Numbers 1 and 2 of My Top 10 List of This Year's Louis/Dressner Selections Imports
OK, perhaps this is a crass thing to do but who cares? The following were my favorite wines that Louis/Dressner Selections imported this past year. To qualify, wines had to arrive after December 31, 1999 and before January 1, 2001 (Eric Texier's Côte Rotie won't be here until after January, so it does not qualify, for instance).This list is inherently subjective and self-serving -- I am a principal in Louis/Dressner Selections after all -- and is part of this web site's campaign of unabashed self-promotion.
- Domaine des Terres Dorées Beaujolais Rouge Mise Printemps 1999 -- actually the Mise Printemps does not appear on the label, but this was the first bottling of the young vines cuvée from Terres Dorées. I consumed about 24 bottles of this, with some help, during July in St-Gengoux-de-Scissé, where I have a home. I had gone there after undergoing 4 heart bypasses in late May in New York. Food and wine tasted terrible for several weeks after the operation and then white wines started to taste well. My cardiologist assured me this was a common reaction due to all the anesthethia that had been loaded into my system. I had tried to have natural bypasses, using techniques I learned as a Lamaze coach for the birth of my two children, but the surgeon would not go for my idea. But by late June though, I could taste and enjoy reds once again.
Jean-Paul Brun of Terres Dorées was nice enough to come visit me in St-Gengoux after we arrived and to bring two cases of the above wine. The flavors were intense for me -- beautiful red fruits, delicate cherries and spice, perfectly balanced with just the right amount of acidity. A finish that seemed to go on forever. The 24 bottles were among the most pleasurable wines of my life. This wine may not appear anywhere else as the Wine of the Year (The Wine Spectator has already published their list and I am waiting to see the other lists) but frankly I don't care.
- Clos Rougeaurd Saumur-Champigny Clos Poyeux 1997 -- I have commented about this wine somewhere below. It is radioactive. The Bourg might be the better wine in the future, but for perfect drinking, right now, this is just superb.
More to come....
Posted on Sunday, December 10, 2001
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