| Shane's Wine Opinions |
Well, it’s that time of year again. The much anticipated, highly heralded
and awe-inspiring Wine Spectator’s Top 100 of 2007 is here. People will
flock to wine stores in droves this December, with their Top 100 issue in
hand in hopes of securing a bottle or two, three, four or all of the wines
that were lucky enough to make this list. As a winery, just appearing on
this list can drive wine sales through the roof. In the industry, it can
imply to everyone, that your winery has arrived and the business that
follows will be good. Wine retail store employees have mixed emotions
about the Top 100 list. On the one hand, it does bring new customers
large proportion of the list has already been sold through and is no
longer available. What’s that you say? Already sold out? How could
that be, the list just came out? Well I am going to let you in on a little
secret about how the list works.
For those of you that are subscribers to Wine Spectator, maybe, like me,
you’ve already figured out how they pick the wines represented on the
annual Top 100. If you haven’t, grab all of your magazines from this
year together, I am about to tell you. The list gets formulated right
before your very eyes with each and every issue. Take a look at this
year’s Top 100 list and then go back through your Wine Spectator
magazines from this year and see how many on the list come directly
from the Buying Guide Section in each magazine, specifically the areas
called, “Highly Recommended”, “Collectables” & “Best Values”.
Almost all of the wines in the Top 100 come from these sections of the
magazine. (So you see, these wines in some cases have been out on the
market for over a year already.) Now in what order will they appear in?
That gets a little trickier. Sometimes you can get a pretty good idea of
which wines have a shot at making the top 10 on the list, but for this to
happen, you have to be familiar with prior Top 100’s and the perpetual
buzz that Wine Spectator throws behind the wine. For example, after
reading some of the issues this year, I had a pretty good indication that
Molly Dooker would have a wine in the top 10 and my intuition paid off.
It appears as the No. 8 wine. Last year, I felt very strongly that the Don
Melchor from Concha Y Toro would show up and it I believed it placed
3rd or 4th. So it takes a little experience to pull off a top 10 Coo, but if
you know what to look for, you can increase your chances.
Now in years past, I have gone out of my way to buy wines that I felt had
a good shot of making the list. I think last year I had over thirty wines
on the list in my cellar when it came out and I picked up a couple more
once the list was published. This year though, I have curtailed my
treasure hunting quite a bit and ended up with only eight wines from this
year’s Top 100. Although, four of the wines were are in the Top 10.
Pretty good, eh? I bought the number three wine, “Le Vieux Donjon”,
after trying it at a tasting this year at Amier’s Chateau Wine Market. I
am rather proud of this one because at the time, there were no wines
scores from any wine critics on it and my own palate determined that it
was indeed a rockstar and needed to be in my collection. I also had a
strong feeling that the “Clos des Papes” could be the number one wine
this year and made a conscience effort to find it, but now that the list is
out, kiss it goodbye! Even if you could find it somewhere, retail stores
all over the country will be jacking up the prices as we speak or holding
some back to release later in the decade. Such is the way it goes with
the Top 100.
Okay, I can’t really take credit for having the number 100 wine on the
list. No brainy intuition helped me psychically predict it was going to
appear on the list. This of course is the 2005 Caymus Cabernet
Sauvignon and quite frankly, I buy bottles of it every single year
anyway, so at least in this case, it was just dumb luck it made the list. I
also must say, that I probably would have an additional ten more wines
from the Top 100 this year had I not already drank them. One such
victim that comes to mind is the 2005 Seghesio Zinfandel. Always a sure
thing, my wife and I just couldn’t help ourselves, we blew through our
stash of that like Rosie O’Donnell with a box of Twinkies. The 2006
version of this is pretty good, but not quite the same as the 2005 that
made the list.
If you are in a hurry to go out a try to stack your cellar with anything and
everything you can find from this year’s Top 100, let me caution you first
about this. Not every wine that makes this list is going to be a good
investment. In fact, most will not. For those of you that already rushed
right out and picked up a bottle of that number 72 wine, the “Yellowtail
Shiraz Reserve”, I am sorry to burst your bubble, but I am afraid I don’t
see it trading for $1,000.00 at a future wine auction at Zachy’s or
Christie’s anytime soon. Just open it, drink it, and revel in the fact you
had a wine from the Top 100 list. No, most of the wines that will turn into
a good investment are the collectable wines that appear on the list with
the mind-blowing scores and prices to match. In fact, chances are, they
were going to be collectables whether they made the list or not. The
number 7 wine, “Tenuta dell’ Ornellaia” is a good case in point. This
wine was going to be a superstar regardless of its place on the list. Some
wines are also deceiving too. For example, the number 6 wine “Chateau
Leoville Las Cases 2004” is a very good wine and probably worthy of it’
s status on the list, but all anyone twenty years from now may remember
is that in Bordeaux, where this wine is from, 2004 was the mediocre year
sandwiched in between two incredible vintages in the 2003 & 2005. So
once again, be aware of that. About the only sure thing every year on
the list will always be the number 1 wine of the year. That is a status
that will be carried throughout a wine’s life in collector’s cellars and once
again, that is why retail store clerks are jacking up the prices of that
Chateauneuf du Pape right now!
So I hope all of this advice is useful to you. I know that there are some
wines that made the list this year that I would like to at least try. The
“Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc”, the number 92 wine, for example. I love
their Sauvignon Blanc, so I can only imagine that the Chenin Blanc, also
known as “Steen” in South Africa, is pretty good. And that may be the
healthiest way to approach buying wines from the list. Think of it as a
chance to try some wines that the Wine Spectator thought were worthy
of making the list. And for you serious die-hard collectors…happy
hunting!
and awe-inspiring Wine Spectator’s Top 100 of 2007 is here. People will
flock to wine stores in droves this December, with their Top 100 issue in
hand in hopes of securing a bottle or two, three, four or all of the wines
that were lucky enough to make this list. As a winery, just appearing on
this list can drive wine sales through the roof. In the industry, it can
imply to everyone, that your winery has arrived and the business that
follows will be good. Wine retail store employees have mixed emotions
about the Top 100 list. On the one hand, it does bring new customers
large proportion of the list has already been sold through and is no
longer available. What’s that you say? Already sold out? How could
that be, the list just came out? Well I am going to let you in on a little
secret about how the list works.
For those of you that are subscribers to Wine Spectator, maybe, like me,
you’ve already figured out how they pick the wines represented on the
annual Top 100. If you haven’t, grab all of your magazines from this
year together, I am about to tell you. The list gets formulated right
before your very eyes with each and every issue. Take a look at this
year’s Top 100 list and then go back through your Wine Spectator
magazines from this year and see how many on the list come directly
from the Buying Guide Section in each magazine, specifically the areas
called, “Highly Recommended”, “Collectables” & “Best Values”.
Almost all of the wines in the Top 100 come from these sections of the
magazine. (So you see, these wines in some cases have been out on the
market for over a year already.) Now in what order will they appear in?
That gets a little trickier. Sometimes you can get a pretty good idea of
which wines have a shot at making the top 10 on the list, but for this to
happen, you have to be familiar with prior Top 100’s and the perpetual
buzz that Wine Spectator throws behind the wine. For example, after
reading some of the issues this year, I had a pretty good indication that
Molly Dooker would have a wine in the top 10 and my intuition paid off.
It appears as the No. 8 wine. Last year, I felt very strongly that the Don
Melchor from Concha Y Toro would show up and it I believed it placed
3rd or 4th. So it takes a little experience to pull off a top 10 Coo, but if
you know what to look for, you can increase your chances.
Now in years past, I have gone out of my way to buy wines that I felt had
a good shot of making the list. I think last year I had over thirty wines
on the list in my cellar when it came out and I picked up a couple more
once the list was published. This year though, I have curtailed my
treasure hunting quite a bit and ended up with only eight wines from this
year’s Top 100. Although, four of the wines were are in the Top 10.
Pretty good, eh? I bought the number three wine, “Le Vieux Donjon”,
after trying it at a tasting this year at Amier’s Chateau Wine Market. I
am rather proud of this one because at the time, there were no wines
scores from any wine critics on it and my own palate determined that it
was indeed a rockstar and needed to be in my collection. I also had a
strong feeling that the “Clos des Papes” could be the number one wine
this year and made a conscience effort to find it, but now that the list is
out, kiss it goodbye! Even if you could find it somewhere, retail stores
all over the country will be jacking up the prices as we speak or holding
some back to release later in the decade. Such is the way it goes with
the Top 100.
Okay, I can’t really take credit for having the number 100 wine on the
list. No brainy intuition helped me psychically predict it was going to
appear on the list. This of course is the 2005 Caymus Cabernet
Sauvignon and quite frankly, I buy bottles of it every single year
anyway, so at least in this case, it was just dumb luck it made the list. I
also must say, that I probably would have an additional ten more wines
from the Top 100 this year had I not already drank them. One such
victim that comes to mind is the 2005 Seghesio Zinfandel. Always a sure
thing, my wife and I just couldn’t help ourselves, we blew through our
stash of that like Rosie O’Donnell with a box of Twinkies. The 2006
version of this is pretty good, but not quite the same as the 2005 that
made the list.
If you are in a hurry to go out a try to stack your cellar with anything and
everything you can find from this year’s Top 100, let me caution you first
about this. Not every wine that makes this list is going to be a good
investment. In fact, most will not. For those of you that already rushed
right out and picked up a bottle of that number 72 wine, the “Yellowtail
Shiraz Reserve”, I am sorry to burst your bubble, but I am afraid I don’t
see it trading for $1,000.00 at a future wine auction at Zachy’s or
Christie’s anytime soon. Just open it, drink it, and revel in the fact you
had a wine from the Top 100 list. No, most of the wines that will turn into
a good investment are the collectable wines that appear on the list with
the mind-blowing scores and prices to match. In fact, chances are, they
were going to be collectables whether they made the list or not. The
number 7 wine, “Tenuta dell’ Ornellaia” is a good case in point. This
wine was going to be a superstar regardless of its place on the list. Some
wines are also deceiving too. For example, the number 6 wine “Chateau
Leoville Las Cases 2004” is a very good wine and probably worthy of it’
s status on the list, but all anyone twenty years from now may remember
is that in Bordeaux, where this wine is from, 2004 was the mediocre year
sandwiched in between two incredible vintages in the 2003 & 2005. So
once again, be aware of that. About the only sure thing every year on
the list will always be the number 1 wine of the year. That is a status
that will be carried throughout a wine’s life in collector’s cellars and once
again, that is why retail store clerks are jacking up the prices of that
Chateauneuf du Pape right now!
So I hope all of this advice is useful to you. I know that there are some
wines that made the list this year that I would like to at least try. The
“Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc”, the number 92 wine, for example. I love
their Sauvignon Blanc, so I can only imagine that the Chenin Blanc, also
known as “Steen” in South Africa, is pretty good. And that may be the
healthiest way to approach buying wines from the list. Think of it as a
chance to try some wines that the Wine Spectator thought were worthy
of making the list. And for you serious die-hard collectors…happy
hunting!
| The Wine Spectator's Top 100 |
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