| Best Reds |
|
 |
2001 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley
Cabernet Sauvignon; Napa; | $99.99 | |
 |
" Deep ruby. Reticent but highly nuanced nose hints at black raspberry, cassis, smoke, espresso and minerals. Very complex, rich and sharply focused, with captivating flavors of cassis, bitter chocolate, menthol, tobacco and earth. Rather backward wine, yet suave and seamless; this is balanced from the start but has the structure to develop in bottle for 15 to 20 years." -- 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)
|
 |
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 |
|
 |
2004 Chateau Haut Brion Pessac-Leognan Blanc
Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux; | $199.99 | |
|
"(51% sauvignon blanc and 49% semillon) Pale color with a faint green tinge. Deep, brooding aromas of pit fruits, ginger, and beeswax. Huge, silky and voluptuous yet at the same time lively and delineated, with a penetrating exotic spice character. This boasts extraordinary depth of fruit, density of texture and persistence on the aftertaste. While this shows more obvious sauvignon blanc character than Laville Haut-Brion, the gras from the semillon is also quite spectacular." -- Steve Tanzer (94 points)
|
