About this Wine: Nicolás Catena Zapata is made from a meticulous vine selection in the best lots of the Catena family's estate vineyards. These Zapata vines are carefully hand tended and...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Bright purple. Brooding, mineral-driven aromas of blackcurrant, mulberry, cola and crushed rock, with a liqueur-like nuance. Supple, lush and sweet but with zesty acidity and ...

Wine Spectator: Perhaps the greatest Beaucastel ever produced. Has the class and structure of a great vintage of Mouton-Rothschild. Deep, inky in color, with intense herb, plum, game and spic...

Wine Spectator: Clean and fresh, bursting with fruit and spices. Full-bodied, it delivers some game, truffle, vanilla notes. It's distinctive and ought to reveal wonderful terroir with age, b...

Wine Spectator: Scented with black cherry and plum, this international-style red shows plenty of smoky, toasty oak on the palate. It's rich, with sweet fruit, ample power and complexity, but ...

Wine Spectator: A blast of sweet cherry and plum marks this ripe, round Barolo, which displays a firm structure, evidenced by the wall of tannins on the finish. A bit heavy-handed now, yet lo...

About this Wine: This cuvee is called Combe des Fous (Hill of Fools).  This cuvee is from a specific parcel on Crau that long ago was considered too difficult to work, but the Maurels' gr...

Wine Spectator: Very pretty, almost delicate, of medium body and medium concentration. The soft and supple tannins are sleek and easy to appreciate. It'll be hard to resist enjoying it on rel...

Wine Spectator: Loads of honey, maple syrup, dried apricot and spice. Full-bodied, medium-sweet, with a refined, spicy character. Pretty wine. Masses of botrytis. This is refined and long, a ...

Wine Spectator: Firm, slightly dusty-edged plum and cassis fruit here, with a good sappy feel on the finish. Underlying tarry edge. Solid, if a bit reticent today.-J.M.

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Good deep ruby-red. Complex aromas of currant, licorice, graphite, bitter chocolate, smoked meat, tobacco and brown spices. Began juicy, penetrating and quite youthfully unevo...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Very deep red. Black cherry, licorice and a hint of peppermint on the nose, lifted by a violet topnote. Juicy acidity gives a penetrating quality to the flavors of dark frui...

Wine Spectator: This is so creamy, almost milky in feel, with toasted coconut and cashew notes giving way to sweet peach, apricot and glazed pear flavors that glide along, while ginger, green...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Saturated deep red. Knockout nose combines sappy red berries, medicinal black cherry, clove spice and a strong floral perfume. Great sweetness on entry, then lively and firm, ...

About this Wine: "This fine, top drawer, Rothschild owned estate has produced a blockbuster '89 with an intensly perfumed nose, luxuriously rich palate and the ability to age for decades. A wi...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Bright ruby-red. Sexy aromas and flavors of black raspberry, dark chocolate and licorice. Supple, sweet and concentrated, but with a solid spine of suave tannins giving shap...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Bright, deep red. Highly perfumed aromas of raspberry, cocoa powder, mint and cumin. At once sweet and sharply delineated, with a distinctly high pitch and a light touch to ...

About this Wine: "The 2001 Rudd Oakville Estate is the second vintage from the newly replanted vineyard at the corner of Oakville Crossroad and Silverado Trail. The vineyard is planted in rock...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Palish yellow. Musky peach and clove oil on the nose. Creamy, rich and stuffed with stone fruit and spice flavors. In a very ripe, Meursault-like style but with enough lemo...

About this Wine: Its firm, well-rounded tannins offer a smoothness ever present over the years. Being highly concentrated, it can be left to age  for many years...