Attributes:

Chateau de Beaucastel

Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France

Rhone Blend - Red

750 ML

2001: Tanzer Rating: 95(+?)

complex

elegant

black cherry, black fruit, blackberry, leather, licorice, meat, mineral

2000: Tanzer Rating: 95-98

bright

deep, suave

cherry, game, licorice, minerals, raspberry

concentrated, sweet

2000: Tanzer Rating: 95-98

bright, lively

light

deep

bitter, blackberry, chocolate, chocolatey, currant, dark fruit, espresso, eucalyptus, licorice, maple, pepper, spices, truffle, violet

concentrated, juicy

1999: Tanzer Rating: 96(+?)

fat

game, leather, licorice, nuts, raspberry, spices, tar

1999: Tanzer Rating: 93-96

bright

deep

blackberry, leather, tar, violet

ripe

dense

1999: Tastings Rating: 89

fresh

full-bodied

1998: Tanzer Rating: 97(+?)

bright

solid

great precision of flavor, powerful

blackberry, espresso, game, kirsch, pepper

huge, ripe, sweet

1998: Tanzer Rating: 97(+?)

bright

berry, cherry, roasted meat

Food Matches:

(shah toe nuf doo pahp)—Situated on the sun-baked southern reaches of the Rhone Valley, this appellation grows a great number of grape varieties, but is best known for its full-bodied dry reds. As many as thirteen different kinds of grape can end up in one bottle, although most vintners use only three or four, especially Syrah, Mourvédre, and Grenache.

Attributes:

Chateau l'Argenteyre

Bordeaux, France

Bordeaux - Red

750 ML

Food Matches:

A region in western France that grows famous red wines from the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc grapes and white wines from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle grapes. Situated on the Atlantic coast, Bordeaux has a maritime climate with warm summers and fairly mild winters as well as an abundance of rain during harvest time. When young, the finest red Bordeaux wines have a deep cranberry hue and aromas of blackcurrants, plums, spice, cedar, and cassis. For the first ten years or so these wines can be very dry, with tannin masking the fruity flavors. Eventually the wines turn garnet, and develops an extraordinarily complex bouquet and flavor as well as softer tannins. The finest red Bordeaux wines still take 20 years or so before reaching their maturity. Two distinct red wine production zones exist within the Bordeaux region; the Left Bank and the Right Bank. The Left Bank vineyards are located west of the Garonne River and the Gironde Estuary, into which the Garonne empties. The Right Bank vineyards are east and north of the Dordogne River and east of the Grionde Estuary. Of the various wine districts on the Left and Right Banks, four are the most important for red wines: Haut-Médoc; Pessac-Leognan, St-Emilion, and Pomerol. For white wines, the most important are Graves and Pessac-Leognan.

Attributes:

Alexandre de Malet Roquefort

Saint Emilion, France

Bordeaux - Red

750 ML

Food Matches:

Most of the great wines of this ancient wine-growing region of Bordeaux come from Côtes-St. Émilion, where limestone and clayey soils yield succulently rich, buttery, and slightly tannic reds. The gravelly soil of Graves-St. Émilion creates powerful blackcurranty wine, and the flatter, sandier area named Sables St- Émilion produces wines that are pale red with delicious bursts of soft fruit, butter, and honey.