What is your best wine ever?

[Christer Byklum]

Mine was a 1928 Château Suduiraut, that I was served blind at Cru in New York. I actually nailed the producer, but was off by 40 years. This bottle, was pure perfection, a balance beyond words, and aftertaste lasting for hours. I have later tasted the 28 Yquem as well, and that bottle was aslo perfection, but not quite as perfect as the Suduiraut, and not nearly as long.

I'm setting the bar quite high here, but it doesn't have to be something like this to be burnt into the memory for ever.

[Loren Sonkin]

Mine was a 2005 Chateau Rasque (Provence) Rose drunk in May, 2007. We drank it at an outdoor restaurant (La Piazza) in Cannes for lunch during the film festival. It was a gorgeous day with a stunning blue sky. Beautiful Mediterranean breezes. Gorgeous women walking by while the street was filled with Mazzerratis and Rolls Royces. The wine was crisp, cool and 12.5% alcohol. Refreshing strawberries and cherries. Went well the food, too. I have never enjoyed a bottle of wine more than that one. I believe it was 7 Euros off the list.

[laurent gibet]

Krug collection 1964 (magnum) : lunch on the lake (Marc Veyrat) !

[Jon Bjork]

Mine was a 1990 Latour we had back in 2000 atop the St. Francis Hotel in SF along with a whole flight of Latour put on by K&L Wines. It was such a perfect day that even though other better wines may come along, it will hard to beat what is now legenary in my mind.

[Jason Goldberger]

I am never sure. There are a range of wines could qualify as my "best" ever.

1994 Harlan
1982 Cheval
1990 Beaucastel (Perhaps this is my favorite wine)
1990 Beaucastel Hommage
1976 Prum LGK WS Auslese

[mustafa camlica]

For me, it was 61 Ducru.

[laurent gibet]

Jason,

I agree with Cheval Blanc 82 (twice rated 100/100).

The 2 beaucastel 90 are wonderful wines.

[david shaw]

Does the best wine ever actually exist ? For me I am constantly enthralled by time, place and occasion coming together in an emotional terroir. I have only been enjoying wine for 25 years. Could it be an Yquem 62 in my 20s and that rush of creme brulee and orange confit as my friendfirst opened the bottle ? Or the 59 Niersteiner from the Staatsweinbaudomain..all blood red orange with such a prcision and powerful grace, I thought it would outlive me ? Or a simple Jean Lionnet St Peray '98 10 years on, at a abarbie in the Ardeche and Petanque at 2 in the morning under flashlights. Or a Richebourg 02 with Lalou-Bize Leroy serving you, just to see the twinkle in her eye ? Or my first Grange, a 79 tasted back in 91..black.broody and untamed, it outshon the Chapelle 82 like a bolshy first date..Or the first time i had Gewurtz in Zind-Humbrecht cellar and understood the box of exotic spices that can exist. Or a simple Cornas from Clape..a Mourvedre from Pibarnon, a Pinot from Comte Durand..last week in the Alpujarras, the puest wines I have evertried at 5500 ft..the list is always infinite but the mind hold stock of a palate of personal treasures.. Tomorrow who knows...and thank god for that

[Keith Prothero]

I m quite clear---all from 1961 and in order Latour,La Chapelle and Palmer.

[Christer Byklum]

Keith, you seem to have a fantastic collection! All the above is on my wish list to try, but I love many of the 61's I've tried, with Mouton as my absolute favorite so far, tasted three times, with barely any bottle variations. A superb wine. I have a 61 Margaux comming up soon for a tasting, but the fill is a bit low, (mid shoulder) so that worries me a bit.

[Keith Prothero]

Christer, I organise a lot of dinners for a SA charity I am a Trustee of, PebblesProject www.pebblesproject.co.za and hence collect quite a few "Trophy" wines to have at these dinners.Was fortunate to have Hugh Johnson as my guest of honour in 2009 and Jancis Robinson last year.Very lucky that all three of the wines mentioned were absolutely at their peak----just unbelievable
Next year maybe Jeff Leve!!

[Mark Slater]

David Shaw makes a very good point about the "emotional terroir" ( I like that phrase, David). In a purely analytical tasting setting, I was fortunate to have been the sommelier at an event about 11 years ago in which all the First Growths and all the greatest Pomerols and St-Emilions were served side by side from two vintages: 1961 and 1982. The wines were in pristine condition and had never moved from the cellar since they were released. For my taste, the one wine that went places the others didn't, that was the most haunting and ethereal was Cheval Blanc '61. None of the wines could be called bad (except the corked bottle of '61 Latour-a-Pomerol), but the Cheval Blanc had a brilliance, a most exotic bouquet that kept evolving over hours and a texture unlike any Bordeaux I had tasted before or since. The close second to the Cheval Blanc, in my opinion, was Petrus '61, by the way. While it was interesting to taste the '82s, the '61s left them in the dust across the board.

[Benjamin Weinberg]

Here's a vote for an '82 over any '61s (and I've tried all the first-growths at least once). For me, the 1982 Lafite was the greatest red wine I've ever had, but part of that fascination were the surrounding circumstances. A good friend's crazy boss asked him to recommend a good wine. Jokingly (or so he thought) he replied that '82 Lafite was pretty good. Later that week his boss called him into the corner office. There, with a full glass of red in his hand, he showed my buddy two cases of that very elixir, agreed that it was very good, and gave him two bottles as a finder's fee!

The next day I bought a hundred dollars of dry-aged porterhouse and made dinner for two (my wife, who cares little about wine, agreed to leave us alone). I opened the Lafite noonish and had a tiny sip every hour on the hour. To my great consternation, the wine consistently tasted like nothing so much as the lead of a pencil. 5:00, 6:00 came and went, and still no fruit, only graphite and tannin. My friend shows up around 7pm and at that point the wine exploded into a riotous, joyous amalgamation of red and purple fruit, tea and mushroom, with grippy yet velvety tannins and a finish so long that I think I still taste it. The last sip of the bottle around 11pm was the best, and no red wine I've had since then has matched it.

Was it the wine or the circumstance that put it at the front of the pack? Maybe that's a different question... :)

[Jim Cowan]

N/V Cedric Bouchard, Champagne La Parcelle.
And I am not a guy who goes much for bubbles.
Best, Jim

[Christer Byklum]

Benjamin, I have not tasted the 82 Lafite, but just a few weeks back I had the 82 Carruades, and that was a beauty as well.....

[david shaw]

Another 3 for the raod..78 Forts de la Latour, 07 Pure Sang..on the day that D D left this earth..and 05 Tete de Cuvee Pinot N with Peter F on the doorstep of the farm overlloking H-EN ARD..:)

[Leah Amir]

I'm mainly a Burgundy girl but the 1961 Palmer I had last year was mind bending

[Dave Nerland]

Has to be 1959 DRC LaTache. Drank the whole bottle by myself.

[Thomas Keim]

I think time and place has as much to do with memories as anything else -

A 1959 Petrus that fillled a 5,000 square foot store with the smell of cocoa - a '78 Crystal that turned me into a father - and a case of '83 d'Yquem that was shipped to me in the heat of the summer with corks popped out - a replacement case was sent the next day overnight - told that I didn't have to send the damaged case back, so I spent the next week floating in the pool with my brother - each with our own bottle of d'Yquem, after d'Yquem, after d'Yquem. My brother who was visiting me at the time and not a big wine drinker remarked.... "This is what God's semen must taste like..."

[Tony Velebil]

Tough...but here are a couple:

67 Chateau yquem - stunning. My first ever Sauternes. I will never forget that wine.

90 Krug - last year on Valentine's Day on a stunningly warm and clear Bay Area day. We sat out overlooking Tomales Bay eating fresh oysters and sipping Krug on the roadside.

And probably 89 La Mission Haut Brion

[Christer Byklum]

I see many can't narrow it down, (and neither can I actually), so here is a few more....

1962 Vega Sicilia Unico
1964 Vega Sicilia Unico
1986 Lafite Rothschild
1986 Mouton Rothschild
1928 Yquem
1926 Mouton Rothschild
2001 Yquem
1976 Penfolds Grange
1961 Mouton Rothschild
1968 Cheval Blanc, believe it or not, but a half bottle in a hotelroom in Bordeaux on a sad and rainy day was just perfection......
1990 Montrose is really good
1988 Salon and Krug has something really special.....

And more....

[David Glasser]

I have to pick only one?

OK, '59 Lafite.

But there are a half-dozen still vibrant in my memory that might be my pick on any other given day.

[Francois Audouze]

1845 Cyprus Commandaria is probably the most complex wine that I have ever tasted, with a length that never ends

1864 Montrachet Bouchard was completely amazing and moved me physically

1861 Yquem is my best ever Yquem with an original cork (amazing) which plays an enormous role in keeping the taste

1899 Musigny Coron Père & Fils is the perfection in Burgundy, and I would add 1929 Richebourg DRC and 1945 Romanée Conti

1945 Bollinger is among my greatest champagne with 1949 Cristal and 1959 Salon

1945 Mouton is "the" absolute perfection of Bordeaux wine

1961 La Chapelle Hermitage is conform to its legend

I could add more but I stop :rolleyes:

[laurent gibet]

François,

What about the Krug collection 64 we shared ? :rolleyes:

[Francois Audouze]

Laurent,
Some champagnes have been more emotional that this excellent Krug Collection 1964

[Bob Bressler]

As noted, when you don't have these wines side by side, it is hard to compare. However, I fondly remember
1941 Inglenook
1948 Cheval Blanc (yes, 48 - François and I disagreed)
1959 Lafite
2001 DRC RSV - for me the 01s are magical with just the right balance of secondary characteristics and fruit.
2001 Bressler (what do you expect?)