Barb's Top 12 of 2010

All of the following wines receive 10/10 on Barb's Alan Rickman Scale of Wine Worthiness.

Here we are. December. The months have whizzed by and Christmas is at our door. I’ve spent the better part of this year trying as much new wine as my liver and pocketbook could stand. I know it’s not quite over yet, but now is as good a time as any to reflect on my top 12 wines of 2010. These are my most memorable wines of the year; some by virtue of what I was doing at the time I tried them, all by virtue of how they tasted. Counting down from 12, they are:

12. Malivoire 2008 Red. What value! This Merlot, Gamay and Cabernet blend was super juicy with hints of cedar, oakey vanilla and spice. Definitely wins the 2010 Most-Bang-for-your-Buck Award.



11. Chimères Chateau Saint-Roch 2007. This wine taught me that Grenache, Syrah and Carignan mixed together is sexy-times in a bottle. Toasty, spicy, lush wine, (picked by Karen), I’d be happy to drink it all winter.



10. Mission Hill Pinot Blanc (no vintage on menu, my guess it was 2008). I tried this grape for the first time in the most excellent pasta restaurant ever in Quebec City. I was really surprised at how this wine was both refreshing and sweet at the same time. It made me want to try more Pinot Blanc (and mark my words, I will!).



9. Il Coroncino Fattoria 2007. A Verdicchio from a winery near Ancona, Italy. This wine really grew on me. It was a lovely golden yellow colour and was extremely refreshing to drink. It smelled like apples, nectarine and lime. Taste was wah-hoo! Racy, acidic, limey and slightly bitter in a curiously pleasing way.



8. Peller Estates Ice Cuvée Rosé. A present from Karen for watching her kids one weekend. I tried a lot of yummy rosé this year, but this sparkler was the standout for me. I wish, I wish, I wish I had a bottle right now! Can only be purchased at the winery (boo!), but gives us an excuse for a road trip to said winery (yay!).



7. Domaine du Haut des Terres Blanches 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape. Not my first introduction to the wines of this famous region, but definitely the best. Full of rich red fruit and deep caramel. Chewy, with a long finish with fascinating flavours that unfolded on my tongue. The most complex wine I’ve tried all year. Tasting this wine made me understand the obsession over region. I’ll try and find more for Christmas day.



6. Le Clos Jordanne (Grand Clos) 2008 Chardonnay. If you follow the blog, you’ll know I just posted about this wine in the entry previous to this one. I won’t go on about it, except to say THANK YOU to the winemakers at Le Clos Jordanne for making me love Chardonnay after having been burned by so many others.



5. Domaine Chevallier Chablis 2007. This is the first wine of the year that I remember going absolutely koo-koo-ka-ka for. Also the first unoaked Chardonnay I ever tried. I can practically taste the sea-shell minerality now. Drink it and you’re instantly transported to the ocean. A must have the next time I go on a seafood binge.



4. Fleur Pinot Noir 2007. Catherine Deneuve in a glass. So incredibly elegant. And yet there was a hint of that sunshine flavour that says “I am from California”. Like stepping into the most amazing, lush rose garden after the rain, I’d bathe in it if I could.



3. Cave Sprints Riesling Dolomite 2008. This ranks high on the list partly because I enjoyed it at the start of my road trip to Cambridge. Karen and I stopped in Jordan for lunch, and went to the winery restaurant. I could have sat there all day drinking the most gorgeous Riesling that ever touched my lips. I would have too, if we didn’t have to shake a leg and continue our travels south. I had it with a blue cheese and pecan spinach salad with Riesling poached pears. I remember ever bite. A great wine and a great memory.



2. Aia dei Columbi Falanghina 2008. I could weep just typing those words. What a wine! Lorri, Karen and I were in our room at the swankiest hotel imaginable in Harvard Square when we cracked this bottle. I remember how crazy excited we were upon the first sip. Beyond delicious with butter, cream and citrus flavours, it was unlike any wine I had ever tried. Falanghina is hard to find up here in the land of ice and snow, so I will make it one of my life’s missions to go to Campania, lie on the beach and drink nothing but Falanghina for a week. Yes, you can come too.



1. Was there ever any doubt? Belle Pente Yamhill-Carlton 2007 Pinot Noir is my #1 best wine of the year. I screamed. I jumped up and down. I paced. I raved like a lunatic. I took the lord’s name in vain about a hundred times. I’m sure the neighbours thought we were filming a porno by the sounds I was making. I called my sister and yelled into my cellphone for a half an hour about how good this wine was. If I hadn’t been at the cottage at the time, I would have immediately rushed to the airport, flown to Oregon, found Belle Pente, kneeled in the vineyard, bowed over and over again and chanted “I am not worthy! I am not worthy!” I truly, madly, deeply hope I get to try more from these amazing winemakers again. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but like Capt. Picard, I’ll just have to ‘Make it so.’



There was one Honourable Mention: Les Aphillanthes L’Ancestrale du Puits 2007 Carianne Côtes du Rhône-Village. The first Côtes du Rhône I loved (but not the last). The sultry, leathery, smoky Syrah blend makes me want to undo a few buttons and recline in front of the fire. Never, ever be without Côtes du Rhône in the wine rack—EVER.


And there it is. My bestest of the best. Six reds (including the honourable mention), six whites, one rosé. Two in the top five were Pinot Noir. French and Canadian wines dominated the list, and all but two wines were cool-climate. Clearly I like both refreshing and complex, spicy wines. I’m discovering my palate! This is progress!


In 2011 I’d like to branch out more into other parts of the world. I’ll endeavour to drink more from Italy, Spain, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia--they are all on my short list. Okay, okay that’s a long list. But I’m in for a penny, in for a pound. I can’t stop now! Leave no grape untasted!

'Til next time,

Barb