Year end reflections – highlights of 2011

Looking back at what 2011 meant for me, from a wine related perspective, I can only be grateful and cherish all those special moments I lived visiting exciting places, attending interesting wine tastings and meeting amazing people in Romania and abroad.

I visited 15 wineries in 4 wine regions from 2 different countries – France and Italy, plus the 7-8 visits to Romanian wineries(Lacerta’s new winery is the most exciting of all with its modern design). I am looking forward to visit Avincis in 2012, as they also built a state of the art winery.

The wine trips started in April with a visit and a dinner at Masi in Veneto, then immediately followed by a weekend spent in Champagne where I could only visit Moet Chandon’s cellars, but also the small Grand and Premier Cru producing villages; in June I managed to visit 9 prestigious producers in Bordeaux – with emphasize on Petrus and the stunning lunch at Cheval Blanc, the others were: Ducru Beaucaillou, Figeac, Leoville Poyferre, Gloria, St-Pierre, Pontet Canet and Cos d’Estournel; in September I was impressed by the gorgeous landscape of Barolo while visiting Luciano Sandrone, Cavallotto and G.D. Vajra, and Braida in Asti area.

I attended two International wine fairs: Vinitaly in Italy in April and Vinexpo in Bordeaux in June that completely changed my perspective of what a wine fair experience should be and, sadly, also made me realize how far away we are from having a similar situation in Romania at this moment.

I visited the impressive cellars of two negociants: one in Bordeaux with over 4 Million bottles that is just like a Bank dealing with a different currency, sometimes more valuable, and one in Belgium that works strictly with rare and old vintages of both Burgundy and Bordeaux. It is always exciting for a wine geek to see piles of cases of the most sought after wines – Petrus, Romanee Conti or 100+ years old Yquem in one single place.

I attended several Wine-dinners in Bucharest with older vintages of Bordeaux and Spanish wines and, in December, I actually organized such an event myself. Always nice to meet new people having the same passion and I am certainly looking forward to repeat this experience in 2012 as often as possible.

I had a few articles published in the Romanian wine magazine Vinul.ro about my wine trips (here and here) and the investment in wine, the monthly wine recommendations, and also an interview structured as the portrait of a wine collector published by the Good Food magazine.

The number of wine events organized in Bucharest increased exponentially compared to 2010, ranging from launching of new local and imported wines, new wineries and verticals of several years organized by the very few producers that can do that. However, the most distinguished of all was the event organized by Le Manoir, where major International wineries had representatives showcasing their wines during dedicated seminars. It was a first to see La Spinetta, Ch Canon and Rauzan Segla, all Joseph Drouhin’s range of wines, Michel Rolland collection presented by his son in law, Michel Redde, Ch Laubade and some similar producers present in one single room in Bucharest. A similar event was organized later by the importer of Banfi wines, but at a much smaller scale.

While writing this article, I made an attempt to establish a top of the wines I had during this year, but it was impossible to do it. There were so many outstanding wines that it would take too much time to even try to make it. I started to enjoy more and more older vintages and I made a new year resolution to drink wines that are at least 4-5 years old. Ideally, starting from their 6-8th year from the vintage.

There is however one wine that I particularly enjoyed while having lunch at Cheval Blanc: the 1996 Chateau d’Yquem that, so far, is the best sweet wine I had. I am just glad that this year I had wines from 1966, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990 and a few more recent vintages. I can just hope that next year brings at least similar experiences.

To finish on the same note as the beginning of this article, I am grateful for all these experiences shared with special people and all those amazing wines I had.

Happy New Year and all the best to you dear Reader !

1999 Chateau Musar rouge

Just had the 2003 Chateau Musar rouge a couple of weeks ago, so the memory of that wine is still fresh in my mind and I am able to compare the two vintages. Both wines maintain the same style, but what this 1999 brings to the table is a more pronounced old sock – brett like aroma that just gives more complexity to this extremely charming and easy to drink wine. Also, the 1999 seems more youthful, while the 2003 appears to be more evolved and probably will hit its maturity plateau sooner.

1999 Chateau Musar rouge Bekaa Valley Lebanon

Ruby red with garnet hues and really youthful.  Well developed and intense nose, there are aromas of cinnamon, earth, sweet red cherry and strawberry, anise and Brett. Overall, a very sweet and spicy nose. Medium to full bodied, really silky, with a great mouth feel, lively and rich on the palate, extremely drinkable, with sweet  and ripe tannins. There are beautiful pure sweet red cherry and warm forest floor flavors, mixed with exotic spices in the mouth. Medium to long finish, with lingering sweet red fruits and spices in the aftertaste. What seduces me at this wine are the similarities it shares with an old Pinot Noir and the absolute purity of the sweet red fruit. Loved it.  I can drink this all day. (92/100)

2004 Enrique Foster Malbec Limited Edition

This is the oldest Argentinian Malbec I had so far and it was a big curiosity for me to see how a New World wine evolves with age. The wine is dominated by primary aromas an there is no sign of evolution. My knowledge so far with these type of New World wines is that they cease any particular evolution after their 4th or 5th year from the vintage and what happens is that eventually, the wine dries out, losing the sweet, fruity aromas that usually dominate them, leaving very little that can excite the palate. Naturally, the exceptions can be interesting to sample.

2004 Enrique Foster Malbec Limited Edition

Dark red purple color and really thick legs on the glass. A very complex nose, complex, well developed and oaky, peppery, a mix of black fruits, coffee and floral. Full bodied, heady and super concentrated, with depth on the palate and rich flavors of black fruits jam, ripe blackberry, cranberry and gooseberry, with touches of coffee and pepper; very ripe and velvety tannins, but also a good grip just to give enough freshness and stop it from being a massive fruit bomb. Sumptuous palate. There is good balance and real complexity in this wine. A long finish with rich flavors of black fruits and spice with assertive tannins. (91/100)