Steve Tanzer's Best

Best Reds
	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)
	2000 Chateau Leoville Barton Saint Julien Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$199.99
	" Full medium ruby. Knockout superripe nose combines black cherry, licorice and exotic spices. Compellingly sweet, lush and complete, with harmonious acids giving the wine lovely vinosity and extending the flavors. Finishes with lush, dusty tannins and superb persistence. A great vintage for Leoville-Barton." -- 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)
	2001 Aldo Conterno Barolo Colonnello Nebbiolo; Piedmont;	$89.99
	" Good full medium red. Highly nuanced nose of red berries, minerals, flowers, spices, underbrush and caramel. Then juicy and tight in the mouth, with very brisk, firm flavors of red berries and minerals. At once superripe and gripping. Perhaps a bit uncharacteristically structured and closed for this bottling, owing to its excellent acidity and tightly wound tannins." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)
	2001 Gaja Barbaresco Nebbiolo; Piedmont;	$189.99
	"Good deep red. Complex, ineffable nose combines red fruits, marzipan, tobacco and minerals. Pure, firm and sharply delineated; boasts superb richness of flavor without any undue weight. The wine's solid acid spine contributes to its impression of structure. Finishes gripping and very long." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)
	2001 Gaja Cabernet Sauvignon Darmagi Langhe Cabernet Sauvignon; Piedmont;	$169.99
	"Bright ruby-red. Warm, rich and inviting aromas of cassis, licorice, minerals, earth, graphite and smoky oak. Sweet, rich, broad and enveloping, with layered, building flavors of black fruits, violet, licorice, dark chocolate, tobacco and minerals. An exceptionally suave, varietally true cabernet from the Piedmont , with a seamless texture and compelling inner-mouth sweetness." -- 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)
	1999 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle Syrah/Shiraz; Rhone;	$149.99
	" Medium-deep red-ruby. Roasted, tarry red fruits, animal fur and chocolate on the nose; as vibrant and vinous as a barrel sample. Extremely lush and concentrated, and already highly aromatic in the mouth, with notes of red and black fruits, roasted nuts, spices, chocolate and tobacco. Beautifully integrated acidity. Finishes very long, with substantial, very fine tannins." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)