Steve Tanzer's Best

Best Reds
	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)
	2003 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$699.99
	" Bright ruby-red. Blueberry, licorice, fresh herbs, flowers and a whiff of coconut on the rather medicinal nose. Sweet, dense and pure, with superb inner-mouth energy, especially for a wine so ripe. But this is also wonderfully round and atypically lush, without any rough edges. Expressive flavors of redcurrant, minerals and tobacco. Broadens out impressively toward the back and finishes with an explosion of fruits and dark chocolate." -- 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)
	2000 Antinori Bolgheri Guado al Tasso Tenuta Belvedere Sangiovese; Tuscany;	$89.99
	" Very dark blackish-ruby. Opens with sultry, high-toned aromas of blackberry, sandalwood and clove. Then followed by powerful, sweet flavors of plum confiture, crushed cherry and roasted coffee bean, all nicely delineated. Full and rich, with enough acidity to ensure freshness. A distinct mineral edge is apparent on the lingering finish. (Remy Amerique, New York, NY)" -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)
	2002 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$499.99
	"($130-$175) Bright, dark ruby-red. Subdued but pure aromas of currant, plum, minerals, graphite, and sexy, coconutty oak; showed a floral note with aeration. Extremely suave, fine-grained and concentrated, with a strong spine of acidity. Finishes firmly tannic, subtle and very long. This should develop slowly." -- Steve Tanzer (92 points)
Best Whites
	1995 Moet et Chandon Dom Perignon Rose Champagne Blend; Champagne;	$329.99
	" Pale watermelon-orange color. Nose dominated by red berry notes of strawberry and raspberry, with hints of earth and minerals; seemed to go into a shell in the glass. Penetrating-verging-on-painful if not yet as complex as some past vintages of this wine, with delicate red berry flavors framed and intensified by the brisk acids of the vintage. Utterly primary, precise rose, with a very long, stony finish." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)