My Favorites of 2007

This is my 200th post here at the ol' Brooklynguy blog. That's a lot of writing about wine and food. Kind of hard to believe. I looked through the blog recently and I think there is some stuff worth reading, whether for entertainment or for information about wine. But there is also some junk in here. Posts that just seem uninspired to me, posts that prevented me from having too much time go by between posts. I want to stop doing that, but I'll save that and other blog improvements for 2008 for another post.

I want to use the occasion of the 200th post to share some of my favorite wine and food related things from 2007. So without further ado, here they are - Brooklynguy's Favorites of 2007 ! (note: exclamation point conveys excitement).

Under $15 red: 2006 Clos du Tue-Bouef Cheverny. Nasty stuff, like a wicked curve ball. So good.

Under $15 white: Impossible to pick only one. Top three include 2006 Domaine de Cassagnoles Vin de Pays des Côte de Gascogne Reserve Cuvée Gros Manseng, 2005 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet Sur Lie Clos des Briords, and 2005 Le Bourcier Mâcon Cuvée Elena.

Tasting with friends: 12 Year Old Long Island wines with Lenn and company.

Industry tasting: Terry Theise Grower Champagnes at the Michael Skurnik tasting. Nothing else remotely came close.

Expensive (over $50) 2005 red Burgundy: Simon Bize Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Forneaux

Inexpensive (under $25) 2005 red Burgundy: Paul Pernot Beaune Clos du Dessus des Marconnets.

Oregon Pinot Noir: 2004 Belle Pente Murto.

Most expensive wine I tasted that is worth every penny, without even the slightest question: NV Henri Billiot Champagne Cuvee Laetitia (about $75 retail).

Mature wine: 1993 Chandon de Briailles Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Forneaux.

Wine descriptive terms that I never use, but would like to: sandalwood, ragged clothes, anxious, shiny metallic purple armor, Nixon-esque, yellowtool.

Wine region that is a new discovery for me this year: Champagne.

Cru Beaujolais: 2006 Descombes Regnie.

Beaujolais: 2006 Vissoux Vieille Vignes Cuvée Traditionelle.

Dry Loire white: Foreau 2005 Vouvray Sec Clos Naudin.

Off-dry Loire white: 2005 Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Clos Habert.

Loire red: 2005 Château de Coulaine Chinon Bonnaventure.

Obscure appellation putting out excellent wine: Cheverny in the Loire Valley.

Wine-related fantasy (rated PG-13, anyway): Team up with 10 high quality bloggers/writers to create a new website with wine information and notes. This site would include wines at all price ranges, and would be oriented towards wine lovers and geeks who are willing to think and to learn, not towards the people consuming the vast oceans of insipid yet expensive California and Bordeaux wine made by large companies who require a score of 90+ points for revenues. They already have their sites. But no advertisements for sports cars would be allowed.

Blanc de Blancs Champagne that I can afford: Until a few days ago I would have said Larmandier-Bernier. But the other night I had a bottle of NV Jose Dhondt Blanc de Blancs Brut. Holy crap!!!

Blended Champagne that I can afford: René Geoffroy Brut Expression.

Rosé Champagne: Henri Billiot Brut Rosé Grand Cru (and I don't think the Times panel tasted this one because it would have been mentioned somewhere).

Non-Champagne bubbly: 2005 Bisol Prosecco Crede Brut.

Thing I love about wine blogging: The "brick and mortar" people I have met. I now have friends in Montreal, Long Island, Portland Oregon, Manhattan, and Paris - people who I could contact if I were visiting and enjoy hanging out with.

Annoying thing about wine blogging: The ubiquitous exclamation point. I see this in blogs all the time and it always makes the hairs on my neck stand up. Every day examples include "I really enjoyed this wine and I'm looking forward to trying more soon!" Or "I'm going to have to put a few of these in my cellar!" Or "I'm using an exclamation point at the end of this sentence, but I'm not even trying to convey excitement!" Will you people just stop it with the exclamation points!!!

Other annoying thing about wine blogging: It really reminds me of the high school cafeteria. Some folks are not secure enough about themselves and what they have to say, so they form cliques and rely upon them for gratification. I guess you can never truly escape that kind of thing. But me and my blogger friends don't care about that anyway, right guys?

Wine that was completely new to me: I have essentially no experience with German Riesling. Lyle Fass at Chambers Street Wines recommended this one when I asked him "what is the best one you have for under $20?" 2005 Reinhard & Beate Knebel Von den Terrassen Riesling Trocken. Between Wine Blogging Wednesday and various dinners I've tried a few wines that were brand new to me this year, and this is the one that requires further investigation.

Wine scene in a book: In Saturday, by Ian McEwan, when Perowne, a successful brain surgeon, thinks about what wine to serve to his family with the seafood stew he is making. He decides to go with "something rustic, a country wine." And he picks a Cahors. I must say, the pairing puzzled me, and I still can't decide if it is a brilliant idea by a knowledgeable wine person, or if McEwan really doesn't know much about wine and picked randomly from some or other list of French Country Red Wines. I mean, would you open a Cahors with your spicy fish stew? Hmmm, could be rather lovely.

Dessert wine: Sandeman's 20 year Tawny Port.

Spirit: Michter's Rye - the regular 4 year old.

Under $10 meal: A large bowl of Phở and a Cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk) at Cong Ly restaurant on Hester Street between Bowery and Chrystie in Manhattan.

New trend in my own cooking: Home made stock, basically every week. It just makes everything better.

Ice cream flavor: Creme Cremaillere's Creme Brulee

Restaurant wine list: Rosewater.

Wine bar wine list: Al Di La Wine Bar.

Food that I recently fell in love with: Goat cheese.

Well, thanks for reading folks, and that's it for the 2007 edition of Brooklynguy's favorites. I really enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to doing it again in the future!