Today, Wine Spectator dropped their 2008 Top 100 Wines of the Year list on their Web site, at precisely 10 am Eastern Standard Time. As with every year that they do this, my day gets thrown into chaos and big clumps of my hair is removed forcibly while I scream inward at the wine buying gods, knowing full well that the majority of the list are wines that have already sold out. Yea! I can’t wait to explain umpteen times to my customers that those wines are already gone.
The mad dash to acquire as many as you can reminds me of an old movie from the late-seventies, early-eighties called “Scavenger Hunt.” Some rich guy dies. Assembles just about anyone he has ever known, sired, slept with, or come into contact with for a friendly game of Scavenger Hunt, winner gets his fortune. Hilarity ensues. Same effect here: all us wine buyers out there scramble around to clean up the scraps of wines left to sell of this list and whoever gets the most obviously gets increased business.
I am a bigger fan of the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time (although Steve Tyler being beaten out by Christina Aguilera and Steve Perry is pretty crazy).
Out of the 100 wines listed, one that I was shocked not to see was the Bodegas Borsao Crianza 2005 ($14.98, 92 WS). I wasn’t really sure why, I mean, this is a helluva wine at a helluva price with an obviously fantastic score. Better than most on the list. Yet it’s not there. Go figure.
Wines that we managed to get a good supply of are the Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel 2007 (#10), Bodegas Colome Malbec 2006 (#38), Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (#40 – someone from there is pleasuring Marvin Shanken on a regular basis I am certain of it!), Leasingham Magnus Riesling 2007 (#44), Bodegas Sierra Cantabria Crianza 2004 (#71) and Bodegas Muga Rioja Reserva 2004 (#65).
All-in-all, I have so far managed to pull together 18 of the 100 wines on that list. Whether that is respectable or not, I don’t know. But i would love to hear your thoughts on this list.
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2 comments:
Did you get a hold of #1 yet? We just did a post on the Marnier Lapostolle family's winery in Chile. Thought you'd be interested:
http://winedotcom.blogspot.com/2008/11/uncovering-wine-spectators-2008-1-wine.html
David
Each year, the list confounds me...
I could never alone or (especially) in a small group of folks objectively rank 100 wines in terms of quality/value/x-factor each year...
I tend to try a handful if I can get them reasonably, but mostly laugh as the prices spike.
In any case, I'm glad no Loire wines made the list - and only a couple of Southern French and Germans wines made the list. More for me and less inflation. Yay.
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