Wine Spectator Wine of the Year Top Ten: It’s Time For Number One!

Top 10 Wines of the Year, Wine Spectator, WOTY

2005 Casa Lapostolle, Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley, Chile. Who woulda thunk? Ummm, apparently contest entrant Richard, who had it on his list. Congrats! I was wrong about pretty much everything.

That leaves Richard and Tim in a dead heat, each with two correct answers. Though Richard has the number one wine on his list, he didn’t place his guesses in order. Tim did, and his two hits — the Telegraphe and the Quinta do Crasto — were positioned fairly closely to the actual results.

So I say we split the prize. Cheers to Richard from A Passionate Foodie and Tim from Winecast for taking part in this fun tradition to be. Next year I may go back to posting answers in the comments as I think it was better for encouraging dialogue.

In the meantime, I’d like to comment on what an odd Top Ten I think this is. No Chardonnay, from anywhere in the world. No Pinot Noir, from anywhere in the world. Not even a California Cabernet. In fact, in the whole top ten there’s just one wine from California, a mass-production Zin from Sonoma County. While the US, Italy, Chile and Australia are there, the list is clearly dominated by the wines of France. But apparently the Spectator couldn’t bear to put an 05 Bordeaux in the number one position?

The only thing these wines have in common is their large-ness, at least on paper. The tasting notes provided by the Spectator are full of descriptors such as “big,” “juicy,” “powerful,” “ripe,” and “seductive and vigorous.” They speak of unnoticeable, well-integrated tannins (except with the Rhones, where “structure” is apparently a virtue) and smoky, chocolately, oaky notes. Ultimately, this is an extremely parochial view of the wine world, even more so than I would have expected.

Wines 11 through 100 will be available for perusal on Monday, but I’m not expecting any surprises. That’s where all the Cali Cabs and Burgundies that didn’t make the top Ten will be, along with Bella’s Garden, a couple of Champagnes (Bollinger 2003?), and a token Riesling.

To recap, here are the top ten:

1. 2005 Casa Lapostolle, Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley, Chile

2. 2005 Chateau Rauzan-Segla, Margaux

3. 2005 Quinta do Crasto, Reserva Old Vines, Douro Valley

4. 2005 Chateau Guiraud, Sauternes

5. 2005 Vieux Telegraphe, Le Crau, Chateauneuf-du-Pape

6. 2004 Pio Cesare Barolo

7. 2005 Chateau Pontet-Canet, Pauillac

8. 2005 Chateau de Beaucastel, Chateauneuf-du-Pape

9. 2007 Mollydooker Carnival of Love Shiraz, McLaren Vale

10. 2007 Seghesio Zinfandel, Sonoma County

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