The 2014 Zinfandel Fanucchi Wood Road Vineyard also comes from nearly century-old Zinfandel vines, aged in 30% new French oak prior to being bottle unfined and unfiltered after eight months. This is as close to perfection as a Zinfandel can get, and interestingly enough, there is a little Petite Sirah in the blend, which may add to the blue fruit and floral character that this incredibly complex, multidimensional, magnificent Zinfandel offers. This is right up there among the greatest Zinfandels I ever tasted in Northern California, and literally must be consumed to be believed. Huge fruit, big, bold flavors, and an all-American style make for quite an expressive, exotic, super-concentrated and compelling Zinfandel. Drink it over the next 5-8 years.

2017 Oregon Chardonnay All-Americans

Warren Winiarski, the founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars once said to me, “Age gives a wine a sense of beauty and satisfaction that it could never have had when it was young. Because so much of life is incomplete, an old wine is remarkable and moving.” And so it was that I was swept away last night by a wine from my cellar—the 1999 Freemark Abbey “Sycamore Vineyard” Cabernet. In texture, great cabernets move closer to pinot noir as they age—a texture that can be so hedonistic there’s nothing to do but surrender to it. Now, after 18 years of aging, this majestic Freemark Abbey is mind blowingly elegant…and yet still potent with flavor. California at its best.

The black-cherry, crushed-stone and citrus aromas and flavors are fantastic here, together with a white-chalk note that adds a compressed, powdery feel. Full-bodied and compact. Outstanding.

This is a beautiful barrel sample with cassis and blueberry aromas, as well as some toasted oak and coffee from the new wood. The depth of fruit and the creamy tannins are exceptional. Long finish.

While Bosche has a higher water table (so more vigor) and ripens earlier, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyard comes from a lower vigor site (near Staglin) that gets afternoon shade and ripens about a week to a week and a half later than Bosche. The blend is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, with the aging spanning 21 months in 63% new French oak. It's a more mineral-driven, savory wine, offering a stunning core of blackcurrants, cassis, pure graphite, leather, and dried herbs and it s already nuanced and complex. These carry to a full-bodied wine that has fine tannins, a big, dense mid-palate, and a great finish.

The 2021 La Joie is a blend of 70% cabernet sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 6%Petit Verdot and was matured for 16 months in new French oak. Currently resting in the tank, it's surprisingly open-knit at this early stage, offering pure aromas of cassis, crushed blueberries, licorice, garrigue, earth and violet with streaks of pencil shavings. The full-bodied palate is earthy to begin, its fruit laced with truffle-like accents. Structurally harmonious, it features abundant, powdery tannins and plenty of refreshing acidity to highlight a flourish of spicy accents across the long finish.

The 2020 La Joie is a barrel-sample blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec. Opaque ruby-purple, it takes several minutes in the glass to begin to open from black cherries to lilac, licorice and cast iron. The full-bodied palate is silky and fresh, its bright acidity intensifying floral nuances on the long finish.

The 2020 La Joie, tasted as a barrel sample, is composed of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Malbec. Deep purple-black colored, it rushes out of the gate to reveal gregarious notes of warm cassis, blackberry preserves, and kirsch, plus suggestions of cedar chest, charcoal, and bay leaves with a touch of fallen leaves. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully energetic and bright, with crunchy plums and blackcurrant layers and tons of savory sparks, supported by firm, fine-grained tannins, finishing long and lifted.

This old, bush-vine parcel of biodynamically farmed grenache is fermented in ceramic eggs and is delivered as a style that trades on the prowess of this parcel, to deliver a wine that is strikingly pure and ethereal. The aromas of pomegranate, wild raspberries, light dried plum and wet terra cotta are framed in light floral and herbal tones. The palate has an extremely succulent wrap of tannin, writhing in a vortex-like roll into the finish. Draws deep and long with pure, red-plum, cherry and raspberry flavors. Driving tannins. Grenache done right. Drink over the next decade. Screw cap.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm This is a new barrel sample blend from what I tasted last year and it contains a bit more Cabernet Franc. This 2017 Le Désir is made up of 80% Cabernet Franc, 17% Merlot and 3% Malbec. It gives up a wonderfully perfumed nose of lilacs, wilted roses, star anise and black tea with a core of red currant jelly and blackberry coulis with wafts of pencil lead and dried herbs. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is very firm and finely grainy with tons of freshness and a proactively fragrant finish. 2,500 cases are to be made.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm Harvested on September 20 this vintage, the Helena Montana vineyard turns 20 years old this year. A barrel sample with a very deep purple-black color, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard wafts from the glass with flamboyant black plums, warm cassis, ripe blueberries and chocolate-covered cherries with touches of licorice, violets and tar. Medium-bodied and jam-packed with energy, it has layer upon layer of black and blue fruits with firm, ripe tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing long and savory.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm A barrel sample, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard is very deep purple-black in color and is still a little reduced, giving way to very exciting notions of freshly crushed wild blueberries, black raspberries and red and black currants with touches of garrigue, tar, smoked meats and rose petals. Medium to full-bodied with a very firm, grainy texture and soft, seamless freshness, the palate grows slowly to a long-lingering black fruit and earthy crescendo. Very promising.

USA, California, Napa Valley: More New 2018 ReleasesThe 2018 Le Désir was tasted as a final-blend barrel sample, due to be bottled in January 2021. Composed of 82% Cabernet Franc, 12% Merlot and 6% Malbec, it will have been aged for 16 months in 100% new French oak. Deep garnet-purple colored, the nose is a little shy to begin, offering subtle suggestions of red roses, lilacs and kirsch over a core of blackberry preserves, black raspberries and red currant jelly plus a touch of cinnamon stick. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is captivatingly elegant, featuring layer upon layer of floral and earth accents among the intense black and red fruits, finishing with fantastic length and almost electric tension. Stunning!

USA, California, Napa Valley: More New 2018 ReleasesThe 2018 La Muse was tasted as a final-blend barrel sample, due to be bottled in January 2021. Composed of 90% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Malbec, it will have been aged for 16 months in 100% new French oak. Deep garnet-purple colored, it comes galloping out of the glass with energetic scents of freshly crushed black and red plums, wild blueberries, red currant jelly and boysenberries with hints of crushed rocks, truffles and black olives plus a waft of damp earth. Full-bodied, the palate is taut and muscular with firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing incredibly long and incredibly nuanced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: More New 2018 ReleasesThe 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) was tasted as a finished blend that has come out of barrel in preparation for bottling. It spent 12 months in 100% new French oak and is due to be bottled in April 2021. Deep garnet-purple in color, the nose delivers intense black currant cordial, Black Forest cake and blackberry pie notes with suggestions of cardamom, tobacco leaf, pencil lead and iron ore. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is pure decadence with layers of black and blue berry preserves intertwined with tightly knit earthy nuances, poised to break through all that fruit. The rich flavors are well-framed by firm, very fine tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with fantastic persistence. What a beauty!

A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, the 2016 La Joie (a barrel sample) has a very deep purple-black color and is a little closed at this nascent stage, slowly unfurling to reveal crushed black currants, blackberry coulis and Christmas cake notes with touches of cigar box, pencil lead, bay leaves and espresso plus a waft of lavender. Medium to full-bodied and packed to the gills with tightly wound black fruit preserves, floral and spicy layers, it has a firm frame of grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long.

66% of the final blend was fermented and kept on skins for four months in 675L ceramic eggs, with the residual whole-bunch pressed to eggs. Unlike the '23, which required coaxing from the glass to reveal its secrets, this leaps forth. Not brashly, that is not its way, but with elegant certainty. The Estate Roussanne from ’24 is a more effusive affair, while this is stony and mineral, yet still with fruitful depth and power. Orchard fruits, apples, pears, peaches – heirloom of feel – green almond, sage, raw quince, green tea, coriander seeds and dried Persian lime. Pithy, tangy, chewy, such a treasure trove for texture seekers; this is another impeccable release for this groundbreaking wine. Brilliant, and the value for this quality and character is extraordinary.

From Lou Primavera's '01-planted vineyard at 300m on red volcanic soils in Woori Yallock. A deep, bright crimson. A more concentrated and brooding Primavera. Aromas of damson plum, dark raspberry, lightly crushed violets and star anise. It's concentrated on the palate, too, with persistent and textured tannins that'll ensure this ages slowly and gracefully over a decade or more. Different from but equally as good as the Bastard Hill, which shares the same soil but is at higher elevation.

The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is a potent wine packed with blackberry jam, licorice, spice, chocolate and espresso. Like its sibling, the La Jota Cabernet, the Lokoya Cabernet offers a stunning mix of power and finesse. Its Howell Mountain DNA really comes alive with time in the glass. Superb.

The 2019 High Sands Grenache hails from a warm, dry vintage, and the wine itself is so
detailed and fresh. This is a vintage where we start to see both levity and silk incorporated
into the same glass. This is seamless and like silk, but it is also texturally light, with a splay
of Nebbiolo-esque tannin shaping the finish. It is grippy, floral, pure, fine and powerful all at
once. Incidentally, but not coincidentally for the characters of the wine, this is the first
vintage that the thick stave (like a foudre) Austrian oak puncheons are employed, and it's
both obvious and welcome in my opinion.

The 2020 High Sands Grenache comes from a unique vintage: it was the lowest-yielding
vintage ever made of this wine. The growing/ripening part of the season was cold, and lest
we forget the global environment that served to shape us all, for better and for worse. The
wine in the glass is so concentrated and tannic; it unfurls as it sits in the mouth and really
displays its tannic fortitude with authority and focus. This is a wine that will live for an
extraordinarily long time. The fruit is firmly in the pomegranate molasses, black cherry,
exotic spice spectrum. It's more about its tannin wrap than its fruit core

When I reviewed the 2023 Grenache High Sands recently (May 2025 Week 4), I realized I
hadn't seen the 2022, and so I called winemaker Pete Fraser and said, "I think you've sent
me the wrong wine. I've got the 2023 here, not the 2022." There was a moment of pause on
the other end of the line before Pete replied, "Yeah, well, we haven't decided when we want
to release the 2022 yet, so we've made the decision to release this vintage until we're sure
about the '22." Interesting. I applaud the focus and purpose of releasing only when they feel
the wine is ready. However, I have only affection and appreciation for the 2022s from
McLaren Vale, so from that perspective, I could not understand it. So here, for the first time,
is the 2022 High Sands Grenache. Aromatically, the wine is somewhat nutty—like cracked
pistachio, wheat and rose. The palate follows with succulent red and black fruits, with all
the fragrance and finesse that has blessed the 2022s from the region so far.

Another stunning release, the Lokoya Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon shows intense black
cherries, graphite, resinous herbs, sage, and currants, with tremendous minerality on the nose.
Full-bodied and massively structured, it delivers beautiful concentration backed by substantial yet polished tannins and exceptional length. This 100% Cabernet spent 22 months in 88% new French oak and is going to evolve gracefully for 25+ years. It will most likely be one of the longest-lived wines in the vintage.

The 2021 La Joie is composed of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, and the wine was matured for 16 months in 95% new French oak. It’s exceptionally pure and layered on the nose, its scents of blackcurrant and blueberry accented by tones of lavender and cardamom. The full-bodied palate is effortlessly seamless. It features Goldilocks ripeness, loads of powdery, suede-textured tannins and bursts of mouthwatering acidity. Though its flavors are youthfully coiled, it opens dramatically over several days, and it will be epically long lived in the cellar. 2,500 cases were made.