Steve Tanzer's Best

Best Reds
	2003 Chateau Latour Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$699.99
	"Deep ruby-red. Knockout nose combines currant, raspberry, kirsch, graphite, minerals, cigar box, tar and musky prune. Huge, sweet and lush, with a truly three-dimensional texture. Like a mouthful of liquid minerals, but the fruit has near-confectionery sweetness. Finishes with exploding, inexorable length. The wine's extravagant mid-palate richness calls to mind a chocolate cake." -- Steve Tanzer (96 points)
	1998 Gaja Nebbiolo Sperss Langhe Nebbiolo; Piedmont;	$199.99
	" Saturated, deep ruby-red. Perfumed, multidimensional aromas of plum, currant, tar, smoke and camphor. Sweet on entry, then superconcentrated and rich in the middle palate, with great chewy depth and compelling inner-mouth aromas. Like the San Lorenzo, this resounds in the mouth and on the very long finish. The sappy sweetness carries through on the aftertaste, ending with a suggestion of marzipan." -- Steve Tanzer (95 points)
	2000 Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$199.99
	" Good full red-ruby. Complex nose combines plum, mocha, minerals, tobacco and burnished oak. A bit tight on entry, then expands and explodes toward the back, showing dense, insinuating flavors of black fruits and licorice. Chewy, sharply delineated Pichon-Baron with excellent underlying backbone and broad, palate-coating tannins. An outstanding vintage for this estate." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)
	2003 Chateau Margaux Margaux Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$499.99
	"Medium red-ruby. Coffee, mocha, exotic woodsmoke and brown spices on the nose. Fat, full and rich, with intriguing curry and cardamom notes. Opulent and voluptuous wine, with a huge middle palate. But surprisingly tight-grained in the mouth considering the evolution of the wine's aromas. Finishes extremely long, with sandy tannins." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)
	2004 Chateau Latour Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$399.99
	"Ruby-red. Highly complex aromas of dark berries, graphite, licorice, minerals and cola. Lush, dense and sweet, with a wonderfully creamy, opulent mouth feel for the vintage but no impression of excess weight. This boasts superb fruit and palate coverage. Finishes with very suave, spreading tannins and outstanding persistence. An aristocratic expression of ripe cabernet sauvignon." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)
	2001 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$599.99
	" Bright red-ruby. Sexy aromas of raspberry, cedar, coconut, minerals, lead pencil, chocolate and tobacco leaf. Juicy, lively and penetrating, with sharply delineated flavors of blackberry, raspberry and rose petal. Boasts the classic inner-mouth energy of this great first growth, but also grew increasingly silky with extended aeration. Finishes with tongue-coating tannins and superb lift." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)
	2003 Chateau Leoville Las Cases Saint Julien Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$199.99
	"Medium red-ruby. Explosive nose of currant, cedar and lead pencil; shows near-perfect integration of the new oak. Sweet and lush but bright and light on its feet, possessing plenty of harmonious acidity. This has a wonderfully fine-grained texture and really saturates the palate with flavor. The very suave tannins reach the front teeth. Impressively dense, large-scaled wine." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)
Best Whites
	2000 Domaine Jacques Prieur Montrachet Chardonnay; Burgundy;	$249.99
	" Bright but reticent aromas of iodine, clove and nutty oak. Fat, round and silky, with superb weight and volume. By far the richest and longest of this set of wines, with the most volume. Very suave and mouthfilling, but with plenty of underlying backbone and power. Very tightly wound but also very long on the aftertaste." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)