I just finished reading 1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die (2008, edited by Neil Beckett, with a foreword by Hugh Johnson). Heavy sucker, it was - good for the weightlifting portion of my at-home workout. Also a fascinating read. You want a wine lover's Bucket List? This is an excellent reference point.
Flipping through the pages, I found a lot of the usual suspects: Pétrus, Margaux, Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Haut-Brion ... wines I couldn't even afford to look at from behind bullet-proof glass, let alone drink. But I was happy to see many wines I've tried - at least, the same varietal and winemaker - made the "been there, done that" cut: Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc; Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc; Inniskillin Vidal Icewine; Eileen Hardy Shiraz; JJ Prum Riesling; Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Merlot; Ravenswood Zinfandel; Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape; Williams and Humbert sherry; and sparkling wines from Domaine Chandon and Gloria Ferrer. And lo and behold, isn't one of my own cellar items on the list? A Chateau Nairac 2001 Barsac, given to me by Hubby as a Christmas gift a few years back.
(You'll note the sole Canadian reference - Inniskillin and Mission Hill were the only two entries for Canada in the whole book, and both of them were for icewine. Sad, really.)
While daydreaming is nice, practicality and financial feasibility are what get you through the day-to-day. My shopping list over on Wine Align is pretty full right now, given that I need to prepare myself for the looming LCBO strike that may or may not interrupt my summer. Perish the thought ...
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