With 6% Cabernet Franc, 4% Merlot and 2% Malbec, this mountain wine is supple and silky on the palate, its tannins relatively tamed. A touch of reduction on the nose dives into tar, leather and oak, with a tease of black pepper and meaty red fruit, the wine weighty yet ultimately graceful.

Tasting the Traumatic 2017 Vintage (And Others) in Northern California A powerful, tannin-driven red with blueberry and blackcurrant character. The chewy tannins need some resolution with bottle age. Full body. Juicy blue fruit with a mountain perspective. Needs time to soften. Try after 2024 and onwards.

Napa Valley's 2017s The 2016 Red Wine is a Merlot-dominated blend (there are normally small amounts of Petite Sirah, Syrah, and other varieties), and while the Prequel cuvée focuses on Sonoma, this wine comes all from the Napa side of the valley. It reveals a healthy purple color as well as a terrific bouquet of sweet crème de cassis, toasted bread, Asian spices, lavender, and dried herbs. With a fabulous texture, full body, notable purity of fruit, and a rich yet graceful style on the palate, it's one seriously hedonistic yet balanced, complex red that knocks it out of the park. Drink this rocking little gem any time over the coming 4-6 years. (I wouldn't be surprised to see it keep longer.)

USA, California: More Napa & Sonoma New Releases Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir Marin County prances out of the glass with cheery black raspberry, kirsch and redcurrant jelly scents plus suggestions of cinnamon stick, lavender and bouquet garni. Medium to full-bodied, the soft-textured palate has an almost electric intensity, charged with red berries and savory layers, finishing long and wonderfully pure.

USA, California: More Napa & Sonoma New Releases After a little coaxing, the nose of the 2017 Chardonnay Three Jacks Vineyard sings of lemon tart, lime leaves and white peaches with nuances of ginger ale, yuzu and crushed rocks. Medium-bodied, the palate has wonderful intensity with loads of citrus layers and a wicked backbone of freshness, finishing minerally.

USA, California: More Napa & Sonoma New Releases A new wine from this vintage coming from a vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills, the 2017 Chardonnay Radian Vineyard reveals an alluring nose of honey-drizzled peaches, baked apricots, honeydew melon and warm pineapples with touches of brioche, toasted almonds and nutmeg. Full-bodied and rich, with a gorgeous oiliness to the texture, it has a racy backbone giving lift to all that decadent fruit, finishing long and toasty.

USA, California: More Napa & Sonoma New Releases Medium to deep garnet-purple in color—WOW—the 2017 Zinfandel Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard has an impressive perfume of rose hip tea, dried lavender, candied violets and chocolate-covered cherries over a core of baked plums, blackberry preserves and warm blueberries plus hints of raspberry leaves, dried Provence herbs and tilled soil. Full-bodied, rich and decadently fruited, it has a firm, chewy texture and bold freshness, finishing long and earthy.

2018 Oregon Vintage: Vineyard Savvy Reaps Consistency and Quality Very attractive, brambly red cherries and berries with a sweet-spice edge. This is both complex and integrated. The palate has a very juicy, silky texture with really velvety tannins and an impressive, smooth build of concentrated dark cherries on the finish. Drink or hold.

2018 Oregon Vintage: Vineyard Savvy Reaps Consistency and Quality This is an earthy and attractively intense pinot with blueberry and mixed-cherry aromas on offer, in a sappy mode. The palate has such impressive concentration and weight with a very focused, elegant shape. Saltiness at the finish and bright acidity amid silky tannins. Drink or hold.

Napa Valley's 2017s The 2017 Merlot (there's 11% Petit Verdot) also comes from the Keyes Vineyard on Howell Mountain. Juicy, ripe, and sexy, with plenty of chocolate, black cherries, and earth aroma and flavors, it's textured, medium to full-bodied, and beautifully done.

Every bit as outstanding as the ‘Katherine’s’ the ‘Bar-M’ is a truly brilliant wine by superstar winemaker Greg Brewer. Ripe apricot and roasted hazelnuts meld with wild mushroom and earthy undertones on this downright intoxicating nose. The freshness and verve to the wine is outstanding, as the tension, salinity and weight truly entices. The long, buttercream and mineral-driven finish lingers for nearly a minute. Gorgeous in its youth, the ‘Bar-M’ will evolve well for another decade. Drink 2020-2030.

Peter Fraser chose this 4.4-acre block at the Yangarra estate for his top selection of shiraz. A gravelly ironstone hill, it was planted 20 years ago, so it isn’t the vine age driving this wine’s elegant power, but it may be the soil, exposure and the biodynamic farming. There’s energy at its core, driving the wine’s irreverent complexity in layers of fragrance—some root, some leaf, some currant fruitiness. The clean and gentle tannins build richness, the wine already offering a sense of McLaren Vale grandeur, and suited to a decade or more of evolution in the cellar.

The Smart family planted grenache at the highest point in their Blewitt Springs vineyard in 1946, where the deep sands restrict the vigor of the vine as well as the amount of fruit they yield. Now owned by the Jackson family of Sonoma, the property is tended by Michael Lane, who continues to dry farm those vines, working under biodynamics. Winemaker Peter Fraser destems it, keeping half as whole berries, then ferments it spontaneously in open-top vats and ages the wine in used French oak barrels. It’s a complete wine, offering a completely different perspective on grenache to a Rayas fan, with the kind of textural pleasure that will satisfy (or create) a fan of McLaren grenache. It’s elegant, tense and floral, with crunchy red berry flavors and fine, persistent tannins: a powerful young wine with years of development ahead.

2017 & 2018 Napa Valley In Depth The 2017 Cabernet Franc captures a stunning intersection of Franc and Mt. Veeder terroir. Inky, deep and super expressive, the 2017 possesses tremendous richness. Crème de cassis, menthol, lavender, chocolate and graphite infuse the 2017 with real depth and brooding intensity. Beams of incisive tannin give the wine its shape and energy. Readers will need to be patient. The 2017 is really a wine from Mt. Veeder first and foremost; it has tons of character and personality.

2017 & 2018 Napa Valley In Depth The 2017 Caladan, Cardinale's Cabernet Franc-based wine, is rich, heady and full of personality. Today, it is impressive, but also shut down and showing only a bit of its ultimate potential. Time in the glass brings out pretty floral and red-toned notes, cedar and tobacco. I hope to be able to taste the 2017 again in the near future, as my impression is that it is holding back quite a bit of potential.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Retrospective The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Bosche Vineyard has a very deep garnet color, delivering a gorgeous nose of lilacs, dark chocolate, blackcurrant pastilles and blueberry compote with nuances of cloves, cigar box, menthol and black olives. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is still very youthful, sporting loads of black fruit preserves and mineral sparks, framed by plush tannins and finishing long with a minty lift. 560 cases were made.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Retrospective Very deep garnet colored, the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyards opens with bold notions of crème de cassis, baked blackberries, boysenberries and dried mulberries with wafts of chocolate mint, underbrush, new leather and tobacco leaf. Full-bodied, rich and spicy, the palate features velvety tannins and plenty of freshness to carry the spices to a long finish. 500 cases were made.

This 100% varietal wine offers earthy sage, diesel, tar and dried herb tones around a core of tart black fruit. Additional accents of gunpowder and toasted oak creep in on the midpalate. The structure is impressive and well-integrated.

Gorgeous, layered fruit flavors come with a seamless, silky texture in this full-bodied but absolutely sleek and polished wine from one of Anderson Valley’s oldest vineyards.Fresh strawberries, red cherries, black cherries and a hint of rhubarb give it a great core, to which light tannins and a pleasing sense of concentration add the finishing touches.

From a cool, coastal site, this is a wild, tangy and savory wine, with highlights of black tea, forest and stem. Crisp red fruit and citrus adorn the tannic midpalate. It shows great complexity and intensity as it finishes in lashes of baking spice.

Single parcel, named for fynbos surround, at 640 m one of highest in Stellenbosch. Lofty quality too, 2016 complex & detailed, dried orange peel & spice woven into rich texture with lees & harmonious oak, 50% new. All fused, brought into focus by fine acidity. Enjoy now, can confidently be cellared ±5 years. 2015 (5 stars, 95 pts) was debut vintage.

The 2018 ‘Emery’ is sourced from a ridgeline site near the crest of the WillaKenzie Estate. Salty tones mark the nose alongside bright red currants, tobacco and suggestions of wild mushroom. The palate is dense and plush with brilliant finesse and a beautiful core of ripe red fruits. Slowly moving into secondary characteristics, this outstanding salty and savory Pinot Noir is only starting to hit its stride.

Delectable, purity, expressive.This delectable Pinot Noir comes from Hartford Court estate vineyards adjacent to the Pacific coastline along the Sonoma coastal mountains; the winery is just one of the outstanding wineries owned by Jackson Family Wines.It's a ripe one at 14.9% alc. but it holds its own; classic notes of forest floor and raspberry, cherries and star anise are layered with cardamom, vanilla, cocoa, pipe tobacco and coconut. It has a sweet bouncy character and lovely fruit purity; in this bottle there is more fruit than earth. Expressive and elegant overall, it has a long sweet cola finish with a bit of heat.

Delicate aromas of warm citrus and thyme with underlying mineral character. Medium-bodied. Very nuanced on the palate with the mineral character continuing to color the white-tea and herbaceous flavors. Wonderfully elegant. A real delight. Drink now.

Dark, dense and mysterious, the 2018 Pinot Noir Barbara's Clone 667 is superb. Succulent dark cherry, plum, chocolate, spice and licorice build in an ample, full-bodied Pinot that is all charm. I would give the tannins a few years to soften. The 2018 is beautifully done. There is real substance and gravitas here.