If money was no issue, there are a certain list of wines that should fill the top 5 list of what most view as the greatest wines in the world. Fetching sometimes obscene prices, or near on impossible to get, these are the wines to seek out for the bucket list, if you just won lotto, or are privileged enough to not have to look at the price tag.
They are also the ones for people who get a buzz out of the fact that others know their price tags.
Please remember to invite me when you open these.
- Grand Cru Red Burgundy: Domaine de la Romanee-Conti
With a noble history going back centuries, ‘DRC’ wines from Burgundy are the epitome of the wine nerds unicorn. Their Romanee Conti grand Cru vineyard is almost a holy site for wine lovers with a pilgrimage and a photo on the stone fence of the biodynamically charged famous site a must.
Fetching obscene prices and difficult to find even if you can afford them, DRC would be amongst the list for anyone as ‘greatest wines in the world’, even from those who have never tasted them.
Those who have tasted them are rarely disappointed, almost stuttering from excitement as if they had seen the light. The paradox: everything that makes DRC so great is against all modern commercial wineries, and more like an art studio where nature is guided to do its thing.
The variety (Pinot Noir) is not even mentioned. Just horses and dreys in the vineyard. Things like a little volatile acidity or brettanomyces that would be an instant ‘fail’ for the the Jacobs Creek winemakers, are embraced and celebrated as part of wines.
These are classics. Mozart. Beethoven.
Good Alternatives: None.
2) Great White Burgundy: Raveneau Chablis or Leflaive Montrachet
Burgundy is the home of the most revered and sought after white wines in the world. Wine names from places such as Chablis, Montrachet, Chassagne Montrachet, Puligny Montrachet or Meaursault make every wine lovers ears prick up. It is the home of unicorn wines that are impossible to find, and with a price tag to match. Just like with the reds, it goes back to an artisanal craftsmanship, love of the land, and sometimes extremely small volumes produced (for a huge demand).
Out of those there are many great names from the hills just south of the town of Beaune: Coche Dury. Domaine Leroy. Leroy Domaine d’auvenay. There is one in particular from just up the road in Chablis that has winelovers across Australia waiting in line for allocations and paying whatever it will be: Domaine Francois Raveneau
As good as they are, there is one white that is consistently the Elvis level king of white wines: Domain Leflaive Grand Cru Montrachet
New World Equivalent: Giaconda Chardonnay (Australia)
3) Bordeaux First Growth 5 (+2): Lafite, Latour, Haut Brion, Margaux or Mouton Rothschild, Petrus, Le Pin
If you want to splash cash and impress, then let’s not beat around the bush. The Rolls Royce of reds are the Bordeaux First growth wines: Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau Latour.
The from the right side of Bordeaux, an equal number of wineries line up with wines that are just as highly desired: Cheval Blanc, Le Pin, Chateau Ausone and Chateau Petrus
Just like a Rolls Royce, they may not even be the best under the bonnet, and they may not even be the best wines, but the sheer anticipation of opening one of these will make the occasion.
Good Alternatives: Mount Mary Quintet (Australia), Penfolds Grange, Te Mata Coleraine (New Zealand), Screaming Eagle, Opus One
4) TOP Champagne: Krug
No wine in the world has managed to transition itself from being a wine to being a luxury good.
The names that will make any party: Louis Roederer Cristal, Krug, Salon, Perrier Jouet, Belle Epoque, Dom Perignon, Moet et Chandon vintage and Taitinger Comtes
These transcend the wine category. They are going to be delicious drinks, beautifully packaged, with a craftsmanship behind them to ensure the taste will make all sparkling wines you taste after them to be not worthy (with exceptions). But that is not the point of luxury. The point here is that whoever you share this with will know it’s a big deal.
Next tier alternatives: Top English sparkling, Italian Franciacorta. In Australia: House of Arras EJ Carr Late Disgorged
5) Great Botrytis Dessert Wines: Chateau D’yquem
The world was not always drowning in sugar. A sweet treat 150 years ago was a rare indulgence of the nobility. And one of greatest signs of luxury was access to rare botrystised sweet dessert wines.
While the Germans had their Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese, the Austro Hungarian royals were indulging in Tokaj 5 puttonyos, and the rest…they had one word that said ‘indulgence: ‘ykem’
Chateau D’yquem of Bordeaux transcends wine, just as the great champagnes do. Although modern winemaking has caught up and discovered ways to make affordable botrytised dessert wines, D’yquem still has a place all its own.
- WINEDUCATION - 