What's the best bottle of wine you ever tasted?

Like Mark, I have a hard time with the concept of the "best" bottle of wine. My most memorable would include the following:

'78 La Tour - Drank this at a Christmas dinner with my family (parents, brother, sister, spouses) sometime in the early '90's. My first incredible, OMFG Bordeaux. Beautiful wine.

'99 Baumard Clos du Papillon - Had this at a Christmas party thrown by my wife's company. I couldn't stop drinking the stuff. My first ever total OMFG white wine.

'76 Baumard Clos du Papillon - Had this at the French Laundry a couple of years ago. One of the cheapest wines on the list and staggeringly amazing stuff. Don't know if anyone else at the table really liked it as much as me, but I couldn't believe a white wine could taste like that.

A Clos Pegase Sauvignon Blanc from sometime around '86 or so - Back when my first wife and I were still dating, we worked for the same company. We snuck off for lunch one day, had a picnic, and drank a bottle of this. Went back to work, but nothing elevates a wine like sneaking off somewhere and drinking it with someone you're wildly in love with.

There are so many other memorable bottles that I could list, but these are the ones that jumped out first.

Mike

This is tough...

Is it the 1795 Tarrantez? The 1978 Rayas? 31 Quinta do Noval?

1795??!

Josh, that's just Bernard's oneupmanship. I've never had a bottle of Terrantez older than the 1843 myself.

To be honest, I only had about 1.5 ounces. But it seemed to last for several days. A 1900 Moscatel was nearly as impressive.

My best wine thus far -

1905 Seppelt 100 Year Old Para Liqueur Vintage Tawny

There aren’t strong enough superlatives to do justice to the concentration and viscosity of this wine. Swirling the wine gently left a thick coat of wine along the sides of the glass for over five minutes.

An impenetrable glowing dark mahogany in colour with glimpses of olive yellow, honey and maple throughout.

Impossibly complex bouquet, one feels that you could dedicate weeks to sitting and smelling this in awe and still not unravel all the layers that it has to offer. Toffee, caramel, butterscotch, tobacco, rancio and spirity characters each as fully intense as if they were the only aromas in the wine.

On the palate you are treated to the unbelievable viscosity of the wine as it flows ever so slowly down the side of the glass and past your lips. You almost feel like you are able to chew on the wine it is so dense. The flavours are like an explosion in your mouth - Toffee, caramel, maple syrup, roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, cigar box - but enough acid to keep the balance.

The finish is glorious and the astonishing aftertaste remains with you for hours, if not longer.

No tasting note can do it true justice.

being with my wife is so much greater an experience than being with anyone else? Therefore all greatest wine experiences have to be with her, or by myself with her in my mind.

Nice.

This week I hid a package of peanut M&Ms on the top shelf of the cabinet in the kitchen because I knew Amy wasn't tall enough to see them.

That's kind of the same thing, right?

Okay, Covert, let her read your post and then tell her you bought the Harley... My God man, stand up and tell that woman you're going drinking with the boys, and you're gonna do it guilt free!

Sam,

You many already know from previous posts that my wife and I owned a bunch of Harleys, most of which I built from scratch. I worked for a chopper shop and ran with hard-core bikers. I was never home. Riding Harleys today is passe - everybody has one. If I rode anything, it would at least be a Boss Hoss.

I had just gotten back from the funeral of a sibling when I posted my sissy-ass comment; I was feeling a little down and thankful that I had my wife. What I said was true; but I feel a little rum about having said it.

Cov

Sorry about your loss, Covert.

No need to apologize - this place is full of Sissies!

[James Roscoe]

- this place is full of Sissies!

Look in the mirror to see the biggest sissy!

Look in the mirror to see the biggest sissy!

You'd better think quietly and introspectively about that comment.

I've had a couple of 100 point wines, so I suppose they must have been the best, but truthfully, I cannot separate the quality of the wine from the quality of the experience. "Best" to me is not an abstract objective assessment, but a personal and highly subjective. There are several wines I have enjoyed imensely, with everlasting memories, not because they were the best made or the most expensive, but because of the experience. A 1990 Beaucastel from my friend Joe at a wonderful gathering of friends at Dan's house, a grocery store chenin blanc on a trout stream in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with my friend Bud, a Cotes du Rhone Village red at our friend Lisa's wedding, a nowhere near ready Clos de Pape CdP shared with Beth on our anniversary, a Flor de Pingus shared with Ken the day we learned he had Parkinson's disease... I don't know for sure, but I doubt any of these wines would be considered "best" by any competent wine judge, but I don't care that they aren't 98 point wines. Not at all. To me, they were the best because they were part of some of my best memories. The wine is just fermented grape juice. It's the experience that counts.

I couldn't agree more with your assessment and response to the question, OW! It is, in my humble opinion, the quintessential answer! :mrgreen:

[Robin Garr]

Just got here

Welcome to our forum, Deborah! Glad you found your way in and hope you'll stay!

My best wine thus far -

1905 Seppelt 100 Year Old Para Liqueur Vintage Tawny

One of my top 10 wines to try...

....To me, they were the best because they were part of some of my best memories. The wine is just fermented grape juice. It's the experience that counts.

I recall my wife and I having dinner on the patio of a small restaurtant in Barbados (late '70s). It was moonlit, our table was next to a white picket fence. As you looked over the fence, the waves were crashing on the rocks below and a habiscus tree in full bloom hung over our table. Somehow, without hardly ever seeing the waiter, dishes appeared on our table. They only had 2 wines on their wine list. We chose the Gallo Hearty Burgundy.

I had just gotten back from the funeral of a sibling when I posted my sissy-ass comment; I was feeling a little down and thankful that I had my wife. What I said was true; but I feel a little rum about having said it.

Covert, I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I apologize for my ill-timed comment.

Best Regards,

[James Roscoe]

Look in the mirror to see the biggest sissy!

You'd better think quietly and introspectively about that comment.

Are you talkin' to me?!!

The guy who hides candy from his fiance?

Thank you, Robin! I'm hoping to continually find the time to do so

The wine is just fermented grape juice. It's the experience that counts.

In this spirit:

1996 Dom Perignon - introduced me to what great wine could be. Wish I'd bought more.

Krug - Grand Cuvée - Celebrating the final court approval for a best friends recently adopted baby. She waited six years...the wine waited for two of those.

Billecart-Salmon Rosé - Valentine's Day of this year with the woman I'll eventually call my wife.

1995 Disznoko Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos - tasted during my Intermediate WSET Certificate class. My introduction to the wonders of noble rot and appreciation of botrytized wines.

Oh, I need to add a couple wines that friends have shared with me:

1988 Bordeaux Gran Cru

1990 Groth Cabernet Savignon

1990 Silver Oak Cabernet Savignon

The wine is just fermented grape juice. It's the experience that counts.

In this spirit:

1996 Dom Perignon - introduced me to what great wine could be. Wish I'd bought more.

Krug - Grand Cuvée - Celebrating the final court approval for a best friends recently adopted baby. She waited six years...the wine waited for two of those.

Billecart-Salmon Rosé - Valentine's Day of this year with the woman I'll eventually call my wife.

1995 Disznoko Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos - tasted during my Intermediate WSET Certificate class. My introduction to the wonders of noble rot and appreciation of botrytized wines.

Well, you can still get some 96 Dom from a few spots for similar prices. That stuff is "wicked pissah" (as they say on the North Shore).

Although, if you liked the Billy-Salmon, you got to try the Cuvee Elizabeth.

Welcome!

Best,
Joe

1988 Bordeaux Gran <sic> Cru

Er. Grand Cru? There's a few of 'em.

Now I'm just trying to be helpful, Tim. No need to be embarrassed, we've all been there. Hoke once thought a screwpull was a -ah- never mind.

1982 Leoville Las Cases.

I'm out before the snipers target me.

[Robin Garr]

In this spirit:

Welcome, Kevin! Thanks for speaking up.

I have to say, I think it's a sad comment on our society when a man saying loving things about his wife is regarded as a sissy, even by himself. What is this, the he-man woman-haters club?

Back on topic. I can't say what the best wines I've had were. I failed to take notes!

There was a Gevrey-Chambertin that was a revelation. That one bottle told me what the big deal was about Burgundy.

There was a Bordeaux, clearly the shining star of an informal tasting I had at my parents' house back in '02. Might have been the Cantenac-Brown.

Might be the right bank Bordeaux I'm planning on opening tonight!

1988 Bordeaux Gran <sic> Cru

Er. Grand Cru? There's a few of 'em.

Now I'm just trying to be helpful, Tim. No need to be embarrassed, we've all been there. Hoke once thought a screwpull was a -ah- never mind.

No, no, no. That was a "scruple". I don't have many of those left, and I occasionally mistake them for minor indigestion.

Come to think of it, I don't have many screwpulls left either...

The key here is "tasted" because I didn't have a full bottle--only a small tasting with other people. For red wines I would say a 1999 Raphet Clos de Beze (Burgundy Grand Cru) or a 1997 (?) Alex Gambal Bonnes Mares (Burgundy Grand Cru) sampled at the Nantucket Wine Festival. The best whites I've ever tasted would include a Montrachet that I had as part of a wine education course at the University of Maryland in the 70's (don't recall the vintage) and various Eisweins from Germany while I was living there. Also up there, a couple German wines sampled at MoCool a few years back at a tasting arranged by John Trombley.