Black olives, dark fruit and earth. Pumice, cloves and other spices, too. Full-bodied, yet layered and so intense. Nuanced, yet powerful. Pomerol with a flak jacket! This needs at least five or six years of bottle age.

So much crushed lead pencil, tile and dried flowers, together with blackberries and brambleberries. Full-bodied with round, polished tannins. Layered and so delicious. Black olives and graphite at the end. This potpourri of Napa cabernet character takes your palate on a tour of so many of the regions, including all the mountains, such as Howell, Veeder and Spring Mountain, as well as Atlas Peak, Stags Leap, Yountville and St. Helena. Precision and polish to the wine. Drinkable now, but better to hold.

Fantastic vintage, fantastic winemaking and the addition of 10% Merlot make for a magical experience of structure and graceful complexity in this always impressive, collectible wine. Saline, dried herb, cedar, pencil and crushed rock provide a landscape of savory earthiness, while a hint of rich red fruit remains subtle and youthful in grippy intensity. Enjoy best from 2028–2038.

This is a supremely glamorous wine – the winery's inaugural and eponymous Merlot, before it was renamed La Muse. Beautiful maturity on the nose of old rose petals, incense and something sweet. The palate becomes a lesson in textural purity – all cashmere. There are roses, violets and a whole flower garden in the mouth, hedonistic in its plushness and abundance but remaining elegant, charming and lightfooted. Enjoying it over a number of hours was a particularly delicious experience. It still has an innate power amid all that cashmere texture and fruit finesse.

Tasting this gives you a glimpse of what is to come from the 2018. Supremely grand and elegant, a much broader structure as the tannins have relaxed their grip, the net has opened and with it, given access to the pathways of flavour which are energised by the freshness of acidity. Complex chains of flavour make this a difficult wine to categorise or even describe. What is clear is that the wine is beginning to unfurl, giving a glimpse of the beauty and array of flavours and sensations to come. The very essence of desire.

Such a pretty nose, floral, redolent also of autumn fruits and damsons, which over time in the glass releases the more oak driven mocha notes. The palate is compact, dense, the tannins are remarkably silky despite the youthfulness, the fruit is intensely ripe but not sweet. The overall impression is one of a circular wine, plush, hedonistic in the making, the flavours still in motion, becoming darker as they progress through the palate. There’s a freshness, a ‘tingle’ almost to the acidity mirroring the earlier picking regime, the efforts taken in the vineyard and at harvest to capture the essential freshness of Sonoma. The wine ends on black liquorice and coffee and the finish is seemingly endless – cut short only by the next wine. It’s a baby for sure.

Also from two sites, the 2019 Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is all Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 87% new French oak. It's another deeply hued Cabernet revealing a stunning bouquet of ripe red and black plums, graphite, bouquet garni, tobacco, and sappy flowers. Rich, full-bodied, gorgeously balanced, and lengthy on the palate, it deserves 4-5 years of bottle age and will keep for 20-25 years. As with most Spring Mountain releases, it shines just as much for its complexity, nuance, and balance as its power and richness.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2017 Le Désir is off the charts fabulous and also one of the most compelling wines I have tasted from Vérité. Mocha, chocolate, licorice, leather, menthol, pine and spice soar out of the glass. The 2017 is vertical, heady and extravagantly rich yet not at all overdone, a hugely appealing combination in my book.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesCabernet Sauvignon takes center stage in the 2016 Le Désir. Graphite, menthol, lavender, spice, pine, dried herbs and licorice give the 2016 striking aromatic depth to match its mid-weight personality. Elegant and nuanced, but with plenty of richness, the 2016 has a ton to offer.

Collectible California Cabernet Along with its sister brand Lokoya, Cardinale is the crown jewel of Jackson Family Estates. Long-time winemaker Chris Carpenter’s nickname is ‘Mountain Man’ – a reference to his experience making wines from Diamond Mountain, Spring Mountain, Mt Veeder and Howell Mountain. Cardinale is a delicious symphony from all of them. Very nuanced, with flavours that exude spiciness, savouriness, minerality and a noble bitterness. Extraordinarily long. Drink 2019-2045.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Stunning and delicious, it shows great depth and finesse without taking itself too seriously. Yes, it was an exceptional year, but this wine goes beyond the great fruit into a rarefied realm: It’s rich, structured, and complex with memorable layers of flavor.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Sour, tart red plum and currant. Astringency reflects refinement. Touch of cellar must; ripe but tame. Rocky and leathery with length.

The clarity, the purity, the elegance and the perfume that the Upper Yarra Valley Applejack Vineyard brings to the party is immediately recognisable. Equally insistent is the sheer power of the red fruits and spices hidden by the light colour of the cloak. 66 barrels/barriques.

From a classic Grenache vintage, and from old bush vines growing in ancient, silky, beach-sand-like soils in the Blewitt Springs subregion, this is one of Australia’s finest examples of Grenache. While destined for a long life in the cellar, it is an aromatic beauty now, blossoming after several days open in bottle. Pristine red-berry fruit, rose petal, clove, white spice and distinctive minerality comprise the aromas. The palate offers gorgeous texture, juicy, vibrant fruit and sculpted, talc tannins, with elegance, length and complexity.An iron fist in a velvet glove, this should agebeautifully through 2036.

Amazingly fresh and vibrant aromas of strawberry and currant meet with hints of hibiscus, carnation and tobacco on the nose of this brilliant bottling. The palate begins with a flash of acidity, priming the smashed peppercorn, black raspberry and dried ginger flavors, with tingling sansho pepper on the finish.

This wine is both crowd-pleasing and elegantly complex. Focused aromas of strawberry, ripe cherry, hibiscus and spearmint make a punchy start on nose. The palate is loaded with minty herbs, bright strawberry and sizzling acidity. Drink through 2039.

So rich, complex and intense with a wealth of very ripe, powerful fruit on offer. Blood-orange and pomegranate notes, together with stony aromas, providing a very complex feel. The palate is super powerful and juicy. So very long, so rich and so well defined, showing mouthwatering tannins and a very sleek, long and juicy drive of red-fruit flavor. This has immense power and carries rich, ripe red and blue fruit. Wow. So intense. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Composed of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec, the 2018 La Joie displays an opaque purple-black color, slowly unfurling to offer profound notes of crème de cassis, preserved plums and boysenberries, with hints of rare beef, pencil lead, black olives and lilacs, plus touches offer tile loam and crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate has jaw-dropping elegance and poise, featuring a solid backbone of firm, very fine-grained tannins and bold freshness to support the intense mineral-laced black fruit layers, finishing long with loads of savory and floral sparks. Simply breathtaking!

The 2018 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard comes from a site not far from the Pacific Ocean, in the Sonoma Coast AVA, and it's one of the bigger, richer wines in the lineup in 2018. Deeper ruby-hued, with a stunning nose of ripe mulberries, Bing cherries, candied strawberries, spring flowers, and orange blossom, this is a spicy, medium to full-bodied, impressively concentrated Pinot Noir. Despite being from a cooler vineyard, it brings plenty of richness and sexy fruit, with a certain exotic character. I've always loved this cuvée (although I've always thought the Chardonnay was slightly more successful), but this might be the finest vintage I've tasted to date. Count me impressed. It's going to have 10-15 years of prime drinking. It's one of the finest Pinot Noirs in this report.

Flowery incense, sappy herbs, and sweet earth all define the bouquet on the 2018 Pinot Noir MacLean's Block, and this beautiful, layered, medium to full-bodied Russian River Valley Pinot has loads of framboise and darker berry fruits, subtle spicy oak, flawless balance, and a great finish. It's another incredible wine from this estate readers will absolutely love.

The 2018 Pinot Noir Hailey's Block comes from a cooler section of the Russian River Valley (it comes from a small block in the Arrendell Vineyard) and it shows, with the wine offering a darker, more herbal, sappy style in its black cherry and mulberry fruits as well as candied violet, spice, and spring flower-like aromas and flavors. As with all these 2018s from Hartford Court, the palate is spot on, and it has incredible purity of fruit, flawless tannins, and a great, great finish.

Also from the Sonoma Coast, the 2018 Chardonnay Stone Cote Vineyard offers up an exotic, full-bodied, concentrated style as well as complex lemon and orchard fruits, notes of chamomile, toasted almonds, and baking spice notes, flawless balance, integrated acidity, and a chalky, mineral-laced finish. This magical, thrilling Chardonnay will cruise for 5-7 years (probably longer) in cold cellars, and it ranks with the top handful of wines in the vintage.

Cabernet Franc led blend.Dark ruby red in colour. Opens up with a beguiling display of black fruits, wet leather, spice, black olives and cigar box. Huge presence. Potent. Gives layers of pleasure. Wow.

Tenuta di Arceno: chasing perfectionToday covering almost 17 hectares, the estate's Cabernet Franc is subject to a broad as much as a severe selection, which has improved the wines. It was sourced from a single plot in 2008, while this 2016 comes from 10 different plots. The French clones (326 - 327) can be problematic according to winemaker Pierre Seillan: 'With too high yields, too much herbal character is achieved, while with a tight leaf canopy it wouldn't ripen properly'. Cabernet Franc is not new to producing outstanding wines in Tuscany, and Seillan is not new to managing this grape variety in pursuit of excellence. Crimson in colour, it has a super restrained Cab Franc character of cassis and eucalyptus, with an almost citrus flavour in depth and a sweet, toasty finish of milk chocolate, liquorice and cacao powder. This 2016 is sleek and concentrated, with ripe, refined tannins and refreshing acidity. A full and tense wine.

One of the most refined and tight Muses with blackberries, milk chocolate, pine needles and hints of dried herbs. Full-bodied, yet so in check with a great finish. It’s seamless and goes on and one. Intellectual, compared to past vintages. 90% merlot with some malbec and cabernet franc. Try after 2026, but attractive now.