Memories of 2013
Posted on 14 January 2014
The New Year is well and truly onwards and some great wines have already passed my lips. But I’m a sentimental guy and here’s a nostalgic look at my best moments, vinous or otherwise, of 2013.
Taiwan oolong (here, Oriental Beauty) still top of my favourite teas.
January: with a metre of snow in Poland it’s too cold to taste wine properly. (And I addressed the tricky issue of central heating and wine here). I take comfort in a cup of tea, something I did too rarely in 2013.
Andrea Costanti posing for Tim Atkin.
February: 2013 marks a major upgrade in my wine writing life: I will now cover Northern Italy for Tim Atkin MW’s award-winning website. You can read my first report, on 2010 Barbaresco, here. But before that, I toured Montalcino with Tim, and we just had a great time tasting all the best Brunellos on private visits.
Wojciech Modest Amaro’s outrageous dessert made… of forest mushrooms.
March: Atelier Amaro gets Poland’s first Michelin star. I’m privileged to dine there a couple of days later: an unforgettable experience.
An incredible Aszú-Eszencia from Barta.
April: I spend the sweetest day of my life in Budapest, tasting 25 auction lots of Tokaj, the best sweet wine in the world. Some are north of 40% sugar. Pure bliss. (And I even managed to take tasting notes).
Quiete dopo la tempesta.
May: I spend nearly the entire month in the vineyards, first in Croatia then Barolo then in Prosecco. The latter boasts some spectacular hilly vineyards where we were once surprised by a thunderstorm.
A youngster.
June: Studying one of my favourite wines: tawny port. Dirk Niepoort opens a 1979 Colheita that I object is a little on the young side. So Dirk brings another wine… (See also my visits to Andresen and Krohn as well as my 2011 Vintage Port summary).
Lorenzo and Luigi Scavino of Azelia winery.
July: I am in Barolo & Barbaresco again, researching my report for Tim Atkin. It’s hot, but the summer light is lovely for taking portraits of vintners.
Gigi Bianco Barbaresco Ovello 2010: one of my best wines of 2013.
August: Remnants of Barbaresco & Barolo are tasted in my living room. Suddenly, one of my very best Nebbiolo wines of this years comes from a much underrated producer.
Decapitated vines (post-dead arm disease) at Turkey Flat, Barossa.
September: My first ever trip to Australia, complete with kangaroos, snakes, Grange, and some incredible old vineyards in Clare and Barossa.
Ábráhám Kakasok Furmint 2012: an incredible wine.
October: I taste a lot of odd samples throughout the year. Most of them are just hard work, like oceans of supermarket wine I review for my Polish website Winicjatywa. But every now and then, there’s a hidden gem.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
November: I’m really excited with Croatia – Europe’s fastest-improving wine country. A report will come out on www.timatkin.com this spring. I spend 10 days researching it, including this blissful autumn morning in Rovinj, an old Venetian port that has hardly changed in 500 years.
This is a white wine from red Garnatxa grapes, aged 7 years in oak. Incroyable.
December: Spanish wine has been a recurrent theme this year, with sometimes love, sometimes hate. Much of my love came from Aragon and Catalan Garnacha but there were also surprises such as this experimental white from Capçanes in Montsant.