Wineglas Top Ten of the Year

Top Ten of the Year


1. 2007 St. Innocent Pinot Noir White Rose Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (3/7/2010)
Minneapolis Does St. Innocent (Edina Country Club): Medium purple. Nose of funk, floral, cranberry, and clay. On the palate this rocks with spice, cherry, white pepper, and roses. Good acidity and concentrated wine. Really balanced and for an 07 maybe the wine of the Vintage for Willamette. (95 points)

2. 2004 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (11/2/2010)
The transformation of this wine.
Popped and poured:
Rich and robust with smoke, cassis, oak, minerals and graphite. Firm tannins and needs some time in the decanter although solid. 93 points
2.5 hours later:
Violets, graphite, minerals, raspberries, coffee, herbs and smoke. Coming around a bit more.
4 hours:
Perfect timing! More subtle wine with coffee, raspberries, cassis, gravel and graphite. Concentrated and has a medium finish. This is a top ten wine of the year for sure! 95 points (95 points)

3. 2002 Barossa Valley Estate Shiraz E & E Black Pepper - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (11/11/2010)
Minneapolis Wine Club does Worldwide Syrah: Top ten wine of the year candidate and for $40 a steal. Complex wine with blackberries, cherry, charcoal, smoke and perfume. The palate is showing amazing depth and this wine has a long finish. (95 points)
BUY AT: Sold Out but try the 2001 at Haskell’s on closeout at only $40 a bottle!

4. 2005 Meek Family Estate Syrah - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley (3/16/2010)
Dark purple. Nose is new world syrah with cherry, blackberries, oak, vanilla and spices. The palate reveals amazing concentration and features oak, vanilla, blackberries, smoke, spices and blueberries. Medium and multi layered finish. I think this is one of the top Syrah wines under $30 in the world. (93 points)

5. 2005 Domaine Carneros Brut by Taittinger - USA, California, Napa Valley, Carneros (11/21/2010)
Expressive nose of spice, dough and minerals. The palate is bright and features lemon, dough, minerals, chalk and nice spice flavors. Medium finish and acidity is excellent. This is better than almost all of the N.V. Champagnes I have sampled this year and a lot cheaper. (92 points)

6. 2006 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (8/16/2010)
Twin Cities Wine Club German Riesling Tasting (Gail's House): A super Auslese. Honey, apricots, floral and peach dominate on this off-dry wine. Good complexity and the finish is lively with good acidity and ripe fruits. Highly recommended wine. (94 points)

7. 1996 Henriot Champagne Brut Millésimé - France, Champagne (11/25/2010)
Dark gold. Intense nose of apple, chalk, lemon and candied fruits. On the palate chalk, minerals, orange peel, lemon and candied apricots. Medium to lengthy finish this has it all. A wonderful Champagne and the best I have tasted in 2010. (94 points)

8. 2004 Flora Springs Cabernet Sauvignon Out-of-sight-vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley (4/21/2010)
Minneapolis Wine Club does US Cabs; 4/18/2010-4/21/2010 (Shari's House): Wow! Medium purple. Nose of floral, cherry, chocolate, and spices. Very balanced wine and the palate has flavors bouncing all over the mouth. Really nice use of oak and there is a medium finish on the wine. A bit of chalk comes into the finish which was interesting. Well made wine! (94 points)

9. 2006 Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage (7/10/2010)
A candidate for wine of the year. Medium purple with some funk, white pepper, violets, crushed rock on the nose. Big and powerful on the palate and a balanced wine. Concentrated and medium finish. Ranking in the top five considering QPR. Should improve with time. (93 points)

10. 2009 Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Cellar Selection - New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough (10/30/2010)
The wines of Villa Maria: One of the better Sauvignon Blanc wines I have sampled from New Zealand with grape fruit, orange, flint, and floral notes. Really aromatic and great acid profile. Medium and concentrated finish. (91 points)
Ask your local shop to get some of this wine


OTHER GREAT WINES
2004 Achával-Ferrer Malbec Finca Altamira - Argentina, Mendoza, Valle de Uco, La Consulta (3/2/2010)
Decanted 2 hours. Dark purple. Nose is amazing with floral, blueberries, perfume, and subtle spices. The palate is showing blueberries, espresso, spices, floral and earth. Medium finish and this wine is extremely balanced. This is the best South American Wine I have ever tasted! Thank you Parker Board for the $40 a bottle price!!!!! (96 points)

2007 Ridge Cabernet-Merlot Santa Cruz Mountains Estate - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (11/18/2010)
Minneapolis Wine Club does a Blind Tasting: A sleeper wine and now a top ten of the year for me. It was interesting that in a blind tasting of eight wines this was the lowest pro rated wine by quite a bit. Blind it was the group's favorite wine of the night. Firm tannins but the wine shows cherry, blackberries, coffee and spice on the nose and palate. The finish is medium and has a nice earthy quality. I was surprised how expressive the wine was and it dominated the 2007 Andrew Will Sorella in quality at this stage of the game. (94 points)

2008 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Momtazi Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (10/30/2010)
St. Innocent Wine Dinner (Luci Ancora/ St. Paul): A super wine and dark in color. Perfume, coffee, spice, strawberry and vanilla. Concentrated wine and really balanced. This wine is drinking great right now and should improve and contend for a top 10 of the vintage. (94 points)

2004 Kaesler Shiraz Old Bastard - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (9/18/2010)
Minneapolis Wine Club Mixed Bag of Higher End Reds: Better than the 2003 and shows way more fruit. Dark in color and a nose of bacon, pepper, smoke, blackberries and cherry. Rich and concentrated and picks up some minerals on the long finish. A wonderful wine and have sampled it twice now with consistent notes. (95 points)

2004 Alonso del Yerro Ribera del Duero - Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero (2/27/2010)
Minneapolis Wine Club Spanish Reds (Anna's House): Dark purple. Nose of spice, dust, cherry, and floral. On the palate it features an abundance of spices, vanilla, oak, cherry, crushed rock and floral. Medium and concentrated finished. This wine was decanted 4 hours and it really opened up. For $25 a super value. I wonder if others who rated this so low didn't decant? (92 points)