A Bordeaux from St. Emilion for under $50? That’s not easy to find. But Château Lassègue 2017 fits the bill admirably. It’s intense and grippy with an edge of tannin that lets you know you’re drinking Bordeaux. Lots of red currant, violet, espresso, and pipe tobacco notes with a spicy top spin. Comprised primarily of 50- to 60-year-old Merlot vines, along with Cabernet Franc and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. Splashed into a carafe an hour before dinner, this wine unfurled beautifully and was terrific with slow roasted short ribs.

Perfect pairings: Selecting wines for this year's holidays Did someone say butter? This flavorful juicy chardonnay is ready to roll alongside lobster, scallops, and any number of cheeses, whether they’re oozing over a flatbread or plated on a cheese board.

A mélange of all the Giant Steps sites fermented in clay eggs, then sealed for maturation, this has all the Giant Steps chardonnay character and precision with a chalky mineral overlay that adds complexity to nose and palate, lending an almost umami savoury feel to the citrus and cool stone fruit profile.

This translucent and bright red colored Pinot Noir from Cambria opens with a cranberry and pomegranate bouquet with a hint of wild strawberry. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied with bright medium avidity. The mouthfeel is juicy. The flavor profile is pomegranate and strawberry blend with notes of minerality. I also detected hints of red cherry and a touch of oak. The finish is dry, and its flavors and mild tannins stick around for a little while. I would pair this good value and friendly Pinot with a pork tenderloin.

Baroness Recommends: 20 Holiday Gift Wines
On the Right Bank of Bordeaux on the southern hills of the Côte de Saint-Émilion, Château Lassègue farms sustainably with a father and son winemaking team–Pierre and Nicolas Seillan–and California’s Jackson Family Wines as a partner for the last 20 years. Ornate sundials adorn the façade of the estate’s 18th century château and are symbolic of the biodynamic practices. Made from 50% old vine Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon grown in clay and limestone soils, the flagship “Lassègue” is perfumed with violet, cassis and blackberry and has layers of minerality, leather and mushroom.

Rare Wines And Spirits To Gift This Holiday Season
The Gran Moraine Estate sits on the oldest marine soils sedimentary-based soils in the greater Willamette Valley, left behind by the receding glaciers of the last ice age. Its ripe and fresh with earthy bready aromas and tropical notes of Asian pear, dragon fruit and tangerine. The wine is vibrant and exceptionally clean with a precise finish.

This is an impressively varietal wine, blended with 25% Merlot, the work of winemaker Chris Carpenter. Perfumed, tannic and leathery, it shows a touch of reduction and high-toned acidity, coming together into a core of full-bodied black fruit, violet, lavender and herb, the oak generously spiced and supportive.

Reductive on the nose, this bold mountain red is brimming in plum, cranberry and currant, with underlying earthiness that complements in savory cedar and tobacco. High-toned acidity and lifted aromatics provide a balance and brightness that surprises and lengthens the impressive palate.

Thick and richly layered, this wine is savory in tobacco, sage and plenty of grippy tannin, the fruit nuanced in dark plum and currant. Tobacco, black pepper and wild game nip at the edges, adding to the complexity and intrigue.

Leathery aromas lead to a core of classic varietal character, made in a savory style with mountain-grown intensity. Violet, blueberry and integrated tannin glide along a velvety texture of refined structure and complexity, leading to a cohesive, oaky finish.

Grown on east-facing slopes at higher elevation than the “Sexton” Pinot, this “Applejack” is the more open and gregarious of the single-vineyard duo. Fleshy fruit sits happily between a mélange of flavors including dried flowers, mushrooms and graphite. It’s medium weight and silky, with smudgy, graphite-like tannins. The savory, herbal finish cries out for roast lamb or a tray of grilled, blistered veggies. Drink now–2028.

Harmonious aromas of summer fruits, cola, dark cherry and plum. Precise on the palate with fruit balanced by savoury notes and a lovely, fine-grained tannic structure.

From north-facing slopes and at lower elevation than sister wine, “Applejack,” this single-vineyard Pinot is initially dense and quiet, taking time to reveal its charms. As it warms, it unravels notes of cherries, plums, spring flowers and spice, with earthier bass notes of smudged charcoal and something more sanguine. The winemaking prowess shows on the palate. It has weight and power but also elegance in the form of wellintegrated, sandpaper-like tannins and savory spice amid the concentrated fruit. Still a baby, this could cellar until 2029 at least.

This vintage of single-vineyard “Primavera” Pinot is as vibrant as the vivid cherry hue suggests. It’s a more delicate, drink-now drop than this producer’s other single-vineyard Pinots. The wine explodes from the glass with redberry and stalky cinnamon-bark aromas, followed by gentler dried herb, floral and warm stone notes. The palate is fresh and bright, with a well-threaded tug of textural tannins. Drink now–2026.

Winemaker Jill Russell does wonders with this widely available wine. Aromas of Meyer lemon and sea salt ride over roasted peach on the nose, leading into pan-seared apple, more salt and a touch of warm butter on the palate.

This grows at high-elevation estate vineyards, predominantly from the mountains above Alexander Valley (91 percent) with a contribution from Knights Valley. That tight, mountain-grown structure is apparent in the iron-filling austerity of the tannins and the restraint they place on the wine's dark floral fruit. You could play off the capsicum spice in those youthful tannins and decant this for a slow-braised pork shoulder. Or you could cellar it for five years or more.

This is a varietally pleasing and well-made wine, bright and full bodied, with bursts of violet, lavender and herbes de Provence dotting a core of dense black cherry and currant. Structured in mountain-grown tannin, it holds a grip throughout, finishing in a note of coffee bean.

From a site along the far Sonoma Coast, this wine is high-pitched in acidity, with lemony stone fruit, sea spray and crisp, fresh tones of blood orange and lime. Medium bodied, it holds its weight well, showing the lightness of its Goldridge-soil roots.

There’s a rich nose to this bottling, starting with aromas of pecan, hazelnut and baked apple. The palate conveys a viscous texture in line with that nutty nose, but then a Meyer lemon flavor provides acidity as a peach tone slides into the finish.

Perfumed nose showing summer fruits, crushed violets and a bit of vanilla. Lively acidity supported by ripe concentration.

Lovely floral aromas, black cherry and strawberry, mushroom and earth. A rich and powerful style with seamless tannins.

The wine pours a deep gold with lemon and vanilla cream on the nose; it is light, just pushing medium in body with flavors of green apple, lemon meringue, light cream and vanilla; some mineral notes and a little oak in the finish. Really well balanced and presented nicely.

Moderate in body weight and structure, this wine is richly concentrated in tropical fruit and butterscotch, with an undercurrent of toasted oak. The texture is lush and plush, with impressive length.

Dried lemon-peel, mango and persimmon aromas emerge on the nose of this bottling. There’s a tart Meyer lemon edge to the palate, where cantaloupe and lychee flavors arise.