The 2019 Pinot Noir Signature Collection Barbara's Clone 667 comes from the same vineyard (Julia's Vineyard) but is a clonal selection brought up in new barrels. It's a better-balanced Pinot offering impressive red and black fruits, notes of spice box, forest floor, and dried flowers, medium body, integrated oak, and a great finish. This layered, ripe, wonderfully textured Pinot Noir is going to keep for 7-8 years, if not longer.

The 2020 Syrah Ex Post Facto (100% Syrah) comes from sites in Santa Barbara County and is always a vibrant, cool-climate inspired Syrah (although it’s certainly ripe). Ripe red and blackberry fruits, sappy green herbs, and peppery notes all emerge on the nose, and it's medium-bodied, with a fleshy, rounded, opulent texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish. This beauty is going to shine for 7-8 years.

Readers looking for a smoking value in Chardonnay from Santa Barbara County will love the 2021 Diatom. Offering a light gold hue as well as a juicy array of ripe melon, pineapple, honeyed flowers, and chalky minerality, it hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, a round, lush mouthfeel, good acidity, and a great finish. It's well worth a case purchase and should keep for at least 4-6 years, although there's no need to delay gratification.

The 2019 Pinot Noir John Sebastiano Vineyard offers a darker, riper style, with both blackberry and ripe black cherry fruit as well as hints of leather, iron, and roasted herbs. It's medium-bodied, has a round, supple, layered texture, good balance, and outstanding length.

Slightly more expensive, the 2020 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills has classic appellation savory red fruits, loamy earth, and spicy aromatics, and it's medium-bodied, pure, polished, and elegant on the palate, with supple tannins and some classic Siduri fruit and texture.

All varietal from a vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley, the 2020 Chenin Blanc Jurassic Vineyard reveals a medium gold hue to go with interesting notes of buttered orchard fruits, white flowers, spice box, and some subtle nutty, toasty nuances that emerge with time in the glass. It brings some richness and depth on the palate and is medium-bodied, has a round, supple mouthfeel, terrific balance, and a great finish. It's a variety you don't often see from the Central Coast, but this is terrific and well worth seeking out.

The 2020 Chardonnay Katherine's Vineyard is terrific and shockingly good given the quantities produced. Burgundian-like aromas of stone fruits, chalky minerality, honeyed flowers, and brioche all define the nose, and it's medium-bodied, with a supple, rounded texture, integrated acidity, and a great finish.

More expensive, the 2019 Pinot Noir Signature Collection Julia's Vineyard is a tiny selection brought up all in new barrels. It has wonderful up-front raspberry and mulberry fruits as well as some spicy background oak, medium body, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It's impressive and a step up over the base cuvée. I tasted two bottles of this, with one bottle showing some obtrusive, troubling oak. This note reflects the good bottle.

The 2020 Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County is a pleasure-bent beauty revealing lots of candied cherry and strawberry fruits, medium-bodied richness, a supple, elegant texture, and some herbal, spicy background nuance. It's ideal for enjoying over the coming 4-5 years.

Moving to the reds, the 2020 Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard reveals a light ruby hue to go with solid aromatics of spiced raspberries, forest floor, exotic spices, and dried herbs. It's balanced, medium-bodied, has beautiful fruit, and would certainly compete with any number of appellation or village level Red Burgundies. It's a good value.

Big and Delicious:
For when you’ve bought an incredible piece of tuna you really can’t afford, and you realize you need a bottle of wine you also can’t afford to accompany it. These wines are very high quality and will make even the most stubborn of wine snob accept you as their peer.
Penner Ash Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2019

The 2019 Chardonnay Katherine's Vineyard Signature Collection is one of the very finest wines I have tasted from Cambria and winemaker Jill. Rich, layered and sumptuous, the Collection captures all of the magic of Santa Maria and these own rooted vines that date back to 1971.

The 2020 Chardonnay Machado is a wine of tension and energy. Citrus peel, white flowers, mint, chalk and crushed rocks race across the palate, showing remarkable depth that only continues to build over time. This is another seriously impressive Chardonnay from Greg Brewer.

The 2020 Chardonnay 3D is a classic Sta. Rita.Hills wine. Rich, heady and explosive, with tremendous energy, the 2020 dazzles right out the gate. Readers will find a Chardonnay of real dimension and breadth. Lemon confit, mint, tangerine and tropical accents fill out the layers effortlessly.

The 2020 Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills) is fabulous. In fact, the appellation wine is my favorite Pinot in this range. The combination of the sites, and a bit less stem influence than the vineyard designates, works so well. There's a bit more fruit, more mid-palate sweetness and better balance overall, in my view. All the elements are so well put together. All of this fruit is from Machado and Hapgood.

The 2020 Chardonnay Katherine's Vineyard is bright and wonderfully saline, with plenty of mineral and savory accents. Citrus peel, mint, white pepper, chalk and dried flowers open nicely with a bit of time. There's terrific energy and plenty of cut. Most of this fruit is sourced from the own-rooted vines first planted in 1971.

The Diatom 2021 Chardonnay (Santa Barbara County) is another home run from Greg Brewer. Stunning in its depth and overall intensity, the 2021 is bright and mineral, with plenty of citrus and floral character, but also a good amount of textural depth to keep things in balance. Time in the glass brings out the wine's layers and overall pedigree. As always, the style here favors cold fermentation, no malolactic fermentation and very short aging in steel prior to bottling. In 2021, all of the fruit is from Los Alamos. Best of all, the 2021 is a fabulous value.

The 2020 Pinot Noir Hapgood is all class. Silky tannins wrap around a core of sweet red berry fruit, sage, crushed flowers and mint. Light on its feet and wonderfully refined, the 2020 is seriously impressive and absolutely gorgeous.

The 2020 Pinot Noir Hapgood Vineyard is sleek, polished and super-expressive, all of which make it a fine choice for drinking now and over the next handful of years. Dark cherry, lavender, mint, sweet spice and floral notes all take shape, framed by silky tannins that give the wine much of its undeniable charm.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Hapgood Vineyard is packed with inky dark fruit, lavender, herbs, chocolate, menthol and dried flowers. This is an especially succulent, juicy wine from Hapgood. As such, it will drink well right out of the gate. Readers who appreciate exuberance in Pinot will enjoy it tremendously.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Julia's Signature Collection is plump, juicy and super-expressive. Black cherry, plum, mocha, new leather, licorice and dried herbs are front and center. The Julia's was fermented in barrel, which adds texture and resonance. All the elements are so nicely balanced.

Greg Brewer's 2020 Syrah is redolent of red-toned fruit, chalk, mint, white pepper and tons of savory character from the 100% whole clusters. In 2020,the Ex Post Facto Syrah is decidedly floral and red fruited in character, which seems to really emphasize both freshness and energy.

The 2020 Pinot Noir 3D is soft and supple, with lovely red berry fruit lending quite a bit of up-front charm and overall immediacy. Touches of blood orange, mint, sage and spice lend quite abit of presence. Beautifully perfumed and textured, the 2020 is shaping up to be another beauty in this range.

The 2019 Pinot Noir John Sebastiano Vineyard is laced with crushed flowers, sweet red/purplish berry fruit, cinnamon and rose petal. The aromatics are quite alluring. On the palate, the 2019 is a bit more nervy and reticent. Even so, there's good energy and plenty of persistence, along with a good bit of weight that becomes increasingly apparent over time.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Barbara's Clone 667 shows the more gracious side of the estate. Crushed red berry fruit, mint, orange peel, lavender and rose petal lend notable aromatic presence. This is an especially airy, ethereal style that, in this cool vintage, leans into the realm of nervy.