Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s The 2017 Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard comes from 777, Pommard, and 23 clones and was close to 50% whole cluster and spent 11 months in 50% new oak. It offers a bright cherry, floral, cranberry, and orange zest bouquet as well as a medium-bodied, racy, seamless style on the palate, with bright acidity and a great finish.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Slightly backward and reductive at first, the 2017 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard has a terrific core of dark berry fruits as well as notes of blackberries, crushed rocks, graphite, and ground herbs. Tight, medium-bodied, beautifully textured and balanced, with good concentration, it's another brilliant Pinot Noir from this team that has loads to love. Made from a mix of clones 667, 114, Pommard, and Swan, all destemmed and aged 16 months in 34% new French oak, give bottles a few years and enjoy over the following 7-8.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Moving to the Pinot Noirs, the 2017 Pinot Noir Solomon Hills Vineyard comes from a great site in the Santa Maria Valley and was destemmed and brought up in 55% new French oak. This ruby/purple-tinged effort offers a beautiful bouquet of ripe cherries, black raspberries, crushed flowers, and spice. It's pure, clean, and medium-bodied, with terrific fruit and a supple, seamless texture. It's beautifully done.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Similar in style to the 2016, the 2014 Chardonnay 3D offers a medium to full-bodied, forward, supple style as well as classic pineapple, lemon, and rocky mineral aromas and flavors. It’s drinking beautifully today, and I would lean towards enjoying bottles over the coming 5-7 years.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Deep translucent ruby/plum-colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir 459 comes mostly from Machado with a little from Hapgood, which are cooler sites with richer soils. Big cherry, currant, ground herb, and salty/earthy notes all emerge from this beauty, and it's a rounded, fleshy, beautifully textured effort that's going to keep for 10-15 years.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Chardonnay Upper Barn Vineyard is profoundly scented of warm peaches, green mango, baked apples and poached pears with hints of honeysuckle, orange blossoms and lime leaves plus a waft of crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has super intense stone fruit and mineral flavors with seamless freshness and a long, perfumed finish. 823 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Chardonnay Gold Run comes bounding out of the glass with all the exuberance of a new puppy, featuring rambunctious scents of pineapple upside-down cake, guava, acacia honey and cedar with hints of baking spices, lime blossoms and cashews. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is concentrated with exotic fruit and nut layers plus a wicked backbone of freshness, finishing long and savory. 295 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm Deep purple-black colored, the 2017 Cabernet Franc Mt. Veeder reveals expressive black fruits with a tarry, broody undercurrent, featuring baked plums, blueberries and blackberries with notions of chargrill, violets and tilled black soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a lot of energy, with loads of freshness and finely grained, ripe tannins, finishing on a perfumed note. 448 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Merlot Howell Mountain reveals pretty baked plums, blueberry pie and blackberry compote notes with touches of cloves, star anise, cracked black pepper and black soil plus a waft of underbrush. Full-bodied, the palate is densely packed with crunchy black fruit layers, framed by very ripe, rounded tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long and peppery.

Worthy Cellar Buy: 2015 La Jota Vineyards Merlot W.S. Keyes Vineyard A nose more reminiscent of Saint-Julien than most of Napa Valley, the fruit is just spectacular. It’s as if an entire farmer’s market fruit section comprised of perfectly ripe fruit has been bottled in this wine. This vision is augmented by kirsch liqueur, cassis, cardamom, pencil lead and light roast coffee. It is full bodied with dense and well-tuned fine-grained tannin. The acid is similarly precise, and the balance stands up to some of the finest of the Old World. The flavors pop in an unusually juicy manner with blackberry, boysenberry, licorice, cherry jam and charcoal. This has two decades of positive evolution ahead of it. I’d wait at least six years to crack this one open.

Best In Show: 2015 Mt. Brave Merlot What a killer, earthy and penetrating nose: sour cherry, strawberry, mesquite charcoal, bitter cocoa, sawdust and emulsified dandelion. It’s full bodied in a way that fills the palate, but the acid is juicy and alive and prevents the wine from settling and cloying. The tannins are fine and focused. The fruit is beautifully layered, with muddled cherry, mountain strawberry and boysenberry that go for ages, and are followed by ground espresso and cocoa beans and graphite. The tail end of the flavor profile features tanned leather, tobacco leaf and a small dose of menthol. This does very well with a couple of hours in the decanter, but I imagine it can go through tremendous evolution over a decade or so.

Sleek, with powerful minerality to the pure-tasting flavors of pear tart, apple pastry and peach. Rich lemon curd accents fill in midpalate and linger on spicy and well-framed finish. Drink now through 2025.

Bold and expressive, opening with plump wild blackberry, black licorice and blueberry flavors, giving way to sage, caramel and chai tea notes. Balances generosity with restraint from the detailed, velvety tannins, which never get in the way, especially on the long finish.

Polished and elegantly complex, with expressive cherry and blueberry flavors, accented by crushed stone and black tea notes, building tension and lively acidity toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2025.

Powerful, brooding and full of dark plum, dried blackberry and cherry flavors that feature notes of dark olive. Shows savory richness midpalate, with firm tannins on the finish, accented by dark chocolate details. Best from 2021 through 2026.

This shows a vivid boysenberry and blackberry fruit profile, laced with licorice, roasted apple wood and violet notes, all backed by a solidly grippy structure and a late zing of minerality. Best from 2021 through 2038.

Intense, with açaí berry, plum and blueberry flavors pumping through, scored with briar, licorice snap and fruitcake notes. The roasted apple wood frame holds all the elements together through the finish. Show lots of youthful grip, so this will need some patience. Best from 2021 through 2040.

The nose is fresh and penetrating white peach, pear and crème brulee. The palate is well-poised with toasted vanilla bean, popcorn and polished, waxy citrus. Drink 2019 – 2024.

The nose is peppercorn, geranium, licorice and bright blackberry. The palate is a beautiful concentration of florals and blackberry with solid structure. Drink 2019 – 2026.

The nose is a delicate understated briary red berry, warm garden vine fruit and violet. The palate offers up a lean geranium, lilac, hard cherry and saline finishing with dry cherry. Drink 2019 – 2029.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2016 Merlot Keyes Vineyard aged 18 months in 40% new French oak. It has a medium to deep ruby color and singular nose with loads of exotic perfume: candied violet, tapenade, powdered blueberry, boysenberry, mint chocolate, kirsch, roast plums—so classic and so layered! Medium to full-bodied, it's silky, intense, plush and seductive, unfolding its layers slowly and expansively. It has fantastically pixelated, ripe tannins and seamlessly integrated freshness on the very long finish. This is perfectly approachable now but will develop well in bottle. 500 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 A selection of the best nine barrels of the vintage, the 2016 Pinot Noir Nine Barrels was aged 15 months in 58% new oak. It has a medium ruby color with aromas of spiced cranberry jelly, black cherry jam, shaved nutmeg and cinnamon stick with touches of pencil shavings, leather and smoked meats. Medium-bodied, silky, and intensely flavored, it offers loads of ripe fruits and savory accents. It has a firmer frame of grainy tannins and seamlessly woven freshness, finishing long and dense. This is a powerful Pinot Noir that's drinking beautifully now but will reward a couple more years of bottle age. 210 cases were made.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 A selection of nine of the best barrels of the vintage, the 2016 Chardonnay Nine Barrels has a pretty nose with shaved nutmeg, citrus blossom, baked apple, allspice, white peaches and a unique salted meat/umami core with honey-nut notes. It's medium to full-bodied, rounded and creamy with fantastic intensity of savory flavor layers, mouthwatering acidity and a very long, spice-laced finish. Lovely! 210 cases were made.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 Deep ruby-purple and youthfully shy on the nose, the 2016 Syrah Hawks Butte opens slowly to cassis, bay leaves, damp earth, baked blueberries and boysenberry with hints of mint chocolate, olive and beef drippings. Medium to full-bodied, it offers deep, intense flavor layers with a pleasantly chewy frame, seamless freshness and a long, very flavorful finish. This is gorgeous now but will reward a few more years of bottle age. 500 cases were made.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Revelation was aged for 20 months in 65% new French oak. Deep ruby, it gives up Morello cherries, crushed blackcurrants, roasted plum, cedar, pencil shavings and tobacco leaves with accents of violet, cocoa, eucalyptus and a classy frame of sweet spices. Medium to full-bodied, it's powerful and intense but plush and seductive, wrapped by granulated tannins and seamless freshness and finishes very long. This should age very well but is perfectly approachable now. 223 cases produced.