The top ten wines of the year, as tasted by critic Elin McCoy

In my quest for the world's most recommendable wines, I sampled more than 4,000 this year. My top ten most memorable bottles range from a great vintage of a Napa cult classic to a bargain from France's snowy alps to a new, rare Italian collectible.  All say something about what's hot in the wine world, and what's in store for 2015.

• 2012 Antica Terra Angelicall rosé ($75)

Made from pinot noir vines planted on a rocky prehistoric seabed in Oregon's Willamette Valley, this unusual rosé — named for alchemy's invisible Angelicall stone — is one of the most intriguing pink wines I've ever tasted. Over dinner in the Dundee Hills with talented winemaker Maggie Harrison, I savored its exotic mineral and spice character and perfumed aromas, the result of macerating the juice longer on the skins. The rosé craze is still with us, so expect more expensive experiments.

• 2001 Harlan Estate ($900 to $1,300)

When you're invited to the first-ever tasting of 26 vintages of Napa's Harlan Estate at the winery, you don't say no. Founder Bill Harlan's ambition has always been to create an American cabernet-based red that's the equivalent of Bordeaux's famous first growths. This dark, powerful stunner, my top wine of the tasting, comes pretty close. Its lush, sensual texture is a Harlan trademark.

• 2000 Littorai  B. A. Thieriot Vineyard Pinot Noir (Auction)

Ted Lemon, owner/winemaker at Sonoma's Littorai winery is one of the leaders in California's quest for pinot perfection. This 14-year-old red, from a single vineyard on the Sonoma Coast, has a wonderfully expansive bouquet and tastes of cherries and bright red fruit. The 2000 was my favorite at a retrospective of his wines performed at Manhattan's Per Se restaurant; it shows how well Littorai's pinots age. While this vintage is impossible to find, the superb 2011 and 2012 can be had for $75 to $150.

• 2007 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair La Romanee ($1,800 to $2,800)

One of Burgundy's new stars, Vicomte Louis-Michel Liger- Belair started reviving his family's domaine in 2000. La Romanee, his great grand cru vineyard, is just uphill from Romanee-Conti and the wine is already attracting attention at auction. I sampled the sumptuous, seductively spicy, ready to drink 2007 with him at his home in Vosne-Romanee, under the eyes of mounted antelope heads and ancestor portraits.

• 2010 Chateau La Fleur-Petrus ($275)

I've always been a huge fan of this wine from Bordeaux's tiny appellation of Pomerol, whose vineyards border the much more famous and expensive Petrus. So I grabbed the chance to compare six recent top vintages with Edouard Moueix, whose family owns the estate. The 2010 was the standout for me. Sophisticated, elegant and filled with voluptuous spicy fruit, it's one more reason to rediscover Bordeaux.  

• 1999 Avignonesi Vin Santo di Montepulciano ($200, ½ bottle)

Thick yet silky, this neglected traditional Italian sweet wine is a complex mélange of flavors: candied orange peel, figs, dark chocolate, dried plums and nuts. I found it on a fall visit to Montepulciano, in Tuscany. This 1999 was perfect with salted caramels at the end of a long lunch at the winery's restaurant with Avignonesi owner Virginie Saverys. Made from white trebbiano and malvasia grapes that are dried on straw mats for months, it's fermented and aged in very small barrels for a decade before bottling.  

• 2009 Matarocchio Tenuta Guado al Tasso Antinori ($275 - $350)

This 100 percent cabernet franc from Piero Antinori's Guido al Tasso estate in Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast delivered major taste thrills as well as the excitement of discovery. Its rarity — only 250 to 500 cases in top vintages — and recent interest in “the other cabernet” guarantee Matarocchio will become a sought-after Italian collectible. So far there are just three vintages — 2007, 2009, and 2011. The 2009, which I sipped at a Zachys pre-auction tasting, is graceful, silky and sleekly elegant.

• 1981 CVNE Vina Real Gran Reserva ($275 - $400)

Historic Rioja bodega CVNE has been releasing older vintages of its gran reservas, stored in the winery's “cemetery,” since 2010. The concentrated, savory 1981 Vina Real is one of nine old vintages I tasted with fifth generation owner and winemaker Victor Urrutia at New York's Alto restaurant. Its wonderfully soft texture and leathery, spicy aromas underscored how undervalued old Spanish wines are.

• 2012 Domaine Belluard  Les Alpes ($25)

My hands-down bargain of the year is this white from an alpine vineyard near Chamonix, in the Haute-Savoie region of France, which a collector brought to a BYOB dinner during Oregon's International Pinot Noir Celebration. I'd never heard of the rare gringet grape from which it's made — and was immediately smitten with its lively, pure, fresh taste. It made me think of melting snow on rocks, a kind of alpine version of flinty Chablis — and served as a reminder that unfamiliar regions and grapes are the best source of top values.

• 1863 Taylor Single Harvest Very Old Tawny ($3,700)

Spice cake, ginger, vanilla and butterscotch — the heady, dense flavors of this time-defying 151-year rare tawny port from one of the Douro Valley's great vintages unrolled on my tongue like some luxurious elixir. Tawnies, unlike vintage port, spend decades mellowing in wooden casks before bottling and Taylor, one of the best port houses, started the fashion for very old ones. No wonder demand for less expensive examples is growing by double digits.