pop & pour

This is the 92nd post that I’ve made on Pop & Pour.  Being the milestone-sensitive person that I am, I’m already looking ahead to the triple digits and wondering how best to mark the momentous occasion of PnP’s 100th post, which should be coming up in a couple weeks or so.  The obvious answer to this question is “with wine”, but which one?  I’ve been drinking a lot of $20ish value wines recently, but when it comes to the 1-0-0, I’m reaching for the big guns.  I have some options in mind, but need your help to choose a winner — cue the poll!  Blurbs of the potential candidates to follow below.

Here’s what you’re voting for:

1. 2004 Alion:  Possibly the most famous and well-regarded producer in Spain is Vega Sicilia in Ribera del Duero.  It focuses primarily on one wine, Unico, which is ludicrously expensive, can be aged for decades at the winery before release and is a historically great bottle.  Needless to say, I can’t afford it.  But in 1991 Vega Sicilia started Bodegas Alion, which makes the Alion wines from grapes either in or right beside Vega Sicilia’s vineyards.  Basically, Alion is the closest I’m going to get to Unico for a long, long time.  One of Spain’s classics.
   
2. 2007 K Vintners Morrison Lane Syrah:  K Syrah…get it?  (That is actually how this winery was named.)  From Charles Smith, the same guy who makes Kung Fu Girl Riesling, the K Vintners brand focuses exclusively on high-end Syrah from Washington State, otherwise known as my recent man-crush varietal and region.  I had another K Syrah a couple weekends ago (the K Millbrandt Syrah) and it was huge, intense and fruity; this one is slightly higher up on the price/quality scale so I expect that it will be a little more layered and complex but still totally bombastic.
   
3. 2006 Gaja Brunello:  The proper name of the producer is Pieve Santa Restituta, but this Tuscan winery is primarily interesting because it is owned by the legendary Angelo Gaja, the iconic winemaker who helped put Piedmont, and especially Barbaresco, on the pedestal where sits today.  Gaja’s focus is almost exclusively on northwest Italy, but he bought this winery in Brunello di Montalcino in the central part of the country a few years ago and has begun to put his stamp on its production line.  I got this wine for my first ever Father’s Day this past June, so it has both personal and professional (OK, amateur) significance for me.
   
4. 2008 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon:  Caymus is one of the best-known producers of textbook Napa Valley Cabernet, and this bottle of Cab in particular is interesting because I got it (1) at the winery itself and (2) before the ’08 vintage of Caymus Cab was actually released to market!  We went there for a tasting, and they were sold out of their ’07 Cabs, so they were pulling the ’08s out of their storage cellars so that people had something to buy.  I don’t have many bottles purchased directly from producers, and I’ve already tried this wine on site, so I know it’s good.