Steve Tanzer's Best

Best Reds
	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)
	1999 Hardy's Shiraz Eileen Hardy South Australia Syrah/Shiraz; Other Australia;	$69.99
	" Full, dark red. Complex, musky, exotic nose combines violet, cassis, mint, spices and black pepper, with cedar and vanillin notes and a suggestion of meatiness. Plush on the palate, with intense, minty, slightly meaty cassis, plum and prune flavors harmoniously knit with creamy chocolatey oak and fine, firm tannins. Very natural and built to develop in bottle." -- 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)
	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)
	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
	NV Krug Grande Cuvee Brut Chardonnay; Champagne;	$129.99
	" 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)
	2001 Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling; Alsace;	$36.99
	" Uncompromising aromas of crystallized lemon peel and powdered stone. Tactile, dusty and quite dry; almost salty with extract. A compellingly pure expression of minerality, in need of several years of aging." -- Steve Tanzer (92 points)