I just received this text from a friend. As well as inspiring me to write the last blog of the year it struck me as being a defining statement for 2020, a year where quantity dominated quality, but there were definitely some highlights, including Christmas lunch where we enjoyed quality in quantity.

Best Champagne

Pol Roger 2012. This has spoilt me for normal champagne, which is a shame, because it costs $126 a bottle. It got me wondering what sacrifices I’d be prepared to make to drink this once a week. I’ve never tasted a champagne with such a long finish. It was also nice to look back at 2012, a much better year than 2020.

James Halliday gave it 97 points and said this:  Full yellow-green hue; it’s a luscious wine with superlative length and balance, flowing across the palate in an unbroken stream. Irresistible.

If you are a lover of Champagne, then treat yourself to Tyson Stelzer’s Guide. It reminded me that we tend to drink Champagne too cold. Recommended temperature is 10 degrees, so take it out of the fridge a while before drinking.

Best Reds

Christmas had a couple of stonking reds. We moved from the Pol Roger to a 2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru. I’ve just looked it up on-line and it was a very generous addition to the table by my friend Paddy. This is what Pinot Noir aspires to be when it grows up, a silky, velvety symphony on your tongue, still vibrant at 19, with a voluptuous farewell.

After we’d said a sad goodbye to that bottle, we started on a 2012 Mount Mary Quintet. It was the usual intense burst of Bordeaux flavours, but I suspect we should have kept it for a few years. Sigh.

The meal continued with, amongst other things, a 2009 De Bortoli Noble One. Yum.

Looking back on the year a 2014 Yarra Yering Cabernet stands out too, much like the Mount Mary but more accessible, but I think I’ll give the honour of Best Buy to the 2016 Main Divide Pinot Noir which, at $27 is more in the spirit of this blog. Nicks gave it 96 points which puts it up there with wines three or four times the price.

Best whites

Vasse Felix Heytsbury Chardonnay, 2014. I remember thinking this would be worth trying in a line-up of great White Burgundy – it is that sort of price. Decanter magazine named in #2 most exciting wine of 2017.

2018 Rieslingfreak No.10 Zenit Riesling – incredible intensity, like drinking a spring morning. Not as dry as some, but all the better for it. I suspect it would make anyone a fan of the variety.

But my discovery of the year would have to be Mermerus Chardonnay, from the Bellarine Peninsular in Victoria. 95 points from Nicks and quite irresistible.

Best Rosé

I’ll keep this one simple, because that’s what Rosé should be – Le Pont Rosé, definitely under $20 from Le Pont cellars.

Here’s to a better year. It’s almost the 9th.