Steve Tanzer's Best

Best Reds
	2001 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon; Napa;	$89.99
	" 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 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)
	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)
	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)
	2003 Chateau Haut Brion Pessac-Leognan Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux;	$399.99
	"Good deep ruby-red. Knockout nose of redcurrant, raspberry, tobacco, hot stones, minerals and menthol. Wonderfully dense and suave, with a texture like liquid silk. Extravagant, lush Haut-Brion, finishing with improbably smooth, fine-grained tannins and great persistence." -- 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 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Ornellaia Bordeaux Blend; Tuscany;	$149.99
	". Full red-ruby. Very ripe nose offers roasted meat, smoke, tobacco, underbrush and mint. Superripe, silky and lush, with a slightly roasted fruit character. Not a hugely complex or deep vintage for Ornellaia, and likely to evolve relatively quickly, but the wine's uncommonly lush, velvety texture is more than worth the price of admission. Strong cherry fruit emerged with aeration." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)
Best Whites
	NV Krug Grande Cuvee Brut Chardonnay; Champagne;	$199.99
	" Explosive but fine mousse Complex, yeasty aromas of lemon, honeysuckle, wet stone, toffee, hazelnut and caramel. Subtle and creamy on entry, then dense, powerful and youthfully brisk, with flavors of minerals, nutmeg and mace framed by strong lemony acidity. Solid, vibrant, dry and rather backward. Not quite as large-scaled or harmonious as last year's release and a bit more youthfully unevolved." -- Steve Tanzer (93 points)