Everyone else has a Top X list for the year, so I didn’t want to feel left out.  2009 was a year of great growth for me as it relates to wine and I have really enjoyed sharing those experiences with friends and family including those who stop by now and again to read my musings here at Wine Tonite!  I committed to immersing myself in the world of wine including drinking from a fire hose (filled with wine, of course!) to begin learning the history, the culture, the process, the geography and the fruit by starting off the year obtaining my CSW credentials.  It’s been a wild ride from the very beginning and I can definitely say I consumed the most wine in 2009 than I ever have before. 

I was also lucky to be a part of a wonderful experiment by Murphy Goode winery to initiate a job search for a wine country lifestyle correspondent requiring applicants to submit videos and display their social media marketing skills and was selected to the Top 50.  The best part of that opportunity for me was meeting and engaging with so many wonderful people in and around the wine business and those who just love to drink it too!  Several of those new close friends now have jobs in the Napa/Sonoma wine country and serve as inspiration to many of us who teeter just on the outside of the envelope looking in.  Three other wine-related events I really enjoyed and have been instrumental in my continued growth as a wine connoiseur and as a person were the 2nd Annual Wine Blogger’s conference, the St. Supery Tweetup in Atlanta where I co-hosted with Rick Bakas and the wine tasting I hosted for the ERLSA fundraiser to help families in Nicaragua without clean drinking water.

There were so many good wines I enjoyed in 2009, it is very hard to narrow them down to such a short list of favorites.  And please note this is a not a “Best of” list, just some wines of note that stood out to me, so feel free to comment if you like/dislike my picks.  Not to mention, one of my new year’s resolutions for 2010 will be to be more organized with my tastings notes.  Cellartracker.com and their iPhone app, Cor.kz, have helped me tremendously in this regard lately andI will continue to use them going forward.  Note: these are in no particular order.

2007 Lioco Indica – Aside from the little trivia tidbit I got about Indica being a type of mary-jane (yes, that’s code for marijuana) plant, which shouldn’t be a surprise from this Mendocino county wine, this was just “Booya!” in your mouth.  Thanks to Chris Gaither, local wine guru and mixologist, for showing me this one.  This radical red is 78% Carignan, 10% Petite Sirah, 9% Mourvedre and 3% Grenache.  Blackberries, violets and caramel on the nose with more black fruit and spice on the palate.  Duuuude… I got the munchies…

2006 Alto Moncayo Campo de Borja- Just the facts here: Vanilla/caramel nose and a bit smokey, smooth velvety on the palate, licorice and big mouthfeel.  Nose: Awesome! Caramel, vanilla, oak… not a hint of hotness from the 16% alc.  Taste: fruit-forward, spice, vanilla and smooth.   WS 92, WA 94

2006 Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon from Darioush in Napa Valley.  Big black fruit up front, with some vanilla and chocolate but, again, not the huge oak bomb one comes to expect from the region.  It was well-balanced, velvety smooth with good tannins and spice at the end and really set the mood for the evening and meal.  A very nice second label offering that I felt was a steal at $39 listed restaurant menu price (Abattoir).

2006 Miolo Sparkling (Brazil) - One of the wines I brought to the ERLSA fundraiser, with assistance from Ryan Mullins of Quality Wines, this sparkler is produced using the traditional method (methode champenoise)  and contains a 50/50 split of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Did you know 25% of fine wine made in Brazil is sparkling?  No, me either.  Vines were first introduced in the early 1500’s by the Portuguese but didn’t really become established until the late 1800’s thanks to Italian immigrants.  The dry sparkler was fresh with citrus and good acid and would be a nice change of pace to the Rustico Prosecco I often serve to start a party.

Renardat-Fache Bugey du Cerdon- Sparkling Gamay - This is on the list mostly because it was probably the most unique wine I had during the year and can barely pronounce.  Yet, it was memorable in that I hadn’t tasted anything like it either, certainly never a “sparkling” Gamay.  Stewed veggies on the nose with a fizz strawberry explosion on the palate that countered the spicy Popeye’s chicken we were pairing with it for the infamous Popeye’s Wine Pairing Challenge by Hardy Wallace.

1999 Clos Ste Hune Riesling – Thanks to @rowdyfood for this wonderful house gift that I most certainly did not deserve.  After having started my wine journey with Riesling back in 1994, I have neglected to return to the distinct grape until this year thanks to some local wine friends like Matt and Hardy.  This summer I attended a tasting of 20 Rieslings from NY which was quite an eye opener.  This has a bright, yellow hue with citrus and petrol on the nose and maybe a little honey.  The palate displayed lemon, orange peel, acidic and mineral.  A great wine.

2007 Donatiello Floodgate Block 15 (667 clone)- As self-proclaimed pinotphiles, we have to have a couple of Pinot Noirs on the list and this one was the most memorable during my visit to the 2nd annual Wineblogger’s Conference in Sonoma.  Chris Donatiello is doing some great things at his winery include the Floodgate with bold, fresh cherry fruit and some old world funk on the nose.  Another great representation of RRV fruit.

2006 Halleck Pinot Noir Three Sons Cuvée - I had an opportunity to hang out with and break bread with another Pinot Noir winemaker from the Russian River Valley, Ross Halleck.  Ross was in Atlanta for a week back in September and he was gracious to hang out with us at my wine pal Jack’s house since he is a club member, then we attended one of his tasting’s at Murphy’s and then wrap the week up at my house for a BBQ.  These are the experiences that really do it for me as a wine lover.  Other wineries can learn from Ross in how to share the wine experience instead of simply peddling their wares.  This favorite showed a little heat early on that burns off eventually and reveals beautiful black cherry, allspice, cinnamon, all delivered in a smooth, velvety conveyor belt to the nice finish.

1977 Ridge Zinfandel Shenandoah Esola Ranch vineyard- Purchased this bottle at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa. Nose: medium-high toastiness and rich caramel and toffee releasing after half hour of being opened. Chewy Zin mouthfeel became more pronounced and satisfying after an hour with pralines becoming present later on. Somewhat subtle blackberry fruit and spice rounded out throughout the meal and was just delicious!

2005 Ch. Du Glana- This was probably the value wine of the year.  This little Bordeaux beauty was hanging real tough against some serious competition at Jack’s Bordeaux Madness party back in March.  I mean, it was up against the likes of ’85 Ch. Troplong Mondot, ’85 Ch. Palmer and ’79 Margaux to name just a few.  Here are my notes, which can be seen with all these wines (click here)…”certainly this year’s Arizona, the youngest of the bracket, but held it’s own to make the final four.  Nice ruby color with cherry, cedar/oak and pencil nose.  Black cherry, violet and light spice on the palate with a medium to long finish — the crowd favorite!  WS gave this a 90 and it’s terroir is same/similar as Ducru-Beaucaillou, so it’s gotta be good.”  This is the one 2005 Bordeaux I had this year that really came through on the promise of how phenomenal 2005 was going to be for the famous wine region.

So, there it is … read it and weep… another year gone by… may you have calm seas and following winds in 2010… Cheers!

While I was supposed to be tapering and hydrating this week as I prepared for the Peachtree Road Race 10k tomorrow, I couldn’t resist attending a couple wine tastings around the town.  Hey, it’s not like I’m going to win the darn race — it’s more like a party with 55,000 of your closest friend anyway!  Happy Independence Day!

First up was Chris Gaither, the neighborhood wine guy and mixologist, at Parish on Wednesday down in historic Inman Park.  It was supposed to be a focus on New York wines, but due to some last minute unforeseen circumstances, Chris had to change gears.  He made a nice recovery and everyone seemed to have a good time trying some different wines and learning some new stuff about wine, grapes and regions.  Yes, Chris has a flip-chart, an aroma kit as well as the Oxford Companion to Wine by Jancis Robinson and used them all in a deft and fluid manner while keeping it FUN!  The “I ♥ NY” tee-shirt was a nice touch too, Chris.

Two wines we found interesting and really enjoyed were:

2004 Leon Beyer – Pinot Gris from Alsace – Golden in color due to aging and oxidation.  The nose brought on some caramel and taste was full of tart, Granny Smith apple carrying to the finish.  Crisp and refreshing.

2007 Lioco Indica from Mendocino – Chris got a kick of informing everyone (more than once) that Indicia is a type of cannibus (shhh! – not sure how he knows this) – the wine is a blend of Carignan, Petit Sirah, Mourvedre and Grenache.  There was a potpourri of blackberries, violets and toffee on the nose followed by more black fruit, black cherries and light spice on the palate.

Next up was the very next night at Dynamic Dish where I accompanied Hardy from Dirty South Wine and some new acquaintances to try over 20 Rieslings from NY.  It seems Hardy has a well-known love affair for this grape.  There were no unforeseen circumstances here as our online, pubslisher wine friend Lenn Thompson from LennDevours provided this fare and I was fortunate enough to have an invitation.  I can’t list all the wines we tried due to space, but man, there was a ton of stuff about Riesling I did not know (nor did I profess to know, since I’ve historical been a red wine guy), and it was a great time hanging with some local wine and food groupies.  Thanks to Bob, Jimmy, Broderick, Bill and Matt who were also there!

To start the evening, Bob educated me on a very distinct characteristic/aroma of Riesling that I had not experienced before, but smacked me in the face (the bouquet, not Bob) right off the bat in the first wine: something he called “Petrol.”  It’s almost like smelling Kerosene and threw me off a little at first, but by the end of the night I had become friends with the good stank as other bottles produced more “acceptable” levels to my particular nose — to others, it may well indeed be most undesirable.  Technically speaking, this is the result of TDN (I won’t bore you with the full chemical name) which will become more detectable in Riesling as it ages.  As Bob also pointed out, you can be the smarty at the blind tasting party if you get this aroma because it is distinct to Riesling.

Two of my favorites:

2007 Dr. Konstantin Frank – Finger Lakes – lemon grass, apple and hint of spice.  The taste was like biting into a granny smith apple both in flavor as well as mouthfeel.  There was some sourness at the finish, but this was well-balanced and crisp.

1999 Marcel Deiss Saint-Hippolyte – The color of this aged wine was much darker, even toward golden.  Yes, it had the petrol up front, but with more honey that helped me enjoy this one much more.  There was good acidity to it  and showed a lot of tart citrus on the palate toward the end.  It was a favorite just to say I had the experience of tasting this wine with some very unique characteristics and to compare/contrast Rieslings of different age.