Full, saturated ruby. Superripe, almost liqueur-like aromas and flavors of black fruits, violet and dark chocolate. Wonderfully lush and dense, combining the firmness of its 44% cabernet franc component, with the broad, violety thickness of its 44% merlot. Spreads out to saturate the palate on the very ripe, classically dry back end, where the tannins melt into the wine. This has the highest pH of these 2007s but is still a moderate 3.71.

Good full ruby. Black fruit aromas lifted by violet, pepper and fresh herbs. At once thick and weightless, with a high-toned quality and pungent minerality to the impressively concentrated medicinal blackberry and licorice flavors. This wonderfully silky blend finishes with tactile, broad tannins, compelling sweetness, and superb lingering black fruit perfume. This one will do some major damage in a tasting of top St. Emilion wines a decade hence.

Good full ruby. Reticent, pure aromas of chocolate, mocha, cola and minerals. Sweet, suave and opulent, with compelling flavors of raspberry and minerals. Wonderfully intense and fresh California wine, finishing with superb sweetness of fruit and length.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages A barrel sample blended of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot and 4% Malbec, the deep garnet-purple colored 2017 La Joie sings of red and black currants, black cherries and black raspberries with hints of cedar chest, pencil lead and iron ore with a touch of tar. Medium to full-bodied, firm and packed with tight-knit, elegant fruit, it finishes on a provocative earthy note.

Tasted from tank just prior to bottling, the 2013 La Joie is dense, powerful and rich, with notable depth. Still remarkable embryonic the 2013 remains deep, fruit driven and backward. This is a wine for the long haul. Crème de cassis, blackberry jam, spice, menthol, game, licorice and smoke flow through to the powerful, incisive finish. This is a strong showing.

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso comes from the famous Louis Martini property and is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that’s still aging in 81% new French oak. This cuvée comes from one of the oldest, dry farmed blocks on the property and is a barrel selection made in the winery. Awesome blueberry, flowers, incense, and lead pencil aromatics, full body, ripe, sweet tannin, and a seamless texture all make for one head-turning Cabernet that will benefit from short-term cellaring and keep for two decades.

The 2008's are strong efforts. Given the fact that Vérité's wines often perform better out of bottle than they do from barrel, this may be another powerful, long-lived vintage. There are 1676 cases of the 2008 La Muse, a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Malbec. This full-bodied offering displays lots of black fruits, espresso roast, chocolate, graphite, and pen ink along with huge intensity, powerful, substantial tannins, and a long finish. It does not yet reveal the velvety character for which La Muse is known, but I suspect it will when tasted after bottling.

The 2017s From Sonoma The 2017 Petite Sirah comes a site planted in 1894 and was brought up all in barrel. Its deep purple color is followed by a rocking bouquet of cassis, blueberries, tobacco, leafy herbs, and classy oak. It's ripe and incredibly sexy, with fine tannins and beautiful purity of fruit, and is a seriously good barrel sample.

The 2015 Chardonnay Seascape Vineyard emerges from a ridgetop site west of Occidental, facing Bodega Bay. This is a very cold area, and the result is one of the smaller production cuvées. Big-time tropical fruits such as mango and pineapple followed by orange marmalade and wet rocks are all present in this big, rich, viscous Chardonnay, which has terrific acidity and freshness. These half-dozen Chardonnays are about as good as you can find anywhere in the world and a tribute to the vineyard sites Don Hartford owns as well as the great winemaking of Jeff Stewart.

This release from the Seillan family is a blend of 60% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, picked between September 14th and the 30th. It has a dark core, and a vibrant crimson rim. On the nose I find smoked black cherry, blackberry, blackcurrant and currant fruits, scented with rose petals, charcoal and toast. The palate presents a bed of softly polished and creamed fruit mirroring the nose, with great energy and a fresh lift from the acidity, with fine texture, peppery vivacity and some softly creamed tannins with a firm bite at the edges. Long with a ripe grip, I see plenty of primary substance here, and lots of potential too.

Coming from the home estate of Pierre Seillan, who’s behind the incredible wines of Vérité in Sonoma, the 2019 Lassègue sports a deep purple color as well as a great nose of blueberries, mulberries, tobacco, dusty earth, and flowery incense. It’s an exotic, full-bodied Saint-Emilion with beautiful balance, plenty of ripe tannins, the vibrancy and freshness of the vintage, and a great finish. It’s a beautifully complex 2019 that’s going to evolve nicely for two decades or more.

Rich and lovely both on the nose and the palate this is another winner. Whoa. Excellent.

A tad meaty with dark fruit and a bit of earth. Another lovely wine: great fruit, balance, spice. Yum. Excellent to Outstanding.

A lovely nose of black cherry pie with a sliver of vanilla ice cream on the side. Wonderful balance, with luscious fruit, nice level of tartness, slight tannins, lovely finish. Whoa. Excellent to Outstanding.

…this opaque purple-colored wine offers up a fabulous nose of black fruits (cassis, cherries, and blackberries), subtle new oak, marvelously full body, more aggressive tannin than the 1997, and an impressively layered mid-palate and finish. The wine is extraordinarily will-endowed, impeccably well-balanced, and brilliantly will-delineated for its massive size.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages A barrel sample of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard is deep garnet-purple colored and features a wonderful floral nose of violets and lavender over a core of warm black berries and black berries with wafts of crushed blackcurrants, chocolate mint and Marmite toast. Full-bodied and bursting with vibrant fruit, it has a well-played structure of grainy, approachable tannins and a very long, earthlaced finish.

(14.8% alcohol; 100% cabernet sauvignon; aged in French oak, 97% new; from whiter soil than the Helena Dakota): Deep ruby. Knockout nose combines dark berries, licorice and a powerful violet element. Then wonderfully suave and fine-grained, with great energy and lift to the middle palate. The strong floral quality carries straight through to the ripely tannic finish. Comes across today as more feminine and more subtle than the Helena Dakota, and surprisingly approachable at this early stage of its development. These wines offer lovely examples of Pierre Seillan's winemaking, at a lower price than his otherworldly Verite bottlings.

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard reveals tons of energy and focus in its intense, mineral-infused dark fruit. This is a very typical Sonoma Cabernet full of edginess and mountain character. This is a warmer site than Dakota and the fruit is harvested 5-7 days earlier. I very much like the wine's sheer vibrancy. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2029.

The 2012 La Muse is a bit darker, richer and more powerful than the 2011. Black cherries, plums, smoke, tobacco and earthiness meld together in a structured, intense wine that is going to need quite a bit of time to fully come together. Hints of chocolate and mocha inform the dark, imposing finish.

Mocha, chocolate, dark plums, smoke and cloves are some of the notes that inform the 2012 La Muse. Dark, sumptuous and impeccably balanced, the 2012 is super-impressive. The flavors are bold and intense, and while there is plenty of size and volume, the wine's balance is simply impeccable. I imagine the 2012 will reward drinkers with a good 20 years or so of very fine drinking pleasure.

The 2011 Le Desir is a wine of considerable potential. Rich, round and seamless, the 2011 has the most depth of these three 2011s. Expressive and layered throughout, the Desir is all about elegance and silkiness. Juicy dark raspberries, flowers, sweet spices and mocha all flesh out in this surprisingly dense, full-bodied wine. The 2011 appears to have the underlying structure to drink nicely for a number of years. The blend is 53% Cabernet Franc, 36% Merlot and 5.5% each Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2026.

A barrel sample (70% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec) of the 2009 exhibits a deep ruby/plum/purple color in addition to aromas of black currants, sweet cherries, loamy soil, coffee and Christmas fruitcake. Medium-bodied, soft and fleshy, it may not reach the level of the 2008, 2007 or 2005, but will be a top notch effort.

The 2012 La Joie presents a much racier, silkier expression of fruit, with fewer of the savory notes found in the 2011, but more overt fruit. Raspberry jam, wild flowers, mint and sweet spices flow through to the finish. The 2011 is a dark, masculine wine, while the 2012 is more feminine, sensual and red-toned. It will be interesting to taste the two vintages side by side in a decade. My hunch is that the 2012 will prove to be slightly less complex than its older sibling, but time will tell.

The 2012 La Joie hits the palate with serious depth, power and structure. Dark plums, blackberry jam, graphite, grilled herbs and smoke literally jump from the glass. Deep, powerful and brooding, the 2012 is likely to require at least a few years to come together, but it is compelling, even at this early stage.

Verite's 2011 La Joie is a dark, brooding wine bursting with energy and intensity. Naturally, the 2011 is cool, inward and shut down as so many wines are in this vintage, but at the same time, it has tons of vibrancy. An exotic melange of blue/black fruits, graphite, pencil shavings, smoke and incense take shape in the glass. The 2011 La Joie is very much in line stylistically with other vintages, but it is just small-scaled, in keeping with the personality of the year. The blend is 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2026.