With that cheerful image in your minds, I present a couple new things I’ll be trying in 2012 to break myself from my rut:

Sparkling Wine from Great Shoals: The Spencerville Red Apple got rave reviews in Colesville Patch this past fall, and I tasted some really nice sparkling wines at Eat Drink Go Local in Silver Spring last November. I usually don’t care for sparkling wines, so a trip down to Great Shoals is in order.

Sparkling Cabernet from Serpent’s Ridge: Thanks to Paul Vigna for alerting me to this one. I’m not huge on sparkling wines, as I said above, but if it’s from Serpent’s Ridge, it’s worth a try.

Oaked Chambourcin from Layton’s Chance: Layton’s Chance announced this in October, but I haven’t gotten down to see them yet and taste it. I’ll admit, though, that since I do like oaked wines (!), this isn’t really taking me out of my comfort zone.

The Mason-Dixon Wine Trail: Paul Vigna detailed this in September, but I haven’t been able to get up there. While I’ve been to Boordy and Fiore, I haven’t been to many Pennsylvania wineries, and I’d like that to change.

Aliceanna Winery: One of Maryland’s newest, it’s in Baltimore City. But because regulations prevent tastings on site, this is one I’ll be looking for at festivals.

New Maryland Wineries: Detour (western Carroll County),

Creative commons image from Flickr user russmorris

Recall, if you will, last year’s Top 5 wines of 2009. Only one wine cracked 90 points, the rest shuffled in at 89 or 88. 2010 clocked in a lot better, particularly in the early months. I had a long dry spell int he summertime where I can’t remember drinking anything of note. December stole the round for the year, though, with two wines that made me perk up and ask for another glass.

These are wines that I owned and drank in 2010. Nothing that follows comes from tasting rooms, swanky events, or international what-have-yous.

My original tasting note is in italics followed by any current commentary I have on the wine. Notes have been revised to use the five-start system (see here).

2004 Philip Togni – Cabernet Sauvignon Tanbark Hill Vineyard

Color was a dark brick red. Togni bottles his wines unfiltered, and it shows. Pop and pour: There’s a nice color complexity that you don’t see from filtered wines. The wine smelled like olive, menthol and even a little floral. Palette has cherry, oak, a thick and coating wine. Long solid finish. After one hour decant the wine was much bigger up front, both on the nose and palette. There was a lot more finesse in the wine as it delivered up front, in the middle, and on the finish. Much improved. 5 Stars.

I don’t know what I meant by “Much improved.” Regardless, I was a big fan of the wine. See the post on it here: 2004 Philip Togni – Cabernet Sauvignon Tanbark Hill Vineyard

2005 Tempier – Bandol (Cuvee Classique)

(Note missing) [5 Stars]

Look, I’m a big sucker for wines from Provence because they’re really good. I don’t know where my note went for this wine, I only have a score of 90. Weird for me.

2005 Clos de la Cure

Nice and full. Menthol, oak, leather aromas. Full palette with mocha and coffee. Big huge tannins, seriously drying. Could use another five years or a two hour decant. Lots of promise. 5 Stars.

Bordeaux may be one of the most disappointing wine regions in the world. There’s just big hype and bigger price tags. This wine delivered, though. I think I got it for $25 too so big bonus there.

NV Moet & Chandon – Imperial (Formerly White Star)

Never thought I liked a touch of sweetness to my Champagne, but Imperial really does a great job of blending the sweetness with acidity. All comes with in a nice balance. 5 Stars.

Had this several times throughout the year and it’s always good. The wine is a perfect example of how balance is everything in wine. Imperial clocks in with a touch of residual sugar making it a step sweeter than Brut Champagne. You’ll be hard pressed to get pucker-face though. The Wife actually commented on the dryness.

2006 Auteur – Pinot Noir Sonoma Stage Vineyard

Big fruit. The wine isn’t really my style being _so_ fruit forward. Lots of fruit on the nose: fig, chocolate too. Big fruity palette and a gummy, coating finish. After a few sips and some air, I realized that this wine isn’t masking anything with anything. No huge oak, no huge alcohol. It’s a great example of why I love the region and the style. A nice wine, initially not my thing but it really grew on me as the night went on. 5 Stars.

Drank a lot of Oregon Pinot Noirs this year. More often that not, the wine was good times in a bottle. This Auteur was the finest example across all of them.

Sponsored link: Buy 6 or more bottles of wine and get 1/2 off shipping with promo code “vino70″

…right now!

I wrote this up in the waning days in December 2009, then realized that I had some good Champagnes queued up for the News Years Eve festivities. Better to wait until 2009 is officially over to publish the best of the year. Sadly, nothing cracked the top five.

Here are my favorite wines from the year, with my tasting note from the time in italics and any current comments in plain text.

Usually this the the part of the post where I remind you that these are wines that I owned and drank in 2009. While that is almost entirely true, I have to admit that my favorite wine of 2009 wasn’t mine. Still, it was from a bottle and was tasted in only the most austere, snooty of conditions fit for a wine blogger snob such as myself. Without further ado, that bottle was…

1995 Leoville Poyferre – France, Bordeaux, St Julien

Middleweight red color. Aromas of tar, leather, pepper. Great balanced palette. Nothing epic that’s trying to knock you over, just has a lot of everything in a nice balance… easy to drink. Good finish with big tannins and will linger and hang around before leaving your mouth dry. Still strong and even has a few more years left to unwind. 94.

Good stuff, indeed.

2006 Gobelsburg, Schloss – Gruner Veltliner Tradition – Austria, Niederosterreich

Pale yellow straw color. Thick and oily. The bottle was too cold out of the gate so I didn’t get much in my nose besides some forest and petrol. The taste was lively, acidic, and just okay. As the wine warmed, though, it took on weight and balance. By the end of the bottle it was really singing. Grapefruit, floral flavors, and that mid-European airport like petrol feel to it. Great finish, long, lingering and nice. 89.

This was our last bottle from our Austria trip in 2008. We bought it from a shop ajacent to the Nachtmarket. That’s one of the things I love about wine is that each one can remind you of something: where you bought it, where you had it, what you were doing around that time. It’s always fun to flip back through tasting notes and remember.

2004 Canalicchio di Sopra – Brunello di Montalcino – Italy, Tuscany, Brunello di Montalcino

Great nose. Tobacco, leather, nice earthy basement sort of feel. Deep flavors… black cherry in there somewhere. Still explosive and young. 89.

2007 Ridge – Three Valleys Proprietary Red – USA, California, Sonoma

Translucent dark ruby. Woody, forest, moss on the nose with a little herbal and floral backing. Some pepper came out later on. Dark red fruit on the palette: cherry and black plum. Nice finish, even if a little off balance and warm. Got bigger and put on a little weight as the night went on. Nice wine. 88.

2007 Elk Run – Gewurztraminer Cold Friday Vineyard – USA, Maryland

The first sniff gave me the same sort of I-don’t-know that I get in a lot of Maryland wines. I don’t quite know what it is (Old Bay?) but MD wines, both red and white, but it’s a little sulfuric, sharp… not particularly unpleasant but just distinct. The mystery aroma blew off after a few minutes. Past that, there was apple and beach, mostly round, full aromas. The wine had a Juicy Fruit, honeyed taste initially, very layered. Good acidity. The whole thing was almost a little wild. A nice, dry, light caramel finish followed. The wine changed for the better over several hours, giving out more fruit and maturing into complexity. On open, the wine was more of a New World style and after some time it developed a hint of minerality and Old World Characteristics, like something Alsacian. 88.

There was a four-way tie at 88 points. Elk Run won the second tie-breaker because it is a Maryland wine and this is a Maryland wine blog, after all.

78 bottles were up for consideration this year, just a slight uptick from the 71 bottles we put down in 2007.

The wine names (in bold) are followed by the note I wrote after drinking (in italics) and finally any comment I had as I wrote this post (normal). Enjoy!

2003 Drinkward Peschon – Cabernet Sauvignon Entre Deux Meres (VC)

Alcohol up front the blew off after a few hours of sitting around. Gave way to licorice and cassis on the nose. On the palette you’re getting a big ol’ Napa Cab experience. Not a fruit bomb, but some big, lush, crushed red fruit. Yum. Finish thins out but then lingers in your mouth. Whole thing needs time. If you’re opening one now, be prepared to drink it over a few hours.

This was my only bottle of the 2003 vintage. I missed out on 2004 so all that remains of Drinkward is a lone bottle of 2005. Going to let that one sit for awhile.

2005 Kuentz-Bas – Blanc (VC)

Really nice. A little petrol smell. Clean taste with a little fruit and nice depth. Complex for a $14 white wine.

Great stuff for under $15 and I think it is still on the shelves of The Wine Market. If you like white wines and haven’t explored Alsace yet, give it a try. The Kuentz-Bas is a Kermit Lynch joint.

2005 Colin, Marc – St Aubin En Remilly 1er Cru (VC)

Really good. Lots of depth and character for a white wine. Better than I remember it last year.

Burgundy fans would probably take offense to me “lots of character for a white wine” note. Truth is, it’s hard to find complexity in any wine under $20. Marc Colin is a good go-to for a white Burg: $30 wines that drink really well.

1997 Camigliano – Brunello di Montalcino (VC)

Just fantastic. Took two hours in the decanter to warm up.

Back in February I called this wine absolutely awesome. Bought it in Montalcino on our honeymoon after drinking a bottle of it in our restaurant with dinner. I think we got it for 30 Euro which was a complete robbery, even given the current face-planting exchange rate, and I’m surprised we weren’t detained by the Italian authorities.

2001 Hudelot-Noellat, Alain – Clos de Vougeot (VC)

Great. Roasted oak. Dark fruit. Nice smoky character.

My first Grand Cru didn’t disappoint. Not much of a note given a wine of this stature, so… sorry about that. If you’re reading this blog then you probably know that this isn’t the place for long flowery notes. I am nothing if not brief.

Here is last year’s top wines list for historical sake.

Instead of rolling the dice on untested wine, I thought it better to revisit my three favorites so far this year so newcomers to my site and to Maryland wine will be off to a good start.

2006 St. Michael’s Winery – Riesling

First had this back in February to go with a stuffed chicken dish that I ended up making a mess out of. Here’s what I said in my first review:

Great citrus fruit in the wine, both on the nose and on the palate. The Riesling is barely off-dry, and definitely on the dryer side of the Riesling spectrum. A very enjoyable wine.

Summer makes a better pairing for chilled Rieslings than winter does, and this wine didn’t disappoint the second time around. Very clean, lemon and grapefruit aromas and a crisp finish. My favorite Maryland white so far this year, with Boordy’s Chardonnay coming in a close second.

2006 Deep Creek – Artisan Red

I remember this wine more fondly than I appeared to feel about it upon drinking. My original note read:

I’m happy to say that the wine delivered. It’s smooth and light and unpretentious, nice for paring with roasted broccoli and a veggie burger. The wine is a blend of mostly Cab Franc, with 20% Malbec and 10% Norton to fill in the gaps. The color and mouthfeel worked like a Pinot. Spicy cherry and plum fruits to taste. A good summer grilling wine. At $16 dollars it’s not going to light up the QPR meter, but the wine is in good standing if you’re going local.

Interesting that I liked the cheapest red that Deep Creek Cellars offers in their stable of reds. The 2005 is advertised for $8.95, five dollars less than their Watershed Red Reserve which I hated. I paid $16 for my bottle of Artisan Red at Chesapeake Wine Company, almost twice what the 2005 was listed for. That’s the cost of working through the distributor chain, I guess. Also of note is that the 2005 blend was completely different than the 2006.

2006 Boordy – Petit Cabernet

In July, I put this wine up against a California Cabernet in a blind tasting. The opponent, a 2004 Villa Mt. Eden Cabernet Sauvignon, is a wine I had drank several times before. I was surprised when the Boordy won out. Here’s what I said about the Boordy in the blind tasting

Heated but not too much. Nice plum color, sort-of translucent. Black fruit on nose, not much else. Got some oaky flavors as the glass finished.

Not sky-high praise but not bad. The Petit Cabernet is Cabernet Sauvignon, the “petit” comes from the lighter, fresher feel of the wine as opposed to Cabernet’s reputation as a bruiser.

That brings me to my point about Maryland wine, that most of the wines aren’t trying to be huge triumphant examples of blockbuster wines. This is a good thing, wines that aspire to this turn into alcohol and oak right in your glass (and head right down my sink drain). The few Maryland wines that did go big ended up going home, missing the mark badly. With others, though, Maryland wines are doing a good job of “punching their weight” in that they’re not trying to be what they are not. They are simple wines and decent prices. Some (too many, perhaps) aren’t very good but some are passable and some others are good.

The Maryland Wineries Association does a great job promoting the industry through festivals, promotions, and government grants. Their monthly newsletter is one of the few periodic emails in my inbox that I actually read because it is full of information from upcoming events to feature articles. If you’re in Maryland and you haven’t signed up, I recommend you do so here.

If you discover any other homerun wines out of Maryland, I’d love to hear about them. Feel free to email me (address here) or drop a comment to a future post. Check drinklocalwine.com for more Maryland wine reviews and have fun exploring local wines.

5a. You’re not a wine bar. You’re a restaurant with wines by the glass and you tagged “Wine Bar” on the end of your name. This is forgivable if only because I understand how hard it is to run a successful restaurant. If you stick some marketing mumbo-jumbo in your name to get butts in the seats, so be it. but this usually means…

5b. Your selection of wines by the glass is weak. Got to see more than three whites and four reds on your by-the-glass menu.

4. You don’t serve olives. I love olives.

3. No proper wine glasses, just tiny 7-ounce glass sippy-cups. I’m a total grouch about this. Wine needs to come in a big glass otherwise I’ll get it on my shirt when I do the snob-swirl. When I smell the wine, I like to get my nose deep in there like I’m a hound tracking waterfowl that someone just shot out of the air. When I try to sniff out of the mini-glasses, I either get no aroma at all or a nose full of wine. Look, we all saw Sideways. We all know how to sniff the wine. Spring for the big glasses.

2. Warm red wines. An unforgivable sin to pour a red wine that has been sitting on top of a refrigeration unit. If I need to let my wine COOL before I drink it, then I am not sitting in a wine bar, I’m sitting at the bar of an establishment that doesn’t know how to handle wine. I won’t be sitting there long.

1. Sky-high prices on wines by the glass. I understand wine is popular so you can charge a good amount for it. I understand the standard 2x-3x restaurant markup from retail. I get that some risk is assumed in pouring by the glass, in that you may end up with 3/4 of a bottle that goes off overnight. But, some of these places are charging 1/3 of their bottle price as their per glass price. Cheap grocery store wines are being poured for $9 a glass. I need to go into double digits to find something I like. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP. There are plenty of inexpensive finds out there that you can pour in the $5-$6 range. Go find some. Get your distributor on the phone. Ask your employees. Do something!

Image is a CC licensed photo of Cava Wine Bar in Capitola, CA from Flickr user Donnaphoto . As you can see they use proper glasses and serve olives.

5) The seats and armrests are very comfortable.  Big, leather(ish), rockable.

4) The theater we were in isn’t huge.  It’s wide, but only about ten rows deep.  That lessens the chance that your seated in front of people who talk through the whole movie…

3) Nobody yapped too much, rummaged through their purse, took a phone call, or otherwise annoyed everyone else during the whole movie.  This is turning into an epidemic in theaters these days.

2)  There’s a full bar in the lobby.  A neat trick, but who wants to get liquored up before sitting for two hours?  The actual benefit was realized when The Wife visited the concessions after we found our seats and returned with a Newcastle for me and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc for her.  Yep, you can take your drinks to your seat. (This is a wine blog, after all.  Had to tie things together somehow).  The wine list isn’t anything to celebrate, a glass of Monkey Bar Sauvignon Blanc is $8 when the whole bottle retails for $11.99.  It’s the thought that counts.  Given the 4000% markup on popcorn, it isn’t all that bad.

1) The screen is gigantic.  I mean seriously gigantic.  It reminded me how puny theater screens are becoming.

The BWIT: 2002 Kluge Estate – New World Red. A fruit forward wine but the fruit is starting to fade as this was bottled a few years ago. This was the most elegant of the wines I had at the VWS.

2nd BWIT: 2005 Ingleside Vineyards – Sangiovese. Cherry and coffee flavors and the best finish of the whole Showcase.

3rd BWIT: 2006 Chateau Morrisette – Cabernet Sauvignon. Chateau Morrisette is down in Floyd virginia and their vineyards are at a higher elevation than most vineyards in VA. Their Cab had a less vicious profile than other Va Cabs that like the punch you in the grill with alcohol. This is a classic steak wine.

4th BWIT: 2004 Kluge Estate – Blanc de Blancs. Well-balanced sparkling white wine. Light citrus fruit and a good finish. Really nice for a value sparkling wine.

5th BWIT: 2006 Chrysalis – Chardonnay. Nice and clean. Fermented in neutral oak.

The Breaux Meritage would probably have made this list if I hadn’t already had a bottle a few months ago.  So, we’ll give that one an honorable mention.

2004 Paradise Ridge – Zinfandel Hoenselaars Vineyard Estate ($38)

So rare for a wine to taste better in the house than it did in the tasting room. Smelled like chocolate and licorice and just tasted fantastic.

The Wife and I picked this up in the Paradise Ridge tasting room in Santa Rosa, CA. Great spot to hang out and enjoy a glass if you’re ever up there. They make a Rockpile Cab that was good too.

2005 Breggo – Chardonnay Savoy Vineyard ($35)

Fabulous. Smelled like green apple and pear. Had a nice medium body, a little California style touch, a little crispy finish. Just great.

I’m surprised a Chard made the list because I’m not much of a Chard guy. Breggo is making some great stuff though.

2004 Phelps, Joseph – Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley ($45)

Really good. Dark purple in color but tasted nice and mellow, more medium bodied and smooth.

2006 Two Hands – Shiraz Angel’s Share ($24)

Pretty good. Tasty. Lots of fruit. Happy with it for under $20.

Funny that my note said “under $20″ and yet my reported price is $24. Some discount must have been involved. No matter, I stand by my assertion and will expand it to “Happy with it for under $25.” One dollar left to spare!

2006 Mulderbosch – Sauvignon Blanc Stellenbosch ($18)

Great. Really light color.

This is a great go-to for South African Sauvingnon Blanc.

Honorable mention

2003 Coume del Mas – Quadratur Collioure ($33)

Blew me away when I tasted it but the two bottles I drank were just pretty good. Just barely played its way off the top 5 list.

Looking at the whole list, I’m surprised at two things. One, two whites (a Chardonnay to boot!) made the list. Two, nothing Italian landed on the list which is strage considering if you forced me to drink wine from only one country, it would be Italy.

Best wishes for the new year!