It’s been a while since I last posted anything. Not for lack of reasons, but because certain technical problems with this website were driving me crazy. Now that they have been resolved thanks to the invaluable help of two esteemed experts, I can slowly return to an activity that I am as passionate about as tasting, trying and enjoying good wines.
While we are talking about wineries, wines and their creators, I want to take advantage of this first article to make a list, in the purest Javier Caravaca style , of the wines that I have enjoyed the most this year. There are white wines, orange wines, red wines and sparkling wines. It may be difficult for me to say which one I liked the most or to place them in a raking from 1 to 10. Each wine has been not only a glass, but has been a moment, a person, a place. Each one encompasses all of that and something else. Perhaps you as my faithful reader can think that a Domaine Thillardon Chenas Les Vibrations 2020 may not be that great, but for me that wine includes the place where I enjoyed it, the Santerra restaurant in Madrid, the table in the back separated from the others (quite a luxury), the menu, and above all, the person with whom I shared it @patricia.s.r22 . All this makes it one of the red wines that I have enjoyed the most this year. Don’t you agree? You are entitled not to, but I’m the one making this list ; –)))
There are nine wines left to talk about.
In recent years I have been drinking more white wine than anything else. I enjoy white wines so much that I find it hard to pass up the opportunity to try them. In fact, on another visit to Santerra , this time to La Barra , we discovered a wine by Alexandre Jouveaux. Alexandre is a former fashion photographer turned winegrower in Burgundy, specifically in Macon. I tasted his O 2016 thanks to Mario Tarroni from L’Alquimista in Valencia. I really liked it, though the volatile acidity was obscuring the rest a bit. Combarnier 2020 , the wine we tasted, was fantastic. Really fantastic. Later we tried the 2019 but that one had a bit of carbonic that I didn’t like as much.
We have also tried a lot of Champagne this year and very good ones. I am going to choose two. From all that I have tried and enjoyed from Laherte Fréres, which has been a lot, I’ll stick with the Rosé de Meunier. This year I discovered the Meunier for Champagne and I fell in love with it. And without a doubt, this year’s number one champagne has been Amaury Beaufort Les Jardinot 2020. A real marvel. The first one enjoyed at a champagne tasting with great friends and the second one at home.
Let’s look at orange wines, the real reason for this website. Obviously, I’ve tasted a lot. More of those I liked than those I didn’t, luckily, though there have also been quite a few bad orange wines. Of those I liked the most, I’d choose Movia. Lunar 2013 and Skerlj Vitovska 2016. The first Slovenian one, made by Aleš Kristančič from Goriška Brda. The second is the work of Matej Skerlj from the Italian Karst . And off the list is my favourite orange wine, which I had the chance to meet again this year: Solo MM15, the wonderful Vitovska by Maestro Paolo Vodopivec, also from the Karst.
I think I’m on my way to over-ranking because I still have a few wines left to mention.
White wines from outside Spain: Ridge Chardonnay Monte Bello 2017 , Santa Cruz Mountains, California. Wonderful. As is another wine presented by Mario Tarroni: La Grange de L’Oncle Charles Mille Lieux 2022. An Alsatian blend of Gewürztraminer, Muscat, Pinot White, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Sylvaner and Auxerrois. A great discovery, this winery produces other fantastic wines. To finish off the outsiders, a Chardonnay Premier Cru from Chablis enjoyed in La Cigaleña (Santander): Alice and Olivier De Moor Vau de Vey 2020. As the others, wonderful.
Two more reds. I am a faithful fan of Turley Wine Cellars, with a Zinfadel from Paso Robles in this case: Dusi Vineyard 2016, very close to the 2014, which remains my favourite vintage. And a wine that has made me dream of so many things, made by Goyo García Viadero in 1986, his GGV, his first natural wine. I can’t say more about this wine other than that you have to try it for yourself to believe it.
To finish, we come back to whites and in this case, national ones. My beloved Rodri Méndez makes his Mª Luisa Lázaro every few years. We opened the last remaining bottle of the 2013 vintage. Something incredible. Two wines that really threw us off and that we didn’t get right (we always taste blind) were Envínate Palo Blanco 2019 and Itsasmendi Jauregi Abadiño 2018. The first one is a Canarian Listán Blanco and the second is a Petit Manseng from Vizcaya. To close this list, I leave you with a wonderful Albariño made by Manuel Moldes: Fulcro A Pedreira 2018. This wine is incredible, and we did get it right.
So, these are my top 10 wines of 2024 (there’s still a bit of the year left). As you can see, a lot of natural wines, but what the heck! That’s what we love in this website.
