1.   Almost overnight, it became a cult wine in the United States and did much to put New Zealand winemaking on the map.

2.   As a group, the cult wines are beautifully crafted and long-lived.

3.   As is the case with the cult wines, price is often a function of availability and not of quality.

4.   At this point, it is not clear whether many cult wines will last long enough in the cellar to remain superstars.

5.   But their wines, like the California cult wines they emulate, are far beyond the means of all but a handful of wine fans.

6.   California cult wines are rare because so little of them is made.

7.   California cult wines are very good, extremely rare wines, almost all cabernet-based, produced by small wineries mostly in or near the Napa Valley.

8.   Cult wines are a curious window on the wine world.

9.   Cult wines, I knew, were serious things, highly sought after beverages of unquestionable quality and rarity.

10.   Cult wines are the leading edge of this phenomenon.