| Best Reds |
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2001 Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala
Nebbiolo; Piedmont; | $99.99 | |
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" 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)
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2002 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux; | $299.99 | |
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"($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)
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2000 Chateau Leoville Barton Saint Julien
Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux; | $199.99 | |
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" 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)
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2000 Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron Pauillac
Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux; | $199.99 | |
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" 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)
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2003 Chateau Margaux Margaux
Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux; | $499.99 | |
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"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)
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2001 Gaja Barbaresco
Nebbiolo; Piedmont; | $159.99 | |
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"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)
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2004 Chateau Latour Pauillac
Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux; | $399.99 | |
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"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)
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| Best Whites |
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2004 Chateau Haut Brion Pessac-Leognan Blanc
Bordeaux Blend; Bordeaux; | $199.99 | |
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"(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)
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