Wine Spectator Wine of the Year Top Ten: #6 and #5 Revealed

November 12th, 2008

Beaucastel, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Mollydooker, Pio Cesare, Pontet-Canet, Seghesio, Top 10 Wines of the Year, Vieux Telegraphe, Wine Spectator, WOTY

I was wrong. The Burgundy-shaped bottle for the number five wine was not for a Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, but for another Rhone, the 2005 Vieux Telegraphe Le Crau. I find it fairly amazing and intriguing that no Chards or Pinots will make the top ten. Unless the WS pulls a graphical switch, the remaining bottles all appear to be of the Bordeaux variety.

Expect at least two more 2005 Bordeaux, a Napa Cab, and who knows what else? Maybe a super-Tuscan.

Right now, wines ten through five have been revealed, and they are:

10. 2007 Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel
9. 2007 Mollydooker Carnival of Love Shiraz
8. 2005 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape
7. 2005 Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac
6. 2004 Pio Cesare Barolo
5. 2005 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape Le Crau

8 Responses to “Wine Spectator Wine of the Year Top Ten: #6 and #5 Revealed”

d547
November 12th, 2008 at 7:37 am

OOOh, addendum! It also could be a clean sweep for red wines, unless a Sauternes makes it in the top four which is a possibility.
RichardA
November 12th, 2008 at 8:20 am

Did anyone guess wines #5 or #6?
d547
November 12th, 2008 at 8:42 am

Richard,

Just looked through the entries (which didn’t take me too long, you slackers who never emailed me!). Lo and behold, we have a contestant who placed the Vieux Telegraphe at position 4. So we’re more or less in a dead heat at this point.

Jill
Tim
November 12th, 2008 at 9:25 am

I don’t expect to get any of the others correct so is there a tie-breaker if this thing is deadlocked?
d547
November 12th, 2008 at 9:29 am

Tim,

I think if it goes to a tie I’ll send each of you 3 bottles instead of the winner six. Otherwise, I can publish the contenders’ lists and put it to a poll to see who the general public perceives as the winner.

Thoughts?
RichardA
November 12th, 2008 at 9:54 am

Splitting the 6 bottles would be fine for me if there is a tie.
Tim
November 12th, 2008 at 10:02 am

Either works for me… splitting them would be probably the easiest thing for you to do, Jill.
Michael
November 13th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

What will number one be? My guess
Chateau Pape Clement 2005

get your wine on

2007 Ponte de Lima Vinho Verde, Portugal

Bring a little “green” to your life with the Ponte de Lima Vinho Verde from Portugal. It’s actually a white wine - the green refers to its youth and freshness. It’s slightly effervescent and zippy, giving you the sense of a warm summer’s day on a cold winter’s night. This one is very easy on the wallet to boot, at just eleven buckaroos! Buy Green Wine for Wintertime.

2007 Cortes de Cima Chaminé Red Blend

Yummy Portuguese table wine that’s a blend of Aragonez (aka Tempranillo), Syrah, Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira, and a smidgen of Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s just asking to be paired with winter stews of braised meats. A great value at $19 a bottle.Buy Cortes de Cima Chaminé

2005 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla: #42 Wine Spectator in the Top 100 of 2008!

OK, don’t screw the WS top 100! This came in at #42 and it deserves at least that. It’s the only reasonably priced domestic cab on their list, and we love it. It’s deep and rich and generous with the oaky vanilla — but not cloyingly so. Yay for #42 - just $28.

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freshly pressed

Cellartracker Embraces Twitter:

If you’re interested in wine and want a way to keep track of wines you’ve tasted, or bottles in your collection, a great place to do so is the site CellarTracker. Go over there and familiarize yourself with it. It’s really easy to use and offers the largest database of wines, along with a huge community of users who frequently post tasting notes.

Eric LeVine, the mastermind behind CellarTracker has recently become a Twitter user. You can follow him on Twitter here. And in a very significant feature addition to CellarTracker, Eric has just enabled Twitter functionality for all CellarTracker users, so that when you write a new tasting note, it will automatically post to Twitter with a link back to the CellarTracker data. Eric’s explanation and instructions can be found here.

This combo of two killer apps, a niche wine community with a Web 2.0 pioneer, could be a game changer.

(My apologies to Tim Elliott whose voice I seem to be parroting with this post!)

Cellartracker Embraces Twitter

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wine jargon

Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.

Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.

Frizzante

March 29th, 2008

Scorekage

March 23rd, 2008

Rioja

March 3rd, 2008

grapewise

Fabulous & Frugal!
Our friends launched a new site and domaine547 is a featured wine columnist in their premiere edition! Go check out Fabulous & Frugal for some fantastic lifestyle tips for living the good life during what, for most of us, is an economically challenging time. There’s much more than wine there, and we’re thrilled to be a small part of the start of what will surely be a successful venture. Congrats to Brandi & Steph for their achievement!

domaine547