Originally Posted by D1andonlyDman

Speaking of imperials, I have an imperial of '78 Sterling Reserve Cab. Mainly because it was so cheap relative to the quality - I paid around $300 for it about 15 years ago. I consider the '78 Sterling Reserve to be comparable in quality to the best Bordeaux 1st growths of the 1970s - it was Ric Forman's last wine at Sterling, and, IMHO, his best. I had thrown a magnum of the wine into a tasting of First Growth Bordeaux in 1997 as a ringer, and out of 40+ wines, it was one of the consensus top 3 wines in the tasting (along with '83 Margaux and '82 Latour).

I just opened my last 750ml of the Sterling a few months ago and it was still kicking. I have just 2 magnums and the Imperial left.

Mostly, though, I prefer Burgundies, Rhones/Syrahs and Argentine Malbecs. And on that note, Achaval Ferrer '05 Quimera, and Colome '06 are superb stuff - even more so in light of the fact that they can be bought for under $25 a bottle.