What's your favorite wine?

I get asked this question a lot. My first, smart aleck response is "The one in my glass." This isn't really being fair to the person asking an honest question. The trouble is, I don't really have a favorite wine. This is much in the same vein that people's taste in TV shows, movies, bands, clothes, pizza joints, and cars changes over time. It is even moreso with wine, because wine is an ever-changing, dynamic world. The best that I can offer is that, at any given time I tend to be drawn to certain types of wines. I also have about 10 that would make my "Top 5". For example, right now I have been drinking a lot of riesling and rose. This is primarily because it is summer, and about the last thing I want when it's hot outside is a glass of luke-warm, high alcohol shiraz. As for my top wines in my life, a few stick out:

1995 Dom Perignon
We drank this on our wedding night, then finished the bottle the next morning over breakfast in mimosas.

1995 Cos D'Estournel
We drank this on our first, and now sixth anniversaries. If you have a case, let me know. I will buy it.

Condeza De Leganza Rose
I don't remember the vintage, but I sat on a patio in Spain, sipping this wine, overlooking the vineyards at sunset- one of the most beautiful wine-related scenes I have ever witnessed.

2001 Revana Cabernet
I drank this on my last night at Smith and Wollensky in Boston. I got screwed on the price, but it is still one of the best tasting cabernets I have ever put in my mouth.

2001 SA Prum Block 7 (I think) Trockenbeerenauslese-
At the time, this was the single most expensive wine from Germany- $975/half bottle, FOB (the price that wholesalers pay). Wow- it was like liquid gold. It also came after the most interesting presentation on German wine I have ever seen, by Raymond Prum.

I truly look forward to other wines entering the top 5. The amazing part is that, it rarely is the wine but rather the situation and the people that make it great. I could have just as easily talked about the 1977 Taylor Fladgate port we drank at the housewarming party when we first purchased a home, or the magnum of obscure rioja we drank at a laughter-filled dinner with our friends Brian and Ashley, or the $1000 bottle of burgundy I popped when my nephew was born, or (I can't believe I'm admitting this) the $3 bottle of Arbor Mist that my bride-to-be and I purchased from Conoco, and drank while deciding on a wedding date.

Like they said in Sideways "Sometimes, opening that 1961 Cheval Blanc IS the occasion!"

Cheers, and go make yourself a memory tonight!