This effort is meant for the cellar. It's huge in minerals, blackberries, blueberries and black currants, all touched with smoky oak. The tannins are strong, making it astringent and dry. Despite a touch of overripeness, it's quite an achievement, showcasing its mountain origins. This should develop in the bottle over the next 6-8 years.

There are simply not enough wines of this variety at this level from the Napa Valley so this stands out in more ways than one. Blueberry, blackberry and cinnamon provide a warmth of inviting and voluptuous layers of flavor that are buoyed by violet and lavender aromas, while softened tannins allow the texture to impress.

The 2015 La Jota Vineyard Cabernet Franc was sourced from the La Jota Vineyard and the W.S. Keys Vineyard and was aged for 22 months in 78% new French oak prior to bottling. The nose is distinctly feminine with rose petals and red cherry preserves alongside violets, crushed mint and blueberry compote. The palate is deep and brooding, as the combination of weight, texture and tension is outstanding. Black tea, blackberry cobbler, crushed mint, and black cherry compote flavors all show a dark tone. Kudos to superstar winemaker Chris Carpenter on this gorgeous Cabernet Franc that is as good as any in Napa. Try to resist this great bottling for at least another year.

Napa 2016 Vintage: 5 Consecutive Years of Fantastic Wines This is a rich and tannic young red with blackberries, blueberries and currant bush. Some fresh basil. Full-bodied, chewy and impressive. Burly and fun. Needs at least three or four years to soften.

This is vivid and beautifully rendered, with a dense yet racy core of unadulterated cassis, boysenberry and blackberry puree flavors, flecked with anise, light bramble and polished ganache notes. The long finish shows a great tug of tarry earth while the fruit drives on.

From an outstanding vintage, the 2015 La Jota Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon lives up to expectations. Exhibiting rich black-fruit aromas, this wine is beautifully structured, showing power and finesse in unlikely combination. The tannins are firm but nicely integrated and suggest a long life.

Exotic herb and floral tones start off this brawny full-bodied wine. Plum and black currant flavors underscore bristling acidity and a well-built tannic structure, as secondary characteristics of sage, cedar and oak emerge. This should be put away and enjoyed 2025–2030.

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon by La Jota is a seductive blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Cabernet Franc, 7.5% Merlot, 6% Malbec and 3% Petit Verdot which was aged for 22 months in 65% new French oak prior to bottling. Needing more than a two hour decant at this juncture, the wine takes on glorious creme de cassis, Turkish coffee, blueberry cordial and wild thyme aromatics. The palate shows marvelous complexly and range. Black tea, blueberry compote, mocha and blackberry pie flavors all beautifully mingle in the glass. Rich and layered, this hedonistic effort will cellar marvelously for decades. Be sure to give this at least a two hour decant if enjoying in its youth.

Bright purple color. Gorgeous aromatics that shift and evolve wonderfully: dark currants, black cherries, complex waves of graphite, smashed rocks, menthol, tobacco, espresso, violets. The palate is full but suave, and the tannins show grip but rounded edges, while the acidity is really bright and keeps me salivating. Pure black currant and tart blackberry fruit is laced with tobacco leaf, graphite, violets, mint, coffee, dark chocolate, espresso. Air does wonders to this wine, so I’d recommend a serious decant if opening in the next few years, otherwise feel free to properly cellar this and forget about it for a long time. Includes a combined 25% Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Aged 22 months in 65% new French oak.

Blended with small percentages of 12% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, and then aged in 90% new French oak for 19months, this stellar effort offers reduced oak, bark, toast and clove aromas and flavors alongside sizable, structured tannin and hearty ripeness. Black currant and chocolate dust a layer of tobacco. Enjoy best 2024 through 2034.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon is 75.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and the rest Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec, aged in 89% new French oak. The wine displays the great fruit that is possible from these two sites owned by the Jacksons. It has an opaque purple color, a big, sweet kiss of crème de cassis and blackberry with a touch of lead pencil shavings, vanilla and incense. It is full-bodied and dense, with moderately high tannins but beautiful sweetness and fruit. Drink it over the next 25-30 years.

The 2014 La Jota Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon also includes a percentage of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec, which were sourced from their Howell Mountain vineyard as well as the W.S. Keyes Vineyard. This begins with seductive aromatics of black cherries, dark currants and a touch of blueberry followed by graphite violets, spices along with hints of anise and dusty nuances. On the palate this is full-bodied, voluptuous and polished, showing remarkable depth and concentration, as layers of ripe dark cascade on to the long, opulent finish. While this offers immediate appeal, it also possesses the potential to age beautifully.

This full-bodied, concentrated wine shows plenty of power in its bringing together of the variety with smaller percentages of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. With a huge presence on the palate that lingers and stays in one's brain, it shows a reductive quality of toasted oak along with black pepper, bark and leather saddle,. It's a wine to enjoy from a giant leather chaise, if possible.

The tannins are so fierce on this baby Cabernet that they effectively lock it down and make it tough to drink now. Yet there's a fabulous core of blackberries that are rich, ripe and intense. Everything about it suggests ageability. Give it at least eight years in a proper cellar, and it could age even longer.

Open this bottle now and you may find a fascinating evolution over the course of several days. When first poured, it's remarkable for the access it provides to fresh cherry flavor - with a bright ping of acidity and an unusual ease for a Howell Mountain cabernet. The structure closes in with the force of a tightening fist, its monumental size apparent as it takes on air. The expression of power in the wine has a grand cru sophistication, layered rather than blunt - a splash of cherry, a black mushroom savor - the taste of the earth lending a savory dimension and finesse. Grown at an elevation of 1,700 to 1,900 feet in volcanic tuff, this should reach peak drinking around eight to ten years from the vintage.

Smoky, tarry, blackberry nose with Indian spices mingling with oak. Rich, firm, opulent black cherry flavors in a very special frame, long and harmonious. Pinot Noir World Series.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Nine Barrels opens with a powerhouse of a nose, delivering intense black cherries, black berries, mulberries, chocolate box and lilacs scents with touches of dusty soil, Chinese five spice and black tea. Medium to full-bodied, firm and fine-grained, it completely coats the mouth with spicy layers, finishing very long and perfumed.

Huon Hooke of therealreview.com describes ‘Deep red/purple colour. Rich, ripe sweet cherry aromas, foresty too, but superbly rich and ripe to sniff. A suggestion of whole-bunch, which adds to its interest level. Intense, deep, long palate: very good wine. A lovely array of perfumes and flavours.’ Medium-bodied & Fruity.

Only 190 cases of this wine are released each year, making it fairly limited in production and availability. The nose is luscious, with deep and concentrated blackberries and blackcurrants oozing from the glass. There’s a sweet peppered cherry that evolves over time alongside notes of vanilla milk chocolate. This is a rich wine with a lot of complexity but also a tranquil smoothness. The fruit is extremely well pronounced, with ripened black cherries jumping out instantly on the palate. There’s a wonderful balance and structure of both acidity and tannins that give way to this Pinot Noir being an exceptional representation of what Russian River has to offer. An impeccably well made wine with great promise for aging upwards of 10 years.

The 2017s From Sonoma The flagship 2016 Chardonnay 9 Barrel comes from the top nine barrels in the cellar. In 2016 it spent 15 months and was selected from 50% new barrels. Beautiful citrus blossom, white flowers, cold steel, and spice notes all flow to a beautifully elegant, layered Chardonnay that has tons of fruit and texture, yet stays clean, crisp and balanced, with a great finish. It’s the real deal.

Those who want upscale can look to La Crema Nine Barrel Chard 2015, 95 McD, scrumptious.

LA CREMA 2003 NINE BARREL CHARDONNAY(RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY) Only 200 cases were produced of this extraordinary wine. It just explodes in unfolding waves of lime custard, pineapple tart, ripe white peach, creme brulee and Asian spice-box flavors, and a minerality usually found in Chards from the far Sonoma Coast. With that metallic stoniness comes mouth-watering, citrus acidity leading to a long, dry finish. S.H.

By blending wines from Carneros, Santa Maria Valley, and the Sonoma Coast, Kendall-Jackson has produced a stunning result. Here is the lightly earthy fruit character which is always present in fine Burgundy and which reminds some of walking through forest leaves after a rain. The texture couldn't be silkier. Near-term consumption would be best for appreciation of the wine's exceptional and youthful Pinot personality. The price may seem high, but so is the quality. If you were assembling a hypothetical 'desert island' selection of wines, this could well be one of them.

A stunning wine with deep, rich plum, blackberry and cassis; sweet vanilla oak with notes of spice, licorice and chocolate; a beautifully crafted wine with depth, complexity and finesse; long and lovely. 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot.