Ruminations on the Hundred

The Year's end always means that new 100s have been issued - by magazines, newspapers and all sorts of other media. The Top100 wines of the year that is.

Some comments on those lists are below the image of the Wine Spectator magazine further down or fee free to come to our tasting this Saturday in which we'll feature six wines included from two lists (see to the right for which ones).

Meanwhile pardon a digression as, the end of 2013 also saw the introduction ofa new One Hundred dollar bill which I like - well except for the slightly Monopoly money like "100" on the back.

I hadn't seen images of the upcoming bill, so when I saw the first one in our register during November my first thought was "*!%#@", who took that?! Then I realized what I was looking at and rather enjoyed it.

I only wish I had more of them to enjoy!

After all, whats not to like about a Quill Pen and Inkwell adorning our currency in an age of Bitcoin and Amazon Prime (which evidently uses no currency but just magically wisks net worth away from customer's accounts into its own).

Ahh, old school with new tech - evidently that is what the Treasury was going for in this design and if it means less counterfeiting we're glad. It is never nice to have the bank confiscate your $100, saying that is is fake and leaving you with nothing to do but cry :-(

Thank goodness that's only happened once although we recently got our first fake twenty and those could make like difficult.

Anyway, feel free to share your thoughts on the subject, and Hundred Dollar bills with us your next time in.

Regarding a different form of 100, I'll just mention that I'm always curious about which wines the major publications decide to include in their year end lists.

Although I've read the criteria for inclusion, I do believe that an unpublished criterion is that the price of the Top10 featured needs to average the amount of the bill pictured above. Ouch!

Each year the list contains many wines that we have tried and put sometimes put on our floor. I think the most I've sampled of any Wine Spectator Top100 list was 24 a couple of years ago, of which we bought 16. Why not the rest? If memory serves, and it increasingly doesn't, it was mainly a matter of price and not needing a few others due to comparable wines in the shop.

I do, however, distinctly recall wondering how one of the wines I recognized had made the list at all given its price and, in my mind, mediocrity. Thankfully that isn't usually the case as the wines featured are generally of good quality.

So, although we don't really pick/sell wines on points or lists (perhaps we would be more successful if we did?) they can be good starting points for a conversation or search for a type of wine. If nothing else the lists may lead you to new things that you otherwise wouldn't have experienced and that is a true value right there.

Last year I had fun drinking Wine Spectator's #1 wine of 2012 at my brother in law's house during May and very much enjoyed it. That was the 2008 Shafer Relentless Syrah.

Why it was #1 I couldn't really tell you but I've liked prior vintages very much and boy it was good! Sure wish I it didn't cost $65 but then again that is below the average of the top ten and I didn't pay anything, heh, heh.

Just as importantly, it confirmed to me how much how much I enjoy a variety of Syrahs. That, along with the fact that you are a receptive and interested audience and buyers of wine, may explain why we always have many on hand even though it is supposedly a "hard grape to sell". You didn't need a list to get you to try Syrah but maybe it led you to find a new one.

OK, 'nuf is 'nuf, enjoy your top wines and ask us if we have any to recommend your next time in.

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