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CARTE DU VIN™ PRESENTS SUmmer 2006 The Best Cellar Newsletter & Wine Buyer’s Guide “The Best of the Best” 2003 Chateauneuf-du-Pape The 7 Chardonnays of Highly Welcoming in the New Pope Successful People 2002 Cabernet Saugvignon Get ‘em While they’re HOT! The new California Gold Rush The Best 2003 Bordeaux A Decade of Joseph Phelps Insignia & 2002 Burgundy Wine Spectator’s “Wine of the Year” 2005 Bordeaux Futures!!! The Best Cellar Newsletter & Wine Buyer’s Guide We recently helped a client put together a wine collection. He has no interest in wine except for the pleasure of drinking it. When I suggested that he get a subscription to the Wine Spectator, he said, “Jeff, I’ve got a big business–that’s my name on the door– I’ve also got a wife who’s a pain in the ass, two little kids I’d like to spend some time with and a golf game that’s in serious trouble. Why don’t you read the Wine Spectator and tell me what it says?” The Best Cellar Newsletter is intended to make wine buying easier, and make building a collection easier so you can relax and enjoy it. All the wine trades are so loaded with reviews —Over 1,500 Wines Reviewed!— that it can be daunting just trying to get through them. Add to these publications the dozens of emails from retailers offering new and old titles at sale prices that come in daily. We read just about everything so you don’t have to. The Best Cellar Newsletter offers you the Best of the Best, a cross section of new releases of wines from around the world at different price points, and some editorial that’s a little different from what you may have grown accustomed to in the wine press. We’ll present a wide array of wines in each issue of the best new wines at the best prices available. This guide represents a tiny fraction of the wines available in the market. If you don’t see it here, we can find it for you. Think of us as your wine cellar concierge, your personal negociant. Your wish is our command. We carry no inventory, so we’re not trying to push anything, but we can help you find every wine listed in this issue, and locate just about anything else wine-wise. The Best Cellar Newsletter doesn’t buy any wine—you do. We source it, make the purchase on your behalf with your credit card number, arrange shipping to your home/office/wine storage facility (or to our warehouse and then deliver it to your cellar), put it away, add it to your inventory and make the boxes disappear. For this service we charge a flat 10% over invoice. Most of our clients say that they save time and money buying through The Best Cellar Newsletter because we shop around, all over the country to source the best deals. And, because of our high volume and relationships with select retailers, we may be able to get the wines at a better price than you could even if you put in the time to track them down yourself. You get the benefit of our leverage. Mea Culpa: We have not tasted all the wines recommended herein. The criteria for selection are that the wines: •Must be from top-quality producers •Must have received at least one strong review from a leading publication •Must be available from a trusted source (see a partial list of “Friends of Ours” on our website). We offer a one-year unconditional money-back guarantee on all the wines recommended. If you buy something we recommend that you don’t like, we’ll take the rest of the unopened bottles back with no questions asked and refund the balance to you. We only recommend wines that we’d be happy to have in our own collection. Please note that the prices listed herein do not include applicable tax or shipping charges, and are subject to availability and change. Cheers, Jeff Smith, Editor E-Mail: [email protected] The Best Cellar: 310-246-0005 www.TheBestCellar.com 1908 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Wines may be sold and delivered only to persons who are at least 21 years old from licensed retailers. The Best Cellar Newsletter is NOT a licensed retailer and is not compensated by the seller of the wines. All wine sales are subject to acceptance by the Seller. All wines are sold in California and title passes to the buyer in California in accordance with all laws and regulations pertaining to such sales, as such may change from time to time. We make no representation to the legal rights of anyone to ship or import wines into any state outside of California. We are not responsible for typographical errors. All items and prices subject to availability. Issued 4 times yearly. © Copyright 2006 The Best Cellar Newsletter and Carte du Vin, Inc. Presidential Champagne Celebrating our third President, Thomas Jefferson, who offered that “Good wine is a necessity of life for me.” This is the same joker who gave us, “All men are created equal.” We think the most important bottle in your wine collection is the bottle of champagne you keep in the refrigerator, because you never know when you’re going to have to celebrate something. Here are 10 that fit the bill. Billecart-Salmon Cuveé Elizabeth Salmon Rosé Krug Blanc de Blancs Clos du Mesnil 1995 1995 “...a beautiful, delicate, medium-bodied Champagne offering hints “...reveals a light pink hue as well as vivid strawberry, raspberry, of flint, chalk, white peaches, honeyed grapefruit, and lemon zest. and berry fruit with hints of smoke, crushed rocks, and even a This beautiful Chardonnay tastes of liquid minerals and reeks of terroir.” touch of rhubarb in the background. Boldly-flavored, with crisp acidity, with most of its character at the back of the mouth, this is WS 98 a brilliant, medium to full-bodied vintage rose to RP 94 drink over the 10+ years.” RP 95+ $155 $600 Louis Roederer Cristal 1999 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1995 “One of the finest Champagnes I have ever brought to my lips, the “The hugely impressive [1995 Blanc de Blancs] displays ripe apple 1999 Cristal bursts from the glass with fresh hazelnut and apple and pear scents. Broad, rich, deep, and medium to full-bodied, this scents. Elegant, deep, and silky-textured, this medium to full- dense (yet admirable balanced), powerful wine is packed with con- bodied beauty is immensely concentrated, pure, packed with centrated layers of white fruits, flowers, and apple flavors, and astoundingly long in the toast. Notes of tangy green apples finish.” appear in its awesomely long WS 95 finish to reinvigorate the palate.” RP 98 RP 96 $200 $90 Veuve Clicquot Rosé Reserve 1999 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Brut Rosé 1999 “The big-styled, surprisingly deep pink/copper-colored 1999 Rosé “The light salmon-colored [1999 Rosé] sports a demure nose of Reserve displays a Pinot Noir-like perfume of pomegranate, bay yeast and mineral-dusted strawberries. Tasters lulled by the shy leaf, earth, and spice. Bold, rich, expansive, and dense, it is an aromatics will be floored by this wine’s intense burst of fruit on the atypically, almost shockingly powerful, rich Champagne. It palate. Powerful, sappy, and concentrated, it explodes in the should age beautifully for 5-7 years. I loved it!” mouth with red fruits, toast, yeast, minerals, and WS 90 notes of currants. This is a deep, RP 93 complex, and immensely long rosé.” RP 94 $75 $180 Dom Pérignon 1996 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Brut 1996 “A stronger vintage than expected, the 1998 Dom Pérignon exhib- “Tightly-packed with notes of citrus oil, orange rind, white peach, its aromas and flavors of lemon oil, orange rind, and brioche in a honeysuckle, and brioche, the medium to full-bodied 1996 La medium-bodied, zesty, rich, moderately intense style. It is far Grande Dame Bruit should age well for 15-20 years. Crisp, fresh, superior to either the 1993 or 1992.” and backward, it is another brilliant example from the exquisite 1996 vintage.” WS 95 RP 98 RP 95 $125 $110 Duval-Leroy Brut 1996 Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Rosé 1996 “Terrific balance between the racy structure, candied berry fruit “Distinctive. Cinnamon and clove accents smell like potpourri or and creamy texture. Still youthful.” Christmas punch, with berry and whole-grain bread notes.” ***Fantastic Value*** ***The Best Cellar’s I can’t believe I gave away my last bottle! “ House” Champagne!*** WS 93 WS 92 $40 $40 Prices quoted above are subject to availability and change. Call (310) 246-0005 or Email: [email protected] to order. The Best of the Best 2003 Bordeaux: Consensus Picks I had a conversation over dinner recently with Jean-Guillaume Prats, the dapper fellow who heads up Cos d’Estournel. (Technically, we had dinner with about 95 other guests and the conversation we shared was something more like a speech he gave with a microphone, but I like my version of the story better.) So Jean-Guillaume and I were talking and he says, “You know, Jeffrois, I think the ‘zero-trois’ is superior to the two-zouzand.” (In my version, he sounds a lot like Maurice Chevalier in “Gigi,” and breaks into a rousing rendition of “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.”) That’s when Jean- Michel Cazes, of Lynch Bages, butts in—he’s a famously big buttinsky—and says, “My favorite vintage is the one I have to sell now,” like he hasn’t trotted out that old warhorse every time we get together.

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