Sir Winston Churchill put it succinctly: “I am easily satisfied with the best.” And, as we know, Sir Winston was one of the best. He was a brilliant statesman, skilled orator, Nobel laureate writer, good amateur painter, excellent bricklayer, quick wit, and a world champion imbiber. He would have made one of the best wine writers ever, if he had put his mind to it; he certainly put his mouth to it.
Churchill loved Champagne, brandy, and whisky, and that’s just a start. Pol Roger was Churchill’s favorite Champagne. Some math wit estimated that Sir Winston enjoyed forty-two thousand bottles of Champagne during his long and amazing life.
This leads us into the topic of “The Best.” In matters such as beautiful women and handsome men, intoxicating perfume, sunsets, art, fashion, and wine, debates about which is the best are futile. However, these topics are the very ones that make for delightful conversations.
For example, ask ten wine lovers what the best Champagne is, and you’ll get fifteen different answers. Please note: the “best wine” is often not the most expensive. My vote would be Cuvée Dom Perignon Rose, but at $400 a bottle or so, it is both difficult to find and even harder to ante up the price. Then, there is Roederer Estate Rose sparkling wine for $25 a bottle. Not as sexy as Dom Perignon, but what a wonderful taste! So, I have two bests—my “once a year best” and my “all the time best.” Others will shout: Krug, Roederer Cristal, Salon, Perrier Jouët, or Dom Ruinart—all fine, just not my picks.
The inherent problem with best wine is that you have to discover it yourself. Looking at best lists could drive you crazy. For instance, large international wine competitions are often flawed because many top wineries don’t enter their wines for various reasons, including the concern that their wines, on the day of competition, might only get a silver or bronze medal, while an upstart winery cops the top prize and proudly shouts out the results. Individual wine writers may prefer certain styles that you might dislike, and they might not like wine styles you prefer.
But we have to start somewhere, so I’ll continue—with chardonnay. For an unoaked example, there is Passaggio, a very new brand. Our tasting group recently poured the 2007 William Hill Napa Valley Chardonnay and rated it absolutely wonderful. Other great names include the fabulous Patz & Hall Tony Zio and Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River. In sauvignon blanc, Grgich Hills Fume Blanc gets my best vote. Geyser Peak is also great, available, and very affordable.
Sweet wines bring up the same issue because of different styles. Chateau d’Yquem is the acknowledged star of stars. But there is also Napa Valley’s Dolce, much in the style of d’Yquem. And then there are the superb sweet ice wines of Canada’s Inniskillin and Jackson-Triggs. All of these wines are irresistible—a best example is the 2007 Inniskillin Vidal.
When discussing the best Napa Valley cabernets, there are so many terrific examples, the mind reels, and that’s before even drinking the wines. The best of this group would include Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Cask 23, Pride Mountain, Shafer Vineyard, Caymus Special Select, Dominus, Dunn Howell Mountain, Ridge Monte Bello, and Harlan Estate. A very distinctive, exciting Bordeaux blend is the 2006 Krupp Brothers “The Advocate,” Stagecoach Vineyard.
In the past decade or so, many American pinot noirs have become world class. My best list would include several of Calera’s vineyard-designated wines from Mt. Harlan, such as the Reed Vineyard, and brands like Pisoni, Patz & Hall, and Martinelli; as well as those from Oregon’s Archery Summit, Domaine Drouhin, and Elk Cove. Of scores of excellent zinfandels on the market, a superb example is the 2007 Tudal Family Winery, Oakville. Best merlot in my book is the Duckhorn Three Palms Vineyard.
When it comes to discussing the best wines of France, I have fallen behind the times, sad to say. The price of top Burgundies has run amok. One of the best white Burgundies is the 2006 Faiveley Corton Charlemagne at $250 a bottle. In red Burgundies, the DRC Richebourg is grand, but the superb 2005 vintage will cost about $2,000. The DRC Romanée-Conti of that vintage is $11,000 a bottle and, as the cliché goes, “is immediately approachable,” especially if you approach “it” with the president of your bank and a huge line of credit. In Dubai, where excess knows no bounds, a bottle will set you back $28,000! Sometimes we all long for the good old days, say in the 1960s, when a bottle was $6.00 or so.
The best Bordeaux, is my sentimental favorite, Chateau Haut-Brion; the 2005 vintage is $1,000. The good news is that in great vintages such as 2000 and 2005, the less famous wines are far less expensive and are bargains in comparison. For example, the lovely 2005 Chateau Lynch Bages is around $120 and the excellent Chateau d’Issan is slightly under that price. Many are way under $30, and their excellence will surprise.
What keeps all of us enthusiastic about wine is the knowledge that there are at least a thousand best wines that we’ve never tasted, or even heard of. Some are just around the corner waiting for us to discover them. A prime example is the 2005 Italian red wine blend Prima Voce Arceno, a mix of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and syrah. We hadn’t heard of the wine, but we thought it was far and away the best red wine on the table. And at $20 a bottle it would be 
both a best wine and a best buy. Good hunting, and better drinking!
Ed Schwartz has been involved in many aspects of fine wine for 30 years and has worked with top wineries in California, Italy and France. His writings on wine, food and travel have appeared in the SF Chronicle, LA Times and Image magazine.
