A very beautiful, succulent red, showing lavender, sage, conifer and rosemary with black and blue fruit. Full-bodied with firm, lightly chewy tannins and a sturdy, very elegant finish. 80% cabernet franc, 17% merlot and 3% malbec. Drink in 2022 and onwards.

An elegant, complex red with currants, blackberries and hints of cedar, graphite and lead-pencil shavings. It’s full-bodied with polished, velvety tannins and a fresh, bright finish. Fluid and refined. 70% cabernet sauvignon 16% cabernet franc, 10% merlot and 4% petit verdot.

From the 12.3ha east-facing Block 12 on an ironstone sandy outcrop. Hand-picked, open-fermented with 25% whole bunches, matured in a 25hl French foudre for 15 months. Vivid crimson-purple through to the rim. An incredibly fresh wine that literally dances in the mouth, juicy streams of bright red flavours - this from '18, not a vintage known for delicacy. Fantastic bargain.

From the '71 contour plantings, hand-picked, 50% crushed, 40% destemmed, 10% whole bunch, gentle extraction during 18 days on skins, no pressings used, 6 months on lees, then racked to foudre and puncheons (30% new) for 9 months. This oak use will continue in all releases post '18. Extremely complex and intense, but perfectly balanced red and black fruits, tannins a feature.

The 2018s from Santa Barbara CountyThe 2018 Pinot Noir Hapgood is another savory, incredibly complex wine from this estate. Offering up plenty of redcurrants, mulled blackberries, dusty earth, spring flowers, and baking spices, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a silky, elegant texture, ultra-fine tannins, and no hard edges. It's another brilliant Pinot Noir from Brewer that can be enjoyed today or cellared for over a decade.

What was the secret to achieving such impressive ripeness for Cabernet Franc in 2017? Pierre Seillan's daughter and one day successor, Helene, told me: “We make a lot of passes through the Cabernet Franc blocks—more than the other varieties. We drop any fruit that is not ripening at the same pace. We don’t pull out too much leaves, we need those for the ripening.” Blended of 80% Cabernet Franc, 17% Merlot and 3% Malbec, the 2017 Le Désir has a medium to deep garnet-purple color. It comes galloping out of the glass with all the grace and precision of a thoroughbred, sporting notions of kirsch, potpourri, warm plums and wild blueberries plus hints of chocolate box, cardamom and star anise. The medium-bodied palate (just 13.9% alcohol) is at once powerful and wonderfully elegant, with firm, very fine-grained, exquisitely ripe tannins and bold freshness supporting the red and blue fruit layers, finishing with incredible length and depth. Wow!

Soft, fine-grained tannins with spice, berries and iron. Leaves and mushrooms, too. Such purity. Medium to full body, lovely fruit flavors and a long, delicious finish. It’s fine, elegant and refined. Super finish. Beautiful structure. Energetic. 100 percent merlot for the first time. Drinkable now, but better in 2022.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018Not far behind, the Merlot-dominated 2017 La Muse offers a big, rich nose of chocolate-covered black cherries, espresso, damp earth, and leafy herbs that gains more bass notes and richness with time in the glass. It tastes like a great Pomerol from La Conseillante. Full-bodied, it has an incredible sense of elegance and purity, plenty of mid-palate stuffing, and a great, great finish. Made from 100% Merlot (this is the first time this cuvée has been all Merlot), it’s another incredible wine from this estate that has the flesh and texture to shine today yet the freshness, purity, and balance to evolve for 30 years or more.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018From a site on the Sonoma Coast (this comes all from a block within the Durell Vineyard), the 2017 Chardonnay Stone Côte Vineyard reminds me of a Grand Cru Chablis on steroids, with gorgeous lemon curd, iodine, white flowers, crushed chalky, and a touch of green almond, with its oak beautifully integrated. Showing medium to full-bodied richness as well as flawless balance, this is a Chardonnay that builds with time in the glass as well as on the palate and has bright, salty acidity and incredible length. Beautifully done, it’s another thrilling Chardonnay from this estate.

I saw Siduri co-owner, Adam Lee, at a Jackson Family seminar in Seattle a few years ago. I asked him how he felt about selling the winery that he and his wife, Dianna, started to the Jackson family. He said, “It’s great, now I can concentrate what I love best, making wine.” Another advantage of working with the Jackson Family must be access to other vineyards like Edmeades in Anderson Valley, also a Jackson Family estate. Anderson Valley is in Mendocino County north of San Francisco. Although it is inland, it is a valley that lies west to east and is cooled by winds from Pacific Ocean. This wine is textbook Anderson Valley, elegant and delicate with aromas of raspberries, cherries and dried rose petals. In the mouth it is light bodied and savory, carrying through the berry flavors enlivened by crisp acidity and supported by fine grained tannins. It is a versatile wine with food that can handle the range of flavors of a Thanksgiving meal from the turkey to the sweet potatoes.

A magnificent wine made the by the brilliant winemaker Chris Carpenter, who also works for the Kendall-Jackson empire at Lakoya and a handful of other estates, this blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot is sourced from multiple vineyards owned by the Jacksons, from Veeder Peak to Spring Mountain to Howell Mountain. In 2014, it reminded me of a great vintage of Pontet-Canet from Pauillac, but slightly bigger than life. The inky purple color, the stunning nose of cedar wood, unsmoked cigar tobacco, graphite, crème de cassis and subtle new oak is followed by a multi-layered, profoundly concentrated, large-scaled wine with sensational levels of blackcurrant fruit moving toward blackberries. A wine of great intensity, silky tannins and adequate acidity, this is clearly one of the great, great wines of the vintage, and another tour de force in winemaking from Carpenter. It is a 15- to 20- year wine, but the window for drinking its is probably that big as well. P.S. If you want to catch Chris Carpenter doing something other than making exhilarating wine, check out the Rutherford Grill on Friday nights, where he tends bar and makes some pretty badass cocktails.

The 2014 Cardinale is another awesome wine from winemaker Chris Carpenter, and I actually like it more than the 2015. A blend from multiple estate vineyards, its deep purple color is followed by a larger than life bouquet of sweet crème de cassis, scorched earth, graphite, tobacco leaf and spicy wood. A big, opulent, sexy wine, it has incredible grace and elegance as well as beautiful purity and a great finish. This is a tour de force in Cabernet Sauvignon that does everything right. It's approachable today (as are almost all 2014s) yet is going to cruise in the cellar for another two decades or more. Bravo!

Cardinale's 2012 Proprietary Red, the flagship wine from the Jackson Family, was looked after and put-together by winemaker Chris Carpenter from numerous vineyard sites traversing Napa Valley. The 2012's final blend was 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot with 94% new French oak used. Terroirists undoubtedly lament the fact that nine different vineyards and seven different appellations were utilized, but the resulting wine is prodigious. A dense purple color is accompanied by notes of graphite, blackberries, blackcurrants, roasted coffee, vanillin, baking spices and forest floor. With enormous complexity and richness as well as full-bodied power and voluptuousness, it is a wine of exceptional purity, intensity, and well-integrated acidity, alcohol, tannin and wood. This seamless, majestic Napa Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated 2012 should drink well for two decades.

An absolutely spectacular showing for Cardinale in 2005, their Proprietary Red is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot that comes in at 14.7% natural alcohol. It is aged 20 months in 100% new French oak and bottled unfiltered by winemaker Chris Carpenter. He sources the fruit from Jackson Family vineyards such as the Veeder Peak Vineyard and the Keyes Vineyard on Howell Mountain and several other sites elsewhere in Napa. In that sense, it's a cross-Napa Valley blend. A beautiful nose of pure kirsch liqueur as well as crème de cassis jump from the glass of this opaque purple wine. The fabulous fragrance is followed by an equally compelling, full-bodied, opulently textured mouthfeel. The wine has incredible length of a good 45 seconds. It is voluptuously textured, gorgeously pure and fruity, and already strutting its stuff. It should continue to evolve for at least another 10-15 years.

The 2017s From Sonoma The flagship of the estate, from the best block of the estate vineyard, the 2016 Revelation Red Wine is all Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in 65% new French oak. Its deep purple color is followed by an incredibly pure, balanced, straight-up seamless wine that offers gorgeous crème de cassis, white flowers, graphite, white chocolate, and spice. It's full-bodied, pure, balanced, and layered on the palate, with no hard edges. This cuvée is all mountain fruit and you see that in its focus and structure, yet it still shines for its elegance and complexity. It’s a remarkable bottle of wine from winemaker Sam Teakle.

The 2015 Chardonnay 3D comes from a cool, sandy site in the Sta. Rita Hills located between the Lafond and Ampelos vineyards. Along with the 2014, it’s easily my favorite vintage from this site to date and is one of the benchmarks coming out of this appellation. Buttered citrus, candied lemons, honeysuckle and even a hint of orange blossom and emerge from this incredibly rich, layered and textured Chardonnay that has everything you could ask for. It’s great today, but will keep for two decades.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota displays more blackberry, blueberry and graphite, with some flowers such as violets, notes of pen ink, a full-bodied, concentrated, succulent and fleshy mouthfeel, and a long, long finish. This is another 25- to 30-year wine.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota (445 cases) is absolutely magnificent. Opaque black/purple in color, it comes across like a Château Montrose from a great vintage – a very earthy St.-Estèphe-inspired wine with the essence of loamy soil and crushed rocks interwoven with blackberry and cassis fruit. Some oak makes an appearance, but it is pushed to the background by the extravagance and enormous body and extract of this wine of phenomenal intensity. This is a classic Pierre Seillan style of wine meant for 25-40 years of cellaring.

From Block 31, the highest section of the vineyard at 210m planted '46, 50% whole berries, 50% destemmed, wild yeast open-fermented, matured for 10 months in used French oak. For many devotees of McLaren Vale grenache, Yangarra Estate High Sands is the king. It's not for idle dalliance as is young grenache that is focused on freshness and purity of red fruit flavours, this has power and depth, the oak simply softening an edge or two here and there, most assuredly not about imparting oak flavour. Red and black fruits both contribute without cutting across the power of the other.

Top 100 American Wines of 2018 - #31

The Surprise of 2015 in Napa and Other California Wine Reviewed Love the aromas of black cherries and blackberries, violets and roses. Stunning. Full-bodied, layered and dense with focus and precision. Full tannins, yet compressed and polished. A great cabernet franc-based red. Give this four to five years of bottle age before drinking but already beautiful to taste.

The Surprise of 2015 in Napa and Other California Wine Reviewed Fascinating aromas of blackberries and orange peel with dried flowers. Full-bodied and very structured. Superb density and length. Just starting to open up now. Fantastic merlot.

The 2007's appear to be the greatest wines Vérité has yet produced under the leadership of Jess Jackson and his winemaking guru, Bordelais Pierre Seillan. These extraordinary wines, built for the long term (much like top Bordeaux), are fashioned from some of the finest fruit sources Jess Jackson cuvées from the beginning, and have followed their aging process (which is glacially slow). A St.-Emilion look-alike, the 2007 Le Desir (44% Cabernet Franc, 44% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec) is close to perfection. Sweet, intoxicating aromas of licorice, tobacco leaf, incense, black currants, black cherries, and bay leaves are followed by a wine with extraordinary concentration, a hint of toasty oak, full body, admirable purity, and a multilayered personality. It begs for 5-8 years for cellaring, and should keep for 30+ years. Production of these wines is small, but not ridiculously so. There are just under 1,900 cases of Le Desir.

A superb Cabernet Franc character, with multi-layered aromatic complexity packed with black fruits and noble spices. The palate gives the sensation of caressing cashmere, so plush is the fruit and so finely woven is the tannic framework. A supremely elegant, ethereal expression. 44% Cabernet Franc, 44% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Malbec. 18 months in new oak.

The myth perpetrated by Old World wine proponents is that California wines don't age. Those critics need to taste Verité, because these wines are aging far slower than I imagined. The 2005 La Muse, a blend of 88% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and the rest Malbec, tips the scales at 14.5% alcohol and spent 18 months in 100% new French oak. Incredibly youthful, this wine has an opaque purple color and a beautiful nose of espresso roast, white chocolate, blackberry and cassis, with mocha and a touch of oak. The wine is full-bodied, with magnificent structure, texture and density. I could drink it now. That said, most consumers should give this wine another 3-4 years, and drink it over the following 30+ years.