top ten wines for 2016

[Ken Gargett]

had to do a piece for the tastingbook.com site - pick my top ten for the year. the link is here (click on the top ten 'read more') - http://tastingbook.com/pro/ken_gargett

be interested to see other top tens if anyone wants to post.

and if you want to join tastingbook.com, you just need to sign in and start following people. all free.

[JohnS]

Good one Ken, that is great reading mate! I was entertained to a vertical wine tasting with @Fuzz, @jay8354, @Kam, @baragh and @merc yesterday. Fuzz was especially informative on the differences in the wines we tasted. I admit my naivety on those differences, honestly, to me, they were all great.

I am interested, I guess, in finding out the comparative cost of those wines you chose Ken. I'm hypothesizing that expense doesn't always equate to better quality for your list?

[Ken Gargett]

2 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Good one Ken, that is great reading mate! I was entertained to a vertical wine tasting with @Fuzz, @jay8354, @Kam, @baragh and @merc yesterday. Fuzz was especially informative on the differences in the wines we tasted. I admit my naivety on those differences, honestly, to me, they were all great.

I am interested, I guess, in finding out the comparative cost of those wines you chose Ken. I'm hypothesizing that expense doesn't always equate to better quality for your list?

hi john.

told my mother i was off to a vertical tasting one day. she shook her head and started moaning. i asked what was wrong - she told me, 'well, you'd think that at least these people could afford chairs'.

what was your vertical?

the two of my list that were mine were the giaconda and the granbusssia from conterno. i buy every year from giaconda. not sure what it cost me but it would have increased though not dramatically. at auction, i suspect a 98 would be $150 to $200. i bought a bit of granbussia at auction a while back. it was way way undervalued, i thought (ditto with masetto). i was paying $160 to $200 a bottle, not that i got many. these days, it kicks off around $500/$600 for the latest vintage.

of the rest, the Bin 60A was never commercially released but is now, on the rare occasions it comes to auction, $5000 plus - so very generous of penfolds to provide a bottle for the tasting. the latour 59 - would be several grand. most of the others over or near a grand. the chave would be a grand for a standard bottle so what a magnum in perfect nic is worth??? cheapest would be brokenwood at around $250. so there are no giveaways but certainly a great difference in cost. and i had plenty of wines that would have cost way more than the brokenwood but got nowhere near it in quality.

[finecigar]

What a great read Ken! Thank you for sharing this! I've tasted a couple bottles of 2011 Brokenwood Graveyard, they were excellent. The best shiraz I've had to date. Will have to look for the 14'. And I can't believe a bottle of 1962 Bin 60A... Wow. Happy wine drinking, and cheers to all the wonderful wines of 2017 to come

[JohnS]

32 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

what was your vertical?

Jason, just informed me that they were Krondorf Show Reserve and Symmetry 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1996. I enjoyed the 1996 the best, but the others were only 1 or 2 (or 3) points out of a 100 behind, for me.

I love your mother's vertical tasting comment!  

I'm glad you got to sample and review those expensive bottles, Ken. It's a good thing to know that quality in wines isn't dependant on cost, but I can understand how wine can become expensive due to demand for a limited supply.

[Ken Gargett]

12 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Jason, just informed me that they were Krondorf Show Reserve and Symmetry 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1996. I enjoyed the 1996 the best, but the others were only 1 or 2 (or 3) points out of a 100 behind, for me.

I love your mother's vertical tasting comment!  

I'm glad you got to sample and review those expensive bottles, Ken. It's a good thing to know that quality in wines isn't dependant on cost, but I can understand how wine can become expensive due to demand for a limited supply.

96 is a cracker vintage.

[Fuzz]

20 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Jason, just informed me that they were Krondorf Show Reserve and Symmetry 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1996. I enjoyed the 1996 the best, but the others were only 1 or 2 (or 3) points out of a 100 behind, for me.

I love your mother's vertical tasting comment!  

I'm glad you got to sample and review those expensive bottles, Ken. It's a good thing to know that quality in wines isn't dependant on cost, but I can understand how wine can become expensive due to demand for a limited supply.

Krondorf Show Reserve. They didn't change the name to Krondorf Symmetry until around 2006.

[BrightonCorgi]

I can't remember the whole year what were my top ten's (drink wine just about every night), but some of them would include '63 Niepoort VP, '48 Fonseca VP, Niepoort Coche, Giuseppe Quintarelli Valpolicella, '01 Dujac Clos de la Roche, '85 Gabbiano Chianti Riserva, '01 Musar White...

[Fugu]

Good info - thanks for pointing to that site, Ken! Nice to see a Dönnhoff making it to your list. Not that it were actually surprising (of course not), but in your neck of the woods...

[Ken Gargett]

13 hours ago, Fugu said:

Good info - thanks for pointing to that site, Ken! Nice to see a Dönnhoff making it to your list. Not that it were actually surprising (of course not), but in your neck of the woods...

one of my absolute fave producers, not just from german but anywhere. an importer in Melbourne specialises in great Germans. donnhoff much admired downunder, if rarely drunk, though a great mate seems to get first crack at whatever he wants. which is nice as he does share. he got a reasonable amount of the 04 Eiswein and we have drunk a number together.

i visited the winery and had about three hours with Helmut a year or two ago. one of the greatest visits i've ever had. brilliant. we looked at so many wines. lovely man. and he finished with the latest eiswein - '11 i think? possibly '13. i remember him saying that they had not made much. a few bottles and a magnum or two for the family and for the world, 111 half bottles. so it was rather decent of him to open one. nectar!!

[Fugu]

Oh, great to hear you have been there. Wasn't aware it is much known and popular in Australia. Yes, one of my faves, too. Long standing (>20 years) customer of theirs ordering directly from the 'Weingut' (though fairly small amounts, much less than I'd wish to...). Didn't make it there yet, so you have that ahead of me.... Love all of their wines, all excellent quality with character, dry and sweet, from the basics to his crus. His 2007 Hermannshöhle GG for me is an alltime great and yet still is in its infancy. Cornelius seems to successfully follow in his father's steps.

Their current Eiswein (following the ultra rare 2013) is the 2015 (harvested 18. Jan 2016). It's a non-auctioned wine this year, so pricing has been great, despite a mere 300 litres. If interested I may PM you a scan of their 2016 wine list.

[Ken Gargett]

7 hours ago, Fugu said:

Oh, great to hear you have been there. Wasn't aware it is much known and popular in Australia. Yes, one of my faves, too. Long standing (>20 years) customer of theirs ordering directly from the 'Weingut' (though fairly small amounts, much less than I'd wish to...). Didn't make it there yet, so you have that ahead of me.... Love all of their wines, all excellent quality with character, dry and sweet, from the basics to his crus. His 2007 Hermannshöhle GG for me is an alltime great and yet still is in its infancy. Cornelius seems to successfully follow in his father's steps.

Their current Eiswein (following the ultra rare 2013) is the 2015 (harvested 18. Jan 2016). It's a non-auctioned wine this year, so pricing has been great, despite a mere 300 litres. If interested I may PM you a scan of their 2016 wine list.

absolutely. love to see it. many thanks.