The Wine of the Century

Wine Spectator began unveiling their "Top 100" list this week. While the list is not yet completed there have been several French wines chosen for the Top 10 placement and the French wines that have been chosen have all been, at this point, from the 2005 vintage. Perhaps many of you have heard some of the accolades regarding the 2005 vintage in France, but do you know why?

Very early on in the vinification process reports began to surface that the 2005 vintage was going to be "the vintage" of the century and perhaps "the vintage" of modern vintages. The reason was of course the weather in France during 2005. Many of the wine regions in France undertook harvest at what was universally considered "prefect conditions". The weather of course cooperated during the crucial growing period during which French winemakers enjoyed steady warm, not hot, conditions and right before harvest the weather cooled slightly during the evenings allowing the grapes to become more balanced in sugar, acid and water content.

Of course as reports began to surface regarding the perfection of the vintage, prices of highly sought after wines, soared to levels never before seen. While the prices of these wines reached astronomical levels effectively shutting out those of us who would love to sample these wines, all hope is not lost.

Because of the perfect conditions in 2005 it is extremely difficult to find "bad" bottles of French wines from 2005. This is a great vintage to explore if you are unfamiliar or unsure about French wines particularly Bordeaux and Burgundy. With a little help and guidance in your wine selections you could end up with an incredible bottle of wine that cost you very little money and in some cases much less expensive than a comparable California wine.

So the question is, what are you afraid of?