I hate to break this to you, but that wine that Miles lusted after in Sideways, Chateau Cheval Blanc, is a blend of Merlot and another varietal he slams, Cabernet Franc.

Also, from a story last year that I read re: the making of the movie, the director originally wanted Miles' fetish wine to be Chateau Petrus Pomerol. Chateau Petrus Pomerol is awesome stuff... and is arguably the world's most sought-after (and most expensive) Merlot.

No, sorry, it is not. That would be Le Pin. You don't need to break it to me. I already know. With few very rare exceptions, it should have been left as a blending grape. It's arguable why the merlot phenomenon happened, but to me it seemed a combination of a less refined palette in America along with the over-oaking/use of American oak that has traditionally dominated the American wine scene. You could possibly see Pinot becoming as chique, but it takes pretty good and expensive pinot grapes to make a good wine.

A 98 Langmeil "The Freedom" shiraz (with a touch of cabernet sauvignon) 100% from the 160 year old vines in the Barossa.
I don't remember the last time that I opened a seven year old that had thrown so much sediment and had such an unbelievable presence.

Can't people like a variety?
 

Well...chacun a son gout I guess - sure the French traditional blends can be wonderful. And they can be utter plonk. Same goes for every 100% varietal, including merlot and cab franc. They are just different - like each of us. Enjoying wine has little to do with the refinement of one's palate so much as individual taste, and nobody's taste is "wrong." It's theirs and theirs alone; sneering at it or assuming a wine drinker enjoys a specific type of wine because it is "chic" or "trendy," or that they somehow have a "wrong" (i.e., inferior) palate represents the height of ignorance.

I finally got to try Tokaji Aszu the other night (the class was Central/Eastern Europe and many other random countries, and I was really hoping the Hungarian representative wouldn't be Bull's Blood). I love sweet wines when they've got a good backbone of acidity to them, which this did. It was the Domaine Disznoko Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos. Now I'm going to have to experiment with different levels and different producers... ah, the slippery slope...

Along the vein of sweet stuff, I've been reading lots of good things about the 2003 Vintage Ports. I'm thinking if I buy some they may be ready to drink when I'm celebrating my retirement.... ;) Any Port drinkers out there with particular recommendations?

And finally, does anyone have any particular recommendations for under-the-counter wine cooler/refrigerators? I may be gut-renovating a kitchen in the nearish future, and I figure if I'm going to go through the hassle I at least want a wine fridge (given that I'm in NYC, I'm hesitant to buy anything larger, although the price differential doesn't seem that great).

I bought 5 of the 6 bottles of 2001 Catena Zapata (for those who don't know, a stunning meritage from Argentina's Nicolas Catena of which I believe 300-400 cases are available worldwide outside Argentina per vintage) that were imported into St. Louis last year. It was, without a doubt, the best wine I have ever had.
Mere words would not do justice to its color, body, fragrance, complexity, or finish. IIRC, anise, blackberry, black cherries, coffee and cardamom were a few of the more memorable notes in a ridiculously delicious and complex wine.

Alas, the entire stash was consumed en masse at a dinner we hosted for five couples. Everyone said, "great wine" and swilled con gusto. Great wine is meant to be enjoyed, no?

Afterwards my wife asked how much we spent on the wine, since it was so good. That was not a pleasant conversation. :D

I find 5 Puttonyos to be the right number for me.

I found a great sweet wine in the Tarn area of France. I can't recall the name, but it is labeled "doux" on the wine.

Aside from the great Port houses I have found that some very fine Port can be found at many vinyards. I did a tour of vinyards in the Barosso Valley near Adelaide once, and each of them offered us some Port on the side. They had both white and red, and boy was it fantastic. So I recommend doing a tour, but call ahead to see if they have any Port to drink.

Buy with points! I bought a decent under-counter glass door wine fridge with Hilton points several years ago.

This year i had a series of really good wines.
Quintessa 98 (outstanding)
Ahlgren Cab 96 (excellent as always)
Ahlgren cab 82 (good but close to being over the hill)
Duckhorn Pinot noir 01 (really good wine with a delicate non-tomato based pasta)
And my favourite: the Niebaum-Coppola rubicon. Did a 89,92,93,94 and 99 of those in one evening. Amazing wine (got a little collection of rubicon's).

For a treat i aquired some nice distilled wines, notably a 54 cognac that is fantastic and 1970 port which i found in a mysterious way in macau...

Wine is a seriously slippery slope...

Some sort of Vins Doux Naturels? That's something I've only read about in books (did have a question about it on my last exam!), so will have to try one out sometime.

Ah, I only dream about having such great amounts of points.... ;)

I was down in my cave today and saw it is a Gaillac Doux. It's very good.

If you google "gaillac doux" you will see a lot of information as long as you can read French. One site says this is the oldest wine in France, going back to the 6th century B.C.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse....cgi?u=sideways

My two favorites this year were:

1997 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino -- you can't go wrong with almost any '97 Brunello, but this one is outstanding!!! The '99 isn't bad either, but no comparison. Had TWO bottles at the Ritz Carlton Cancun Grill (prior to the hurricane devastation) in June!

2002 Turley Zinfandel -- had some at Aureole in Las Vegas with some colleagues and all I can say is OH MY! It was the spiciest bouquet that I have ever encountered and worth every penny that I overpaid for it!

If you like Turley then you should check out some of the rosenblum zin's.
I'm very partial to several of the rosenblum zin's.

Got any specific recommendations? I am happy to try them out! ^

Try the rosenblum Annettes vineyard reserve. Bevmo.com has 6 of them in stock at $25.
I bought a case of the anette's and they are really nice (and the price is excellent imho).
http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp...bhcp=1&Ntk=All

I also liked the carla's vineyard (and it's a little less at $19). Really nice zin.

If you get a chance i'd plug the Niebaum-Coppola directors reserve zin. I think it's excellent. In fact i like all red wines from niebaum-coppola's directors reserve and estate lines. The zin is $27 and worth it imho.
http://store.niebaum-coppola.com/