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

[James Roscoe]

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?

Isaac, wrong, on two counts, none of us are he-men, (I suspect most of us are wannabes however) and no one hates women (that I'm aware of). Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Sorry if we gave you the wrong impression. In other words were closer to being masochists than misogynists.

I'd like to express my sympathies to Covert. I lost my mother in May and no matter how long they live (she was 92), we aren't ready to say goodbye. I have only one sister and I will be devastated if something happens to her, although I know none of us will live forever on this earth.

(Still, if you have a number of good bottles of wine, I'm a little surprised that you wouldn't share with male friends on some occasion without your wife present. My feeling is if they are into wine enough to appreciate the quality of the wine, then I would be willing to share with good friends. If they only like the sweet stuff--white zin, sweet Port and dessert wines-- I would not waste a premier cru or grand cru Burgundy, etc. sharing it with friends who would find it too tart or too heavy or whatever.

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.

Hey, no embarrassment here....just puttin' it out there.

In fact, I'll track down my friend and ask him for more specifics on the name of the winery, etc.

I've shared two bottles of Chateau d'Yquem in my life. I still talk about them.

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?

Isaac, wrong, on two counts, none of us are he-men, (I suspect most of us are wannabes however) and no one hates women (that I'm aware of). Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Sorry if we gave you the wrong impression. In other words were closer to being masochists than misogynists.

Sometimes it's good to be wrong!

Still, if you have a number of good bottles of wine, I'm a little surprised that you wouldn't share with male friends on some occasion without your wife present.

I should maybe see a psychologist rather than post such a remark. Somehow drinking my Bordeaux has apparently moved into some psychological state that resembles spirituality – or it is my way of expressing the gene(s) that usually causes a person to be spiritual. I am not spiritual, and certainly not religious, but I get the same sort of feeling directed at my relationship with my wife. I call it a spiritual union only because that is what Jung called it, and I haven’t made up a special word for it. The symbol actually comes from alchemy – the wedding of two metals to form another altogether.

The complex snuck up on me like a thief in the night. I don’t think it is an accident that wine is used in religious ceremonies. Some religious people only drink wine in church. It’s kind of like that.

%^)

'66 Lafite ... when I was 20 ... it started my love affair with fine wine that is still going on today ... I'll never forget it/the experience of it ...

Clink !

%^)

Joe:

Will be checking in on the '96 Elisabeth for the first time tonight, along with a bunch of other stuff including the '89 Huët Cuvée Constance. Notes to appear soon.

No peanut M&Ms in sight. But my wife is as tall as (or slightly taller than) I am. And I'm now on a mission to eliminate all mirrors from my house.

Jim

Joe:

Will be checking in on the '96 Elisabeth for the first time tonight, along with a bunch of other stuff including the '89 Huët Cuvée Constance. Notes to appear soon.

No peanut M&Ms in sight. But my wife is as tall as (or slightly taller than) I am. And I'm now on a mission to eliminate all mirrors from my house.

Jim

Ha!

Mmmmm, 96 Elizabeth. Give it an hour after you open it, you might lose some bubbles, but this wine needs time to bloom.

Enjoy the CC. I've only tasted the '95, which was killer. I've got one bottle of the '02 that'll be ready when I retire in 40 years.

Best,
Joe

i`m just a poor winemaker so no Pomerals...
but when i worked for Cakebread Cellars we had a tasting of
94`s

A total of ten.

My favorite was a bottle called Legecy from Stonestreet Winery.
We tasted many from Napa and Sonoma county.
All blind..

Mondavi`s
Raffenelli`s
Groth
B V
Ch.Montelana
etc.etc.etc......

Tough question.
I'll say:
1856 Barbeito Bual
1955 Grahams
1959 JJ Prum Feinste Auslese
1959 Latour
1989 Huet Cuvee Constance
1973 Bollinger RD (about 20 years after disgorgment)

Hello Eric,

The bottle of Prüm 59; was that the one from the Moselschild cellar or the one which had been round the world (brought by you, I think)? The former (incredibly fresh) is also in my hit parade. Others are-

- Château Latour 1945 (consumed in the 80s and bought in the early 60s for £2.25 - then US$ 6.20!)
- La Tâche 1962 (also consumed in the 80s)
- Vouvray Le Haut Lieu 1947 from Huet
- Hermitage La Chapelle 1978 (bottles vary; another was quite disappointing)
- Château Ausone 1959 (poorly noted by RMP but this bottle was celestial)
- Corton 1929 from Bouchard P&F (cellared under the Beaune ramparts)
- An eiswein 1998 pulled from under the table by Hermann Dönnhoff at a tasting; I was so dazzled that I forgot to note the vineyard.

- Romanée Conti 1945 in magnum
- Mouton-Rothschild 1900
- Yquem 1861
- Salon champagne 1959
- Montrachet Bouchard 1864
- Pétrus 1959
- Montrachet DRC 1970
- Richebourg DRC 1929
- Cyprus wine 1845
- Riesling SGN Hugel 1915
- ....

I always find these threads hard to respond to because different wines have different personalities.

If you asked which was the best cabernet, or chard, or narrowed it a bit it would be easier, but to have to compare such disparate sorts of wines as Bordeaux and Madeira...how can you compare the experiences and say one is 'better' than the other.

I think that several vie for best in my experience. The 85 Sassicaia has always been superb (but then the 1978 is also soooo good).

The 1967 Yquem is about as good as it gets for that sort of wine.

I guess I'd have to say a certain bottle of 1927 Taylors would be pretty hard to dislodge from my memory...but I intend to keep on piling the memories up!

Tough question.
I'll say:
1856 Barbeito Bual
1955 Grahams
1959 JJ Prum Feinste Auslese
1959 Latour
1989 Huet Cuvee Constance
1973 Bollinger RD (about 20 years after disgorgment)

Eric: Oh, the 59 Prums! I had a bottle of the 1959 Wehlener/Zeltinger Sonnuhr Feinste Auslese once (given as a gift by the buyer after I successfully negotiated a cellar sale). A truly remarkable wine, and a bit of history at the same time, as then you could legally combine the Wehlen and Zelting parcels of Sonnuhr (Sonnenuhr).

It won me a bet, thus avoiding the cost of a truly huge and expensive dinner. The bet was with a man who maintained that there could be no finer dessert-style wine than Chateau d'Yquem. I allowed him to make the call (even allowed that he could lie if he wanted), and allowed him to compare it against any d'Yquem he wished. He paid gladly.

The only time I've ever seen a grown man try to lick the inside of a wine glass with his tongue was when he had finished the last drop of the 59 Prum.

And the next morning, he called me very early to tell me that when he woke up, he was licking his lips and thinking about how magical that wine was.

Yes, those '59s are special.

The bottle of Prüm 59; was that the one from the Moselschild cellar or the one which had been round the world (brought by you, I think)? The former (incredibly fresh) is also in my hit parade.

I actually enjoyed the one from Moselschild better. I've opened a couple more from my stash since then but neither was as good as the one I opened then. I've a few more and probably should open another soon. I've also a couple of BAs from the Mosel that I need to try soon.

Do you have a favorite?

I have been lucky enough to have some stunning wine it should be hard to choose but I am a bubbly girl.

Number one all time for me 1985 Krug--consumed as the clock swung past midnight, Dec 31 1999 to Jan 1 2000
(considering we had already slurped up many bottles of other ridiculously expensive vintage champage that evening it is a miracle we remember anything)

I have been lucky enough to have some stunning wine it should be hard to choose but I am a bubbly girl.

Number one all time for me 1985 Krug--consumed as the clock swung past midnight, Dec 31 1999 to Jan 1 2000

Ruth - you should have saved it for the new millennium the next year!

But as you are a 'bubbly girl', I guess we can excuse a case of premature bubblation.

I don't think I have ever had (or could have) a Champers that would make my top ten, much less top wine, but I know others who share your predeliction for things fizzy that would agree with you.

Cheers

Bill

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.

Hey, no embarrassment here....just puttin' it out there.

In fact, I'll track down my friend and ask him for more specifics on the name of the winery, etc.

Here ya go:

1988 Château Margaux Gran Cru.

1966 Jaboulet-Isnard Hermitage Tête de Cuvée

and

1989 Fiorano (Boncompagni Ludovisi) Sémillon Vino da Tavola Bianco Botte 48

True wines of the gods!

1989 Fiorano (Boncompagni Ludovisi) Sémillon Vino da Tavola Bianco Botte 48

Nice. I've never even seen one of these.

1983 Chateau d'Yquem. It gave me synaesthesia: I "saw" the flavors. Better than peyote!

1985 St. Estephe, don't remember whose it was, at the little restaurant in Roumegouse near Rocamadour in the Lot. Exquisite.

1971 Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva, with a big hunk of rare Chianina steak and some kind of local bitter greens...ohhhh....

1990 Dom Perignon, at Moet & Chandon. As I recall, 22 people drank 31 bottles. They just kept pouring! No one had a hangover.

Tim do I take this to mean that you like cabernet? I like it too, but in recent years I don't drink much of it preferring syrah and syrah blends.

Tim do I take this to mean that you like cabernet? I like it too, but in recent years I don't drink much of it preferring syrah and syrah blends.

I love a well made Cab.

But I, too, have gone more to Syrahs and Zins of late. Funny thing....my palate seens to change every now and again and I tend to enjoy various different reds almost on a kind of rotation.