A barrel sample, the 2016 Hartford Zinfandel Highwire Vineyard is deep garnet-purple in color, featuring baked red and black plums, stewed cherries and rhubarb pie with hints of hoisin, Chinese five spice and potpourri. Full-bodied and packed with spiced berry preserves layers, it has a chewy frame and a long, perfumed finish.

A barrel sample, the 2016 Hartford Zinfandel Dina's Vineyard is deep garnet-purple in color, delivering Christmas cake, plum pudding and preserved plums notes with hints of crushed rocks, forest floor and blueberry pie. Big, full, rich and very refreshing in the mouth, it has a pleasantly chewy texture and tons of dried berries and spice cake layers, finishing very long.

The energy and focus of this wine is excellent with blackberry, salt, chalk and stone aromas and flavors. Some tar, too. It’s medium-to full-bodied with fine, firm tannins and a long, flavorful finish.

Bordeaux 2019: Full Scores and Notes, 1,000 Wines TastedThis is a very intense, focused red with blackberry and spice character. I am impressed with the polished tannins and flavorful finish. One of the best I have seen from here for a while.

Italy’s Incredible Year: About 6,400 Wines Rated This shows excellent potential with currant, blackberry and tar aromas and flavors. Full body. Round and chewy tannins.

Bright medium ruby. Kirsch, mocha and brown spices on the nose. Large-scaled, rich, sweet and powerful; can't quite match the nuance of La Joie but boasts powerful medicinal reserve. Today this is almost more Pauillac in style than La Joie, no doubt due to its sizable and very firm Cabernet Franc component. Finishes classically dry, with explosive black cherry fruit. All three of these Verité wines possess terrific energy, but this one is the most backward of the trio.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Rockfall Vineyard is tight as a whip and wound up like a ball of rubber bands. Today, it's all brawny mountain tannin and virile intensity, amplified by the conditions of the drought year. The 2021 only hesitantly reveals shades of blue fruit, crushed rocks and wild herbs. I wouldn't dream of touching a bottle any time soon. Your best bet would be to lose this in the cellar for ten years, but based on the 2016 tasted alongside, your patience will be handsomely rewarded.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Christopher's Vineyard wears its high-elevation origins on its sleeve. Sourced from an estate vineyard on red volcanic soils at 2,400 feet of elevation, the 2021 is a muscular, chiseled, deeply mineral expression of Sonoma Cabernet. It opens gradually on the palate, yielding every so slightly unleash shades of eucalyptus, graphite, gravel, cocoa powder and blackcurrant. Sizzling acids emerge on the finish. The 2021 will need several years to give up the goods, but it will be worth the wait.

The 2023 Pinot Noir Seascape Vineyard is loaded with coastal character, reflecting savory, marine-like undertones in a structured, intensely concentrated framework. Blood orange, violet and dark berry fruit open first before building layers of earthy, slightly damp forest floor nuances. Fine tannins grip the focused finish. The 2023 is a little tight today, but time in bottle will help it relax its shoulders.

The 2023 Pinot Noir Arrendell Vineyard is a very classy wine that channels everything great about the Russian River Valley. Black tea and crushed raspberry notes open first, delving into savory, earthy undercurrents that resonate with white pepper and bitter spices. There’s a certain sense of classicism to the Arrendell that really amps up the charm. It’s also another wine in this range that will be meaningfully better and more relaxed after a few years in the cellar.

The 2022 Chardonnay La Crête was matured for 16 months in new and used French oak puncheons and barrels. It has slowly unfurling scents of white peach, lemon peel, raw almonds, beeswax and freshly baked bread. The medium-bodied palate has a silky texture and balances soft, creamy flavors with vibrant acidity that adds a shimmery feel. It has a very long, honeyed finish and should be long lived in the cellar. 105 cases were made.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Monolith was matured for 20 months in 44% new French oak. It has intense aromas of boysenberry, violet, cigar box, iron, aniseed and graphite. The full-bodied palate is powerfully styled with generous, mineral-laced flavors and muscular, grainy tannins. It’s balanced by vibrant acidity, and it has a long, floral finish. It should be long lived in the cellar. 369 cases were made.

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota matured for 15 months in 85% new French oak. It has slowly unfurling aromas of blackcurrant, blueberry, lilac, tobacco and iron, plus seamlessly integrated new-oak spice. The full-bodied palate is much more open at this stage, offering detailed flavors ranging from dark fruit to floral perfume. It’s structured by velvety tannins and mouthwatering acidity and has a long, latent finish. It will benefit from several years in the cellar.

The Sexton vineyard was planted in 1997. It’s a north-facing, exposed site, at 200 metres above sea level. Red fruit, aspects of saucy oak, figs and graphite, smoke. Chester described this wine as “grenache adjacent” and that’s as apt a call as you’ll hear. It has that cloves-tucked-into-raspberry-into-smoke-into-iron persona. It feels compact, it tastes delicious, and it has good weight and length, the latter featuring a keen smoked peppercorn aspect. Love the feel and the profile of this.

Tarraford is the lowest and theoretically the warmest of Giant Steps single vineyard site. This vineyard is, to quote winemaker Mel Chester, “tucked into a glade in Tarrawarra”.

Straight out of the gate this looked really beautiful. “We’re leaning into the breadth of 2024 with this wine, and into the personality of the vineyard”. Almond, pears, peaches, citrus, flowers and spice but it’s the juicy flow of it, so well seasoned. Umumi savouriness on the finish. Chester used the word opulent and that’s the word. I would jump this now; it wants to roll right now. When I came back to this maybe 45 minutes later all it had done was continue to blossom and pillow. Gorgeous wine

The 2022 Pinot Noir Block 14 entices with depths of crushed raspberry
complemented by minty herbs and shavings of blood orange. Balanced inner
sweetness and silken textures unfold as liquid lavender tones saturate, while
mineral-inected wild berry fruit adds a tactile crunch. The nish is
exceptionally long and concentrated, with ne-grained tannins exing upon the
senses as a hint of licorice fades.

Medium golden yellow, the 2023 Chardonnay Far Coast Vineyard is from vines grown at 600-1000 feet elevation on the West Sonoma Coast. The nose is more savory and more coastal, with notes of sea spray, crushed shells, zesty Meyer lemon, and green pear. The palate is focused and medium-bodied, with a ripe core as well as hints of sweet vanilla and spice coming through on the finish. Give it another year in bottle to come together and drink over the following 8-10 years.

From a site on the Sonoma Coast with heavily sandy soils, the 2023 Pinot Noir Bloomfield Vineyard boasts a deep ruby red hue and is expressive and deeper on the nose, with notes of raspberry cordial, sweet floral perfume, violets, dark mossy earth, and a wind-swept coastal feel. It remains medium-bodied, though it has a more expansive and full-bodied feel, but it stays light on its feet. Its deeper mineral texture shines on the palate, with ripe tannins, even, fresh acidity, and notes of tea leaf on the finish. Drink 2025-2040. It’s by far my favorite in the range.

Tasted twice, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Anakota is sourced from 32- to 35-year-old vines and has the addition of 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. It saw 12 months in 30% new French oak. In the glass, it pours a deep red color and opens to aromas of black plum, polished leather, graphite, and violets. It’s full-bodied, with refined, ripe tannins, even acidity, and a graceful and long finish with hints of cocoa and dusty earth. It’s open and inviting now but has a good deal of structure underneath. Drink 2025-2045. 1500 cases were produced.

This is complex and well-flavoured but it’s the spread of the finish that sets it apart. It’s an excellent pinot noir. Complex blue, red and black berried/cherried fruit flavours, gentle reductive notes, a general freshness, and a silkenbordering-on-velvety touch to the palate texture. Red cherry and strawberry characters are the main game but it darts in various directions from there, mint and crushed twiggy herb notes in there among it all, along with undergrowth, along with woodsmoke. This wine feels as though it’s itching to release yet more complexities; it has that vibe. Time will be kind.

The 2022 King's Wood Shiraz is exotic and visceral on the nose; blood and iron, pressed roses and crushed ironstone gravel all waft out of the glass. On the palate, the impact of the old oak is felt—or rather, it is not felt, which adds a seamless flow to the fruit and tannin across the tongue. It matured for 18 months in a combination of large-format (25 hectoliters) Austrian and French oak foudres. The wine is all tobacco and Earl Grey tea, brick dust and pipe resin, arnica and a hint of star anise. Great. 14% alcohol, sealed under

The 2021 Pinot Noir Slope is impossible to ignore. A cascade of crushed blackberries and cherries reaches up, followed by notes of cola, lavender pastille and lifting hints of pine. This shows abundant energy, splashing across the palate with a juicy wave of ripe wild berry fruits and sour citrus, all neatly framed by tactile mineral tones toward the close. Blood orange and inner sage notes flourish through the finish, all over a bed of fine tannins. The 2021 tapers off dramatically long and beautifully balanced.

The 2021 Pinot Noir Pas de Nom takes its time in the glass, at first understated and coy, as swirling brings about an undeniably attractive yet nuanced blend of violet pastille, blood orange, incense and rum-soaked cherries. It’s energetic and spry, with cool-toned acidity and crisp wildberry fruits that sweep across the palate, leaving a tinge of sweet spice and lavender toward the close. The 2021 finishes with firming tannins that add a classically dry sensation, repeating blue and purple florals and cola trace. Simply breathtaking. The Pas de Nom is a barrel selection of different vineyards that can change from vintage to vintage.

From grapes grown on marine sedimentary soils, the 2021 Pinot Noir Block 6 is bursting with cranberry, rhubarb, cola, mushroom and botanical aromas on the nose, and it reveals finer nuances as it spends time in the glass. The light-bodied palate is silky and electric, its linear acidity enlivening concentrated, bitters-laced fruit, and it has a long finish with a flourish of spicy accents. 230 cases were made.

The 2021 Dropstone Chardonnay is pure, chiseled and ideal for long-term cellaring. It has dynamic scents of peach, crème fraîche, elderflower, almonds, beeswax and flint. The light-bodied palate is electric! A silky texture and firm, linear acidity drive concentrated, layered flavors, and it has a long, shimmery finish. 183 cases were made.