Steve Tanzer's Best

Best Reds
	2000 Chateau Haut Brion Pessac-Leognan Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$499.99
	" Full red-ruby. Roasted plum, currant, tobacco and minerals on the nose. Compellingly dense and thick but almost miraculously lively and light on its feet. Has a texture like liquid velvet, coating the entire palate. Wonderfully unmanipulated wine, with perfectly integrated acids giving it superb subtle vinosity and thrust. Finishes with outstanding building persistence, with the substantial tannins perfectly supported by the wine's fat middle." -- Steve Tanzer (96 points)
	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)
	2001 Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala Nebbiolo; Piedmont;	$89.99
	" Medium red. Quintessential Barolo perfume: minerals, tobacco, underbrush, tar, licorice, gunflint. Then wonderfully rich and seamless in the mouth, with superb concentration and purity of flavor. Spicy red fruits emerged with aeration. Comes across, atypically, as less clenched in the early going than the Colonnello and strikingly complex from the outset, but this is nonetheless extremely young." -- Steve Tanzer (95 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)
	2001 Antonio Caggiano Macchia dei Goti Taurasi other red varietal; Other Italy;	$39.99
	"($48) Deep, luminous ruby-red. Intense and persistent aromas of grilled bacon fat, chocolate-covered dried cherries, mint and smoke, with a touch of spicy graphite. Profoundly rich, spicy and dense, with flavors of raspberry jam, red cherry liqueur, black pepper and grilled steak. With its pleasantly chewy extract and silky tannins, this would appear to have great aging potential." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)
	2002 Bodegas Alto Moncayo Aquilon Campo de Borja Grenache; Other Spain;	$139.99
	" Saturated medium ruby. Roasted blackberry, grilled nuts, minerals and smoky oak on the explosive nose. Thick, dense and creamy, with supersweet, liqueur-like flavors of dark berries and maraschino cherry lifted by a mineral component. Lush and mouthfilling but also sappy and vibrant. Finishes with extremely fine, powdery tannins and superb, slow-building persistence." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)
	1998 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$499.99
	"Saturated bright ruby. Noble aromas of blackcurrant, cedar, lead pencil, licorice and nutty oak. Very intensely flavored and penetrating, with great class and grip. Impressively concentrated and juicy, but still rather imploded in the middle palate. This showed terrific subtle sweetness as it opened in the glass. Offers quintessential Lafite elegance as well as the strong backbone to support long aging." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)
	2002 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$299.99
	"($130-$180) Good saturated ruby-red. Tight nose hints at currant and smoky oak. Highly concentrated, densely packed and built to age. As young as it is, it also shows a lovely velvety texture rare for this vintage. Finishes with terrific breadth, subtle minerality and noble tannins. I've been a fan of this wine since the outset." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)