Mike’s Take on 2009

Some were happy to see the ball drop on 2009.  For the new guy at the Wine Bottega, it wasn’t an easy one to see pass.  From the ongoing excitement of my recent engagement, to the new family I’ve acquired since working at this store, it’s been a very, very good year.  I can only hope that karma will be kind in 2010.  I was fortunate to have jumped into the Bottega at a particularly exciting time in its history, not two weeks before the Best of Boston announcement was made.  (The pressure is on me if we lose this year.)  Here’s my list of ten favorite wine people of 2009, in no particular order:  Matt and Jackie Carroll, Dennis Quinn, Kerri Platt, Matteo Mollo, Jeff Slavin, Theresa Paopao, Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia, Giuseppe Vajra, Sadat X.  Now, onto the wines:

A Whirlwind of Wine - Kerri’s Top Picks for 2009

Wow, what a year!  First of all, thanks to all of you who have participated in this crazy journey, I can’t believe how many amazing people I have had the pleasure of meeting this year.  It’s hard to believe all we achieved in 2009: epic Abbondanzas, fantastic renovations, winning Best of Boston, discovering new producers, and I know we could not have done it without all the encouragement, support, pestering, provocation and inspiration from all of you in Boston and (amazingly!) from around the globe.  I am incredibly excited to launch our new projects for 2010, but I also wanted to look back on the year “through the glass” and pick some of my favorite discoveries.  Here you go…

Matteo’s Reflections from the Glass 2009

For me 2009 was a big year of great wine tasting, drinking and celebrating with friends and family. I felt that I cemented some loose ends in my wine knowledge while at the same time discovered that I (and most everyone) was merely at the beginning of a great journey through the wine world. I shared many a great, and some not so great, glass of vino, whether it was here in the Bottega, out at a local restaurant, at our wedding dinner in Italy or simply, and most often, at home around the table with a couple friends and a nice meal. Picking the “Top Five” wines of the year is a difficult and in some ways unrealistic task, so I simply looked back at the first five wines that brought a smile to my face when I thought back about them. Here’s the list:

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Loire Valley Abbondanza

The Loire is distinguished among all other French wine regions for its dizzying        diversity of wines. This can be attributed to the sheer size of the region, and the nearly two millenia of documented wine production history. Not to mention the countless changing cultural and political forces over history, whose conflict and confluence it would be impossible to explicate within the boundaries of this introduction.                      Read on for more and for tonight’s lineup…

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Best of Boston!

Wow, we are so excited and thrilled by this honor.  Thank you to all of you for your support and patronage on our crazy journey!  We promise even better things to come…  Here is the official write-up: “Considering all the foot traffic on Hanover St., new owner Kerri Platt could be making a dandy profit selling straw-wrapped Chianti and chardonnay butter bombs.  Nothing doing: Her discerning palate has transformed The Wine Bottega into a jewelry box of hidden gems and more familiar varietals that do well by our wallet - and in the process has stolen the spotlight from perennial favorite Bauer Wines.”

Degustation without Representation!

Today is your final tax-free wine shopping day.  The new Massachusetts tax on alcohol goes into effect on August 1st.  Given our location along the Freedom Trail, we are throwing a Degustation without Taxation party tonight.  Who knows, perhaps the night will end with us tossing wine bottles into the harbor! Take advantage of the tasting night discount and to stock up!
This is the night to splurge on the special bottle you have been thinking about or grab a few cases of your every day favorite.  Here’s the lineup…