As I am retired, I live my passion for wine rather intensely. I have the impression that 2007 represents something which is above my expectation. I had never dreamed of that. Of course, I do not compete with others as I know people who open wines that are not within my reach, but I compete with myself, which means that I will try to drink the wines that I love with the greatest and the most perfect gastronomic atmosphere.
I have looked at what has happened. I have drunk 995 wines in 2007.
It represents 2.73 wines per day, but as I have drunk 185 days and not drunk 180 days, it makes 5.38 wines that I have drunk on the days when I drink.
As my personal consumption has been of 30.9 cl per day, it means that I have drunk 11.33 cl per bottle that I have shared, which means that the average people drinking wine with me were 6.6 people including me.
Here are the years that I have drunk in 2007 :
1845 (1) – 1856 (1) – 1868 (1) – 1880 (1) – 1889 (1) – 1891 (1) – 1893 (1) – 1898 (1) – 1899 (4) – 1900 (1) – 1907 (1) – 1910 (1) – 1912 (1) – 1913 (1) – 1915 (2) – 1916 (1) – 1918 (2) – 1919 (1) – 1920 (1) – 1921 (6) – 1922 (1) – 1923 (1) – 1924 (4) – 1925 (8) – 1926 (4) – 1928 (10) – 1929 (10) – 1930 (1) – 1931 (2) – 1932 (1) – 1933 (5) – 1934 (11) – 1936 (1) – 1937 (5) – 1938 (1) – 1939 (2) – 1940 (2) – 1941 (1) – 1942 (7) – 1943 (3) – 1945 (12) – 1947 (19) – 1948 (5) – 1949 (18) – 1950 (4) – 1951 (2) – 1952 (9) – 1953 (11) – 1954 (2) – 1955 (11) – 1956 (1) – 1957 (4) – 1958 (3) – 1959 (18) – 1960 (6) – 1961 (18) – 1962 (11) – 1963 (1) – 1964 (13) – 1965 (1) – 1966 (11) – 1967 (3) – 1968 (1) – 1969 (3) – 1970 (8) – 1971 (4) – 1972 (3) – 1973 (6) – 1974 (4) – 1975 (5) – 1976 (15) – 1978 (10) – 1979 (9) – 1980 (6) – 1981 (7) – 1982 (25) – 1983 (12) – 1984 (2) – 1985 (18) – 1986 (16) – 1987 (5) – 1988 (22) – 1989 (19) – 1990 (43) – 1991 (2) – 1992 (9) – 1993 (5) – 1994 (3) – 1995 (24) – 1996 (36) – 1997 (20) – 1998 (45) – 1999 (31) – 2000 (26) – 2001 (37) – 2002 (23) – 2003 (19) – 2004 (41) – 2005 (44) – 2006 (21) – NV (73).
There was no special will to explore so many years, but it happens to be so. It represents 100 different vintages excluding the not vintage.
The number of wines before 1990 is 493, with an average age of 48 years. So I have nearly drunk 500 wines having an age of 50 years in average.
The origin of the wines that I have drunk is following :
– producers, who invited me, who made big events, or who participated to fairs represent 401 wines, which is a great number (I have a special thank to Bipin Desai, who organised vertical tastings with the producers themselves)
– family or friends have provided 185 wines
– I have ordered 125 in restaurants, which is rather few, as I am authorised to bring my own wines generally
– From my cellar, 284 wines have been used. With this rhythm, I have more than 100 years of consumption. So, I can invite many friends up to 2120, roughly.
What is interesting is to see what I drank for some wines :
68 wines of Yquem : 1889 – 1891 – 1893 – 1899 – 1899 – 1912 – 1921 – 1934 – 1937 – 1938 – 1939 – 1945 – 1947 – 1948 – 1949 – 1953 – 1954 – 1955 – 1955 – 1959 – 1961 – 1962 – 1962 – 1967 – 1970 – 1975 – 1976 – 1976 – 1976 – 1976 – 1978 – 1978 – 1982 – 1983 – 1983 – 1984 – 1986 – 1986 – 1986 – 1986 – 1987 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1989 – 1989 – 1990 – 1994 – 1995 – 1996 – 1996 – 1996 – 1997 – 1997 – 1998 – 1998 – 1999 – 2000 – 2000 – 2001 – 2001 – 2001 – 2001 – 2002 – 2002 – 2003 – 2003
It means that I drink, in average, more than one Yquem per week.
48 Cheval Blanc : 1921 – 1934 – 1937 – 1945 – 1947 – 1948 – 1949 – 1949 – 1952 – 1953 – 1955 – 1959 – 1961 – 1962 – 1964 – 1966 – 1970 – 1971 – 1975 – 1978 – 1979 – 1982 – 1983 – 1985 – 1988 – 1989 – 1989 – 1989 – 1990 – 1990 – 1990 – 1994 – 1995 – 1995 – 1996 – 1998 – 1998 – 1998 – 1999 – 2000 – 2000 – 2000 – 2001 – 2001 – 2001 – 2001 – 2003 – 2004
14 Mouton Rothschild : 1918 – 1928 – 1936 – 1945 – 1945 – 1949 – 1964 – 1975 – 1987 – 1998 – 2001 – 2001 – 2005 – 2006
12 Chateau Latour : 1907 – 1916 – 1926 – 1949 – 1957 – 1986 – 1989 – 1990 – 1998 – 2001 – 2001 – 2005
31 wines from Haut-Brion, Mission and Laville : 1926 – 1926 – 1929 – 1942 – 1942 – 1945 – 1947 – 1948 – 1948 – 1949 – 1950 – 1955 – 1957 – 1958 – 1966 – 1979 – 1979 – 1980 – 1981 – 1982 – 1983 – 1983 – 1988 – 1992 – 1998 – 2001 – 2001 – 2003 – 2004 – 2004 – 2004
6 Lafite-Rothschild : 1868 – 1945 – 1949 – 1986 – 1998 – 2001
5 Pétrus : 1934 – 1949 – 1953 – 1974 – 2001
For Burgundy, I selected so : all the Montrachets (being Montrachet) from every domaine, and only three domaines for the other wines : Romanée Conti, Coche Dury, Armand Rousseau. It represents 26 wines : 1939 – 1942 – 1955 – 1962 – 1963 – 1964 – 1964 – 1970 – 1972 – 1980 – 1980 – 1982 – 1985 – 1986 – 1988 – 1990 – 1993 – 1996 – 1997 – 1999 – 1999 – 2001 – 2004 – 2004 – 2004 – 2004
For champagne, if I take only Krug plus Salon, it represents 44 wines : 1979 – 1979 – 1979 – 1981 – 1981 – 1981 – 1982 – 1982 – 1982 – 1982 – 1982 – 1982 – 1982 – 1982 – 1985 – 1985 – 1986 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1988 – 1990 – 1990 – 1990 – 1990 – 1990 – 1990 – 1990 – 1990 – 1995 – 1995 – 1995 – 1995 – 1996 – 1996 – 1996 – NV – NV – NV – NV
If I add all these wines, plus all the wines of the 19th century, it makes a count of “trophies”.
260 trophy wines : 1845 (1) – 1856 (1) – 1868 (1) – 1880 (1) – 1889 (1) – 1891 (1) – 1893 (1) – 1898 (1) – 1899 (4) – 1900 (1) – 1907 (1) – 1912 (1) – 1916 (1) – 1918 (1) – 1921 (2) – 1926 (3) – 1928 (1) – 1929 (1) – 1934 (3) – 1936 (1) – 1937 (2) – 1938 (1) – 1939 (2) – 1942 (3) – 1945 (6) – 1947 (3) – 1948 (4) – 1949 (8) – 1950 (1) – 1952 (1) – 1953 (3) – 1954 (1) – 1955 (4) – 1957 (2) – 1958 (1) – 1959 (2) – 1961 (2) – 1962 (4) – 1963 (1) – 1964 (4) – 1966 (2) – 1967 (1) – 1970 (3) – 1971 (1) – 1972 (1) – 1974 (1) – 1975 (3) – 1976 (4) – 1978 (3) – 1979 (6) – 1980 (3) – 1981 (4) – 1982 (12) – 1983 (5) – 1984 (1) – 1985 (4) – 1986 (8) – 1987 (2) – 1988 (15) – 1989 (6) – 1990 (14) – 1992 (1) – 1993 (1) – 1994 (2) – 1995 (7) – 1996 (8) – 1997 (3) – 1998 (9) – 1999 (4) – 2000 (5) – 2001 (17) – 2002 (2) – 2003 (4) – 2004 (8) – 2005 (2) – 2006 (1) – NV (4)
It makes exactly 5 trophy wines per week. Among those trophy wines 133 came from producers, fact which requires my big thanks.
This means that I have drunk 735 wines that – under my definition – are not trophies. Among them, a great lot of them have reached certainly a quality near the one of trophies.
Of course, figures do not represent the sum of emotion that I have had. But as I live an adventure which is rather unusual, I thought that it would be interesting to see what really happened.
I have made a ranking of the best wines of 2007 for me. It is very difficult.
1 – Champagne Moët & Chandon 1945
2 – Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945
3 – Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1928
4 – Chateau d’Yquem 1899
5 – Champagne Pol Roger 1921
6 – Château Latour 1947
7 – Hermitage La Chapelle Paul Jaboulet Aîné 1949
8 – Champagne Dom Pérignon Œnothèque 1959
9 – Champagne Dom Pérignon rosé in magnum 1990
10 – Hermitage Chave Cuvée Cathelin 1998
11 – Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1918
12 – Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Cailles Morin Père & Fils 1915
13 – Château d’Yquem 2001
14 – Vosne Romanée Cros Parantoux Henri Jayer 1989
15 – Pétrus 1934
I do not know if I am able to do the same in the future. I would be happy if I could be sort of a “memory” for old wines put in a situation of dinner. Some people like John Kapon will represent the Bible for precious wines, with his very valuable notes. I would be happy if I can add another perspective for the amateurs interested in old wines, of every level.