As the Gregorian calendar came to an end, we were all blanketed by the media in all its iterations with multiple lists of the “best of” or “top 10” of any and everything under the planet from clothing and outrageous styles to restaurants and wine. While the lists can sometimes be a little “out there” (does anyone really care about the “Top 10 Outrageous Kanye West Moments”?), they do provide a nice look back at the year that was, commemorating those which deserve to be commemorated for better or for worse. In keeping with that tradition and in the hope of promoting those deserving wines, this newsletter contains the tasting notes for the best wines I tasted during 2011. As the selection process this year was surprisingly difficult, I have posted on my website the runners up to this list who are just as deserving of your attention and the list can be accessed here.
As would behoove any attorney worth his salt, a few appropriate qualifiers. Given that my day job limits the amount of time I have to dedicate to wine and my limited wallet puts a damper on the number of wines I get to taste each year, despite my best intentions I don’t taste every one of the approximately 1,500 kosher wines released every year. Also this list is derived only from wines I tasted for the first time this year and about which I have not written about in prior years (excluding barrel tastings or tasting where the wine was clearly not yet ready to drink) with one exception that actually brings the list to 11 wines – the 1990 Katzrin I opened in honor of Daniel Rogov’s (z”l) tribute dinner in Israel a short time before he passed away. As a result of these exclusions, there are plenty of great wines released this year that are not on this list and I’d love to hear from you which were your favorite wines this year. Reflecting the international nature of this newsletter’s readership, a few of these wines are not available in the United States (like the Gvaot and Recanati Special Reserve White), however these are all wines worthy of your perseverance and will be well-worth the time and money expenditure.
This year, in addition to the best wines I also included eight of the most exciting or interesting wines I tasted this year turning this week’s edition into quite the long one but worthy of your time – hope you enjoy and would love to hear your 2011 favorites!
Le’Chaim,
Yossie
As would behoove any attorney worth his salt, a few appropriate qualifiers. Given that my day job limits the amount of time I have to dedicate to wine and my limited wallet puts a damper on the number of wines I get to taste each year, despite my best intentions I don’t taste every one of the approximately 1,500 kosher wines released every year. Also this list is derived only from wines I tasted for the first time this year and about which I have not written about in prior years (excluding barrel tastings or tasting where the wine was clearly not yet ready to drink) with one exception that actually brings the list to 11 wines – the 1990 Katzrin I opened in honor of Daniel Rogov’s (z”l) tribute dinner in Israel a short time before he passed away. As a result of these exclusions, there are plenty of great wines released this year that are not on this list and I’d love to hear from you which were your favorite wines this year. Reflecting the international nature of this newsletter’s readership, a few of these wines are not available in the United States (like the Gvaot and Recanati Special Reserve White), however these are all wines worthy of your perseverance and will be well-worth the time and money expenditure.
This year, in addition to the best wines I also included eight of the most exciting or interesting wines I tasted this year turning this week’s edition into quite the long one but worthy of your time – hope you enjoy and would love to hear your 2011 favorites!
Le’Chaim,
Yossie
