I’m starting this a couple of days early as I know I won’t be drinking anything that will knock any of these off the list.

2012 it’s safe to say was a wonderful year of wine consumption for many of us. I know I've read many of your tasting notes and offline reports from the next day (AML comes to mind most here!) that were quite amazing and the offlines I've attending have been wonderful and memorable. My list could be dozens of wines long without much of a drop off in quality. I’ll keep it short though. One thing I will note though is that of the 12 wines listed fully 10 of them were enjoyed with other forumites.

2012 WOTY: 1983 Chateau D’Yquem

The clear winner for me. This was a wonderful, beautiful bottle of wine. It’s hard to ask more of Sauternes. Depth, spice, acidity, balance. I've had this wine on three separate occasions and twice it has been my WOTY. It isn't perfection but it’s pretty bloody close.

The Rest (in order):
1996 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill
1990 Charles Heidsieck
1996 Cheval Blanc
1989 La Chapelle
1982 Pichon Lalande
1996 Beaucastel Vendanges Tardives
1999 Salon
1998 Duval-Leroy Petit Meslier Authentis
1995 Margaux
1982 Leoville Poyferre
1998 Ornellaia

Not a terrific year for top-flight wines, but my favorite five:

5. 2004 Neal Family, Cab
4. 1997 Matanzas Creek, Merlot
3. RL Buller Fine Muscat, Victoria
2. 2009 Descendientes de Jose Palacios Petalos del Bierzo
1. 1986 Vieux Telegraphe, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

This message has been edited. Last edited by: indybob,

Wine or wines?

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
Wine or wines?

Here we go again!! There already is a top ten list somewhere. I'm sure someone will start a top 100 soon.....

My WINE of the year:

1990 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque

Magic in a glass.

PH

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
Wine or wines?

I listed a clear WOTY, just added another 11 runner-ups!

Oh and the acronym WOTY would be the same regardless...

If I had to select just one...

1966 Guigal La Mouline

The wine just had something very different than I have ever tasted before, and the texture of the wine was also unique.

Good year for Guigal. My WOTY was the 1991 Guigal La Mouline. I would not pay the going rate for this wine, but it was really fantastic.

2004 Constant Diamond Mountain Vineyard Cab. I must have caught this one just right a couple weeks ago but it was fantastic.

Also ran awards go to my Champagne of the year, '96 Pol Roger Brut Chardonnay, and 2003 Willakenzie Triple Black Slopes Pinot Noir.

If I had to pick one, I would probably go with 1995 Ridge Monte Bello and throw out a special thanks to Allred for sharing it. That unfortunately leaves out a lot of great juice shared by the locals and xhoser in the past year. Thanks guys!

2005 SQN 17th Nail in My Cranium

Not only WOTY, but perhaps Best Ever; certainly Top 3.

Below are my WsOTY (Red/White). I left out Champagne as there is a separate thread addressing these. So many spectacular wines this year and many, many of those due to the generosity of other forum members here (which I've attempted to give credit to this year). There were also many wines shared with me by forumites that just did not make the list. In no way does this make anyone's contribution any less special. You know who you are and I sincerely enjoyed each occasion that we had throughout this year. Cutting to a 'Top 10' is truly not easy. The selected list below represents wines that showed absolutely spectacularly and were coupled with truly special occasions. Between the '90 La Turque and the '82 Haut-Brion I just could not make the cut to WOTY, so it's a tie. Deal with it

Whites
1990 Beaucastel CDP VV Blanc (basecadet)
2005 Christian Moreau, Chablis, Les Clos (steve8)
2006 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc (vinaigre)
2007 2007 E. Guigal Hermitage Blanc Ex-Voto (vinaigre)

Reds
1955 Chateau Montrose (Longboarder)
1955 Biondi Santi Riserva BdM (gkapoor)
1959 Château Calon-Ségur (PurpleHaze)
1980 Col d'Orcia BdM Riserva (Longboarder)
1984 Diamond Creek Lake
1990 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque (DoktaP) WOTY
1982 Château Haut-Brion (PurpleHaze) WOTY
1983 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia
1989 Chateau Montrose
1995 Rene Rostaing, Cote-Rotie, Cote Blonde (PurpleHaze)

2003 Rene Rostaing, Cote-Rotie, La Landonne

certainly like to thank jburman for my first lala wine.

2003 Domaine de la Mordoree La Reine Des Bois Cdp.

It's hard to pick just one. The '97 and '98 Scavino Carobrics - one of them is it, not sure which.

1916 margaux
1998 masseto
1991 guigal la mouline
1990 Krug
1955 montrose
1955 biondo santi riserva
1991 guigal la turque

From just getting into the hobby, I don't have the magnitude of wine as others.
- Ladera Lone Canyon Cabernet 2004

Close behind

- Chateau Les Ormes de Pez 1996

Looking over all of the WOTY lists and one thing is certain...need to get to Toronto and Montreal in the very near future. You guys have been drinking some truly wonderful stuff up there. Bravo!

quote:

Originally posted by PurpleHaze:

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
Wine or wines?

Here we go again!! There already is a top ten list somewhere. I'm sure someone will start a top 100 soon.....

My WINE of the year:

1990 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque

Magic in a glass.

PH

Ditto buddy. Closely followed by a nv vega sicilia unico and a 1980 col d'orcia.

2004 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Le Méal Hermitage,
2000 Château La Clusière 2000, Saint Émilion,
1991 Domaine Leroy Latricieres-Chambertin, Côte de Nuits,.

1989 Château Haut-Brion takes the cake for me this year. More detailed response in the other thread.

quote:

Originally posted by AllRed:
Looking over all of the WOTY lists and one thing is certain...need to get to Toronto and Montreal in the very near future. You guys have been drinking some truly wonderful stuff up there. Bravo!

You're welcome up here any time!

for all the wines consumed this year there are three that still haunt me:

'82 PLL (courtesy of DokP)
'98 Sassicaia
'75 Produttori del Barbaresco

with a '90 Guiraud (courtesy of VinT) as best white. Or maybe it was mangiare's '90 champagne charlie...? too close to call.

The one that surprised me because of it's pleasure for money:
2007 Cabernet-Sauvignon, Terrazas de los Andes

Since this was a bucket list wine I will have to go with the 1955 Biondi Santi Riserva BdM that was provided by Gkapoor and shared with KSCO2 in Montreal.

Other great wines in 2012 included:

1959 Chateau Calon Segur
1961 Charles Vienot Clos de Beze
1955 Chateau Montrose
1990 Guigal Cote Rotie La Turque
1916 Chateau Margaux (actually tasted twice which makes it even more remarkable that 2 bottles of this ancient wine were drinking so memorably)

A special note - the most unique experiences of the year which were a 1971 Ridge Geyserville Zinfandel and the 1855 Scion Port.