I'm often asked, 'You get to taste so much good wine, don't you feel jaded? Is wine tasting now all work for you?' There were times when I felt it was work, during the years when I was refining my palate and blind tasting every day in preparation for the Master of Wine (MW) exam. Close family members commented: 'You don't have that glimmer of joy when you taste wine any more. Are you sure you want to continue on this path?'
I've never quit something I started, so I was always going to see this MW journey to its end - either failing all my three allotted attempts to pass or not.
Wine still gave me comfort, even after an exhausting day of studying, tasting blind and revising. For the MW exam, one needs to be clinical and objective - tasting like a detective and arguing like a lawyer. It is about the mind and senses coming together so one can articulate the differences, the nuances and break apart the wine into its structural and flavour components. Then to see the final picture, one needs to be able to put the pieces back together again to judge the balance and assess its quality and ability to age. Even after hours of such exercise, I would reach for a glass of wine to enjoy, purely for pleasure.
Great wine still sends shivers up my spine and truly memorable wines bring tears to my eyes. While this happens slightly less frequently than when I was a newbie, wine still moves me. Some wines are etched in my memory from this year. They made my taste buds tingle and left me breathless. Given the lack of space, I can only list a handful of my great wine experiences of 2010:
1995 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Batard Montrachet (Burgundy, France) I could have filled pages recounting the fantastic DRC moments from 2010. About half of my greatest wine memories for this year are of DRC: for example, the incredible 1999 La Tache, which I rated 99 points; the 1989 Romanee Conti, which is just opening up (99 points); and the 1990, which was a perfect wine (100 points); the magical, ethereal 1978 Echezeaux, which is another perfect 100 point wine. The 1995 Batard Montrachet is special because it was enjoyed at the cellar with owner Aubert de Villaine; this wine is not for sale and only available at the domaine. It is one of the most concentrated, powerful Burgundian whites I've ever tasted, with an incredibly long finish (96 points).
1966 Perrier Jouet Rose (Champagne, France) I only became a fan of mature champagne in the past five years. Among the wonderful vintages are the 1971 Lanson (95 points) and the 1989 Krug Collection, which was recently released (97 points). When great vintage champagne has a few decades of bottle age, it begins to taste more like still wine, gaining complexity and depth while slowly losing some of its carbonation. This ros?was shared at Amuse Bouche in Hong Kong with one of the largest collectors of vintage champagne in Asia; we were all impressed with how wonderfully it had evolved, exuding mature red Burgundy perfume and offering refreshing and complex flavours on the palate. A fantastic 98 point ros?champagne!