41 Capichera 2001
Mantenghja
(Isola dei Nuraghi, Italy); $91.
Dark as night, with licorice, lavender and blackberry aromas that are truly impressive. The palate is beyond deep, with over-the-top flavors of wild berry marmalade and chocolate. No surprise that it manages to finish in massive fashion. A total stud of a Carignan from Sardegna. Good 2010 and beyond.

42 Taylor Fladgate
NV 40-Year-Old Tawny Port
(Portugal); $154.
A superb wine, elegance and weight combined magisterially. It has all the right mature flavors, ripe fruit, intense marmalade and concentration. This is a wine with a great reputation, and the taste doesn't let that reputation down.

44 Von Othegraven 2004
Kanzem Altenberg
First Growth Riesling
Eiswein (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer); $250./375 ml
Words hardly do this wine justice. It's unctuous almost beyond the point of being wine...offering a mèlange of dried fruits and honey that ooze over every taste bud, filling the pores of your mouth and then releasing sugar and flavor for minutes afterward. And the aromas aren't too shabby either, giving up intense scents of dried apricots and orange marmalade, tinged with tea-like notes that add a sense of lightness and complexity.

45 Soos Creek 2003
Champoux Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia Valley); $30.
You'll find this underrated producer offers wines with wonderful density and concentration, ripely balanced, plummy, mixed red fruits, and elegantly astringent tannins. There is real winemaking craft on display here, every detail beautifully rendered, substantial but not out of whack in any way. The fragrant, evocative results showcase the fruit but also buttress it with properly managed acids, tannins and new oak.

46 Schild Estate 2004
Ben Schild Reserve
Shiraz (Barossa, Australia); $48.
This is a big, lush, lavishly oaked wine that nonetheless pulls it all together with balance and elegance. Inky black in color, it leads with a blast of toasty, mentholated oak on the nose, backed by waves of blueberries and mint. Then the flavors call to mind dark chocolate and coconut, accented by almonds and the recurring blueberries. It's creamy-textured and finishes long, with supple tannins that deftly dry your palate; they're almost unnoticeable yet still provide structure.
Drink now - 2012, maybe longer.

47 Bressan 2003
Pinot Grigio (Venezia Giulia); $40.
Amidst the sea of copycat Grigios one exception stands out. It starts with a deep golden color and a nose ripe with toasted almond, pine box, caramel and maple syrup. Compactly structured, smooth and silky with lingering spice from barrel aging.

49 Antinori 2001
Pian delle Vigne
(Brunello di Montalcino); $65.
Blockbuster Brunello that is welcoming and inviting no matter how you cut it. The aromatic portfolio is luscious and intense with sweet bread, cinnamon, chewy cherry, raspberry roll-up, dried oregano, cassis and blueberry. Concentrated and creamy, this brand is easy to find at retail.

50 Casa Lapostolle 2003
Clos Apalta
(Colchagua Valley, Chile); $65.
Dense as a brick, with deep blackberry, prune, earth and chocolate aromas. Huge and multilayered, but already exhibiting perfect structure and integrated oak and spice flavors. Pure and exact; along with the 2001 this is Clos Apalta at its finest.