A great success for this bottling. With extraordinarily high residual sugar, the wine is very sweet in wild honey, infused with the essence of oranges and apricots, folded into rich, buttery custard, and sprinkled with vanilla sugar and cinnamon. It's all balanced with a squirt of lime acid. If that sounds good, it is. Only 95 cases were produced, but finding this wine is worth a search.

Selected from the finest lots, the brilliant 2007 Chardonnay Reserve Speciale is a superb offering. It displays deep, rich honeysuckle notes intermixed with notions of nectarines, orange blossoms, butterscotch, vanilla, white peaches, baked apples, and pears. This complex Chardonnay should drink well for 4-5 years. This is another impressive group of wines from one of the most consistent winemakers and long-time veterans of the California wine scene, Dick Arrowood. He has always had the Midas touch with white varietals, yet he also continues to impress me with what he can do with red varietals.

It's hard not to be smitten with the 2013 Il Fauno di Arcanum. This blend of 55% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot is a rich and lasting Tuscan red that offers ample power and concentration. There are points of greenness here with crushed peppercorn and wild sage, backed by dark fruit aromas of plum and blackberry. Yet the Merlot component does much to smooth out and enrich the mouthfeel.

Very intense nose of blackberries, dark chocolate, sandalwood, vanilla, treacle and tar. Full-bodied with plenty of dark fruit, but lots of black-olive undertones and bright acidity keep this fresh, while firm tannins carve out an elegant, polished shape.

The 2012 Valadorna is 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Castelnuovo Berardenga comune. This is a dark and impenetrable wine with thick concentration and ripe fruit flavors. The two Cabernet grapes come out on top, and the wine delivers a heavy load of ripe fruit, garden herb and rosemary. This a ripe, bold and super opulent red wine from Tuscany that could pair with savory roasted lamb with mint sauce.

A wine with ultra-fine tannins and bright fruit such as blackberry and blueberry. Minerally too. Full to medium body, silky texture and a flavorful finish. So beautiful to drink now. A blend of 60% merlot, 25% cabernet sauvignon and the rest cabernet franc.

Lush berry nose; smooth and rich with juicy berry fruit and also showing notes of vanilla oak and spice; balanced and ripe, long and elegant.

A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese and Petit Verdot, the 2008 Il Fauno di Arcanum opens with an inky dark color and perfectly ripe aromas of plump cherry and blackberry. Beyond the enticing fruit aromas is a long list of spice and tobacco-related characteristics. This is a thickly layered and opulent Tuscan blend that is enhanced by territory-driven aromas of grilled herb and rosemary oil. The best part for me, however, is the soft richness this wine delivers in the mouth. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2027.

The 2014 Arcanum, made with 60% Cabernet Franc, 25% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, represents a carefully conceived and contemplated blend to match the difficult conditions of the vintage. Unlike the 2014 Valadorna that seemed to suffer more in this challenging vintage, this top-shelf wine really has its act together. Soft and rich layers of black fruit and spice give the wine lasting depth and intensity. Perhaps the finish is a tad shorter compared to other vintages, but the difference is really quite small. Ultimately, this is a full-bodied Tuscan red with the potential for ten years (or more) of happy bottle aging.

A layered and fresh 2012 showing more focus and structure than many 2012s due to the hot growing season. Medium to full body, firm and velvety tannins. A blend of cabernet franc, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. Drink now.

Dense and powerful, this red layers ripe black currant, cherry, chocolate, prune and spice flavors over firm, assertive tannins. This is starting to hit its stride, but needs food to match the tannins. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2018.

Napa 2016 Vintage: 5 Consecutive Years of Fantastic Wines Blackberries and blackcurrants with hints of hazelnuts and rose bush. Full body, firm and silky tannins and a fresh and spicy finish with currant bush and green walnuts.

This opaque and dark ruby colored Cabernet Sauvignon opens with a burnt match stick and black currant bouquet. On the palate, this wine is medium to full bodied, very nicely balanced and super smooth. The flavor profile is a delicious mild black currant and black olive blend with notes of gentle oak and graphite. I also detected hints of blueberry. The finish is dry and its refined tannins linger and last for a very extended period of time. This Cab would pair well with a New York strip steak.

Weekend Wine Picks Anakota sits in Knights Valley over an ancient volcanic zone, reddish-brown, gravel/silt loam soils intermingled with some volcanic rock, with an affinity for the main Bordeaux grapes. Since 2001, Anakota has made two single-vineyard, single-varietal, single-appellation estate cabs: Helena Dakota and Helena Montana. The 2014 Helena Dakota is a 12.4-acre block of vines below Mount St. Helena’s two highest peaks at 750 feet elevation. Look for a rich dark red with savoury espresso, chocolate aromas and flavours laced with blackberries, cassis and some wet stone minerality.

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard comes across as one of the most tannic, backward wines I tasted from any of the four vintages I was looking at during my extensive trip to Napa Valley in late August and early September. Very extracted with high tannins (almost excessive), this 2009 is built like an old style Bordeaux with lots of red and black fruits, graphite and noticeable oak. Forget it for a long, long time.

Some jam but lots of spices and currants on the nose. Very stylish. Full bodied, with a beautiful purity of fruit and super silky tannins. Good acidity, very focused, and pinpointed flavors. A nice combination of richness and finesse.

These high elevation Cabernet Sauvignons, culled out from a larger vineyard, are remarkable offerings with aging potential of 25+ years. The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana's inky purple color is followed by a rich, sumptuous bouquet of espresso roast, melted chocolate, black currants, charcoal, and subtle background oak. Full-bodied and dense with silky tannins as well as slightly more velvety texture and opulence than its sibling, this beauty should drink well for 20-25+ years.

Gorgeous nose with blueberries, currants, minerals, and hints of flowers. Full bodied, with very well integrated tannins and a long, long finish. This is very polished, balanced, and pretty right now, but give this time.

The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota comes across as a rich wine. Its opaque purple color is followed by a stunning aromatic display of lead pencil shavings, espresso, roast, chocolate, blackberries, and cassis. The wine is deep and full-bodied with sweet tannins, decent acidity, a harmonious mouthfeel, and a seamless integration of acidity, oak, tannin, and alcohol. This beauty can be drunk now or cellared for two decades.

This is a really complex carignan that shows raspberries, dried herbs, cedar, quartz and iodine. Full-bodied, layered palate that’s very structured and well defined, the acidity weaving elegantly through a solid center palate and beautifully crafted tannin backbone. Drink now or hold.

Alcance is a member of Vigno (Vignadores del Carignan), a group of growers working together to rescue and promote the heritage of old, dry-farmed carignan vines in Maule. This wine comes from Cauquenes, where it grows in granitic soils. It’s an extracted, voluptuous take on the grape, with smoky notes of oak crowding into the midst of all the ripe red fruit, exotic spice and scents of fresh flowers. It is rustic and delicious, needing roasted lamb to match its tremendous power, or time in your cellar to tame it.

Part of Jackson Family Wines, based in Santa Rosa, California, Alcance is an estate in the Maule Valley and Jess Jackson's team was the first from outside Chile to explore the potential of that region post-Pinochet, in the early 1990's. JFW's lead winemaker, Randy Ullom, works with Andrés Sánchez of Gillmore Wines, producing this from 10-year-old vines on granitic soils. It's charming in its crunchy, refreshing red fruit that sails on with sweet spices, tightening up in a firm, more circumspect finish. Pour it with something meaty.

The 2015 Zena Crown Slope has a youthful nose that is still growing into itself, though it promises to be a thing of beauty. Detecting ripe cherry, raspberry, plum and multiple florals. The texture on this one is stunning; talk about velvety tannins, there’s no end to them or their silkiness. The acid is on-point as well. Simply stunning. The flavors will require a bit more time to match the texture, but they don’t disappoint at this stage with sweet plum sauce, dark cherries, chocolate mousse, graphite, cinnamon, nutmeg and just a hint of green onion spice. Not for the faint of heart, and worthy of ten years in the cellar. 94 points, value B.

Shows precision and expression, with refined black cherry and blueberry flavors accented by crushed stone and dark spice notes, building complexity toward polished tannins.

A dynamic combination of rich polish and great structure, with expressive black cherry, licorice and spiced orange flavors that finish with refined, mineral-tinged tannins.