What I Tasted on My Spring Break - SPEC's Liquors

“<strong>What</strong> I <strong>Tasted</strong> on My Spring Break” By Charles M. Bear Dalton 

Bordeaux is back. You might ask “When did it leave” The answer depends on what sort of wine 

drinker you are. If you love good Bordeaux and are not a slave to the press, good Bordeaux has 

been with us almost straight through since 1993. If you follow the Wine Spectator, you might 

believe there have only been three good Bordeaux vintages (1995, 2000, and now 2003) since 

1990. If you read Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (as opposed to just looking at the scores), 

you’ve been told that each vintage from 1993 forward has at least something to recommend it. In 

my opinion, there have been very good, fine, and excellent wines from every vintage from 1993 

forward and in most of those vintages, there have been at least a few outstanding wines made. 

Tasting Bordeaux 

Each year in March, I fly to France and spend 10 to 14 days tasting in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and 

the Rhone. My trip corresponds with the Union des Grandes Crus (UGC) tastings held the last 

week of March. While in Bordeaux from Sunday through Friday, I’ll taste 140 to 180 wines a day. 

Primarily, I am tasting barrel samples from the most recent vintage. Wherever possible, I re-taste 

wines from the previous vintage and the newly bottled wines from one vintage further back. On 

this last trip in March of 2004, I was primarily looking at 2003s but also re-tasting 2002s (mostly 

still un-bottled) and 2001s. I even got to taste a few 2000s and 1999s. This back-tasting helps 

confirm impressions from earlier visits and helps give me a handle on how the vintages are 

developing. 

These tastings take place at the large events held by the UGC but also in the Bordeaux 

negociants’ offices and in tasting rooms at the great chateaux. Each year, I taste at Vintex, 

Nathaniel Johnston, Ullysse Cazabone, Borie Manoux, Belland et Meneret, (continued p. 2) 

If you've been around wine very long, you've heard 

talk about "Bordeaux Futures" and you may have 

wondered what the deal is. Is this like the 

commodities exchange where contracts are 

repeatedly traded without the actual goods they 

represent even moving or being ready to move Or 

do people really buy these wines and drink them 

The answer is yes...to both. At one level, there is a 

fair amount of trading of Bordeaux futures contracts as 

the market for the wines gets stronger and the release 

dates approach. At the same time, educated consumers 

use the futures market to insure they are able to get the 

rarest wines and get them at the best prices. Here's how it 

works... 

During the April and May following a vintage, most 

Bordeaux chateaux offer a portion of their production to 

the wine brokers in Bordeaux at what is usually their 

lowest price. This first offer is called the premiere 

traunche, or first slice. These wines are then offered to the 

importers and exporters around the world who then offer 

them to the local trade—the wine stores and restaurants. 

Some restaurants will buy a few cases of rare wines but 

most restaurants don't have the sort of wine programs 

where they invest in young Bordeaux to serve years later. 

At Spec's, we buy as heavily as possible during this time for 

two reasons. One is to buy good quantities of wines in 

every price range so we'll have the (continued p. 2) 

"...do people 

really buy 

these wines 

and drink 

them" 

With wine, as in anything else, it 

helps to know the lingo. Here are 

some of the wine terms that relate 

specifically to Bordeaux: 

CLASSIFIED GROWTH: A chateau 

included in one of the classifications 

of Bordeaux. The most famous 

classification is the Classification of 

1855 which grouped the wines of the 

Medoc and Ch. Haut Brion into five 

classes called “growths.” Graves, 

Sauternes, and St. Emilion have also 

been classified. Pomerol has never 

been classified. The top wines from 

these top wine growing areas are 

grouped together as “Classified 

Growths.” 

CLASSIFICATION OF 1855: In 

1855, the Bordeaux Chamber of 

Commerce undertook a formal 

classification of the wines of 

Bordeaux which was to be presented 

at the Paris World’s Fair. The means 

used to make the classification was to 

divide the wines into groups based 

on the prices at which they routinely 

sold. The wines considered were the 

wines of the Medoc, plus one. Ch. 

Haut-Brion of Graves had such a high 

reputation that it had to be included 

as a “first growth”. The result was 

the famous five tiered ranking that is 

in use to this day. (continued p. 7) 

THE VINTAGES....................2 

THE DUMB STAGE...............2 

A CLOSER LOOK AT 2003....4 

WHAT ABOUT 2002s.......4 

CIGAR CENTRAL.................5 

LOW CARB WINE.............5 

THE "G" WORD..................6 

2003 FUTURES ...................8 

2002 FUTURES.................10 

BORDEAUX MAP................11 

FAVORITE CHATEAUX.........12 

NOTEWORTHY WINES .....14 

VINEYARD VISIT................18 

FEVERISH WINE..............19 

TASTER'S NOTE.................24 

GIFT OF GOOD TASTE.......24

www.specsonline.com 

(continued from page 1) 

inventory to sell off our racks when the 

vintage is shipped. The other is to offer 

the best possible prices on rare and 

expensive wines to our Bordeaux-loving 

customers. As we get confirmations on 

our orders, we offer the wines out for sale 

as futures, a way to buy wines that haven't 

even been bottled yet. On the wines we've 

tasted and like and on wines with great 

track records, we buy as much as we are 

allocated, often at several different prices. 

If our customers get hot on a particular 

wine and we run short or sell out, we go 

back and buy more, usually at a higher 

price. We then make a second offering 

reflecting that higher price. 

In order to open the futures opportunity to 

as many customers as possible, Spec's 

offers Bordeaux futures sales on bottles and 

three-packs as well as the standard twelve 

bottle cases. While the price advantage is 

not as substantial in the smaller lots, there 

is still an edge over what the wines will sell 

for on arrival. But far and away the main 

benefit here is the guarantee of availability. 

Single-bottle and three-pack pricing is 

available only on 750ml bottles of dry reds 

and whites and both on 375ml and 750ml 

bottles of most Sauternes. 

So what's all the fuss about Just that the 

futures market insures the savvy Bordeaux 

lover a way to buy his favorite wines at the 

best prices they'll likely ever sell for, and a 

way to insure himself that he will actually 

get some of the rarer wines that may never 

make it onto a rack or shelf in the store. 

Is my 

1996 Margaux 

in the 

stage 

dumb 

“When will my 2001 Ducru enter the 

dumb stage When will it emerge” “Will my 

1989 Leoville las Cases ever emerge from the 

dumb stage” “Don’t open that yet, it’s still in 

the dumb stage.” 

<strong>What</strong>’s the dumb stage It is a period in a 

wine’s development where the wine is 

undergoing reductive changes in the bottle 

as it sheds some of the fresh fruit of its 

(continued p. 3) 

Chateau 

Margaux 

Bordeaux Report (continued from p. 1) 

and Bordeaux Millesimes to name a few. I also taste at 

many chateaux whose wines are not shown at the 

UGC tastings. Each year I go to all the first growths 

and many of the seconds where we taste more than 

just that wine. There are second and sometimes third 

wines to taste as well as associated properties. At 

Mouton, we also taste Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac, and 

at Lafite we also taste Carruades and Duhart Milon. At 

Haut Brion, we taste La Chappelle de la Mission (the 2nd 

vin of Ch. La Mission Haut Brion), Bahans Haut Brion (the 

2nd vin of Ch. Haut Brion), Latour Haut Brion, La Mission 

Haut Brion, and Haut Brion as well as Laville Haut Brion (the 

white wine of La Mission) and Haut Brion Blanc. All in all at Haut 

Brion, we taste seven wines from each vintage and we usually taste two 

vintages. 

This year, the opportunity to re-taste past vintages served me well. The 2001 

Ch. Margaux wine had not shown well in 2002 or 2003 and I was frankly a bit 

worried that I’d made a mistake in buying it. My purchase was based on Margaux’s 

superb track record and assurances by Margaux director Paul Pontalier that the wine was just 

backward and that it would come around. It finally did come around and is now showing very well, 

just in time for release. 

At dinners in restaurants and during visits and dinners at chateaux, we always drink older, usually mature 

wines. The last few years our Bordeaux dinner wines have included many great wines from 1985, 1986, 

1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, and 1995. We have had the odd 1982 and even a couple of 1991s. The 

1991s from Ch. Latour, Ch. Parenchere, and Ch. Segur de Cabannac were shockingly good wines from a 

frankly forgettable, very wet vintage. 

All this tasting (and drinking) leads to a familiarity with a property that transcends vintage variation as well 

as to an understanding of each vintage and where its sub-regional strengths and weaknesses are. It also 

reinforces, for me at least, the notion that I’d usually rather drink the wine from chateau I really like in a 

merely good or even mediocre vintage than wine from an also ran property in even a great vintage. 

1993 and 1994 were lightly regarded, rain affected vintages that still made very nice, elegant, mediumweight 

clarets. Most from the lesser appellations have already been drunk and that is a good thing as most 

of them wouldn’t have lasted. The best wines of these vintages (the top classified growths) are very pretty 

wines that in many cases are drinking very well now. Whenever I see good 1994s on wine lists, I am 

interested. They are often very good values and are always under appreciated. 

1995 was a great warm year that made fine wines all over Bordeaux. These were big rich wines somewhat 

in the style of 1982 and 1990 featuring ample fruit and flavor with good ripeness and a fairly low level of 

acidity. The 1995s tasted good on release and while they did descend a bit into the “dumb stage” (please 

see side bar The Dumb Stage at left), it was not a deep descent and the wines were enjoyably drinkable. 

Many of the age-worthy wines have now emerged and blossomed. While the first growths need a bit more 

time for optimum drinking, many of the other classified growths from 1995 are drinking beautifully. Even 

a number of petite chateaux are holding up nicely. 

1996 was, if you believe James Suckling of the Wine Spectator, a disappointing vintage. Or, if you follow 

Robert Parker, 1995 was the greatest Cabernet Sauvignon vintage in Bordeaux since World War II. Parker 

is correct. While the Merlot-dominated right bank appellations (Pomerol, St. Emilion, etc.) yielded many 

very good wines in 1996, it was the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated left bank appellations (Graves, Medoc, 

Margaux, St. Julien, Pauillac, and St. Estephe) that had the potential to make excellent and even 

outstanding wines in 1996. I still remember tasting the outstanding 1996 Ch. Margaux in the chateau and 

being momentarily transported by the wine. The also outstanding 1996 Ch. Latour out of barrel was so 

intense that it was almost painful to hold it in the mouth. All the better 1996 wines were excellent from 

the barrel and were excellent on their release in 1998 and 1999. Most of the Cabernet-based wines had 

enough intensity and acidity that they have slipped firmly into the dumb stage. They are not undrinkable 

now but will be so much better with a few more years in the bottle that it seems a shame not to hold them. 

1997 made pretty wines that emphasized fresh fruit and perfume with a classic weight and structure. They 

are not blockbusters and there was some unevenness in quality attributable to uneven ripeness due to an 

extended, uneven flowering period. Some clusters (especially Merlot in St. Emilion) had ripe grapes with 

some green grapes mixed in so a good triage was important. The 1997s also had the problem of being 

released as futures at prices too high for the quality, coming immediately after the excellent 1996s. Since 

there have been no price increases (and in fact some discounting) on the 1997s from the time they were 

sold as futures, the vintage is now reasonably priced and drinking very well. 1997 was an excellent to 

outstanding year for the sweet wines from Sauternes and Barsac.

1998 offered a great vintage for the right bank appellations of St. Emilion and Pomerol (as well as 

Montagne and Lussac St. Emilion Lalande de Pomerol, Fronsac, Cotes de Castillon, and Cotes de Francs) 

and the left bank Graves red and white wine area (especially wines labeled Pessac-Leognan). These areas 

benefited from a combination of warm weather and early ripening varieties (a lot of Merlot and Cabernet 

Franc). 1998 was a fine but not great year for the later ripening left bank Cabernet Sauvignon-based 

wines. Except for the top Pomerol and St. Emilion Chateaux (especially the over-hyped "garagistas"), the 

wines were well priced as futures and offered many fine buys. The classically structured 1998s are now 

mostly in the dumb stage but the Merlot-based wines are not deep into it and still are showing well. The 

best Cabernet-based wines still need time to emerge. These underrated, well-balanced, classically-styled 

Margaux, Pauillac, and St. Julien wines will offer excellent drinking beginning in the next couple of years. 

1999 is a vintage that was initially underrated by virtually all of the wine press and much of the wine 

trade. Almost all of them have revised their opinions upward. 1999 is a very even vintage featuring 

elegant, very well balanced wines with lovely fresh fruit flavors. They are a pure pleasure to drink now but 

they also are developing nicely and will continue to improve. This is a fine vintage to hold or drink while 

you are waiting on your 1996s, 1998s and 2000s. 

2000 is an excellent vintage with very consistent, very high quality all over Bordeaux. The weather was 

excellent and everything got ripe. All the improving vineyard practice and winery wizardry via the 

consulting enologists paid off. Then the hype machine kicked in. It was the vintage of the turn of the 

millennium. And Parker loved it. And the Spectator loved it. And the prices, especially on the top wines, 

shot through the roof as greed and speculation took over. It is a great vintage to hold for 5 to 25 years 

depending on the chateau. The most hyped wines are way over-priced but that is no different from any 

other great vintage. The 2000s are now mostly in stock and most futures purchases have been delivered 

(most but not all – we are still waiting on a few wines). 

2001 is a very even, very good vintage with fine wines made in all areas of Bordeaux. It was a vintage 

where properties capable of making balanced, elegant, multi-dimensional wines excelled and wineries 

depending on only ripeness and manipulation did alright but no better than alright. 2001 required some 

quality in terroir for the best wines. The wines that are now coming into the market are well balanced with 

good fruit and some of 1999s evenness and elegance. They are drinking well now on release and should 

continue to drink very well as young wines over the next year or so. They mostly likely then will go dumb 

and require some patience before they blossom at the end of the dumb stage. As they are balanced and not 

too extracted, they should not go too dumb and most will remain drinkable as they develop. 2001 was 

reasonably priced and bought with strong dollars so, like the 1999s these wines represent fine values. In 

addition to its many fine and excellent dry red and white wines, 2001 was an excellent Sauternes vintage 

2002 is a vintage where the terroir shone like few others. If you taste and consider only the top 80 to 100 

wines (mostly - but not exclusively - from the left bank) that are the product of great terroir, 2002 is an 

excellent to outstanding vintage. If you consider only the other several hundred chateaux that do not 

possess great terroir or were not in the right weather patterns, 2002 could be a mediocre to poor vintage. 

It really is a vintage of haves and have-nots where it was very important to taste before buying. Spec’s 

offered fewer 2002s as futures than any vintage since 1994 but those 2002s that we bought and offered we 

can endorse unequivically. The 2002s, still available as futures, were bought with strong dollars and the 

hype machine never really kicked in so they are excellent values, especially when compared to the 2003s 

now being offered as futures. 

The 2003 vintage was one of the hottest on record. It was so hot that some areas where the 

early ripening Merlot is the dominant grape variety suffered severe heat stress and could 

not make good wines. Ch. Le Pin was unable to even produce a crop and Vieux Ch. 

Certan produced only 800 cases instead of its usual 4000 (although that 800 cases 

is excellent). However, those properties with the right terroir and the right 

grapes planted made excellent wines that were very easy to taste and 

evaluate. The top Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines show a stylistic 

similarity to 1990 and 1982. For these (mostly left bank) wines, 2003 is 

an excellent to outstanding vintage where even wines from the 

northern, cooler areas of the Medoc had fine to excellent potential. 

The bad news is that the Bordeaux wine press hype machine has 

kicked in and some wineries took ridiculous price increases. The 

worse news is that the dollar is as weak as it has ever been against 

the Euro which has caused prices in dollars to rise even further. 

These wines are not cheap but like 1990 and 1982, they will 

provide consistently pleasurable drinking for many years to come. 

View from 

St. Julien; 

Ch. Pichon Baron on left and 

Pichon Lalande on right 

713-526-8787 

Dumb Stage (continued from p. 2) 

youth and gains the complexity of a 

bottle-developed bouquet. Most wines do 

not go discernibly dumb but the dumb 

stage is a factor with most red Bordeaux 

wines. However good they may taste on 

release (and many are incredibly good on 

release), fine red Bordeaux is intended to 

develop with age. 

In most vintages, the wine closes down 

for a period as it changes in the bottle. In 

some vintages, the wine goes more dumb 

and stays dumb longer. In other 

vintages, the wines are much less 

affected and/or are affected for a shorter 

period of time. Really hot Bordeaux 

vintages (1982, 1990, 2003) tend to 

produce wines with lower acidity. The 

lower acid wines don’t go as dumb and 

may stay in the dumb stage for a 

relatively shorter period. Great classic 

Bordeaux vintages (1986, 1989, 1996) 

tend to have more acidity and so, go 

more deeply into the dumb stage. 

Medium-weight, well-balanced vintages 

like 1999 go dumb but don’t go deeply 

into it and the wines don’t stay dumb as 

long. 

Generally speaking, the most expensive 

wines - the biggest, most intense, most 

extracted wines - go dumb for the 

longest time and the least expensive 

Bordeaux reds may not go dumb at all 

(because the least expensive wines often 

have all the development they will ever 

need by the time they are released). 

Almost all the 1990s have emerged but 

many of the best 1989s could use a 

couple of more years to fully emerge. 

Even some 1986s are still finishing up. 

On the other hand, many 1995s have 

already emerged. 

<strong>What</strong> happens if you drink a wine 

during the dumb stage A lot depends on 

where the wine is in its development but 

most of them actually taste pretty good – 

just not as good as they did or will. You 

can help them taste better by splashing 

the wine into a decanter (as opposed to 

gently decanting it). I like to use a cheap 

one-liter glass carafe for this so I can 

turn the bottle upside down with its 

neck in the carafe and let the wine glug 

out. Unless you are holding a treasure for 

optimum aging, don’t be too concerned 

about the dumb stage. It is a factor but 

you must also remember that you can’t 

enjoy your wines unless you drink them. 

If you are going to drink a wine too late 

or too soon, it is always better to err on 

the side of too soon. The most important 

thing is to drink your wine.


Try tasting over 800 young red Bordeaux 

wines in one week. The term “toothstaining” 

was invented to describe these 

wines. They also stain the tongue and 

gums and even the fingers where they hold 

the stem of the wine glass (not to mention 

the clothes). Over the course of each day, 

aggressive, young tannins and fruity acidity 

sear the palate. And even if you are a 

consistent and conscientious spitter, the 

alcohol, via sub-lingual absorption, will 

take its toll. Much of this sort of tasting is 

done in crowded rooms or special event 

tents while standing up. This is hardly an 

opportunity to get to know a particular 

wine; it is more like the vinous equivalent 

of "Hey there. Come here often Can-Ibuy-you-one"… 

and about as much fun. 

So why do it These tastings allow me to 

form at least an initial impression of what's 

coming down the pipeline regarding 

The author Bear Dalton & Ch. Margaux 

Director Paul Pontalllier. 

specific wines and the vintage as a whole, 

and perhaps avoid some costly mistakes. 

<strong>What</strong> do I look for when forming that first 

impression of these relative babies First 

and foremost, fruit. If the wines have 

enough fruit, they have a chance. If they 

don't show any fruit at this age, it won’t 

develop later - so the wines aren't worth 

further consideration. After fruit, I look for 

balance, depth of flavor, and concentration. 

Even at this early age, a good wine will show 

where it's headed. If all the elements are in 

balance when young, the wines will generally 

stay balanced as they develop. If the flavors 

are rich and concentrated enough, the wine 

will continue to taste deep and satisfying 

instead of prematurely becoming a washed 

out shell of its early potential. 

I look for wines that show some 

complexity and nuance (in Bordeaux— 

spice, pepper, tobacco, tea, leather, herbs, 

minerals, cedar, etc.) and for wines that 

demonstrate the structure (a combination of 

tannin, extract, color, alcohol, and acidity) 

that will allow them to age. And finally, I 

look for the wine to taste of its appellation 

and its fore-runners. A good Pauillac wine 

should bear a resemblance to other good 

Pauillacs from the same vintage and a strong 

family resemblance to other vintages from 

the same chateau. 

On my most recent trip to Bordeaux, I took tasting notes on over 800 wines— 

more than half of which were barrel samples from the 2003 vintage. Looking at the 

wines by region shows many of the strengths and weaknesses of the 2003 vintage. 

As I noted earlier, many of the wines from the Merlot-dominated areas of St. 

Emilion and especially Pomerol were frankly disappointing. I tasted very few 

Pomerols that I thought were worth considering. We bought le Bon Pasteur and Vieux Ch. 

Certan. We will buy Petrus (which I have not tasted but I have heard good reports from those 

who have). In St. Emilion, Cheval Blanc made excellent but not outstanding wine. Ausone (on the other side of the 

village) made a wine many are classing in the top wines of the vintage. I thought it was excellent but not in the very 

top class. There are a number of excellent St. Emilions (Angelus, Canon La Gaffeliere, Pavie, Pavie Decesse, Pavie 

MacQuin, etc.) but they are mostly located on soils with better water retention further away from Pomerol. 

Other less fancy right bank appellations such as Lalande de Pomerol, the Cotes de Castillon, and the Cotes de Francs 

did better with many lower-priced, very interesting wines that should appeal to the regular Bordeaux drinker (as 

opposed to the trophy hunting collector). Look for Puygueraud, the Georges Cuvee de Ch. Puygueraud (with its high 

percentage of Malbec), La Prade, La Rousselle, La Fleur St. Georges, La Fleur de Bouard, Ch. d’Aguilhe, Ampelia, and 

Cap de Faugeres. 

The Graves area (especially Pessac Leognan) made many fine and excellent and even a couple of potentially outstanding 

dry red and white wines in 2003. For reds, look at all the wines from the Haut Brion estates as well as Pape Clement, 

Domaine de Chevalier, Haut Bailly, Smith Haut Lafitte, Carbonnieux, Haut Bergey, and Clos Marsalette. All of these wines 

are at least fine and many of them are excellent. Haut Brion is Outstanding and La Mission and Pape Clement could get 

there. For dry whites Haut Brion Blanc was outstanding and Laville Haut Brion, 

<strong>What</strong> About... 

THE 2002s 

2002 was a vintage that required a severe 

selection to be made of the wines to buy 

and offer to our customers. Where the 

terroir was good there was great potential 

for high quality wine. Where great terroir 

was lacking, the wines showed it. Top 

terroir can be found in a number of subappellations 

in Bordeaux so there are fine 

2002s from all over the Bordelaise map. 

The style of 2002 is elegant, balanced claret 

with more weight and intensity and better 

overall quality than 1999. These wines are 

not blockbusters but they offer tremendous 

pleasure and they will excel at the table. 

The top part of the vintage is truly 

excellent. 

In St. Emilion and Pomerol, two of the 

best wines came from near neighbors 

Cheval Blanc and Vieux Ch. Certan. Both 

use a very high (for their appellations) 

percentage of Cabernet Franc with the 

more usual Merlot and both vineyards 

contain a lot of gravel. The result is a more 

elegant, balanced wine than many of their 

neighbors produce. Other top St. Emilion 

properties with high levels of Cabernet 

Franc include Angelus and Canon la 

Gafelliere. Both are well worth seeking out. 

In the Graves region, The Haut Brion wines performed at their usual 

high level as did Smith Haut Lafitte and Pape Clement, Haut Brion 

was outstanding and La Mission not far behind. 

In the Medoc, all the first growths made excellent to even 

outstanding wines. Latour and Lafite were favorites with Margaux 

right behind and Mouton just following Margaux. All the second 

growths showed well with Ducru Beaucaillou and Rauzan Segla 

making very elegant wines. Leovilles Barton and Poyferre both are 

excellent with ample fruit and a fine balance. The Pauillac Pichons 

(Baron and Lalande) are quite different 

though both are excellent. Pichon Baron is 

big and rich while Lalande has a lovely 

almost ethereal character and a more 

elegant style. Lynch Bages is like Pichon 

Baron. Palmer is big and juicy with an 

almost California richness. In St. Estephe, 

Montrose is excellent and the 2002 Cos 

d’Estournel was, until I tasted the 2003, 

the best Cos I can remember tasting. 

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN TO YOU 

Because we tasted all the wines before 

buying them to offer to you, I am able to 

endorse almost everything on our 2003 

and 2002 futures lists to be worth 

considering. The only wines that I bought 

that I don’t personally think are worth the 

money are wines that got great press or 

extremely high scores from The Wine 

Spectator or Robert Parker. You can see 

from the scores on the price grid where 

the Spectator, Parker, Steve Tanzer, and I 

agreed and disagreed. 

<strong>What</strong> does this mean for the average 

Bordeaux afficianado Basically that with 

2003, the whole market has moved up a 

bit in price (yet again) and that some 

formerly affordable, formerly available 

wines have become more expensive and 

more scarce. There is now a larger than 

ever disconnect between the prices of the 

most sought after wines and the prices of 

the standards. Even so, the dedicated 

claret drinker can still find plenty of wines 

that offer good drinking at fair prices, as 

well as some that are out-right bargains. 

Due to the high prices of the 2000s and 

the 2003s, the beautiful 1999s look like 

even better bargains than they already did, 

the just arriving 2001s look better than 

ever, and the remaining 2002 futures 

suddenly seem down-right cheap.

(continued from p. 4) 

Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, and Carbonnieux were all excellent. Incidentally, Pavillon Blanc du Ch. 

Margaux (a 100% Sauvignon Blanc white grown at Margaux but carrying a simple Bordeaux appellation) was also excellent. 

The Medoc is the sub-region of Bordeaux that benefited most from the torrid weather. While the heat and the techniques 

needed to deal with it kept the crops small, the quality was exceptional as all the Cabernet Sauvignon and even all the Petite 

Verdot got fully ripe. All the properties that revealed their blends told me they used all the Petite Verdot that they had. 

The wines from the appellation of Margaux were a consistently high quality lot with noteworthy efforts from Ch. Margaux 

(outstanding and, along with Latour and Lafite, one of the three best wines of the vintage), Palmer, Rauzan Segla, Kirwan, 

and Pavillon Rouge. 

There is a gap where not many vines are grown between Margaux and St. Julien. When the vineyards start back up as the 

road rises into St. Julien, they continue on unbroken through Pauillac and St. Estephe into the Haut Medoc and Medoc 

appellations. It was here in these cooler more northern Medoc appellations that the heat did the most good. St. Julien made 

two really excellent Leovilles (Barton and Poyferre), an excellent Gruaud Larose and Talbot, and an excellent although 

decidedly new style of Ducru-Beaucaillou that more closely resembles Palmer than previous Ducrus. 

Pauillac turned out two outstanding wines—Lafite and Latour (the best wine of the vintage) as well as a potentially 

outstanding Mouton and excellent wines from both Pichons (Baron and Lalande), Les Forts de Latour, Lynch Bages, Grand 

Puy Lacoste, Clerc Milon, d’Armailhac, and Haut Batailley. Pontet Canet and Batailley were both at least fine. St. Estephe 

turned in brilliant efforts from both Cos d’Estournel and Montrose with Calon Segur not too far behind. These are the stars 

but don’t forget fine but much less hyped wines from Lafon Rochet, Cos Labory, de Pez, and les Ormes de Pez. The Haut 

Medoc turned in a potentially excellent Sociando Mallet and a fine to excellent La Bernadotte (from the wine making team at 

Pichon Lalande). 

This all is sure to be welcome news. The not so welcome news is that 2003 was a small vintage and, in order to make wines 

as good as they did, the chateaux making the best wines made severe selections with only the best juice making it into their 

grand vin. Some very high quality "second wines" (and a couple of third wines) were made but a fair amount of cru classe 

juice also was sold in bulk. All these factors add up to a short supply of 2003s. As always happens when demand outstrips 

supply, prices have gone up. Most chateaux have opened their 2003 wines (premiere traunche) at prices substantially higher 

than the current prices for the same 2002s. Some price increases were more than 100 percent. 

Spec's is so much more than a liquor store! Did you know that we have fully-stocked walk-in cigar humidors in over 

15 of our Neighborhood stores, (and of course at our Downtown Superstore, located right inside the main entrance) 

You will be pleased at our selection and low prices. For your smoking enjoyment, Spec's offers a wide variety of 

quality cigars from around the world. Our humidors also maintain a great selection of cigar accessories such as 

personal humidors, hygrometers, humidifiers, lighters and cutters, and it's easy for us to put together 

gift baskets for any occasion with all the wonderful selections we have. 

And our Downtown Superstore is famous for 

the help, who actually enjoy helping! 

Whether you are new to the passionate 

world of cigars, or are already a 

discriminating cigar afficianado, our fully 

knowledgeable and experienced staff caters 

to you. For any cigar explanation, assistance 

or recommendation, they can assist you in 

acquiring the pefect cigar experience. Let our 

staff guide you through the many flavors, 

aromas, wraps and makes of our huge 

selection. You can call them at 

713-526-8787 and ask for the Humidor. 

At Spec's, we carry all major brands of 

cigars, such as: Arturo Fuente (including 

Opus X, Don Carlos and Hemmingway); 

Diamond Crown (including VSG); Padron 

(including the 1964 Anniversario and 1926); 

Graycliff; Cusano (including the 18 Year and 

Exclusivo); Rocky Patel Vintage; Acid; 

Macanudo; Punch; Helix; Onix; CAO; 

Comancho; Baccaratt; Don Tomas, 

Romeo y Julieta; Cohiba (including XV); Las 

Cabrillas; Ramone Allones; La Aroma De 

Cuba; Montecristo; Hoya de Monterey; Saint 

"...our Downtown 

Superstore is famous 

for the help, who 

actually enjoy 

helping!" 

Luis Rey; Sancho Panza; El Rey Del Mundo; 

Partagas; Carlos Torano; Don Diego; 

H. Upmann; Butera; Don Juan; Bolivar; Te 

Amo; La Unica; Avo; Griffin and La Gloria 

Cubana. We also offer a complete line of 

miniature cigars and cigarillos as well as a 

wide variety of flavored cigars and all 

Dannemann products. Don't forget to ask 

about special discounts available with your 

Spec's Key, or you can look them up online 

at www.specsonline.com. 

It's definately worth a trip downtown to 

check out our famous and respected 

"Seconds Bin", for a special buy. These 

"seconds" are handrolled cigars that just 

didn't quite make the cut. Because they are 

hand rolled, they might be a tad under or 

over the cigar factory's weight requirements, 

or perhaps rolled a bit too short or too long. 

<strong>What</strong>ever the small descrepency, they are 

still a great quality cigar, and we are able to 

purchase them at great savings and pass it 

on to you. So no need to make a special stop 

at a cigar shop, when you can stop at Spec's 

and buy it all, for less! 

713-526-8787 

Yes the world 

has gone low-carb 

crazy. Now the wine 

industry has its first 

advertised low 

carbohydrate wines. 

Beaulieu Vineyards 

and Sterling have 

decided to change their labeling 

and show consumers a lighter side 

to their wines. How are these 

wines low-carb As a new ruling 

by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax 

Bureau, wines and malt beverages 

with less than 7 grams of 

carbohydrates per serving are now 

allowed to call themselves “low 

carbohydrate”. Also to be 

included in the new point of sale 

information offered by these 

wineries will be nutritional 

information on fat content, 

protein and caloric value per 

serving. How many of us knew 

that by drinking a single glass of 

Beaulieu Vineyards Coastal 

Chardonnay that we are 

consuming a mere 3 grams of 

carbohydrates Only 124 calories 

and 0 grams of fat as well! Dieters 

of the world unite around this 

epiphany! Spec’s offers the entire 

line of Beaulieu Coastal wines as 

well as Sterling Vintners labels. 

Come in, buy, and enjoy 

with less guilt! 

Beaulieu Vineyards Coastal 

Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, 

Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, or 

Zinfandel 

750ml 

EVERY DAY! 

$7.42 btl $82.65 case 

Sterling Vintners 

Chardonnay or Merlot 

750ml 

EVERY DAY! 

$10.99 btl $123.12 case 

Sterling Vintners Cabernet 

750ml 

EVERY DAY! 

$10.12 btl $121.44 case


Over an excellent late lunch of osso bucco and spinach with two ladies at Simposio recently, I tasted seven very 

interesting wines. Three were from MacMurray Ranch (one of the Northern California's newest wineries) and three 

were from Louis Martini (one of California's oldest wineries). In terms of both the food and company, it was a lovely 

lunch—but then I expected as much. <strong>What</strong> really impressed me though was just how good the wines were... 

MACMURRAY RANCH is the family estate of late actor Fred MacMurray. His daughter Kate lives on the estate in the "John 

Wayne" cabin (as it was where Mr. Wayne always stayed when he visited, which was frequently). The MacMurrays never 

grew grapes or made wine, but the new owners kept the name and even hired Kate MacMurray to help manage and market 

the wines. The MacMurray Ranch is on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley and so grows (not surprisingly) Pinot 

Noir, but also grows (maybe a bit surprisingly) Pinot Gris. The cool climate and fog of the Russian River Valley are actually 

ideal for both grapes. We tasted the Pinot Gris and both the Russian River and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noirs... 

MacMURRAY RANCH Pinot Gris 

Russian River Valley, 2002 

$17.64 btl $193.20 case 12x750ml 

This is a lively, well-focused, 

refreshing pear-white peach-andlime-oriented 

Pinot Gris with the 

minerally terroir notes and crisp 

acidity it needs to be balanced. It 

has an elegant structure with good 

weight and richness and a fine feel 

but it is not at all heavy. Excellent. 

Bear's Score: 91 points. 

MacMURRAY RANCH Pinot Noir 

Sonoma Coast, 2002 

$12.92 btl $143.88 case 12x750ml 

From grapes grown in the cool, higher 

elevation vineyards of the Sonoma Coast 

appellation, this wine spent five months in a 

mix of mostly seasoned French oak. The result 

is a light-to-medium-bodied red offering dark 

red cherry fruit and notes of chocolate and 

earth with a hint of new leather. Quite 

flavorful with a juicy texture and mediumweight 

feel, it gains in richness as it unfolds in 

the glass. Fine+. Bear's Score: 90 points. 

MacMURRAY RANCH Pinot Noir 

Russian River Valley, 2001 

$23.81 btl $260.82 case 12x750ml 

After 12 months in a mix of new and 

seasoned French oak barrels, this Russian 

River Pinot offers good richness and 

density with a lovely juicy texture and 

ample dark cherry fruit. Complexity comes 

in the notes of black pepper and spice, 

earth, cocoa, and cola. The long finish 

retains fruit and perfume before it 

resolves clean. Excellent. Bear's Score: 

91+ points. 

THE LOUIS MARTINI WINERY is one of the old icons of the Napa Valley and the whole California wine industry. There were great 

Cabernets from the 1940s (the winery was founded in 1933) through the 1990s and now into this century. The wines were sometimes 

out of fashion - Martini always went for balance rather than power - but quality was never lacking. Even the very basic Louis Martini 

"California" Cabernets were always much better than the price would indicate and often were the first commercially available indicator 

of the quality of a vintage that was just moving into release. Here are notes on the three Cabernets we tasted with lunch. 

LOUIS MARTINI Cabernet Sauvignon 

Sonoma County, 2001 

$11.99 btl $134.29 case 12x750ml 

The winery's tech sheet says 88% Cabernet 

Sauvignon with 9% Merlot and 1% Cabernet 

Franc - which is 2% shy of 100. None-theless, 

this is a medium weight, fruit forward, 

spicy Cabernet Sauvignon featuring plenty of 

red cherry and red berry fruit with notes of 

tobacco and cedar and a sweet spiciness. The 

wine is well balanced and elegant - 

everything I expect from a Martini Cabernet. 

Really Fine. Bear's Score: 90+ points. 

So what do MacMurray Ranch and Louis 

Martini Winery have in common The 

"G" word. As in both are owned by Gallo. 

Gallo created MacMurray Ranch and 

purchased (and is in the process of 

revitalizing) Louis Martini. Even though 

both properties are Gallo owned, they 

each have their own personalities and are 

in fact separate wineries in terms of 

winemaking and grape sources. And 

speaking of Gallo, we also tasted another 

interesting white wine at lunch... 

LOUIS MARTINI Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa LOUIS MARTINI Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 

Valley, 2000 $17.23 btl $191.84 case 12x750ml 

Alexander Valley, 2000 

The winery's tech sheet says this is 78% Cabernet $20.65 btl $229.95 case 12x750ml 

Sauvignon with 19% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and A blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% 

1% Petite Verdot - which is 1% shy of 100%. The Merlot made from uncrushed, destemmed grapes 

result is a classic, classy, balanced Napa Cab offering ("whole berry fermentation") and aged 26 

dusty-ripe blackberry fruit with good richness and months in a mixture of mostly seasoned French, 

notes of tea, tobacco, and cedar, along with hints of European, and American oak barrels. The result is 

earthy minerals and black pepper. It has a juicy a balanced, elegant, but still masculine Cab that 

richness in the mouth with an excellent feel but tastes most strongly of Cabernet fruit with strong 

finishes dusty dry. It is elegant (not at all heavy) and blackberry and cassis notes and nuance of 

complete and very well integrated. Delicious. tobacco, dried herbs, and blackberry liqueur 

Excellent. Bear's Score: 93 points. 

perfume. Excellent. Bear's Score: 92 points. 

GALLO SONOMA ESTATE Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, 1999 $35.56 btl $195.74 case 6x750ml 

Made from Gallo's best Chardonnay, barrel-fermented and aged on the lees (which are 

regularly stirred) in 100% new light-to-medium toast French oak barrels, this lively juicy, 

minerally, well-focused, classy, balanced Chardonnay is about as close as Sonoma gets to a wellaged 

1er cru Meursault. The ample fruit is in the green pear, ripe apple, peach, and tropical 

lime range with notes of banana and butterscotch and a hint of vanilla. The new oak is almost 

completely integrated. The wine is very well balanced with a fine feel, good intensity, and a 

super long finish. Excellent. Bear's Score: 92+ points.

713-526-8787 

(continued from p.1) 

. 

CRU BOURGEOIS - Because there were many chateaux left out the 1855 Classification due to newness or lower 

prices, and because a number of new chateaux have been established since then, there were a large number of very 

good but unclassified Medoc chateaux. Many of these chateaux banded together to form the “Syndicate of Crus 

Bourgeois”. In 1978, they classified themselves as Crus Grands Bourgeois Exceptionnels, Crus Grands Bourgeois, and 

Crus Bourgeois, in descending order of quality. Many of the best of these wines stand up very well to wines ranked as 

high as third growths in the Classification of 1855. 

LEFT BANK, RIGHT BANK – Bordeaux is split in two by the Gironde, a large estuary formed by the confluence of the 

Garonne and Dordogne rivers. If you are facing north (or down river), the Medoc and Graves are on the left bank and 

St. Emilion and Pomerol are on the right bank. The wines of the left bank tend to have a high proportion of Cabernet 

Sauvignon in the mix. Almost all of the wines of the right bank are based on Merlot. 

MICROBIOLAGE – A technique for bubbling a small amount of oxygen into wine in the barrel for gentle oxygenation 

without racking the wine off its lees. 

PETITE CHATEAU – A chateau, usually lower priced, not included in any of the classifications. A chateau that could 

not be considered a classified growth. 

PIGEAGE – (pronounced peej ahj with soft g sounds) The Burgundian method of cap management where the cap of 

grape skins and pulp is punched down into the fermenting juice and so broken up so the juice mixes with the skins 

allowing extraction of color, flavor, and tannin. 

PUMP-OVER – The more typically Bordelaise practice of pumping juice from the bottom of the tank and spraying it 

over the top of the cap so it extracts color and flavor and tannin as it filters through. 

RACK, RACKING – Racking is moving the wine from one barrel to another, often using a siphon (pumps also may be 

used) to get the clear wine off its lees in the old barrel and feed the wine some oxygen through air exposure. Cabernetbased 

wines need more racking than Merlot-based wines as Cabernet needs more air than Merlot. 

SECOND WINE, SECOND LABEL – Many chateaux make more than one wine. Often they take the best of what they 

make and bottle it with the name of the chateau. They then take what doesn’t make the cut for that “grand vin” and 

blend the best wine they can and label it with a second label. The wine left after the second wine is made is generally 

sold off in bulk. In the best case scenario (such as at Latour, or Margaux, Pichon Baron, or Rauzan Segla) these “second 

wines” are high quality, earlier drinking expressions of the estate that reflect many of the same characteristics as the 

grand vin. In the worst case, they are junk. 

TERROIR - (pronounced tear whar) takes in the whole combination of soil, climate, viticultural practice, and 

happenstance of location that gives a wine from a single site its uniqueness. Great terroir comes through in great wine. 

It is possible to make bad wine from great terroir but not the reverse. Terroir also denotes that unique character of the 

site as it expresses in the wine. 

TRIAGE – the sorting process wherein the bunches of grapes are examined for ripeness and uniformity and any bad 

sections, unripe grapes, raisins, rot, or excess stems and leaves are cut out. Most often, this is done on sorting tables 

topped with slow moving conveyer belts to feed the clusters past the experienced workers. 

UNION DES GRANDES CRUS (OR UGC) – The organization of Bordeaux producers that includes most of the 

classified growths and the top wines of Pomerol. The UGC puts on a huge trade event in Bordeaux at the end of March 

each year and several smaller tastings around the world during the course of the year. 

Spec's Next Wine Tour 

CHILE and ARGENTINA 

Your job is to get to Buenos Aires 

by early afternoon on Saturday, 

September 4, 2004. My job is to 

show you Buenos Aires including 

fine meals with fine wine, tango 

shows, coffee at la Recoleta, 

markets, and shopping on 

Saturday and Sunday. Monday we 

are off to an Argentine estancia for 

a traditional barbecue lunch and a 

gaucho demonstration. Monday 

night we will fly to Mendoza 

where we will stay at the Park 

Hyatt. Monday dinner will be at a 

local landmark restaurant Pan-y- 

Teatro, in Mendoza. Tuesday and 

Wednesday will be spent touring 

the wine country around Mendoza 

and visiting three producers a day. 

Some meals will be in the wineries. 

Thursday morning we will fly to 

Chile and Thursday afternoon and 

evening will be spent touring 

wineries south of Santiago. Friday 

will offer wine touring and dining 

in and around Santiago. Saturday 

morning will offer one winery visit 

and then lunch and shopping 

before we go to the airport to 

return to Buenos Aires in time to 

fly back to the U.S. Saturday 

(September 11th) night. Round 

trip airfare from the U.S. to 

Buenos Aires is not included in this 

trip so that you may extend your 

stay in the front or at the end and 

may use airline miles for upgrades 

or free tickets. Double occupancy 

will cost $2400 per person and 

includes all meals, hotels, visits, 

tips, and fares (except the fare 

from the U.S. to Buenos Aires and 

back). For more information, 

please call Kim Levy at Spec's at 

832-660-0250 or email Bear 

Dalton at Bear@specsonline.com.


Item 

# 

Name 

Parker's 

Score* 

Spectator 

Score* 

001550 Ch. Le CONSEILLER, Bordeaux, 2003 88-90S 86-88 12 750ml $19.19 $52.95 $197.04 

001539 Ch. AMPELLIA, Cotes de Castillon, 2003 88-90 12 750ml $15.10 $41.67 $155.16 

001446 Ch. CAP de FAUGERES, Cotes de Castillon, 2003 88-90S 88-90 12 750ml $16.39 $45.24 $168.36 

001560 Ch. d'AIGUILHE, Cotes de Castillon, 2003 89-91 92-94 87-90 89-91 12 750ml $29.10 $80.31 $298.92 

001473 Ch. FONTENIL, Fronsac, 2003 88-91 87-90 88-91 12 750ml $25.38 $70.05 $260.64 

001525 Ch. BAHANS HAUT BRION (2nd of Haut Brion), 

Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 87-89 87-90 89-92 12 750ml $51.66 $142.59 $530.64 

001545 Ch. BARRET, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 86-88 12 750ml $16.85 $46.50 $173.04 

001480 Ch. HAUT BAILLY, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 87-89 85-88 87-90 89-91 12 750ml $$44.28 122.19 $454.80 

001523 Ch. HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 95-98 95-100 93-96 96-98 12 750ml $286.56 $790.92 $2,943.60 

001526 Ch. LA MISSION HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan 

(Graves) Rouge, 2003 90-92 95-100 90-93 91-95 12 750ml $138.65 $382.68 $1,424.16 

001527 Ch. LA TOUR HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 87-89 89-91 90-93 12 750ml $53.65 $148.08 $551.04 

001536 Ch. PAPE CLEMENT, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 92-94 92-94 89-92 92-95 12 750ml $93.85 $259.02 $964.08 

001506 Ch. SMITH HAUT LAFITTE, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 90-92 92-94 90-92 90-92 12 750ml $49.48 $136.56 $508.20 

001465 DOMAINE de CHEVALIER, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 88-90 87-90 91-93 12 750ml $37.71 $104.10 $387.36 

001529 LA CHAPELLE DE LA MISSION (2nd of La Mission Haut Brion), 

Pessac Leognan (Graves) Rouge, 2003 89-91 12 750ml $31.78 $87.69 $326.40 

001483 Ch. La FLEUR de BOUARD, Lalande de Pomerol, 2003 88-91 85-87 88-91 12 750ml $38.03 $104.94 $390.60 

001484 Ch. La FLEUR St. GEORGES, Lalande de Pomerol, 2003 87-89+ 12 750ml $18.03 $49.74 $185.16 

001565 Ch. D’ISSAN, Margaux, 2003 88-90+ 85-88 87-89 12 750ml $38.03 $104.94 $390.60 

001466 Ch. du TERTRE, Margaux, 2003 90-92S 89-91 87-90 89-91 12 750ml $32.09 $88.56 $329.64 

001474 Ch. GISCOURS, Margaux, 2003 91-94 92-94 87-90 87-89 12 750ml $42.19 $116.43 $433.32 

001515 Ch. KIRWAN, Margaux, 2003 90-92 85-88 90-92 12 750ml $38.65 $106.68 $396.96 

001555 Ch. MARGAUX, Margaux, 2003 96-100 95-100 94-98 95-99 12 750ml CALL CALL CALL 

001563 Ch. PALMER, Margaux, 2003 88-91 89-91 88-91 90-92 12 750ml $133.44 $368.28 $1,370.64 

001499 Ch. PRIEUR LICHINE, Margaux, 2003 88-90 89-91 87-90 87-89 12 750ml $34.38 $94.89 $353.16 

001500 Ch. RAUZAN SEGLA, Margaux, 2003 88-90 92-94 88-90 92-95 12 750ml $62.50 $172.50 $642.00 

001533 PAVILLON ROUGE (2nd of Ch. Margaux), Margaux, 2003 90-93 92-94 90-93 12 750ml $55.73 $153.81 $572.40 

001448 Ch. CHARMAIL, Haut Medoc, 2003 88-91 88-91 88-90 12 750ml $21.53 $59.40 $221.16 

001498 Ch. POTENSAC, Medoc, 2003 88-90S 89-91 87-90 87-89 12 750ml $25.03 $69.06 $257.04 

001507 Ch. SOCIANDO MALLET, Haut Medoc, 2003 91-94 92-94 90-93 90-92 12 750ml $41.78 $115.29 $429.12 

001561 CARRUADES de LAFITE (2nd of Lafite), Pauillac, 2003 90-92 89-91 88-91 90-92 12 750ml $48.44 $133.68 $497.52 

001542 Ch. BATAILLEY, Pauillac, 2003 87-89 89-91 12 750ml $30.73 $84.81 $315.60 

001449 Ch. CLERC MILON, Pauillac, 2003 90-93 95-100 89-92 90-92 12 750ml $42.19 $116.43 $433.32 

001459 Ch. D’ARMAILHAC, Pauillac, 2003 89-92 92-94 88-91 90-92 12 750ml $33.44 $92.28 $343.44 

001468 Ch. DUHART MILON, Pauillac, 2003 90-93 92-94 88-91 87-89 12 750ml $36.04 $99.45 $370.20 

001516 Ch. HAUT BAGES AVEROUS (2nd of Lynch Bages), Pauillac, 2003 12 750ml $27.24 $75.18 $279.84 

001479 Ch. HAUT BAGES LIBERAL, Pauillac, 2003 89-91 84-87 87-89 12 750ml $32.81 $90.57 $337.08 

001481 Ch. HAUT BATAILLEY, Pauillac, 2003 87-90 87-90 90-92 12 750ml $33.44 $92.28 $343.44 

001517 Ch. LACOSTE BORIE (2nd of Grand Puy Lacoste), Pauillac, 2003 12 750ml $19.19 $52.95 $197.04 

001568 Ch. LAFITE ROTHSCHILD, Pauillac, 2003 12 750ml CALL CALL CALL 

001556 Ch. LATOUR, Pauillac, 2003 98-100 95-100 95-98 96-100 12 750ml CALL CALL CALL 

001514 Ch. LYNCH BAGES, Pauillac, 2003 88-90 92-94 87-90 90-93 12 750ml $65.63 $181.14 $674.16 

001534 Ch. MOUTON ROTHSCHILD, Pauillac, 2003 95-98 95-100 91-93 93-96 12 750ml $286.56 $790.92 $2,943.60 

001552 Ch. PICHON BARON, Pauillac, 2003 92-94+ 95-100 91-94 92-95 12 750ml $75.10 $207.27 $771.48 

001553 Ch. PICHON BARON, Pauillac, 2003 92-94+ 95-100 91-94 92-95 12 750ml $78.10 $223.50 $836.28 

001537 Ch. PICHON LALANDE, Pauillac, 2003 93-95 95-100 91-93 91-94 12 750ml $119.38 $329.49 $1,226.28 

001518 Ch. PONTET CANET, Pauillac, 2003 92-94 95-100 91-94 89-91 12 750ml $61.56 $169.92 $632.40 

001562 Les FORTS de LATOUR (2nd of Latour), Pauillac, 2003 91-93 92-94 90-93 91-94 12 750ml $$58.96 162.75 $605.64 

001489 Ch. Le BON PASTEUR, Pomerol, 2003 88-90 89-91 87-90 90-92 12 750ml $52.60 $145.17 $540.36 

001512 VIEUX Ch. CERTAN, Pomerol, 2003 88-90 89-91 85-88 92-96 12 750ml $85.00 $234.60 $873.12 

001567 Ch. ANGELUS, St. Emilion, 2003 94-96 95-100 90-93 91-94 12 750ml $157.40 $434.43 $1,616.76 

001559 Ch. CANON La GAFFELIERE, St. Emilion, 2003 87-89 92-94 89-92 92-95 12 750ml $66.66 $183.99 $684.72 

001574 Ch. CHEVAL BLANC, St. Emilion, 2003 6 750ml $356.46 $983.85 $1,830.78 

001451 Ch. CLOS FOURTET, St. Emilion, 2003 94-96 92-94 88-91 12 750ml $59.48 $164.16 $610.92 

001547 Ch. Du CAUZE, St. Emilion, 2003 88-90 87-90 12 750ml $23.85 $65.82 $245.04 

001469 Ch. FAUGERES, St. Emilion, 2003 90-93 85-88 90-92 12 750ml $29.23 $80.67 $300.24 

001470 Ch. FOMBRAUGE, St. Emilion, 2003 90-92 89-91 88-91 90-92 12 750ml $29.79 $82.20 $306.00 

001482 Ch. La FLEUR CARDINAL, St. Emilion, 2003 12 750ml $29.68 $81.90 $304.80 

001538 Ch. La GRANDE CLOTTE, Lussac St. Emilion, 2003 88-90 12 750ml $12.65 $34.92 $129.96 

001540 Ch. LAPLAGNOTTE BELLEVUE, St. Emilion, 2003 89-91 12 750ml $22.23 $61.35 $228.24 

001541 Ch. LAPLAGNOTTE BELLEVUE, St. Emilion, 2003 - Half Bottles 89-91 24 375ml $12.39 $34.20 $254.40 

001566 Ch. MONBOUSQUET, St. Emilion, 2003 90-92 85-88 89-92 89-91 12 750ml $55.73 $153.81 $572.40 

001494 Ch. PAVIE DECESSE, St. Emilion, 2003 95-97 89-91 90-93 90-93 12 750ml $124.06 $342.42 $1,274.40 

001496 Ch. PAVIE, St. Emilion, 2003 96-100 95-100 92-95 92-95 12 750ml $165.21 $456.00 $1,697.04 

Tanzer's 

Score* 

Bear's 

Score* 

Pack/ 

Case 

Size Bottle 3-pack Case 

*See Taster's Note p. 24

713-526-8787 

Item 

# 

Name 

Parker's 

Score* 

Spectator 

Score* 

Tanzer's 

Score* 

001497 Ch. PEBY FAUGERES, St. Emilion, 2003 89-91 88-90 91-93 12 750ml $78.13 $215.64 $802.56 

001511 Ch. TROPLONG MONDOT, St. Emilion, 2003 90-92+ 89-91 89-92 12 750ml $59.28 $163.59 $608.88 

001544 Ch. TROTTEVIELLE, St. Emilion, 2003 90-92 89-91 87-89 12 750ml $53.65 $148.08 $551.04 

001548 Ch. VIEUX CLOS St. EMILION, St. Emilion, 2003 87-89+ 12 750ml $19.19 $52.95 $197.04 

001558 CLOS de l’ORATOIRE, St. Emilion, 2003 88-91 89-91 87-89 90-92+ 12 750ml $41.78 $115.29 $429.12 

001522 VIEUX Ch. St. ANDRE, St. Emilion, 2003 88-89 12 750ml $16.85 $46.50 $173.04 

001575 Ch. AUSONE, St. Emilion, 2003 (6-bottle case) 6 750ml CALL CALL CALL 

001543 Ch. BEAU SITE, St. Estephe, 2003 87-88 88-90 12 750ml $21.53 $59.40 $221.16 

001513 Ch. CALON SEGUR, St. Estephe, 2003 94-97 92-94 92-94 92-95 12 750ml CALL CALL CALL 

001532 Ch. COS d’ESTOURNEL, St. Estephe, 2003 95-98 95-100 92-95 94-97 12 750ml $174.53 $499.41 $1,868.76 

001454 Ch. COS LABORY, St. Estephe, 2003 87-89 89-91 87-90 86-89 12 750ml $30.63 $84.54 $314.64 

001486 Ch. LAFON ROCHET, St. Estephe, 2003 89-91S 89-91 89-92 88-90 12 750ml $31.78 $87.69 $326.40 

001520 Ch. MONTROSE, St. Estephe, 2003 96-100 95-100 95-98 94-97 12 750ml CALL CALL CALL 

001443 Ch. BEYCHEVELLE, St. Julien, 2003 88-90 89-91 87-89 86-89 12 750ml $38.65 $106.68 $396.96 

001444 Ch. BRANAIRE DUCRU, St. Julien, 2003 92-94 89-91 90-93 90-92 12 750ml $39.06 $107.82 $401.28 

001564 Ch. DUCRU BEAUCAILLOU, St. Julien, 2003 93-95 92-94 90-93 91-94 12 750ml $124.06 $342.42 $1,274.40 

001475 Ch. GLORIA, St. Julien, 2003 87-89S 89-91 88-90 12 750ml $29.68 $81.90 $304.80 

001476 Ch. GRUAUD LAROSE, St. Julien, 2003 86-88 95-100 86-89 90-92+ 12 750ml $47.40 $130.83 $486.84 

001549 Ch. HORTEVIE, St. Julien, 2003 87-88 87-89 12 750ml $19.30 $53.28 $198.24 

001551 Ch. LALANDE BORIE, St. Julien, 2003 85-88 89-91 12 750ml $20.35 $56.16 $209.04 

001490 Ch. LEOVILLE BARTON, St. Julien, 2003 93-95+ 95-100 91-94 92-95 12 750ml $54.28 $149.79 $557.52 

001569 Ch. LEOVILLE LAS CASES, St. Julien, 2003 12 750ml $195.94 $540.78 $2,012.64 

001491 Ch. LEOVILLE POYFERRE, St. Julien, 2003 94-96 89-91 91-94 92-95 12 750ml $55.31 $152.67 $568.20 

001504 Ch. SAINT PIERRE, St. Julien, 2003 90-92S 89-91 12 750ml $36.56 $100.92 $375.60 

001510 Ch. TALBOT, St. Julien, 2003 88-90 92-94 86-89 90-92 12 750ml $54.69 $150.93 $561.72 

001521 CLOS du MARQUIS (2nd of Leoville las Cases), St. Julien, 2003 90-92 92-94 88-91 12 750ml $44.90 $123.93 $461.16 

001546 Ch. BARRET, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Blanc, 2003 12 750ml $15.10 $41.67 $155.16 

001447 Ch. CARBONNIEUX, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Blanc, 2003 90-93 90-92 12 750ml $30.00 $82.80 $308.16 

001528 Ch. HAUT BRION BLANC, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Blanc, 2003 95-100 94-97 6 750ml $335.63 $926.34 $1,723.80 

001505 Ch. SMITH HAUT LAFITTE, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Blanc, 2003 92-94 89-91 89-91 90-92 12 750ml $49.48 $136.56 $508.20 

001464 DOMAINE de CHEVALIER, Pessac Leognan (Graves) Blanc, 2003 89-92 91-93 12 750ml $70.94 $195.78 $728.64 

001530 PLANTIERS DU HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan 

(Graves) Blanc, 2003 12 750ml $38.03 $104.94 $390.60 

001441 Ch. BASTOR LAMONTAGNE, Sauternes, 2003 91-93 12 750ml $27.35 $75.48 $280.92 

001442 Ch. BASTOR LAMONTAGNE, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 91-93 24 375ml $14.94 $41.22 $306.96 

001445 Ch. BROUSTET, Barsac, 2003 90-92 12 750ml $28.53 $78.72 $293.04 

001467 Ch. BROUSTET, Barsac, 2003 - Half Bottles 90-92 24 375ml $15.51 $42.81 $318.72 

001450 Ch. CLIMENS, Barsac, 2003 - Half Bottles 24 375ml $45.31 $125.07 $930.96 

001452 Ch. CLOS HAUT PEYRAGUEY, Sauternes, 2003 90-92 12 750ml $44.28 $122.19 $454.80 

001453 Ch. CLOS HAUT PEYRAGUEY, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 90-92 24 375ml $23.39 $64.56 $480.48 

001455 Ch. COUTET, Sauternes, 2003 90-92 12 750ml $42.81 $118.17 $439.80 

001456 Ch. COUTET, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 90-92 24 375ml $22.66 $62.55 $465.60 

001457 Ch. D’ARCHE, Sauternes, 2003 88-90 12 750ml $33.85 $93.42 $347.76 

001458 Ch. D’ARCHE, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 88-90 24 375ml $18.18 $50.16 $373.44 

001573 Ch. d’YQUEM, Sauternes, 2003 24 375ml $146.85 $420.21 $3,144.72 

001572 Ch. d’YQUEM, Sauternes, 2003 12 750ml $293.70 $840.42 $3,144.84 

001460 Ch. de FARGUES, Sauternes, 2003 91-94 12 750ml $63.54 $175.35 $652.68 

001461 Ch. de FARGUES, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 91-94 24 375ml $33.03 $91.14 $678.48 

001462 Ch. de MALLE, Sauternes, 2003 88-90 12 750ml $46.35 $127.92 $476.16 

001463 Ch. de MALLE, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 88-90 24 375ml $24.43 $67.41 $501.84 

001471 Ch. FILHOT, Sauternes, 2003 90-92 12 750ml $30.31 $83.67 $311.40 

001472 Ch. FILHOT, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 90-92 24 375ml $16.41 $45.30 $337.20 

001477 Ch. GUIRAUD, Sauternes, 2003 89-91 12 750ml $50.53 $139.44 $519.00 

001478 Ch. GUIRAUD, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 89-91 24 375ml $26.51 $73.17 $544.56 

001485 Ch. LAFAURIE PEYRAGUEY, Sauternes, 2003 91-94 12 750ml $46.98 $129.66 $482.52 

001487 Ch. LATOUR BLANCHE, Sauternes, 2003 91-94 12 750ml $45.94 $126.78 $471.84 

001488 Ch. LATOUR BLANCHE, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 91-94 24 375ml $22.98 $63.42 $472.08 

001492 Ch. LIOT, Sauternes, 2003 90-92 12 750ml $22.69 $62.61 $233.04 

001493 Ch. LIOT, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 90-92 24 375ml $12.63 $34.86 $259.44 

001501 Ch. RAYMOND LAFON, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 24 375ml $35.10 $96.87 $721.20 

001502 Ch. RIEUSSEC, Sauternes, 2003 91-94 12 750ml $50.53 $139.44 $519.00 

001503 Ch. RIEUSSEC, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 91-94 24 375ml $26.51 $73.17 $544.56 

001508 Ch. SUDUIRAUT, Sauternes, 2003 89-92 12 750ml $54.69 $150.93 $561.72 

001509 Ch. SUDUIRAUT, Sauternes, 2003 - Half Bottles 89-92 24 375ml $27.35 $75.48 $561.84 

Bear's 

Score* 

Pack/ 

Case 

Size Bottle 3-pack Case 



Parker's 

Score* 

Spectator 

Score* 

Item # Name 

Pack Size Bottle 3-pack Case 

BORDEAUX APELLATIONS 

1438 Ch. PUYGERAUD, Cotes de Francs, 2002 85-88 87-89 12 750ml $16.35 $45.12 $168.00 

1439 Ch. THEIULEY CLASSIC (ROUGE), Bordeaux, 2002 86-88 12 750ml $7.50 $20.70 $77.04 

COTES de CASTILLON 

1411 Ch. AMPELIA, Cotes de Castillon, 2002 88-90 12 750ml $13.94 $38.46 $143.16 

1396 Ch. d'AIGUILHE, Cotes de Castillon, 2002 88-90 89-91 89-91 12 750ml $20.35 $56.16 $209.04 

MARGAUX 

1386 Ch. MARGAUX, Margaux, 2002 91-93 92-94 94-96 12 750ml $119.38 $329.49 $1,226.28 

1405 Ch. PALMER, Margaux, 2002 93-95 92-94 91-94 12 750ml $80.84 $223.11 $830.40 

1409 Ch. RAUZAN SEGLA, Margaux, 2002 89-91 90-93 12 750ml $45.94 $126.78 $471.84 

1388 PAVILLON ROUGE du Ch. MARGAUX (2nd vin), Margaux, 2002 85-88 90-92 12 750ml $33.85 $93.42 $347.76 

PAUILLAC 

1370 CARRUADES de Ch. LAFITE (2nd vin), Pauillac, 2002 90-92 12 750ml $33.85 $93.42 $347.76 

1412 Ch. BATAILLEY, Pauillac, 2002 85-88 88-90 12 750ml $25.14 $69.39 $258.24 

1371 Ch. CLERC MILON, Pauillac, 2002 90-92 89-91 90-92 12 750ml $31.98 $88.26 $328.44 

1397 Ch. d'ARMAILHAC, Pauillac, 2002 91-93 85-88 90-92 12 750ml $25.03 $69.06 $257.04 

1374 Ch. DUHART MILON, Pauillac, 2002 88-90 85-88 88-90 12 750ml $26.89 $74.22 $276.24 

1401 Ch. GRAND PUY LACOSTE, Pauillac, 2002 85-87 85-88 90-92 12 750ml $34.48 $95.16 $354.12 

1376 Ch. HAUT BAGES LIBERAL, Pauillac, 2002 89-91 88-90 12 750ml $22.69 $62.61 $233.04 

1402 Ch. HAUT BATAILLEY, Pauillac, 2002 89-91 89-91 12 750ml $25.03 $69.06 $257.04 

1381 Ch. LAFITE ROTHSCHILD, Pauillac, 2002 94-96 95-100 94-96 12 750ml $119.38 $329.49 $1,226.28 

1421 Ch. LATOUR, Pauillac, 2002 95-98 92-94 96-99 12 750ml $124.90 $344.73 $1,282.92 

1387 Ch. MOUTON ROTHSCHILD, Pauillac, 2002 94-96 95-100 93-95 12 750ml $119.38 $329.49 $1,226.28 

1408 Ch. PICHON BARON, Pauillac, 2002 89-91 92-94 91-94 12 750ml $47.40 $130.83 $486.84 

1389 Ch. PICHON LALANDE, Pauillac, 2002 92-94 92--94 91-94 12 750ml $54.79 $151.20 $562.80 

1419 Les FORTS de LATOUR (2nd vin), Pauillac, 2002 89-91 90-92 12 750ml $42.19 $116.43 $433.32 

PESSAC LEOGNAN and GRAVES (Rouge) 

1368 Ch. BAHANS HAUT BRION (2nd vin), 

Pessac Leognan Rouge, 2002 85-88 89-91 12 750ml $34.79 $96.00 $357.36 

1377 Ch. HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan Rouge, 2002 92-94 95-100 94-97 12 750ml $119.38 $329.49 $1,226.28 

1380 Ch. la MISSION HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan Rouge, 2002 89-92 92-94 91-94 12 750ml $87.50 $241.50 $898.80 

1383 Ch. LATOUR HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan Rouge, 2002 89-91 90-92 12 750ml $41.15 $113.58 $422.64 

1406 Ch. PAPE CLEMENT, Pessac Leognan Rouge, 2002 91-93 85-88 91-93 12 750ml $61.56 $169.92 $632.40 

1379 La CHAPELLE de la MISSION HAUT BRION (2nd vin), 

Pessac Leognan Rouge, 2002 85-88 90-82 12 750ml $26.19 $72.27 $269.04 

POMEROL 

1435 Ch. Le PIN, Pomerol, 2002 (3 bottles per case) 3 750ml $816.66 $2,100.00 

1436 Ch. PETRUS, Pomerol, 2002 (6 bottles per case) 90-93 92-94 6 750ml $554.16 $1,529.49 $2,846.16 

1410 VIEUX CHATEAU CERTAN, Pomerol, 2002 92-94 92-95 12 750ml $71.46 $197.25 $734.04 

ST. EMILION 

1392 Ch. AUSONE, St. Emilion (6 bottles per case), 2002 94-96 92-94 93-95 6 750ml $200.10 $552.27 $1,027.74 

1369 Ch. CANON LA GAFFELIERE, St. Emilion, 2002 90-92 89-91 91-94 12 750ml $49.48 $136.56 $508.20 

1395 Ch. CLOS SAINT MARTIN, St. Emilion, 2002 89-91 89-91 12 750ml $41.78 $115.29 $429.12 

1399 Ch. FAUGERES, St. Emilion, 2002 87-89 85-88 88-90 12 750ml $21.64 $59.73 $222.24 

1414 Ch. La GRANDE CLOTTE, Lussac St. Emilion, 2002 86-88 12 750ml $11.84 $32.67 $121.56 

1415 Ch. LAPLAGNOTTE BELLEVUE, St. Emilion, 2002 89-91 12 750ml $18.03 $49.74 $185.16 

1403 Ch. MONBOUSQUET, St. Emilion, 2002 90-92 89-91 90-92 12 750ml $61.04 $168.45 $627.00 

1407 Ch. PAVIE MACQUIN, St. Emilion, 2002 89-91 89-91 90-92 12 750ml $33.96 $93.75 $348.84 

1417 Ch. VIEUX CLOS St. EMILION, St. Emilion, 2002 88-90 12 750ml $16.98 $46.86 $174.36 

1416 VIEUX Ch. St. ANDRE, Montagne St. Emilion, 2002 87-89 12 750ml $14.88 $41.07 $152.76 

ST. ESTEPHE 

1391 Ch. CALON SEGUR, St. Estephe, 2002 89-91 92-94 88-90 12 750ml $35.94 $99.18 $369.12 

1372 Ch. COS d'ESTOURNEL, St. Estephe, 2002 92-94 95-100 93-95 12 750ml $66.25 $182.85 $680.52 

1424 Ch. COS d'ESTOURNEL, St. Estephe, 2002 92-94 95-100 93-95 12 750ml $68.75 $189.75 $706.20 

1404 Ch. MONTROSE, St. Estephe, 2002 89-91 89-91 91-93 12 750ml $45.94 $126.78 $471.84 

1425 Ch. MONTROSE, St. Estephe, 2002 89-91 89-91 91-93 12 750ml $50.00 $138.00 $513.60 

ST. JULIEN 

1393 Ch. BEYCHEVELLE, St. Julien, 2002 87-88 89-91 12 750ml $29.68 $81.90 $304.80 

1398 Ch. DUCRU BEAUCAILLOU, St. Julien, 2002 86-88 89-91 91-93 12 750ml $52.19 $144.03 $536.04 

1400 Ch. GLORIA, St. Julien, 2002 86-87 85-88 86-88 12 750ml $22.80 $62.94 $234.24 

1428 Ch. GRUAUD LAROSE, St. Julien, 2002 88-90 89-91 89-91 12 750ml $39.06 $107.82 $401.28 

1413 Ch. HORTEVIE, St. Julien, 2002 88-90 12 750ml $18.03 $49.74 $185.16 

1384 Ch. LEOVILLE BARTON, St. Julien, 2002 90-92 89-91 91-93 12 750ml $40.73 $112.41 $418.32 

1385 Ch. LEOVILLE POYFERRE, St. Julien, 2002 92-94 89-91 91-93 12 750ml $35.53 $98.04 $364.92 

PESSAC LEOGNAN and GRAVES (Blanc) 

1390 

1378 

PLANTIERS de HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan Blanc , 2002 

Ch. HAUT BRION, Pessac Leognan Blanc 

90-92 12 750ml $29.79 $82.20 $306.00 

(6 bottles per case), 2002 6 750ml $190.21 $525.00 $976.9 

Bear's 

Score* 

SAUTERNES and BARSAC 

1394 Ch. CLIMENS, Barsac, 2002 92-94 91-94 12 375ml $33.44 $92.28 $343.44 

Take 

NOTE 

To receive our most 

updated futures 

offerings, please call us 

at 713-526-8787 or 

visit us on the Web at 

www.specsonline.com. 

We offer futures pricing 

on cases, three-packs, 

and individual bottles. 

Unless otherwise noted, 

all prices are for cases 

of 12x750ml bottles. 

Some prices rise 

because a particular 

wine got hot and we 

had to buy more of it on 

a second or third 

offering at higher 

prices. These price 

changes are included in 

the updated lists. Prices 

charged at the time of 

your order will be taken 

from the most recent 

list. We will fax you an 

updated list anytime 

you request one. Spec’s 

cannot guarantee an 

arrival date for any 

particular wine. As 

always, all prices 

indicated in this offer 

include a 5% discount 

for “cash.” All orders 

are accepted subject to 

availability and 

confirmation. All wines 

are offered on a firstcome, 

first-served 

basis. Some wines are 

available only in 

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source: www.bordeaux.com


No matter who you are or how dispassionate 

you are in looking at wine, if you keep tasting and drinking you 

develop some favorites. Maybe you figure out that you like a particular region or chateau or 

the work of a particular winemaker. Maybe you do or don’t like mostly Cabernet Sauvignon or mostly 

Merlot. <strong>What</strong>ever the key is, you find some favorites – wines you appreciate from vintage to vintage and in which 

you consistently find enjoyment. I’ve been tasting and drinking Bordeaux for long enough now to have 

developed quite a few favorites. Actually, they are more than mere favorites; many of these properties 

have become old friends. With little regard to vintage, here is my take on them. 

Ch. Cos d’Estournel is a second growth from St. Estephe that until 1997 was always in the vanguard of the best of the so called “super seconds”. With 

the 1997 vintage, owner/winemaker Bruno Prats retired and sold out. His son Jean Guillaume Prats took over with a contract from the new owner. The 

1997, 1998, 1999, and, to a lesser extent, 2000 Cos d’Estournel were not bad wines but they did not live up to the reputation and prices of the winery. 

During this time, when you asked Jean Guillaume a question, the answer was likely to start with “My father does this …”. It was only a matter of time; 

Jean Guillaume Prats broke through in 2001 with an excellent wine that was better than his fine 2000. Then his 2002 topped the 2001. 

Now the 2003 has topped them both—and may be the best Cos d’Estournel ever. 

Cos is on a roll. (Now when you ask about the wines or the winemaking, Jean Guillaume says “I did…). He has confidence now and it shows in the 

wines. The last three vintages have each gained in elegance, finesse and perfume. Cos is not a blockbuster; rather it is an elegant, almost ethereal wine 

with a lovely tobacco and black fruit perfume, a hint of Asian spice, and great developmental potential. 

The second wine of Ch. Cos d’Estournel is Les Pagodes de Cos. 

By the way, the “s” in Cos is pronounced. “Cos” is a Medocaine (the old language of the Medoc) word for hill. Cos’ famous neighbors to the south – 

Lafite and Mouton – are on the next two hill tops and both reference their location in their names. Lafite actually comes from the conjunction of two 

words: “la hite” (the height). Mouton is a pun on mountain and mutton (Pauillac’s other famous crop after wine is lamb). 

Ch. Montrose (St. Estephe) and Ch. Beaumont (Haut Medoc) have always sold well in the Houston area if only due to their geographically familiar names. 

Montrose has the additional advantages of being both a top-flight property and St. Estephe’s other second growth (with Cos d’Estournel). While Cos 

d’Estournel was in its slump, Ch. Montrose was producing excellent wines in a bigger and richer style from vineyards on the gently sloping plain that looks 

across the Gironde estuary to the nuclear power plant in Blaye. That terroir yields wines with richness and spice (sometimes Asian spice like Cos) and even a 

bit of earthiness to go along with the very ripe black fruit and subtle tobacco and spice character. Montrose at its best is deep and satisfying. Le Dame de 

Montrose is the second wine of Ch. Montrose.

713-526-8787 

The beautiful chateau 

of Cos d’Estournel. 

It is widely known that 

Cos's first harvests were 

sold in India, where the 

wines graced the 

sumptuous tables of 

Maharajahs and 

Nabobs. The famous 

Pagodas which 

surmount Cos's cellars 

and door, sent from the 

palace of Zanzibar, 

symbolize this 

pioneering break out 

into the world trade. 

It took me awhile to learn to appreciate Pauillac first growth Ch. Lafite. Due to its weightless, even ethereal style, Ch. Lafite is difficult to evaluate young. As 

Lafite ages, it turns into that something so special that it can sit atop the Bordeaux pyramid with Latour, Margaux, Cheval Blanc, and Haut Brion. It took me a 

few years to see the path from point A to point B. Lafite is all about elegance and perfume, subtlety and integration. Nothing sticks out and everything fits. 

Lafite is not a blockbuster but it doesn’t lack power; it is just seamlessly integrated. The fruit is red and black and the perfume ranges across berries, tobacco, 

tea, berry liqueur, and gravelly-minerally earth. The second wine of Ch. Lafite is Carruades de Lafite. 

Leading first growth Ch. Latour is one of the three most consistently great properties in Bordeaux. I’ve never tasted a Latour I didn’t enjoy – and that includes 

some notorious vintages such as 1991. In great years, Ch. Latour is the blockbuster monster of the Medoc. In good years, it is still big and typical but director 

Frederic Engerer has the good sense and the finesse to scale it back so the wine fits the vintage. He makes the best Latour possible with what each vintage gives 

him while still being true to Latour. Latour is all about black fruit and ripeness with layers and layers of complexity from the fruit and soils and oak. I usually 

find black fruit, pencil shavings, tobacco, minerals, and subtle but present oak. When very young, the wines can have an almost painful intensity. When 

developed, Latour is sublime, rich, and endlessly fascinating to drink. Ch. Latour commercializes three wines: the Grand Vin de Ch. Latour, a second wine 

called Les Forts de Latour, and a third wine labeled Pauillac. Les Forts de Latour and Pavillon Rouge du Ch. Margaux are the best of the second wines of 

Bordeaux. Some Bordeaux aficionados refer to Les Forts as a second wine masquerading as a second growth. That’s actually not far from the truth. Latour’s 

Pauillac is more the equivalent of most other properties’ second wines. Both offer earlier drinking glimpses of the majesty of Latour at substantially lower prices. 

Tasting at first growth Ch. Mouton also brings tastes of fifth growth fellow Pauillacs d’Armailhac and Clerc Milon. All three are owned by Philippine Rothschild, 

daughter of the late Baron Philippe Rothschild. Mouton is usually a great ripe blockbuster of a wine that many tasters say (continued p. 20)


Steve Reynolds is best known 

as a producer of great 

Cabernet Sauvignon under the 

Reynolds and Gneiss labels. 

He also has a deft hand with 

Pinot Noir, making large scale 

wines in a uniquely American, 

decidely non-Burgundian style 

that emphasizes fruit and 

power without sacrificing 

elegance and complexity. 

These are lovely, pleasurefilled 

Pinots. 

REYNOLDS FAMILY WINERY Pinot Noir, Carneros, 2002 

$43.68 btl $486.77 case 12x750ml 

This is a big, fuller-bodied, rich style of Pinot Noir that emphasizes dark cherry fruit accented with notes of cola, cedar, and spice 

with hints of mixed berry (ripe raspberries) perfume. The texture and feel in the mouth are incredible. The wine is still developing 

and opens beautifully in the glass. For at least the next few months, this will benefit from being splashed into a decanter and lots of 

swirling in the glass. Excellent. Bear’s Score: 94 points. 

REYNOLDS FAMILY WINERY Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, 2002 $43.68 btl $486.77 case 12x750ml 

Another full-bodied Pinot Noir from Reynolds, this Russian River Valley winner offers ripe black cherry fruit with perfume from 

cherry and berry liqueur and violets. There is a richness of dark earth and chocolate with balancing mineral and cola notes. It is a 

very large scale Pinot with a lovely rich texture and succulent feel in the mouth. Long and alive, it develops for as long as you sip it. 

Delicious. Really Excellent. Bear’s Score: 95 points. 

CH. MONTELENA Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2000 

$28.25 btl $311.02 case 12x750ml 

This Montelena Cabernet is a blend of 80% Cabernet 

Sauvignon from near Calistoga and 20% Merlot from the 

Big Ranch Road area in the cooler southern part of Napa 

Valley aged in 20% new oak barrels. The 

So 

resulting wine is a spicy, ripe, juicy Cabernet packed with 

ripe dark berry Cab fruit accented with exotic spice, 

perfume, a hint of cherry and plum, and an herbal note 

between tea and tobacco. It is elegant, balanced, and 

complete. Excellent. Bear's Score: 93 points. (Please note: 

this is not the Ch. Montelena "Estate Bottled" Cabernet that 

sells for over twice this price. Nevertheless, this is a super 

bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet at a very good price.) 

CH. MONTELENA "30th Vintage" Chardonnay 

Napa Valley, 2001 $26.49 btl $291.57 case 12x750ml 

This night-picked (for cooler grapes and juice) 100% 

Chardonnay that was 71% "whole cluster" pressed 

undergoes no malolactic fermentation and gets only 15% 

new oak. The result is a decidedly age worthy, very 

focused Chardonnay that actually tastes of Chardonnay 

fruit with clean banana, pear, lime, and peach notes well 

integrated with a fine mineral component and just enough 

subtle oak to add structure without obscuring the fruit. 

Fine precise feel in the mouth. Lots of character. The 

finish lingers on and on. Very drinkable now but this is 

the rare California Chardonnay that will improve with 

aging for up to ten years. 

Excellent. Bear's Score: 92 points.

It is "not very often" that you walk into a Bordeaux negociant's office in Bordeaux and see a bottle of California wine, but that is just 

what happened when, on March 31st, I walked into the offices of Belland et Meneret and saw two bottles of l'Aventure Optimus. It 

was there that I learned that Stephan Asseo had been the owner and winemaker at the highly regarded Domaine de Courteillac in 

Bordeaux for fifteen years before selling out and moving to Paso Robles in California. Asseo's Bordeaux connections and financial 

partnership with M. Belland assure that people in Bordeaux are interested. People in Houston should be too. Asseo has broken free 

of the restraints of Bordeaux's AOC system and has embraced both the grapes and the place of Paso Robles. Now, instead of 

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, Asseo works with Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and Zinfandel and Petite Verdot 

and Petite Sirah, all often together in one wine. The result - ripe new world fruit and flavor informed by an old world sense of 

balance and structure - is alive in the glass and in the mouth. L'Aventure is the primary label from this property. Stephan Ridge is a 

second label reserved for good, earlier drinking wines that don't quite make the cut for the l'Aventure wines. 

STEPHAN RIDGE, PASO ROBLES, 2001 

$21.16 btl $235.73 case 12x750ml 

A still very young blend of 70% Syrah and 30% 

Cabernet Sauvignon aged 13 months in secondand-third-use 

French oak barrels and bottled 

unfined with a light filtration, this shows ripe 

black raspberry and blueberry fruit with notes 

of spicy pepper and dark flowers. Like its big 

brothers, it is slow to open but well worth the 

wait (and swirling). It comes alive in the glass. 


L'AVENTURE OPTIMUS RED 

PASO ROBLES, 2001 

$34.88 btl $384.02 case 12x750ml 

A 15.4 % alcohol blend of 47% Cabernet 

Sauvignon, 45% Syrah, 3% Petit Verdot and 

5% Zinfandel aged 15 month in 100% new 

French oak barrels and bottled unfiltered and 

unfined, this is still very young but is 

beginning to open up nicely. The fruit is 

chunky blackberry and red and black 

raspberry accented with complexity from 

cedar, tobacco, and pepper. Chewy with 

grapey fresh berry tannins, it is a bit rough but 

not at all inelegant. This is a huge wine that 

needs time to open up; it will benefit from 

a rough decanting. 

Excellent. Bear's Score: 92+ points. 

The stunning, top-of-the-line 

l'AVENTURE Estate Cuvee, 

Paso Robles, 2001 has sold 

out. Be on the lookout for 

the excellent-to-outstanding 

2002 and the L'Aventure 

Zinfandel 2001 due to arrive 

in the coming months. 

L'AVENTURE OPTIMUS RED 


$38.85 btl $427.71 case 12x750ml 

A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 

40% Syrah, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Zinfandel 

aged 15 month in 100% new French oak 

barrels and bottled unfiltered and unfined, 

this is rich and ripe with real weight and 

depth. Packed with well integrated dark fruit 

in the black cherry, black berry, black 

raspberry range with exotic spice and tobacco 

nuances, the flavors go on and on. Chewy, 

juicy, and rich, it has a lovely feel in the 

mouth. As big as it is, it remains somehow 

elegant. This is exciting wine. 


L'AVENTURE ESTATE SYRAH 


$38.63 btl $430.37 case 12x750ml 

100% Syrah aged in 100% new French oak 

barrels for 15 months, this is a juicy ripe, 

spicy, almost lush Syrah offering black fruit 

that leans toward ripe black raspberry with 

lots of other ripe berry and cherry nuance 

along with notes of earth and mixed white 

and black pepper and a hint of coffee 

grounds. It has a lovely texture and rich fine 

feel. Excellent. Bear's Score: 91 points. 

713-526-8787 

Only 700 cases were produced of 

this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 

aged almost three years in toasted 

American oak barrels. It is a rich 

dusty-juicy cabernet offering lots of 

black fruit with a nice cedar and 

tobacco complexity. The fruit 

and oak are integrating nicely. 

Medium-weight and elegant, 

the wine has a lovely 

texture and feel. This one 

has really come together 

over the last 6-8 months. 

Quite satisfying. 

Excellent. 

Bear's Score: 

94 points. 

ZD Cabernet 

Sauvignon 

Reserve, 

Napa Valley 

2000 

$96.99 btl 

$537.62 case 

6x750ml


Achaval-Ferrer is a small red-wine-only producer in Mendoza Argentina focusing exclusively on estate grown old-vine fruit. Partners 

Santiago Achaval and Manuel Ferrer Minetti have purchased four vineyards in differ 

ferent ent areas of Mendoza with old vines on them 

producing Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah. The estate's average yield is 1.3-tons-per-acre (as opposed 

to over 3-tons-per-acr 

-acre for many boutique California producers). Santiago Achaval says that the vineyards make the wines and that the 

winemaker's job is to express ess the character of their old vine fruit into the bottle. If Achaval-Ferrer's er's "Quimera" may be thought of as an 

ultimate expression ession of the whole of Mendoza terroir, the single vineyard Altamira Malbec is the expression ession of one very old vineyard. 

ACHAVAL-FERRER Quimera, Mendoza, 2001 

$33.50 btl $186.56 case 6x750ml 

Quimera is a blend of 54% old vine Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% old 

vine Malbec, and 22% Merlot (most of the grapes are from the estate 

but some come from vineyards under long term lease) aged in 90% 

French and 10% American oak barrels (1/3 new). The result is a 

dusty, rich, balanced red offering ample black fruit with notes of 

tobacco, dust, pencil-shavings, and Malbec spice. Deeply flavorful, it 

lingers in the mouth with fruit and dust to the end. In the glass, it 

slowly opens to reveal its perfume. Elegant, medium weight, 

balanced and complete. Excellent. Bear's Score: 94 points. 

ACHAVAL-FERRER Altamira Malbec, Mendoza, 2001 

$72.31 btl $402.88 case 6x750ml 

Made from 100% Malbec produced by 80+ year old vines grown 

on their own roots (ungrafted) in the famous la Consulta area 

aged in all new oak barrels (95% French and 5% American), this 

is a serious, perfumed, juicy-ripe Malbec. Beautifully integrated 

and absolutely complete, it is succulent with grapey black fruit 

balanced by notes of tobacco, dust, and pencil shavings with a 

perfume that rises through it offering cedar, vanilla, and 

potpourri. It lasts and lasts with a lovely feel in the mouth. Truly 

delicious. Outstanding. Bear's Score: 96+ points. 

After a few years of up-and-down quality, it seems that, with the 2002 vintage, Bouchaine has once again become 

a reliable producer of fine quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from their vineyard on Buchli Station Road in Carneros. 

Part of that renaissance is due to the introduction of a value-priced second wine—Buchli Station—with a colorful 

"lettuce box art" label that lets Bouchaine blend some of the better (and still very good) juice that doesn't make the 

cut to be in the Bouchaine labeled wines. 

BOUCHAINE Chardonnay, Carneros, 2002 

$15.13 btl $166.50 case 12x750ml 

100% Chardonnay fermented and aged in a mix of mostly French oak barrels (33% new), this is a minerally, well-focused, 

nicely balanced Chardonnay with good cool climate fruit showing notes of pineapple, sweet lemon, tropical lime, and 

pomegranate. It is very clean with a minerally terroir character. Almost Puligny-like. Excellent. Bear's Score: 91 points. 

BOUCHAINE Pinot Noir, Carneros, 2002 

$15.75 btl $175.50 case 12x750ml 

100% Pinot Noir aged 12 months in French oak barrels (approximately 40% new) results in a medium-weight Pinot 

featuring ripe red cherry fruit with notes of cocoa and earth and a hint of bitter cola nut. Very nicely balanced with a fine 

fresh feel. The fine fruit and perfume linger on. Excellent. Bear's Score: 91 points. 

BUCHLI STATION Chardonnay, California, 2002 

$10.15 btl $111.75 case 12x750ml 

A blend of grapes from Bouchaine's estate and from vineyards in Monterey and Edna Valley fermented 

in oak barrels (30% new) with a partial malolactic fermentation, this wine is flavorful, 

even rich, but in balance and well-focused with notes of tropical fruit, lime, and green 

pear. It is alive in the mouth with a long, clean finish. Fine. Bear's Score: 89+ points. 

BUCHLI STATION Pinot Noir, California, 2002 

$10.15 btl $111.75 case 12x750ml 

100% Pinot Noir fermented in small open top fermenters and aged eight months in a mix of French, 

US, and Hungarian oak barrels yields this mix of red and black cherry fruit with notes of cola, earth, 

and spice. Hints at raspberry and cranberry. Medium-weight and in balance. 

Lasts nicely with a bit of chewiness at the end. Fine. Bear's Score: 88+ points.

713-526-8787 

pictured below Chalone Chardonnay: 

Fog over Salinas Valley 

Winemaker Dan Karlsen 

Chalone is located in a natural bowl at 1700 feet on the western slope of Mount Chalone in the Gavilan Range above 

Monterey County's Salinas Valley. That unique location gives Chalone the thin, well-drained limestone-based soils, 

ample sunlight, and fairly cool temperatures that combine to create an almost ideal terroir for Chardonnay and 

Pinot Noir. Although Chalone has been a long time performer with a 

strong reputation, the current releases are the best young wines 

I've tasted from Chalone. They are delicious 

now and show the balance and acidity needed 

CHALONE Chardonnay 

Chalone AVA (Monterey) 2002 

$22.99 btl $256.10 case 12x750ml 

Harvested at 27 brix, this Chalone was barrel 

fermented and aged in French oak (30% new). 90% 

went through malolactic fermentation. The result of 

winemaker Dan Karlsen's technique and grapes from 

Chalone's unique terroir is the best Chalone 

Chardonnay ever. It is a vibrant juicy absolutely alive 

Chardonnay full of fruit but in thrilling balance. It 

offers a lively beam of tree fruit, pomegranate, and 

tropical fruit with a hint of minerally green banana. 

With great focus and a fine feel, it offers excellent 

fruit and texture in a thrilling balance. Super long, it 

stays vibrant to the end. Delicious and elegant. Really 

Excellent. Bear's Score: 94+ points. 

to improve with more time in 

the bottle. 

CHALONE Pinot Noir, Chalone AVA (Monterey), 2001 

$19.75 btl $219.96 case 12x750ml 

Harvested at 28 brix, this Chalone Pinot Noir was 

fermented in open top punch down tanks and aged 10 

months in French oak barrels (30% new). With all that, 

winemaker Dan Karlsen has made a lovely, well-integrated, 

complete Pinot Noir featuring fine mixed ripe red and black 

cherry fruit with notes of cola nut and black pepper and a 

subtle earthy-mineral terroir character. It is ripe and in 

balance with ample flavor and a fine feel in the mouth; 

good weight and a lovely, almost ethereal texture. The long 

finish offers perfume to the end. Delicious. This is a 

breakout wine. Excellent. Bear's Score: 92 points. 

CONDE de VELÁZQUEZ Chardonnay, Aconcagua Valley, 2002 $4.99 btl $56.39 case 12x750ml 

This balanced, flavorful Chardonnay shows good fruit and oak notes on the nose but the oak drops back and the ripe pear 

and lime fruit takes over in the mouth with a tell-tale hint of banana and a touch of bitter lime peel. A note of oak and some 

richness come back in on the finish. Clean and balanced, it is a very nice drink. Very Good. Bear's Score: 86 points. 

CONDE de VELÁZQUEZ Cabernet Sauvignon, Aconcagua Valley, 2002 4.99 btl $56.39 case 12x750ml $ 

Here's a very fruit-oriented Cabernet with ripe grapey Cabby fruit balanced with some oak and cedar and dusty earth notes 

and a hint of herbs. It is in balance and flavorful with a nice texture and a clean finish. Very Good. Bear's Score: 85+ points. 

CONDE de VELÁZQUEZ Merlot, Aconcagua Valley, 2002 $4.99 btl $56.39 case 12x750ml 

This is a ripe, balanced, black cherry fruit-oriented Merlot made very much in the new fruit-forward California style 

(a la Blackstone and Bogle). It is smooth and supple in the mouth with plenty of sweet fruit and a juicy-fresh texture. 

Very tasty and quite accessible; almost glugable. Very Good. Bear's Score: 86+ points. 

Sometimes I'll taste through a 

line of wines and decide I like 

the cheaper wines in the line 

better than the fancier, higher 

priced wines in the line. This 

is often because the cheap 

wines show little or no effect 

from oak barrels. This allows 

the fruit to shine while the 

fancier blends may be overoaked 

so the fruit is all but 

obscured. Such is the case 

with the Conde de Velázquez 

wines from the Aconcagua 

Valley in Chile. I bought the 

basic Chardonnay, Cabernet 

Sauvignon, and Merlot but 

turned down the fancier midlevel 

stuff. They were OK... 

but the cheaper wines tasted 

better and offered much more 

value. We'll taste the 

upper-tier wines soon.

Due to some of the same strange market 

dynamics that allow for sub-$10 Napa Cabernet, 

we currently have great deals on two great 

Beringer Cabernets: the outstanding 1999 

Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 

and the Excellent 2001 Beringer Knights Valley 

Cabernet Sauvignon. 

BERINGER Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 

Napa Valley, 1999 

$58.99 btl $353.94 case 6x750ml 

This is an elegant, medium-weight, well-balanced, 

beautifully perfumed Cabernet featuring lovely 

dark berry and cherry fruit with complexity from 

tobacco and cedar. Succulent and delicious with a 

lovely feel in the mouth, the wine is complete and 

perfectly integrated; everything fits. Deep, 

flavorful, and absolutely alive through the long 

perfumed finish, it is quite elegant and even 

ethereal. For me at least, it pushes all the right 

buttons. Outstanding. Bear’s Score: 96+ points. 

BERINGER Cabernet Sauvignon, Knights Valley, 

2000 $13.99 btl $167.88 case 12x750ml 

100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Knights 

Valley, this well-balanced, medium-weight red 

shows red and black cherry and dark berry fruit 

with dusty oak and sweet spice notes and hints of 

potpourri, tobacco, and cedar. The texture and 

feel are dusty dry. The dry finish lingers with oak 

dust and sweet berry perfume to the end. 

Excellent. Bear's Score: 

91 points. 

96+ 

points 

While sipping our bubbly we were shown 

around the winery. I don’t think I could 

ever see too many wine vats, crusher destemmer 

machines or barrels. The 

atmosphere of a winery with that musky 

smell is one of the things that can transport 

you to a different level. It evokes a romance 

between the earth, the fruit and the wine, 

and you find yourself somehow involved 

with the whole process. It’s very mystical. 

After the tour, Joy came up to each of us 

with two baskets filled with corks. The 

women drew from one basket, and the men 

drew a cork from the second basket. The 

corks had numbers written on them. We 

didn’t know what this was for until we 

went to the tables that had been set up for 

lunch. At each place, there was another 

cork with a number on it. To find our seats 

we had to match the numbers. It was 

really an ingenious way to seat people. 

Each table had bottles of wine, opened and 

ready for us. Iron Horse Cuvee R, a blend 

of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier was my 

favorite. Perhaps it was the dedication to 

Forrest’s mother on the back label that 

drew me on Mother’s Day. 

by Lindy Rydman 

Sonoma California doing what we like best: enjoying food and wine. The day was simply beautiful 

with a light, cool breeze. We, and a group of wine retailers from around the country were the guests of 

Joy Sterling and Forrest Tancer, the owners and wine maker for Iron Horse Vineyards. We were met 

with a glass of Iron Horse Brut, a light, crisp sparkling wine that went down easily in the spring sun... 

Iron Horse Brut Sparkling 1998 

750 ml $22.29 

Iron Horse Cuvee R 2001 

750 ml $17.33 

Iron Horse Chardonnay 2000 

750 ml $19.75 

Iron Horse Estate Bottled Pinot Noir 

2000 

750 ml $24.31 

Or perhaps it was the delicious taste that 

did it. It was light and clean with a 

smooth finish that went especially well 

with our salad of fresh fava beans lightly 

dressed with olive oil and Parmesan 

cheese. The Cuvee R would be great for a 

party wine because it’s equally good with 

or without food. The Iron Horse 

Chardonnay was our second choice of 

white wines. This Chardonnay is rich 

and luscious, but fresh enough to go 

with a salad. Again, this wine is easy to 

drink and would be good with a variety 

of foods. 

Grilled Kobe beef with boiled potatoes 

and arugula dressed with truffle oil and 

garlic followed the salad course. The Iron 

Horse Estate Bottled Pinot Noir was 

perfect with it. Deep purple in color with 

a satiny finish, you could smell black 

cherries and exotic spices. It’s a truly 

elegant wine without being “fussy” or too 

highfalutin'. 

We whiled away the afternoon enjoying 

the company of our hosts. It was a 

glorious day.

713-526-8787 

By Charles M. Bear Dalton 

Do your reds have a fever Do your whites have the 

chills I've said it before and I'll say it again: wine tastes 

better when it is served at the right temperature. So 

what's the right temperature It is NOT room 

temperature for reds and refrigerator temperature for 

whites. At typical Houston summer room temperatures 

(75-78°), red wines feel warm and the alcohol dominates 

the aromatics. At typical refrigerator temperature (34- 

38°), white wines (and rose and Champagne) are too 

cold to release much in the way of aroma and flavor. 

Red wines should always be served at cellar temperature 

(55-60°). At 60°, the fruit aromas are able to show their 

best and the alcohol is muted. The wines both taste 

better and feel better in the mouth. This is particularly 

important with today's higher alcohol, riper-style red 

wines. It is much better to serve reds a little bit too cool 

rather than any bit too warm. They will gradually (or in 

Houston in the summer maybe not so gradually) warm 

up in "room temperature" surroundings. 

By the same token, white wines should be removed from 

the refrigerator and allowed to warm up a bit so that they 

are in the 45-48° range when they are served. That ten 

degrees makes all the difference in the world as to the 

flavors and aromatics of a white wine and how the wine 

feels in the mouth. I can think of no wine I'd ever 

intentionally serve colder than 45°. A rich, full-bodied 

Chardonnay from California or Burgundy might even be 

better served as warm as 55° (the minimum temperature 

for serving red wines). 

Knowing the right temperature and serving the wines at 

the right temperature are two different things. So how do 

you get the wines to the right temperature The best way 

is to have temperature controlled wine storage. It doesn't 

have to be a wine room or closet or even an armoir-sized 

unit. There are 24 and 30 bottle units available that are 

smaller than a dishwasher. Once you get used to having 

one of these and serving your wines at the right 

temperature, you'll wonder how you ever made it 

without one. 

If temperature controlled storage is not practical for you, 

there are other ways. Cool reds off quickly by decanting 

them into a glass carafe you keep in the freezer. The 

frozen carafe will quickly cool the wine which can then 

be poured from the carafe into glasses. It is a good idea to 

keep a plastic bag over the open end of the carafe with a 

rubber band to keep it sealed to keep any "off" aromas 

from accumulating in the carafe. Also, plastic ice cubes 

added to a glass of already poured too-warm red will get 

things back in order without diluting the wine. 

Unfortunately, refrigerator temperature whites just take a 

while to warm up. One piece of good news is that they 

do warm up faster in the glass than they do in the bottle. 

If they get too warm too soon, just add a couple of the 

aforementioned plastic ice cubes and you are set. 

If you follow this advice, your wines will taste better 

and be more refreshing. You'll be drinking better and 

enjoying your wine more without spending any more 

money. 

BECKMEN 

Cuvee Le Bec, 

Santa Ynez 

2002 

$12.92 bottle $143.91 case 

12x750ml 

A very Chateauneuf-like blend of 46% 

Grenache. 23% Mourvedre, 22% Syrah, 

and 9% Counoise, this is a lovely, 

succulent red that splits the difference 

between the southern Rhone and 

Aussie GSM wines. It offers fine grapey 

mixed berry fruit accented with mixed 

black and white pepper, spice, and a bit 

of earthy terroir charater. It is wellintegrated 

enough to be hard to 

describe but it is very easy to drink. 

Lovely wine. Excellent. 

Bear's Score: 92 points. 

IRONSTONE 

Xpression, 

California 

2003 

$5.77 bottle $64.25 case 12x750ml 

It doesn't matter whether you treat this 

as a dark, rich rose or a light-weight 

chillable red. <strong>What</strong> you get is a fresh, 

refreshing light-weight, semi-dry wine 

offering good cherry, cranberry, and 

strawberry fruit with notes of earth 

and black pepper and just enough 

residual sugar to make it very 

refreshing and allow it to accompany 

spicy foods. I think of it as a fairly 

serious semi-dry rose. Keep an open 

mind and serve it with spicy gumbo or 

jambalaya, spicy fried chicken, or 

outdoor dining that requires a cool or 

even cold "red" wine. Surprisingly 

delicious. Very Good. Bear's Score: 

86+ points.



has an almost California style, due to ripe blackberry fruit with lots of cedar and tobacco and even pencil shavings, along with dusty gravelly terroir notes and 

a healthy dose of oak. Some of this style extends to the lesser siblings Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac. I tend to like the less expensive d’Armailhac better as a 

barrel sample and for the first five or so years after the vintage than its sibling Clerc Milon. After five or so years, Clerc Milon seems to pass d’Armailhac and 

continue to develop. To me, d’Armailhac has more power and fruit while Clerc has more elegance and balance. 

In 1926, a large part of the famous Pauillac second growth Ch. Pichon Longueville was sold. The new property was called Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de 

Lalande and is now widely known as Pichon Lalande. The unsold portion then became Ch. Pichon Longueville Baron de Longueville and is now widely known 

as Pichon Baron. The two chateaux face each other across the main road from St. Julien to Pauillac. Although they are formerly one property, the wines are quite 

different. Pichon lalande is an elegant, somehow feminine wine with an ethereal, perfumed character. It is much easier to evaluate in the second and third years 

than in the first where it is often overlooked due to its unforthcoming nature. Ch. Pichon Baron went through an underperforming slump until it was 

purchased by AXA in the 1980s. AXA installed Lynch Bages owner Jean Michel Cazes to manage the property. He quickly got things in order. With its juicyripe, 

straight forward, classically Pauillac style, Pichon Baron has since taken its place among the best of the second growths. It is always interesting to see 

which of the Pichons made the best wine in a particular vintage. In most vintages, both Pichons offer the complete package. The second wine of Pichon Lalande 

is Reserve de la Comtesse. The second wine of Pichon Baron is les Tourelles de Longueville. 

Affectionately known as “Lunch Bags”, Ch. Lynch Bages is owned and run by University of Texas-ex (yes, really) Jean Michel Cazes. A classic Pauillac featuring 

dark berry fruit, a berry liqueur perfume, dust, pencil shavings, and tobacco, Lynch Bages is an over achiever that routinely makes better wine than its fourth 

growth status would indicate. An added bonus is that the gregarious Cazes travels to Houston at least every couple of years to present and talk about his wines. 

The second wine of Lynch Bages is Haut Bages Averous. 

Fifth growth Ch. Batailley used to be a lot bigger, encompassing the vineyards of Haut Batailley as well those that are now its own. When the property was 

split, the existing chateau went with the Batailley name. Ch. Batailley is classic old style Pauillac. It rarely gets great marks when tasted young (it also never gets 

bad marks) but it is the sort of wine, like Gruaud Larose in St. Julien, that really rewards the time you cellar it with development and improved flavor. When I 

think of Batailley, I think of black fruit, pencil shavings, and tobacco with a rich but rustic feel. Ch. Batailley just tastes good every time I drink it. 

The Borie family have long owned Chx. Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien, Grand Puy Lacoste Pauillac, Haut Batailley Pauillac, and Lalande Borie St. Julien. Until the 

2003 vintage Francois Xavier Borie managed all four properties. The chateaux are listed above in the order of their precedence, with second growth Ch. Ducru 

Beaucaillou being the undisputed flagship property. At all four chateaux, the wines made under Francois Xavier’s regime were true to their appellations and 

often among the best in their classes. All are elegant, balanced wines that show plenty of fruit character and never had any harsh, over-extracted characteristics 

sometimes seen when a wine maker is trying too hard to make a great wine. Through the nineties and into this decade, the wines have improved vintage by 

vintage. With the 2003 vintage, older brother Bruno Borie has returned to the chateaux side of the Borie family's business. The brothers have split 

responsibilities and now each runs two of the chateaux. Bruno Borie has the two St. Juliens and Francois Xavier Borie has the two Pauillacs. 

Francois Xavier (who lives with his wife and children at Grand Puy Lacoste) is working to further improve the two fifth growth Pauillac chateaux as he focuses 

in on Grand Puy Lacoste and Haut Batailley. When I think of these two Pauillacs, I think of dark, ripe but still forward fruit and complexity in the pencil 

shavings and tobacco range with a gravelly-minerally nuance. Grand Puy Lacoste is a bit bigger and richer and a bit more intense due to its better terroir. Ch. 

Haut Batailley has long been a personal favorite as a Pauillac priced where I can drink it on a fairly regular basis. The second labels of both properties will 

become more important as more severe selection is made to make the first wines from both chateaux even better. The second label of Ch. Grand Puy Lacoste is 

Ch. Lacoste Borie. The second wine of Ch. Haut Batailley is Ch. Tour d’Aspic. All four of these wines are well worth seeking out. 

Spec’s is one of the first to bring Tour d’Aspic to the US. 

Bruno Borie seems to be changing the style of the formerly very elegant, perfumed Ducru Beaucaillou to something more like the rich style of Margaux’s Ch. 

Palmer. In 2003, he has succeeded in making a very good rich style wine that represents a departure onto a new path for Ducru Beaucaillou. The wine is 

excellent but it doesn’t taste quite like the great Ducrus I remember from 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2000. As this style change will change the way Ducru tastes 

and develops, this chateau’s track record is now largely out the window. The fact is that Ducru has great terroir and the wines should continue to be very high 

in quality. The 2nd wine of Ch. Ducru Beaucaillou is Croix de Beaucaillou.The unclassified Ch. Lalande Borie offers a juicy fresh, easy drinking style of St. 

Julien that I find very enjoyable. It also seems to be getting a bit better with each vintage.

713-526-8787 

There are three Leovilles: Leoville Barton, Leoville Poyferre, and Leoville las Cases. It used to be one large property that got divided into the current three 

estates. All three are classed as second growths. The three estates make their wines differently and each has admirers. Leoville Barton and Leoville Poyferre use 

their terroir to make ripe, generous, forwardly appealing wines with typical sweet St. Julien Cabernet fruit. They have the potential to age and develop 

beautifully. Both wines are a pleasure to drink at almost any age. Leoville las Cases is a different animal altogether. Las Cases tries very hard to be a "serious 

wine" as its owner would like to see it become a first growth. To that end, he makes powerful brooding backward wines that are serious but at least to me are 

not much fun to drink. I haven’t had a Leoville las Cases younger than 1981 that I thought was ready to drink. I wonder if some of them ever will be. To be 

fair, Leoville las Cases has many admirers and Robert Parker may be chief amongst them.The second wine of Leoville Poyferre is Moulin Riche. The second 

wine of Leoville Las Cases is Clos du Marquis. Technically speaking, Leoville Barton doesn’t have a second wine. 

Anthony Barton owns both Ch. Langoa Barton and Ch. Leoville Barton. As Leoville Barton does not have its own chateau, the wines are made at Langoa 

Barton. Nevertheless, Langoa Barton is sometimes lost in Leoville Barton’s shadow and that is a shame. In their own right, the wines of third growth Langoa are 

fine mid-range St. Juliens. While not so excellent as the second growth Leovilles, Ducru, or Gruaud, they are consistently fine and usually are very fairly priced. 

Unlike some of his neighbors, Anthony Barton is a realist about wine prices. Barton combines the second wines of Langoa Barton and Leoville Barton into one 

cuvee called Lady Langoa which is seldom seen in the US. 

Old Bordeaux hands will tell you that second growth Gruaud Larose rewards patient aging as well as any wine from Bordeaux. And they are right. I’ve had lots 

of young Gruauds that wanted a bit more fruit or a bit more complexity. I’ve never had an old Gruaud I wasn’t thrilled with. The property is all about finesse 

and balance and elegance. Somehow, the fruit always emerges and the perfume comes on. This is the chateau to buy to keep. 

First growth Ch. Margaux is gorgeous. And the wines from Ch. Margaux are gorgeous. They are powerful but feminine with a luxurious but subtle perfume and a 

texture somewhere between Lafite’s weightlessness and Latour’s power. The fruit is red and black and the complexity is in the tobacco and pencil shavings range 

with a very subtle earth note. Of all Bordeaux chateaux, Margaux has the power most often to transport me in the same way that great art or great music does. 

Margaux’s Second Label is Pavillon Rouge du Ch. Margaux. There is also a 100% Sauvignon Blanc white grown on the estate called Pavillon Blanc du Ch. Margaux. 

Second growth Ch. Rauzan Segla began a renaissance in 1994 when the property was purchased by Chanel and John Kolasa (formerly of Ch. Latour) was 

installed as director. Chanel spent more refurbishing the vineyards, expanding and improving the winery and remodeling the chateau than they spent buying 

the property. Rauzan Segla (formerly “Rausan Segla” – Chanel “reclaimed the zede”) is now a showplace in all senses: Viticulturally, viniculturally, and from an 

architecture and design standpoint. The wines had slumped badly in quality before Chanel. John Kolasa’s first task was to blend an acceptable wine from the 

1993 that was in barrel. He did so by creating a second wine, Segla, and selling unsuitable barrels in bulk. Now Rauzan Segla averages 40-45% Grand Vin, 

35-45% Segla, and 10-25% wine that does not make the cut and is sold on the bulk Bordeaux market as generic Margaux with no right to the chateau’s name. 

Kolasa’s improvements include new tanks that fit each vineyard block, large new plantings of Petite Verdot, improved drainage in all the vineyards, and much 

more. The results are impossible to argue with. Rauzan Segla is a classy, balanced, flavorful wine with classic Margaux perfume made in a medium-weight, 

decidedly non-blockbuster but absolutely lovely style. This chateau has not had a single misstep under the current management. 

Most Bordeaux aficionados would argue that Ch. Haut Brion and Ch. La Mission Haut Brion are numbers one and two in the Graves pecking order. They are 

located directly across the road from one another (on the “Haut Brion Plateau”) and both are owned by the Dillon family, who also own La Mission’s next-door 

neighbor Ch. La Tour Haut Brion. When you taste at Haut Brion or La Mission, you taste all three of these wines plus Bahans Haut Brion (the second wine of 

Haut Brion) and la Chapelle de la Mission (the second wine of La Mission Haut Brion) and the two whites from the flagship properties, Ch. Haut Brion Blanc 

and Laville Haut Brion. This is one of my favorite stops every year on the Bordeaux wine tour. The wines are always at least fine, often excellent, and more than 

occasionally outstanding.The reds are a balanced mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. They reflect that balance with a great mix of berry, 

cherry, and plum fruit swirled with gravelly minerals and a distinctive tobacco and cedar perfume. The results are the standard for the rest of Pessac Leognan 

(the best part of Graves).The whites are balanced blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon that are barrel-fermented and aged and undergo full malolactic 

fermentation. They are often stunning in their richness and focus with tropical lime and pear fruit and the essences of peach and lemon, sweet oak, and a 

distinctive gravelly mineral character. As rich as they are, they are balanced with lively lime acidity and that swirl of minerality. The second wines of the two 

whites are blended into one label and marketed as Plantiers du Haut Brion.


Administrator Veronique Sanders (daughter of the former owners) has quietly made Ch. Haut Bailly one of the hot properties 

in Pessac Leognan. Producing only red wine, Haut Bailly is year-in-and-year-out one of the best new wines of the appellation. 

Older vintages age gracefully gaining a rich texture to go with great elegance and finesse. The fruit is mostly dark berry with 

some red cherry and a lovely tobacco and earth perfume. I doubt Haut Bailly will ever be trendy but it is always satisfying. 

The second wine is La Parde. 

As far back in my wine drinking life as I can remember, Ch. Smith Haut Lafitte in Pessac Leognan has been a favorite 

producer of both red and white wines. The reds are elegant, balanced, full flavored, medium-weight clarets. The freshly 

balanced whites, predominantly Sauvignon Blanc with enough Semillon for fatness, display fresh white peach, green pear, 

and lime fruit with hints of tropical character and a lovely fruit-mineral perfume. 

Andre Lurton owns Ch. La Louviere. And Ch. Couhins Lurton. And Ch. Cruzeau, and Ch. Rochemorin, and 

Ch. Coucheroy, and Ch. Bonnet, etc. The beautifully restored La Louviere is the flagship property. La Louviere makes an 

earthy rich red wine with a slightly rustic but still elegant, balanced feel. The white is a bit more rich than refreshing but still 

full of fruit flavor and subtle, supple oak over the minerals of Graves. Both are very satisfying. La Louviere is a favorite but 

Lurton’s other properties are all well worth a look, especially from a value standpoint. The pioneering Lurton will 

bottle La Louviere’s 2003s with a Stelvin (screw-cap) closure. 

Ch. Carbonnieux makes red wine from Pessac Leognan but is best known in the US for its reference standard white 

made mostly from Sauvignon Blanc. This white is all about freshness and perfume with crisply balanced bright citrus and 

tree fruit over minerals and acid structure, all with no discernable oak flavor. This is a year-in-year-out favorite that will sell 

only a few cases as futures but does very well off the shelf on release. Thomas Jefferson took a pecan tree 

to Carbonnieux that is still growing there. 

Owned by the Thienpont family and made by Alexandre Thienpont, visiting Vieux Ch. Certan (VCC) in Pomerol is more like 

visiting Burgundy except the trip to the cellar does not involve going down a flight of stairs. Everything is small here: The 

average production is 4000 cases. In 2003, VCC made only 800 cases. The estate is unique in Pomerol in that it is planted 

with about 40% Cabernet Franc to accompany the 60% Merlot. The very high proportion of Cabernet Franc gives the wine 

complexity, elegance, and dimension. The flavors are subtle cherry and plum fruit with a perfume that runs from tobacco to 

berry liqueur. The wine often bears more resemblance to Cheval Blanc (across the border in St. Emilion) with which VCC 

shares both similar terroir and that high proportion of Cabernet Franc. 

The 2nd wine of VCC is Gravette de Certan. Both VCC and Gravette are very pretty wines. 

I often stop first at Ch. Cheval Blanc (one of the acknowledged two great wines—with Ch. Ausone—of St. Emilion) 

and next at VCC—or vice versa. That habit has convinced me of how close these two properties are in style and quality. 

The differences are more of scale than style. Cheval Blanc is a bit better structured and may be more 

age-worthy; VCC is prettier and more perfumed. 

The second wine of Cheval Blanc is Petite Cheval. 

Hubert de Bouard, longtime owner of Ch. Angelus in St. Emilion, also owns Ch. La Fleur St. Georges in Lalande de Pomerol. 

Angelus, like Cheval Blanc and Canon la Gaffeliere, is planted to a relatively high volume of Cabernet Franc and so makes a 

more elegant, balanced (are you starting to see a theme here) style than your run-of-the-mill St. Emilion. (continued p. 23)

713-526-8787 


Bouard’s wine is particularly elegant. Quality here is very high due to meticulous attention to detail and great professionalism and pride. 

He translates that care and style to Lalande de Pomerol with three wines from the La Fleur St. Georges. The original wine from the chateau is called Ch. La Fleur St. Georges. 

When walking the vineyard after he purchased LA Fleur St. Georges, Bouard noticed a natural break where the soil changed. He harvested and fermented the two sides of 

the break separately and realized he had two distinct terroirs yielding two distinct wines that were each better unblended with the other. He sells the more classic wine as 

Ch. Lafleur St. Georges and the richer wine as Ch. La Fleur de Bouard. He has further made a luxury cuvee selection of the La Fleur de Bouard section that he calls Le Plus 

de Ch. La Fleur de Bouard. Each is unique and different and the latter two get a great deal of attention as the new wave of Lalande de Pomerol and even favorable mention 

versus more expensive wines from Pomerol. I think the basic La Fleur St. Georges is a great value and offers the sort of balanced, 

non-showy wine I want for regular drinking with meals. 

The always dapper Count Niepperg owns Canon La Gaffeliere, Clos de l’Oratoire, and La Mondotte in St. Emilion and Ch. d’Aiguilhe in Cotes de Castillon and Clos 

Marsalette in Pessac Leognan. In addition to his ownership and the care and attention to detail and striving for excellence that comes with that, all five properties share the 

facts that they are all over 60% Merlot and that they are made by Stefan Derenoncourt. There may be no one in St. Emilion with a more deft hand with Merlot than 

Derenoncourt. The wines are made with Burgundian punch down (pigeage) technique in Burgundian (wide, shallow, open-topped) tanks. They are barrel aged but generally 

not racked; instead they are gently oxygenated using microbiolage. The result is rich but balanced wines that retain their primary fruit flavors and demonstrate an almost 

Burgundian level of terroir character in the finished wine. 

Madame Claude La Barre, a former partner in Ch. Cheval Blanc, owns Ch. Laplagnotte Bellevue in St. Emilion. She brings that high level pursuit of excellence and the 

expectation of quality with her. For several years now, Ch. Laplagnotte Bellevue is my favorite sub-$30 wine from St. Emilion. The familiar themes of elegance and balance 

are there in a wine that shows fine red fruit flavors accented by hints of terroir, tobacco, and, in ripe vintages, cedar. This is always a pleasure to drink. Older vintages have 

proven to age well with good development to repay the time invested keeping the wine in the cellar. 

Jean Gazaniol, the owner of Ch. Parenchere, may be the straightest shooter I’ve met in the wine business. He tells it the way he sees it and doesn’t worry about the politics. 

Although located in a relative backwater of Bordeaux in an obscure, right bank area well below St. Emilion, Ch. Parenchere is blessed with fine terroir which allows 

Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen in an area where it normally doesn’t. And Gazaniol lavishes the same care and technique found at classified growths on the left bank on the 

production of his estate. Three wines are made: a delightful rose labeled Ch. Parenchere Clairet, the flagship red wine of the estate labeled Ch. Parenchere, and an old vine 

cuvee labeled Ch. Parenchere Cuvee Raphael Gazanoil. These excellent everyday-priced Bordeaux values are not offered as futures. 

Ch. Puygueraud in the Cotes de Francs (which abuts the Cotes de Castillon which abuts St. Emilion) is the home of the Thienpont family who also own Ch. le Pin and 

Vieux Ch. Certan. Puygueraud is an every-day priced red based on Merlot with some Cabernet Franc and Malbec typically in the blend. This charming wine is fruit driven 

with a rich texture. It is a consistent favorite in the range of lower priced Bordeaux. The chateau also makes a special cuvee called Georges Cuvee de Ch. Puygueraud which 

is built around old vine Malbec. It is a dusty, rich, spicy cuvee with plenty of fruit and a bit more terroir character. 

drinking the wines from all these properties 

both great and small. Even if I could afford to 

drink nothing but the great growths of the 

Medoc, I wouldn’t. There is so much good wine 

out there in every price range with a huge range 

of flavors and styles, it would be a shame to limit 

myself to any few. I’d almost feel as if I had been 

cut-off from old friends because I’ve gotten to 

know all these chateaux and their wines very 

well over the years. —Bear Dalton

ABOUT THE ACCOMPANYING SCORES: 

Accompanying the wines listed in these offers are scores listed under “Parker’s 

Score”; these are from Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s The Wine Advocate. Those scores 

listed under “Spectator Score" are from The Wine Spectator. Those scores listed 

under “Tanzer's Score" are from Stephen Tanzer’s The International Wine Cellar. 

Spec's encourages our customers interested in wine to subscribe to these fine 

publications. The Wine Advocate can be contacted for subscriptions by phone at 

410-329-6477. The Wine Spectator may be contacted for new subscriptions by 

phone at 1-800-752-7799. The International Wine Cellar may be contacted by phone 

at 1-800-946-3505. 

"Bear's Scores” are taken from my tasting notes made during trips to Bordeaux for 

the Union des Grands Crus Tastings in late March (2003 and 2004).—Bear Dalton 

sure to impress whover is on your list, without 

impressing too much upon your wallet! Our Wine Department is one of the 

most knowledgeable in the industry, and they will send two bottles of wine, 

carefully chosen from our incredible selection, along with complete descriptions 

of the wines, possible food pairings and even appropriate toasts. Choose 

Monthly or Semi-Monthly—you will be appreciated throughout the year! 

MONTHLY 

Two bottles of 

wine every month 

SEMI-MONTHLY 

Two bottles of wine 

every other month 

455.99 227.99 

new basic red 

argentina 

VINA ANTIGUA 

Sangiovese-Bonardo, Maipu, 2002 

3.99 btl 45.48 case 

Try this value-priced blend of Sangiovese 

and Bonardo from Argentina's Maipu 

district. It offers spicy cherry fruit with 

good ripeness, nice notes of earth and 

spice and a dusty dry, chewy 

character. This super value is perfect 

as an everyday red for pizza, pasta, 

burgers, or whatever. Very Good. 

Bear's Score: 85 points. 12x750ml 

NORTH/NORTHWEST 

5050 FM 1960 West 281-893-5080 

6765 Hwy 6 North 281-855-1759 

1420 Kingwood Dr. 281-359-7115 

7413 Louetta 281-370-1986 

13313 Kuykendahl 281-873-5220 

25044 IH 45 North 281-362-9131 

17414 Northwest Frwy 713-983-8827 

27620 Highway 249 281-351-6007 

SOUTH/SOUTHEAST/EAST 

1029 Bay Area Blvd 281-486-9558 

3120 Nasa Rd One 281-326-5127 

NOW 

OPEN! 

SPEC'S NEIGHBORHOOD STORES: 

196 Gulf Freeway South 281-316-2140 

8714 Stella Link 713-667-7277 

2314 W. Holcombe 713-669-1722 

Woodforest @ BWY 8 713-637-7327 

WEST/SOUTHWEST 

7766 Hwy 6 South 281-530-2595 

3335 Hwy 6 South 281-313-4444 

11990 Westheimer 281-497-0413 

8102 Westheimer 713-780-2573 

1640 S. Mason Road 281-395-6262 

963 Bunker Hill 713-464-2216 

14625 Memorial 281-870-9778 

ATASCOCITA: 7034 FM 1960 East 281-812-3100 

BEAUMONT: 5876 Eastex Freeway 409-835-5931 

Prices advertised include Spec’s 5% discount for cash. 

All bottles are 750 ml unless otherwise specified. Not all 

products may be available at all locations, some prices 

may vary and are subject to change. Hours of operation are 

10:00 am to 9:00 pm, Monday through Saturday, or visit us 

on the web at www.specsonline.com

What I Tasted on My Spring Break - SPEC's Liquors

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