Wine Spectator magazine released their annual Top 100 Wines of the Year this November 2010. A surprising #1 this year is from a young man in Paso Robles, California, Mr. Justin Smith. Justin Smith owns and operates Saxum Vineyards, an up and coming vineyard specializing in Rhone Valley varietals like grenache, mourvedre, and syrah. His grenache, mourvedre, and syrah blend of 2007 from his John Berry vineyard took top honors this year in the top 100 garnering a stout 98 point score per Wine Spectator.
I personally like to keep track of whom in the wine world is consistently producing good wine, so therefore I put a lot of stock in Wine Spectators and Wine Enthusiasts Magazine's Top 100 list every year. In a weird twist this year, it seemed that Wine Spectator's list was filled heavily at the top with many "mailing list" wines. "Mailing List" wines are usually boutique wineries, that are independently owned, and produce very small quantities of high quality wine. "Mailing List" wines are solely exclusive to those people who are on their personal mailing lists. It is, for the most part, not difficult to get on these list, one can just go to the wineries website and sign up. For those wineries with a lot of credibility and a huge following might have a very long waiting list of people who want to join. The waiting list period varies on the winery, but the winery will notify you whenever you finally have made their list. Wineries like Bedrock Wine Co. are taking members now and they had a wine in the #37 spot on Wine Spectators Top 100 (I joined recently). One of the most famous mailing list wineries, Sea Smoke Cellars, may have a waiting list that takes 2-5 years to join (Personally been on it for 1 and a half years now).
Currently I have mailing list memberships to Sojourn Cellars (my favorite) in Sonoma, Gramercy Cellars in Washington, Shea Wine Cellars in Oregon, Bedrock Wine Co. in Sonoma, and Saxum Vineyards in Paso Robles.
Yes, I have been on the mailing list for Saxum Vineyards now for almost 2 years. But unfortunately I did not have the insight to purchase this year's #1 Wine of the Year. That's why I am a little pissed that I missed the boat on this wine. It is no longer available for purchase, because I didn't pull the trigger when it was offered. Oh well, you win some you lose some. But f***! What a mistake.
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