Joe's Wine - A Year in Review

Happy first birthday, Joe's Wine!

As you can see from my Blogger profile, I have been a member since May of 2006. While some of my posts go back to 2003, my first official 'new post' was last year’s Brunello tasting - everything before that was a retrospective data dump of old e-mails to my tasting group.

While originally intended as a repository of notes for my wine tasting group, I couldn’t resist expanding the scope and opening up to the public (See why I blog below). Now at one year old, an awkward toddler always struggling to find the right words, perhaps a few numbers can help review what has been accomplished in twelve months.

A Year in Numbers

Testing the limits of a human liver, I have published 135 posts over the past year, including:

• 112 tasting notes on 128 wines, including two WBW reviews
• 8 posts covering our Formal Tastings - blinded reviews of 40 of the world's most famous (and expensive) wines, as reviewed by our tasting group
• 5 posts covering travel to Napa Valley and Canada's Okanagan Valley
• Various other comments and tips, including shopping reviews from various travels

As some of you may have noticed, I value diversity in wine. To put it simply:

"Every wine has a perfect time, place, food pairing and person to share it with." - Joe

My cellar and my reviews reflect this. My score summary page is a spreadsheet snapshot of my tasting notes and scores from the past year, but just to highlight the range of wines in those 112 tasting notes:

• France: 40 wines, with less than half coming from Bordeaux, the Rhone and Burgundy - the other half were Languedoc, VdP, and weird appelations (i.e. 5 Madiran posts)
• Italy: 26 wines, equally split amongst Tuscany, Piedmont and the rest of Italy
• U.S.A.: 15 wines, predominantly Napa cab blends and Pinot Noir
• Australia: 15 wines, a decent selection of Shiraz, whites and other
• Spain: 11 wines, tempranillo dominated
• South America: 7 Chilean and 5 Argentinian wines, fairly diverse
• Other: 9 wines from New Zealand, South African, Austria, Germany and Canada
• Red vs. White: 28 Whites, vs. 100 Reds

Visitors

I added a statcounter into my blog in mid-September, and since that time it tells me I have had 6,115 visitors and 9,243 page loads. Approx. 6,000 visitors since January, when I really came out of my shell. The geographic diversity has been quite amazing - I have probably had visits from ~85-90% of the countries worldwide, with many surprises. Welcome to all!

Most Unbelievable Wines

For me, all were memorable in their own ways, but I should probably flag the following as freakin' unbelievable (in no particular order):

• 1998 Henschke "Hill of Grace", very elegant
• 2001 Elderton Command, powerful, complex, enjoyed twice
• 1990 Chateau Clinet, very cerebral
• 2002 Sea Smoke "Botella", best Pinot of the year
• 2001 Domaine Pegau "Cuvee Reserve", best CdP
• 1990 Chateau Montelena, awesome 17-year old Napa cab
• 1999 Ornellaia, there is a reason this is so expensive
• 2001 Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis, ahh, so this is what great Barolo tastes like

Honorable mentions go to:

• 1999 Hacienda Monasterio, amongst the world's greatest wines at under C$40
• 2005 Palacios Remondo Placet, best white of the year
• Greatest Value? Tough call, but it is probably the Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon

Drinking too much?

No need to worry, Edward, as I have relied extensively on the livers of my wife, family, dinner guests, and of course our tasting group, to help round out an extensive year of tasting.

Google AdSense?

I can't possibly figure out how this will be lucrative, and I have a day job that would require me disclose this, so I will stay "ad free" for now.

Resolutions for the Next Year

My blog is light on white wines overall, and I really need to cover more Burgundy wines, and add some Loire wines.

For travel, I will be visiting Champagne at the end of June, and Sonoma Valley in the fall.

And, while this will always be a blog focused on independent wine reviews, I will adding some wine commentary beyond the obligatory tasting notes. The 'Daily' quote will continue, and I will add an archive of older quotes.

I hope you enjoy, and stay around for year two - Cheers!