Château Coutelin-Merville, Saint-Estèphe

When it comes to fine Bordeaux, Saint-Estèphe, Margaux, Pauillac, and Saint-Julien are universally recognized as the Left Bank's “Big Four.” Tasting a red from one of these venerated terroirs is a truly singular, deeply evocative experience, and finding one that also leaves your bank account unscathed will make you a customer for life. Today’s 2008 Saint-Estèphe from Château Coutelin-Merville is one of those bottles. Buy a case, savor it while impressing your luxury-label-collecting friends, and you’ll consider yourself the savviest collectors on whichever side of the Mississippi you reside. This nearly 13-year-old showpiece boasts muscular layers of dark, deep fruit and gravelly savor, and is only just beginning to strut the indelible secondary flavors of mature Saint-Estèphe. A sensory experience such as this cannot be replicated: Only from this terroir, and a château generations-deep in the intricacies of Merlot and Cabernet, can a Bordeaux of this magnitude be created—although it’