My family is not known for two things: 1)Buying ultra-expensive wine or 2) Giving Christmas presents. So, when I got my father three bottles of the Chateau de Beaucastel 2005 Chateauneuf-du-Pape for Christmas, he was not only surprised, but elated.
We had a bottle of this wonderful (and highly rated) wine about a month ago in Greenville, SC at Northampton Wines. We showed up early for a wine tasting of a less than stellar California wine (to remain unnamed) and ended up staying for a lamb dinner. The lamb was probably the best we’ve had outside of New Zealand, but was not the star of the show. That award was given to the Chateau de Beaucastel we had ordered.
It wasn’t until I started looking for a bottle of this wine that I learned, from sources with more resources than I, that it had been ranked #8 in Wine Spectators “Top 100 Wines of 2008″ issue. Now that I know this very important fact I might try and find more than the measly three bottles that Total Wine had in stock. Hint: I saw it for $95 on K &L Wine.
So, what did I learn this holiday? 1) Good presents are hard to come by, but are usually received with great appreciation 2) Not all wines over $100 are over priced and 3) I can safely say that Wine Spectator was right with one of their rankings!
