Top Twelve

Here’s our ninth top twelve list. A quick review of the rules that we follow: we choose 4 wines in the under $15 category, 4 in the $15 - $30 category and four in the over $30 category. Also, a winery can only appear once on the list.

Italian wines dominate this top twelve. Five completely different styles of Italian wine made our list (Tocai Friulani, Valpolicella, Barbera d’Asti, Prosecco and Muffato) reflecting the incredibly diversity of Italian vino. All were excellent but the Muffato was clearly the most outstanding wine of the group. If you are fortunate enough to find a Muffato, you absolutely must buy it! Muffato is one the one of the most underrated styles of wine in the world. It is easily the equal of Sauternes and Tokaji.

As for the other wines on the list, I love German Riesling so one or two usually make the list. This time around, we discovered the wonderful Rieslings of Dr. Loosen, so one his wines made the list. We owe the Fleury to Terry Thiese who recommended trying champagnes from grower champagne houses at a tasting we attended. After sampling the Fleury and a few offerings from Pierre Peters, we are hooked on grower Champagnes. Aveleda’s Vino Verde (along with the Charamba) firmly entrenches Aveleda as a great bargain winery. And of course, there is always room for a Rhone among our favorite bargains and there is always room on the high end for a new offering from Nickel and Nickel, one of our favorite Napa wineries. The Medina Chardonnay is one of the best California Chardonnays we have encountered.

$8.99, Blason, 2005 Tocai Friulano
3/30/07, Tocai Friulano

$9.99, 2005 Aveleda Alvarinho Vino Verde
3/30/07, Another Aveleda
$10.99, 2004 Tardieu Laurent, Les Becs Fins
3/5/07, Fennel, Mint and Plum

$12.99, 2005 Allegrini Valpolicella Classico
An Italian Quaffer

$15.99, 2004 Vietti, Barbera d’Asti, “Tre Vigne”
4/13/07, Tremendous Tre Vigne

$18, Bisole “Crede” Prosecco di Valdobbiadene
3/14/07, Italian Bubbly

$18.99, 2005 Schmitt Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Kabinett, Mosel
Another Great Schmitt, 2/6/07

$19.50, Schweiger 2005 Sauvignon Blanc, Uboldi Vineyards, Sonoma
Bold from Uboldi, 3/19/07

$35.00, Fleury Champagne, Rose de Saignee, NV
Stunning Champagne

$36.99, Nickel and Nickel 2005 Medina Vineyard Chardonnay
3/15/07, Jen’s Birthday

$22 (375 ml), 2003 Dr. Loosen, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Mosel, Auslese
2/6/07, A Winner from Loosen

$44.99, 1999 Antinori Muffato della Sala
3/22/07, Domo Arigato, Mr. Muffato