By Putnam Weekley

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As I recall, these were the most memorable liquids of 2006. This list was written entirely from memory. Most of these items are wine; most of these items are European; and most of the European wine comes from one American importer. It seems clear now that my town, Detroit, is hopelessly enthralled with hand-harvested, wild yeast fermented, unfiltered, wholesome drinks.

1. (2005) VdT, Mouches ont Pied, Jean Marc Brignot
This is the #1 wine of 2006 for several reasons: 1) It is delicious – with large aromas of bruised green apples followed by a rinse of tempting fruit flavors that remain dry and instantly habit-forming; 2) it is a surprise – how is this even possible? – it barely tastes like anything; it is unlike wine, funky and freakish like a wild-fermented cider or Lambic, though not sour, barely discernible to taste in all; 3) I hope some other winemaker reads this and is influenced to unleash something similar, and 4) I scored it a perfect 1000 points – the first time a wine has ever earned that score. Mouches ont Pied is made from the exquisite red grape variety known as Poulsard by Jean-Marc Brignot an affiliate of the Huillon-Overnoy tribe of Jura vignerons: unfiltered, wild-yeasts and, like, no sulfur or something. Bottles consumed: 19. Most memorable: Aug 1 heat wave in a second story flat with no AC. $25 Find this wine

2. 2005 Riesling Auslese, Bockenauer Felseneck, Schäfer-Fröhlich
(AP: 77130414006) Good things come from chaos. For example, if my desk had been orderly when I ordered this wine I might have found my calculator and decided not to take a case of mere Auslese for $50 a half-bottle.

3. 2005 Cheverny Rouge, Rouillon, Clos du Tue-Boeuf
My girl thought this should be the wine of the year, and she’s probably right, but then, she would choose a red. Sacrilege! We can’t have a red wine of the year! This is a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay, perfumed and vivid, pretty and lazy as a breeze. Please don’t look for lots of palate crippling, highly extracted tannins in this wine. (You won’t find them.) Bottles consumed: 11. Most memorable: December 6 the second bottle after Anne and Stephanie dispatched the first one while puppy-sitting across the street. $24 Find this wine

4. 2004 Anjou Blanc, La Lune, Ferme de la Sansonniere
This might have been a dessert wine, a Bonnezeaux or Quarts de Chaume by birth, but rebel vigneron Marc Angeli doesn’t make deals with the sugar devil (at least not when it comes to Chenin; see #29). He makes it stable and dry to avoid the need for lots of sulfur preservative. It is 100% biodynamic Chenin Blanc harvested very ripe. Familiar Chenin sensations are compounded with eerie flavor images of heaping, mashed pear skins and honey. Bottles consumed: 4. Most memorable: March 31 with Jim Lester of Wyncroft; usually fairly talkative fellows, we just sort of laughed and shook our heads while we drank it. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. $35 Find this wine

5. Xalixco Gold (Reposado) Tequila
There are deals hidden in Michigan’s elaborate state liquor distribution bureaucracy. Everywhere else in the country this brand is priced in the mid-$20s, and that would still make it a bargain. In Michigan it’s $14.90. One possible clue to the mystery of the absurd low price lies in the little blank rectangular sticker placed over the word “Reposado.” Apparently, someone thought it was true Reposado, and then someone thought it wasn’t. My favorite entirely fictional explanation has Cuervo mobsters pulling the strings of state bureaucrats who obediently deny label approval to this threatening upstart brand. “Prove it was aged for 6 months,” they say, “and use the correct form!” Treat yourself to a shocking contrast and taste Cuervo Gold, a brand of Tequila that costs more and tastes like melted plastic, next to Xalixco Gold. Xalixco is the largest holder of agave acreage, so it can bottle high quality Tequila for less. $15

6. 2004 Piemonte Barbera, Mounbé, Cascina degli Ulivi
Wine should be vivid and meaningful but it doesn’t always have to be pretty. Sometimes great wine moves emotions of horror and awe. I find it impossible to pull away from these steeping subterranean aromatic sensations of ash, sandalwood, roasted acid and cherry pit resin. The color is black. Somehow, a mouthful is silky and sweet, irresistibly succulent. This is a hallmark of Cascina degli Ulivi. All their wines provide a glimpse into the raw, relentless pulse of vines, muscular vines not stupefied with petrochemical poisons, vines with attitude. It can be a little frightening. Bottles consumed: 4. Most memorable: November 1. $28 Find this wine

7. 2004 Touraine, Le Buisson Pouilleux, Clos du Tue-Boeuf
Le Buisson Pouilleux means “lousy bush,” an appropriate name for crazy old-vine, mutant Sauvignon Blanc, so ripe it turns into an image of abundant floral extract dipped in honey and grapefruit marmalade. Bottles consumed: 7. Most memorable: November 22, the day before Thanksgiving with BLiS tuna, chevre and El Pato taco sauce on grilled flour tortillas. $25. Find this wine

8. 2005 Morgon, Côte du Py, Jean Foillard
2005’s wine of the year was Foillard’s 2001. In time this should be every bit as magical. Now it is a closed purse of satin acids. The tannins are tender. Red and black berry flavors emerge as one chews them. Bottles consumed: 6. Most memorable: the first one while at work, it was well anticipated. $27 Find this wine

9. 2004 Patrimono Rouge, Carco, Antoine Arena
Like a hypothetical Sangiovese raisin espresso, punishing bitterness wrapped in fresh berry fruit, this pure, black expression of the blood of Jupiter defies linguistic attempts to represent it. It tastes like "liqueur" – cassis, kirsch, plum, raspberry – seeping, pitch black sensations with towering walls of fresh, concentrated, purple and blue fruit to the horizon. And then there are the tannins, Sangiovese tannins: dry and fine and a lot of them. As I chew on a drink they release a storm of little raspberry acid flavored curly cues, like a hundred tiny sequences of the wine in miniature. Bottles consumed: 5. Most memorable: July 31. $39 Find this wine

10. 2002 VOE (Viñedos Organicos Emiliana) Coyam
Forget the organic and biodynamic hype storming around this wine. It surpasses more famous, more expensive Chilean wines purely on the basis of immediate, impressionistic sensory standards. Imagine one of the more dense Clos Apalta vintages from Casa Lapostolle, like 1999 (cocoa, blackberries, opium, fine, velvety tannins), and add the slight roasted herb flavors that should never be absent from a good Bordeaux-variety blend. Bottles consumed: 1. Most memorable: December 29 with local, grass-fed T-bone steaks cooked over a 1112 degree F hardwood fire in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge. £12 Find this wine

11. 2004 Vallée d’Aoste Torrette, Franco Noussan
I wanted to prove that my sense of taste couldn’t be relied upon when confronted with hundreds of novel samples all at once (and thereby presume to add to the evidence that no one’s can.) My first taste of this item was October 24 at a trade tasting with several hundred wines. As usual I took my time: tasting, retasting and taking notes. When I got to this item I was fairly certain it was too pale, tart and thin to be remarkable, and certainly not worth more than $20 (twiggy, tart, dried fruit, spice). But I had seen great light wines dismissed in such contexts before, so I tried hard to clear my palate and mind and see what others saw in it. No luck. My colleague Tom had the same reaction. Then, during a break, I went downstairs to Astor and found it on the shelf. I bought a bottle. Later that week I shared it with Todd Abrams. We found it to be more or less as I remembered, but then as we drank it, it got better. As we squeezed the last drop from the bottle and traded sincere, loud expressions of appreciation for this mystical mountain smoke of forest fruit, I resolved to learn my lesson: next time get two bottles. Bottles consumed: 2. Most memorable: October 27. $20 Find this wine

12. Winterkoninkske (Winter King), Kerkom
Why brew a beer with juniper berries if the taste of juniper in the finished beer isn’t made obvious? Do you cook with ingredients or “flavorings”? Juniper and a bit of lavender appear in this beer only suggestively, revealing the dark brown ale’s inner dimensions like a ripple on a pond. Nor does this beer exemplify the popular trend, particularly in Belgium, toward syrupy sweet flavors and textures. It is as dry as a cup of black coffee. Seven types of malt, two Belgian hop varieties and the air and earth amidst the best cherry orchards in the world make this ale as powerful as it is balanced and fine. Bottles consumed: 2. Most memorable: December 12 while editing entries #1-17 on this list. $5

13. 2002 Bourgueil, Clos Senechal, Catherine & Pierre Breton
This nimble, biodynamic Cabernet Franc grown in clay and limestone over tufa just keeps getting better. The intense red berry fist of fruit loosens to reveal soft fertile perfumes of clay cake and cocoa dust. Taught, wiry vine energy reveals facets of this generosity like rapids reveal river rocks. It feels like cake you can eat forever from and never get full. Bottles consumed: 9. Most memorable: June 1. $25 Find this wine

14. 2005 Pineau d’Aunis, Tesnière, Thierry Puzelat Selections
From the Clos Roche Blanche vineyard called Tesnière. 2005 made a concentrated Pineau d’Aunis there: dark, powerfully scented, unruly as always. I can’t see any reason why anyone who drinks aged Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir or Rhone wine wouldn’t think this was some kind of freakish bargain. Write to me in 2008 to find out how it ages. Bottles consumed: 8. Most memorable: September 8th with Dave Antonelli who declared it to be “port like” (and delicious); it was a hot day. $23 Find this wine

15. 2005 Vouvray, Francois Pinon
It seems like all the Chenins I can find are either dilute or massive. The range of perfume in this one -- from raw almond, to green fig, to quince, to stone -- is impressive considering its lean fuel mixture (12.5% alc). Bottles consumed: 11. Most memorable (tie): August 15 in the company of Anne’s new puppy who was subsequently named “Peanut” in honor of Mr. Pinon and November 23 as an aperitif to Thanksgiving dinner at mom’s. $18 Find this wine

16. Mönchsambacher Lagerbier, Zehender
This is a pale lager brewed at a small guesthouse in a small town by a lazy river in northern Bavaria. It has good fruit, sweet herbs and butter flavors; it’s chewy and creamy with a hard spine of bitterness. The fruits are dazzling, like crushed ripe peaches and pears. It has a homemade feel like fresh bread (caramelized grains and yeast). I detect no tartness, not even the least degree of green apple or lemon-flavored tang. Quite stony. Nobly cured herbs can be found in a sensory analysis of it. 300 bottles imported. Someone should import ten times that amount. Bottles consumed: 27. Most memorable: bottles #2-9 on March 15. $5 (500ml)

17. 2005 Gavi, Cascina degli Ulivi
I assume there is something about a vineyard biodynamic for 20 years (in foggy, hilly Piedmont) that uniquely produces flavors and textures like this. At first it was a little shocking. Honey sweet, acidic and spicy with the flavors of fermentation. What was that sensation I wanted to grasp … beeswax? Sandalwood? This brings you a little nearer than normal to the riot of fruit, mineral and spice that raw wine can be. It’s a Huxleyan blinder-free look into the vine’s machinery of sweetness production. Truth be told, humans weren’t meant to know about it; it was only ever intended for bees. Bottles consumed: 11. Most memorable: October 16 watching Peanut and Misha (a neighbor’s rescued boxer) wrestle and run around the yard for two hours. $17 Find this wine

18. Ivanhoe
Catch this beer fresh from a bottle and it reminds you why entire advanced civilizations formed around beer. Bone dry, ruby caramel colored, and flavored like apple pie with buttery wholemeal crust. Drink at solid room temperature with a sandwich that contains at least one layer of pickle slices. $4
 

19. 2002 Chambolle Musigny, Gerard Raphet
Sure, lots of 2002 red Burgundies still taste appealing, but will they last? Try this test: expose several bottles to high heat until the seal around the cork breaks and the wine begins to leak down the front label. Then wait a while and drink them. After such handling, wines lacking the core strength to age will, to varying degrees, tend to suck. One thing poor wines won’t do after such torture is emerge steadily, for two hours after opening, from a state of blurry mushroom tea flavored tannins and alcohol all the way to an arresting display of pure, intense sweet cinnamon infused raspberry droplets of spiced queen bee honey. $60 Find this wine

20. NV Champagne Brut, Blanc de Blancs, Larmandier-Bernier
The mousse in this Champagne is so authoritative and expansive you could drive a truck into it and start a colony of Champagne-bedazzled cultists. Your senses are free to move freely within the browned Alabama biscuit, lemon and apple flavors because there is no sticky sugar to interfere as you browse its detailed features. A solid rock of mineral extract makes the base notes astonishingly crisp. You may tell your Champagne geek friends that this is estate grown, organic, hand-harvested and wild yeast fermented. $45 Find this wine

21. 2003 Mâcon Montbellet, Domaine de Roally
So Chardonnay is the winemaker’s grape eh? Then why, after a change in winemaking that spans two families and three generations, does this “Chardonnay” still taste, like always, like no other wine? Neither bees nor beer can put this amount of the sun’s complex yellow love in your glass. $25 Find this wine

22. 2001 Langhe Rosso, Roagna (Nebbiolo)
This wine makes little sense in a massive mixed tasting. In such contexts the legendary 60-80 day maceration regime seems to provide only tannin. Yet once isolated it becomes clear there is an entire thick layer of sticky, chewy, cocoa and berry bean flavored texture, one I’ve never experienced in Nebbiolo before. Proof of this came two days later when it was opened as a mop-up selection after an examination of various Paolo Scavino products, including 2000 and 1997 Rocche del Annunciata. This was superior in every way that matters. $25 Find this wine

23. Cantillon Kriek
In the textbook of great original drinks, traditional dry Lambic deserves no less ink than Burgundy, Scotch, Sauternes, German Riesling, Mountain-grown Arabica Coffee, or the teas of China. Yet most people have never had one. That’s probably because 1) they are unusually dry and sour, and 2) there is no way to mass-produce them, cash in, and thereby drive elaborate promotional campaigns. When it comes to “beer,” the taste mainstream has settled about as far from this wild truffle of fermented grain art as possible. Cantillon, more than any other practitioner, sets the standard. Two bottles are enough for anyone to become oriented. Start with the Kriek and recall the last young August Clape Cornas or Chave Hermitage you drank. Then reverse. Serve at cellar temperature! $12

24. Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus
Just as #21 on this list caused one American to give up a journalism career to become a wine importer, so this item caused the Shelton brothers to give up lawyering and begin importing beer. Someone had to bring us this: an essential liquid document of sour, pulpy nature combined with expert brew craft! It defines the peak of agrarian civilization and this is the reigning definition of Framboise Lambic. Only whole ripe raspberries are used (a lot of them) and no sweetening is added. Be patient and enjoy the aroma. Wait until your mouth waters so much you can’t stop drooling, then pull a big drink of it in. Serve at cellar temperature! $14

25. Cantillon Iris
Things we love that are sour: lemons, Riesling, sourdough, limes, tamarind, sherry vinegar, Grüner Veltliner, green apples, kim chee, raspberries, Picpoul de Pinet, grapefruit, cherry tomatoes, cherries, new pickles, sauerkraut, mustard, Manzanilla, Blaterle, Gavi, Muscadet, Albariño, Vinho Verde, malt vinegar on fish and chips, pickled herring, miso, black bean sauce, fish sauce, salsa verde, seviche, ceasar salad, tabbouleh, and every freaking beer brewed at Brasserie Cantillon  – make the pilgrimage. Serve at cellar temperature! $16

26. Jolly Pumpkin Bam
From Dexter Michigan, outside of Ann Arbor. DISCLOSURE: one of the owners of my shop works with a guy who helped finance this amazing new brewery. This cozy little arrangement is making us all rich beyond our wildest dreams, selling tart, chalky-dry, wild cultured, barrel-aged beer to the masses. This is made in the so-called “farmhouse” tradition, which basically means at some point, after striving for the healthiest, natural, living beer possible, the brewer rolls the dice and lets odd little brettanomyces and souring cultures that live in used barrels have a turn. Bling! $2 (12 oz.)


27. 2005 Cheverny Rouge, Clos du Tue-Boeuf
To be a Cheverny a wine can be made from almost any grape varieties, as long as it’s a blend of exactly two. Otherwise it’s a Touraine. Got it? Me neither. This particular Cheverny is a blend of ~70% of the grape variety grown in Chiroubles (Gamay, possibly Gamay with black juice) with ~30% of the grape variety grown in Vosne Romanee (Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Fin). It is even softer and prettier than wine #3, possibly because it has less Pinot Noir in it. $17 Find this wine

28. 2004 Chinon, Le Clos Guillot, Bernard Baudry
Great Chinon whispers in the wood anyway, but Bernard’s takes you back to the days of less populated continents in the northern hemisphere when stone breezes glided through the pines, bearing a tempting scent of wild black currants and wood ears. The tannins are rocks washed clean in the running water. You alter before them. $25 Find this wine

29. (2005) VdT Rosé d’un Jour, Ferme de la Sansonniere
On the front label of his 2004 Anjou Blanc (#4) Marc Angeli lists ‘grapes’ and ‘40 mg/l sulfur’ as an ingredients. On this label he lists only grapes. Do the grape varieties Grolleau, Cabernet Franc and Gamay make a more stable wine than Chenin Blanc? Is that why he doesn’t add even a pinprick of sulfur? At 11.2% alcohol and the residual sugar of an Auslese, this murky pink biodynamic wine might qualify as a dessert. It is a buxom cocktail of strawberry, apricot, cherry and white grape flavors. $30 Find this wine

30. 2004 Coteaux du Loir, “Hommage à Louis Derré,” Domaine de Bellivière
Louis Derré was the last Jedi of Pineau d’Aunis before Eric Nicolas realized he wanted to work up to his elbows in it and show the world its mysteries, so Eric named this 100 year-old vine Pineau d’Aunis cuvée after him. If only more Burgundies revealed this much taught resin, fruit and spice character. $35 Find this wine

31. 2004 Chorey-les-Beaune, Catherine and Claude Marechal
In March and April it was a plump sweet baby, oozing with red berry syrup and Java spices. In August and September it was a colicky brat, offering ropy vegetal tantrums of tannin. In November it began to reveal its adult personality: sharp and muscular, with aristocratic sweet herbs replacing once raw leafiness and thereby yielding to a drier, more articulated array of red fruits. $30 Find this wine

32. 2005 Patrimonio Rouge, Grotte di Sole, Antoine Arena
Nielluccio is sometimes referred to as Sangiovese. This is thick, dark and chewy and embarrassingly sweet. Tarry fruit tannins force a rough balance with no help from oak flavor. Think of this like a port of Brunello. Undeniably mineral, though covered with sticky, black resin, iodine, seaweed, iron, sticky, dessicated French plums and oozing black figs. It has a decent amount of dissolved gas in it. If this annoys you, just shake the bottle before pouring. $35 Find this wine

33. (2004 Patrimonio) Blanc, Carco, Antoine Arena
For some reason Antoine Arena had to declassify his Carco Blanc in 2004. The only way we know it is a 2004 is the cheating little lot number on the bottom of the label: “L 2004.” Like the Grotte di Sole Blanc, this is 100% Vermentino (unless it isn't). The color is straw and clear with a shimmer of trapped gas. Aromas of salted roasted nuts give some indication of the extreme ripeness of the wine. 14% alcohol. Interior raw wood aromas, stone/mineral, plump, sweet fruit flavor in the vicinity of green bananas and mushy ripe pears. Throw in some preserved lemons and oranges, maybe a little mint. These are punctuated with fennel and sweet herb flavors. $37 Find this wine

34. Hansje Drinker, De Scheldebrouwerij
Brown-paper-bag-in-orange-sunlight-colored, thick with translucent blur. Aromas of caramelized bananas and ginger cake. Brothy. Distantly cooked pineapple and oatmeal cookie tussle amongst a range of sweet and savory spices: cumin, coriander, nutmeg. Indian curry and English buttery fruit cake. Dried cherries, raisins, poppy, marzipan. This is the smell of this beer. All of this is a picture of coherence and balance. Malty, caramel, wood resin and spice swing seamlessly between leafy branches of dripping sweet globes of heirloom sweet peaches and plums. Big nutty tannins seem to reveal almond paste and hazelnuts. All of this is dry. A vinous surge dominates the finish, wiry like Nebbiolo, sentimental like Gamay. Tannic. Transparent. $5 (330 ml)

35. 2004 Kaseler Nies'chen Riesling Kabinett, Karlsmühle
This Kabinett has the aromatic intensity of a stone-flavored Auslese. Camphor, lime and raw honey. The texture too is rich for a Kabinett. Acidity expands broadly and with energy, in perfect pace with the open, dramatic effusion of sweet apple, white peach and pear flavor. The slightest sensation of pineapple rind becomes evident as adjustments are made to the sheer intensity of so many layers. $23 Find this wine

36. 2002 Oberemmler Hütte Riesling Kabinett, von Hövel
From the extreme heights of the Saar, there is essentially no weight to this steeped stone elixir. Now, once raw shafts of green fruits and yellow acids are conspiring to form extravagant wilting trails of steamy lemon lime apple pie and honey aromas which caress the minerals in order to reveal their geometry. $18 Find this wine

37. Thiriez Xxtra
Gobrew had been touting this beer, and buying it up, so I decided to revisit it. MAN! How did I miss the dry, nutty, toasted biscuit malt flavor? And while it may be hoppy, suitable for the Hop Head tribe, it is a delicious, discriminated breed of hops. The stiff, hyperactive eggwhite topping completes the picture. What a great beer. Drink it with white-bean succotash (using Gruyere, Reggiano and Idiazabal) and pork chops. Holy crap this is delicious beer! Bottles consumed: 11. Most memorable: All of them in March. $10

38. Del Maguey San Louis del Rio
Aromas of fine, old, brown things (strange for a clear firewater): Solera brandy, carob paste, walnut shells. Huge cakes of vanilla, sticky angel food cake. Lots of steamy, tropical leafiness. Dry and laser-sharp on the palate. Good grip. $65

39. Zinnebir, Brouwerij Sint-Pieters
Deep yellow with a thick topping of white. Candy cane minty aromas play with a pungent pale malty malt wine perfume. Tropical fruits, cream, vanilla, butter, honey ... this is like a beer version of a Thevenet Macon or Weinbach Gewurz. The texture is cream fluff. Trying to isolate any instance of gaseous prickle is difficult, but it can be seen. Piles of sweet green apple flesh bind to anise and green herbs flavors. Big pear notes. Appetizing, leafy bitterness resists drawing attention to itself. Light pastry dough texture and flavors keep pale honey sweetness lifted and clean. Pure, wholesome and natural drinkability. This item defies Belgian beer stereotypes deliciously. What a find! $11

40. 2005 Patrimonio Blanc, Grotte di Sole, Antoine Arena
Grotte means "cave" and shares its etymology with the English word "grotto" as well as "crypt". This is a very thick-textured glass of white wine, round shaped. Apples, pears and green fig flavors seem lifted by sweet lime oils. Intense chalk flavors bind the fruit to ripe, nutty grapeseed bitterness and fresh acidity. No sign of wood flavor. Pale color. The grape variety is Vermentino. $35 Find this wine

41. 2002 Oslavje, Radikon
Oaked oil of yellow grapes, fresh with Sauvignon blossoms. $45 (500 ml) Find this wine

42. 2002 Jakot, Radikon
Oil of Friulano. This is really a yellow-colored red wine. $45 (500 ml) Find this wine

43. 2004 Cour-Cheverny, Francois Cazin
A line drawn from Vouvray to the Saar comes within 40 miles of the vineyards of Champagne and Chablis. It also passes through the heart of Cheverny. An accident of history made famous the grapes used to elaborate the first group of wines – Chenin, Riesling and Chardonnay – while leaving obscure that of latter: Romorantin. Yet the specific grape variety in these locations is important only insofar as it happened to adapt to the local cold climate, and this it did by clutching tenaciously to the rocks beneath the frost. If you are hip to minerality in wine, you should locate a good Romorantin. $17 Find this wine

44. 2005 Muscadet, Domaine Pepiere
Wine pundits still don’t use the word “drinkability” often enough. Prevailing critical wisdom requires table wine to taste profound and massive; these values are almost always at odds with drinkability. It’s as if describing a wine as drinkable would be to condemn it to the discount bin of watery industrial grape juice. One might even assume drinkability is the exclusive province of lager beer. Yet there is an insurgent movement in celebration of wines that yield no measure of mineral substance and intensity while remaining compulsively drinkable. More accepted buzzwords for these types of wine are “freshness” and “balanced.” Here you have the standard for profoundly refreshing, restorative drinkability. Please drink it at cellar temperature. $12 Find this wine

45. Tawny Porto, Quinta do Infantado (bottled in 1997)
Important: resist – filtered – port. Write it down. Filtration conceals flaws but it also kills character. Bottled in 1997, several cases of this unfiltered tawny were misplaced in a local warehouse for 8 years. Time gave it a satin-texture and elucidated spicy, fruity complexity of flavor. It is obviously and infinitely better than shipper-brand tawnies that sell for quadruple. Buy a fresh one and lay it down. (Unfortunately the bottling date is no longer included on the back label, so write the purchase date on it.) $16 Find this wine

46. 2004 Touraine Gamay, Clos Roche Blanche
Drinkable drinkability. There are tannins here too. Ripe shiny ones, black-colored and polished. After further probing more flavors are revealed: grape flavored fruit, grape seeds, supported by spring water, sweet elm leaves, river stones, licorice, poppies, cola bean … $14 Find this wine

47. 1999 Cornas, Cuvee “C”, Marcel Juge
1999’s tannins (in Burgundy and the northern Rhone) are still fresh but beginning to let through some sweet berry-colored light. $NA Find this wine

48. 1999 Chinon, Clos la Dioterie, Charles Joguet
Chew and concentrate and these tannins also become transparent allowing lots of detailed, sinewy red fruit and spice to show. From magnum, $50 Find this wine

49. La Choulette Blonde
When beer is used like wine, to wash down afternoons on the street side, linked to sustainable ancestral virtues of labor, it tastes like this: like soft wild fermented yellow wine, floral, with all the fruity sweetness of wild dough and none of the bulk. $8

50. La Choulette Amber
When the sun gets lower the beer darkens to capture the remaining light. Now begins the inventory of one day’s proceedings. Disengage, weigh, plan. Remain sober enough to dream. Hops are for breakfast. $8

51. La Choulette Sans Coulottes
Todd Abrams said it best: “I adore beers that look like fat brass coins under mountains of stark white pillows. What the funk, aromas of softening apples, jessamine and bong hits in winter poplar stands connecting your senses to raw materials like no stinky double IPA will ever be able to. Alternatively sweet and dry and earthy with a subtle lingering baked leaf finish inducing your lips and tongue to sup once more again please. I can only imagine how tasty this brew might be paired with some sliced pear and a salty triple cream.” $8

52. NV Champagne Brut, Rosé, René Geoffroy
Subtle, creamy and dry. And blush pink. $31 (375 ml) Find this wine

53. De Dolle Stout
Wacky hipster Belgian Imperial Stout with the prunes and chocolate we associate with the classic British style plus all the vigorous mousse and peppery yeast complexity you ever wanted from hipster Belgian brewers. $4 (330 ml)

54. 2001 Sonoma Coast Syrah, Edmunds St. John, Peay Vineyard
The debut vintage from a cleverly selected, cool vineyard. I believe I’ve never tasted another California Syrah this clean and uncluttered in proportion to its level of concentration. Sadly, people around here prefer their domestic Syrah with the standard ration of raisin, prune and fudge flavor, because this was a closeout. $25 Find this wine



55. Whiskey Willy’s Bloody Mary Mix
Trust Willy. He lives in Orange Beach Alabama and he makes an uncompromised tomato cocktail. All natural. $7
 

56. BLiS Organic Maple Syrup, Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Drizzle on grilled pheasant, shrimp-n-grits or fried green tomatoes. $16
 

57. Mondeuse Franck Peillot
Pure and purple, fruity like Beaujolais, stony and tannic like Syrah, no drink goes better with Lafayette Coney Island chili dogs. $18 Find this wine

58. 2002 Bandol Domaine Tempier La Tourtine
Impatience. Give me a vintage of this wine that is ready to drink at the age of 5 and mark it down. Black olives, lamb, wild herbs and plums: is that what it tastes like or is that what you should eat with it? $40 Find this wine

59. Birra del Vecchio
One single batch of this pilsner made it into the country in 2004. In 2006 it still tastes perfect. Three top 100 selections in a row. $2

60. 2005 Touraine Cabernet, Clos Roche Blanche
As if this wine wouldn’t be appealing enough in an ordinary year, mix it with a vintage like 2005 and you get sinfully dense purple organic wine a glass of which is impossible to put down. I’d like to see this in a liter bottle. $14 Find this wine

61. Gaudriole, Nathalie et Christian Chaussard
From the Domaine le Briseau in Jasnières comes this unfiltered sweet bubbly that tastes a little bit like home made apple pie. It pairs unbelievably well with squash. $17 Find this wine

62. 2005 Touraine, KO: In Côt We Trust
Slim, black haired flirt. $25 Find this wine

63. (2005) VdT Giroflees Belliviere
The time may come again when off-dry pink wines get the respect they deserve. This is the exploded, fleshy sweet interior of Pineau d’Aunis grown in the Loir valley, and it goes with Thanksgiving dinner far better than any other wine ever made. $23 Find this wine

64. 1989 Muscadet, Luneau-Papin
Take a great young Muscadet, clear and bracing, and add several transparent layers of buttery pistachio nougat flavor. $35 Find this wine

65. 2002 Muscadet, Clos du Poyet, Luneau-Papin
Age ripe, single vineyard Muscadet on its lees for 12 months. In the hands of another agent it might sound like a gimmick, but here it is one step in the inevitable international acceptance of Muscadet’s potential to cost more than it does. Fat, opulent texture held up by bracing minerality and acid. A bargain. $30 Find this wine

66. VdT La Pangée, Nana Vins et Cie (Nathalie and Christian Chaussard of the Domaine le Briseau in Jasnières)
Funky, murky, and irresistibly gulpable red wine. (Lyle Fass says it’s Pinot Noir and Gamay). All the power is diverted to the bouquet: mud, strawberry juice and cinnamon. On the palate it slides by pastorally and fresh. Strangely enough, this wine only truly makes sense while thinking about baseball. $17 Find this wine

67. 2005 Vouvray, Les Argiles, François Chidaine
Fat, oily Chenin Blanc with roiling, fresh, sweet, green fig, apple, pear, marmalade, and obvious clay flavor. $30 Find this wine

68. 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape Domaine Pegau
This wine changed a lot in 2006, from a polished sweet inky New World cousin in February -- barely recognizable as Pegau -- to a Pegau trumpet on Corduroy Day. $65 Find this wine
 
69. 2004 Lake Michigan Shore Pinot Noir, Wyncroft
Breezy, friable mineral perfumes whoosh through dots of spice, red berry preserves and incense. $40 Find this wine

70. 2001 Chianti Classico, Fontodi
Dense layers of spicy red fruit and spicy weathered wood, as light textured as its massive flavor will allow. $17 (375 ml) Find this wine

71. Bell’s Lager
Rumor has it that this is simply reissued “3rd Coast Beer.” Finally, a Bell’s product that is actually better from the new brewery! $2

72. 2003 Côtes du Rhône, Chateau de Tours Emmanuel Reynaud
I intend to watch this producer (as long as he keeps making $25 bottles – I got bills to pay!) On one occasion the tannins and acids controlled events. On another, the sweet oil of the earth inside bore fat, fleshy berry and spice flavors, as groovy to toss back as grape drink. Granted, that last encounter was served with particularly loose, braised lamb shoulder straight from the farm. $25 Find this wine

73. 1999 Roagna Barbaresco Paje
Young, sticky sweet black bonnets of nectar, licorice and coffee oil fruit. $55 Find this wine

74. 1999 Roagna Barolo Rocca e la Pira
Chiseled, tannic sculpture; black cakes of powdered fruits and spices. $55 Find this wine

75. 2004 Langhe Rosso, Perbacco, Cantine Vietti
While this does not have the tactile density of (the older) Roagna products on this list, it is still remarkable for its song-like purity of bright, juicy Nebbiolo berry flavor. Raw, declassified Barolo. $27 Find this wine

76. Kapuziner Hefe Weizen
Goldilock’s’ wheat beer isn’t too sweet or too tart. It’s just right: bone dry and abundantly scented of clove and banana. $2, 500ml

77. Miller High Life
Miller indulges us with this endangered species of beer, not flavored like soda pop. Put down the Pabst Blue Ribbon. (Do not confuse MHL with MGD. MHL in your area may differ.) $1, 12 oz.

78. 2004 Riesling Kabinett, Forster Ungeheuer, Eugen Müller
Broad and bright, maddeningly chipper for its size. Breezy. It makes you want to take it down a peg or two. Put it in its place. Sheesh, “Kabinett” – for drinking? With lunch? It’s just not right. $20 Find this wine

79. 2000 Cahors Clos Triguedina
Tannic purple Malbec grown on the slopes. Bottles consumed this year: 2. Most memorable: June 26 at the Wine Rats party in the stunning Royal Oak backyard of Darla Rowley. $20  Find this wine

80. Goliath
The world’s only all-malt tripel sneaks up on you with maddening drainable drinkability. $8

81. 2005 Roussette du Bugey, Domaine Franck Peillot, Altesse
Roussette and Altesse are synonymous but ordinary “Roussette du Bugey” may be filled with Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc hamburger helper. This is different: the rare, pure stuff, 100% Altesse, earthy from lees contact and subtly exotic with apricot, apple and fig fruit. $23 Find this wine

82. 2005 Beaujolais Rosé, Jean-Paul Brun, Brun d’Folie
Wild wine starter juice, light red, serve cellar temp., drink with taqueria tacos splattered with fresh salsa and cilantro. $14 Find this wine

83. 2004 Barbera d’Asti, Cascina ‘Tavijn
Razor sharp, dark 14% alcohol Barbera. Drink with porcetta rubbed with garlic, herbs and scorched sugar. $20 Find this wine

84. 2004 Dolcetto Monferrato, Bricco della Serra, Vittorio Bera
We’ve been mislead to believe Dolcetto can and should be either a beastly, tannic wine or a pale industrial dilution. Then what on earth is little dolce, “little sweet one,” supposed to mean? Now I know: it means drinkability. The first taste is pleasant enough. Then it seems to make sense to gulp it down. Sneaky little wine! $20 Find this wine

85. 2005 Riesling Spätlese, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Willi-Schaefer
More piercing mineral aromatics than the '05 Himmelreich Kabinett, like the slate has been roasted in the sun until it turned yellow, then cracked into a glass, sweetly painful. Cracked pepper, lemon peel, honey squeezed from a tart little apple, chipped pear meat. Clear, agile texture contained by towering barriers of black stone flavor. (AP: 25831540306) $35 Find this wine

86. 2004 Verdiccio di Casstelli di Jesi, Bucci
Like green apple-flavored Chassagne Montrachet, 2004 outclasses the 2005. $24 Find this wine

87. 2005 Riesling Kabinett, Graacher Himmelreich, Willi-Schaefer
Immense preserved lemon oil aromas with smoldering mineral fumes. Once adjusted to this I smell a candyland of sasafras, pistachio meats, flagstone, and warm apple leather after torrential summer rain. Volumes of texture obscure sugar, alcohol and acidity. The attack is creamy. Chewing releases shards of tangy yellow sun splinters which don't quite fade through a timeless finish. $22 Find this wine

88. 2004 Touraine Pètillant Naturel, Thierry Puzelat
Unfiltered, unsweetened white wine with a bit of fizz. Not only is this wine rapidly proceeding through adolescence, but no two bottles are the same. It's a moving target. Early it is aggressive flavors of wild fermented cider and peppery yeast. Later it is a lazy unfolding of nutty burgundian honey. $20 Find this wine

89. 2004 Coteaux du Loir, Le Rouge Gorge, Domaine de Bellivière
There is a degree of polish to this Pineau d’Aunis that makes it more accessible (to some, like my sister, and Charles’ family) than the same varietal from Tesnière. Exotic with mincemeat spice flavor, it serves perfectly with grilled lamb (avoid tomatoes). Find this wine

90. 2004 Scheurebe Gysler Halbtrocken
The ripeness window for Scheurebe was wide open in 2004; this has more acidity than typical ripe Scheurebe and it has riper fruit than typical Scheurebe that is sufficiently acidic. The effect is a mass of opulent grapefruit flavor that invites favorable comparisons to costly, tricked-up New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. $13 (1 L) Find this wine

91. 2002 Morey-St.-Denis Domaine Dujac
Voluptuous texture, subdued acidity, sweet berry pulp and wild mushroom flavors. $55
Find this wine

92. 2004 Coteaux du Loir, Vielles Vignes Eparses, Domaine de Bellivière
Flamboyant, piercing, persistent and round Chenin Blanc -- a trip around banana and lime patches in limestone goggles. Find this wine

93. 2004 Coteaux du Loir, L’Effraie, Domaine de Bellivière
There is a little wriggling weasel of acidity burrowing in the mineral and fruit flesh of this Chenin. It makes the drink vibrate, hum and infect you. Find this wine

94. 2001 Pinot Blanc Herrenweg, Charles Schleret
Roses and orange blossoms steeping in brandy with orange peel and nectarines. I had no idea that ripe Pinot Blanc could resemble my misconception of Gewurztraminer! $20 Find this wine

95. 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa Valley, Castle Rock
3000 cases were bottled of this California negotiant wine. It’s not that it’s layered with superlative velvet texture and aristocratic sugarplum perfumes; it isn’t, but unlike the norm for this important commercial category, it is concentrated, perfectly dry and perfectly ripe, like a relic from a bygone era of California Cab, Chuck Heston on Planet of the Apes, except honest and spontaneous. The tannins have something to say. $17 Find this wine

96. 2005 Anjou, Domaine Mosse, René’s Chard
Wait a minute. Chardonnay isn’t legal in Anjou! Put that bottle down. It’s evidence! $23 Find this wine

97. Parpas
I’m not sure why it is, but most grappa I taste seem a whole lot sweeter and easier than one would expect from a liquid distilled from wine muck. This, by contrast, delivers all the steamy spiced grapeseed resin and wilted brown stem oil that I was looking for. Not that it’s lacking fruit mind you: great grapey globes of fruit flavored of musky grapes. Dramatic and thrilling. $NA

98. 2005 Cidre Etienne Dupont
More balanced and less oily-sludge-textured than the 2003, which was excellent too. $10 Find this wine

99. Arran Blonde
Beers from Scotland are supposed to be alcoholic and taste like spiced molasses and raisins, yet this tastes like tall yellow grasses made into chewable biscuit tonic. $5



100. Tito’s Vodka
It’s about time someone made a good vodka and didn’t give a crap about the bottle design. $19

Previously in Putnam At-Large:

Tasting Denotes

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