a life span of two or three orders and then we move on, but this deliciously aromatic, really luscious white Burgundy has become the most re-ordered white Burgundy in years. We religiously go through 3-4 cases a week in the restaurant and in the store and it remains stunningly under every else’s radar!
5) 2008 Gagliardo ‘Fallegro’ Favorita $16.50
Through sheer force of will we established a market for this absolutely ravishing light, fresh Piemontese white made of the near extinct Favorita grape. Its very faint hint of bubble and minerally mentholly nose is refreshment in a glass and we have several customers so thoroughly hooked, they have a standing order for a case a week!
4) 1999 Delamotte Blanc de Blancs $84
Now when seven seasoned Champagne professionals who have gathered to taste each other’s products go crazy for one wine, you know it’s a stand out. Such was the case at our recent Champagne tasting where the back room talk was all about this amazing orange-peel inflected bubbly of incredible depth and character. We are jealously guarding 2 last magnums of the 1996. Delamotte is Salon’s sister property…..Salon should be ashamed of itself for selling a wine not half as good for four times the price!
3) 2006 Scarlett Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley $50
Not since Neal and Stewart have we had a Cabernet Sauvignon that so captured everyone’s imagination like Scarlett. It’s a beauty with lovely sweet fruit and very suave tannins. It was the hot of our Cabernet event earlier this fall and the restaurant plows through two cases a week like clockwork.
2) 2008 Evodia Garnacha, Calatayud, Spain $9
There were at least a dozen candidates from Spain (Alto Moncayo, Tres Picos and Volver for three) but none matched Evodia’s sheer fun-to-drinkness for freaking $9a bottle! People who forgot the name, asked for ‘the one with the electric blue label.’
1) 2006 Biscerno ‘Insoglio’ IGT Bolgheri $30
The choice for Numero Uno was actually unanimous….the ‘Boar’ wine is simply off the hook. We sell it by the case here in the wine store and in a seemingly endless parade of tastes, glasses and bottles in the restaurant. Tuscan wine lovers love it because it tastes so Tuscan but big Cab lovers appreciate its power and grace that evokes Sassicaia or Ornellaia in an approachable, easy going way. Just lovely.
Honorable Mention
No Room In Our Top Ten But Still Deserving
*2005 Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere, Pessac-Leognan $50
This wine is, to date, the best 2005 Bordeaux I’ve tasted for the money. Very impressive….everything I love about Bordeaux in one bottle.
*2007/2008 Rombauer Chardonnay $32
The official drink of the ‘Lower East Bay.’ We sell it in 750s, magnums, and halves. Now if they only made 187s.
*2007 Southern Rhone Reds
This is a case where there were too many great players on one team making it impossible to choose one as an MVP! This was the Yankees of 2009….a Murderer’s Row of awesome, aromatic wines with tons of personality!
