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.

Deep vivid ruby. Heady, smoke-accented red and blue fruit preserve, spicecake, vanilla and floral pastille scents show excellent clarity and pick up notes of exotic Indian spices and cola with air. Sweet and expansive in the mouth, offering concentrated, alluringly sweet black raspberry, boysenberry and cherry cola flavors that show appealing spiciness and a touch of smoky minerality. Weighty yet surprisingly graceful in style, finishing with powerful thrust and velvety, slowly building tannins that fold quickly into the plush fruit.

Moderate garnet color in the glass. Demure, but pleasant aromas of cassis, earthy flora and wood shed. The most harmonious wine of the trio tasted here, with a bit more vibrancy. Nothing is out of place. A discreetly sappy black cherry fruit core is accented with a touch of cardamom spice. Oak is contributory without imposition. The wine has a mouth filling presence, a sleek texture, with integrated tannins, and a potent finish. There is an indefinable special quality to this wine that makes it stand out.

Light and zingy, dripping with gorgeous raspberry, strawberry and floral flavors, weaving in strong mineral notes as the finish gains momentum. A hint of pepper informs the aftertaste. Drink now through 2023.

Charge at this! What an absolute ripper. Superb value too. Sourced from vines planted in 2009 and 1946, the fruit was hand-picked over two separate dates - one week apart. Wild yeast fermented with time on lees for five months. Certified organic and biodynamic. Pale, dry and ridiculously delicious. I could drink a gallon of this stuff. It's almost as though there's something here for everyone - delicious fruit, pretty aromatics and a bone dry finish. Whiffs of musk and rose water along with squashed strawberry get you in the mood. In the mouth, winemaker says rose hip but I say hibiscus. Either or. Generous and juicy to taste, the fruit is soft seeing white peach and strawberry before a red apple crunch swoops on the finish. Moreish and absolutely delicious - hello sunshine! Drink now.

Pale copper-crimson, gorgeously aromatic, spotlessly clean and a delight to drink. Echoes of redcurrant and spice, dried herbs and cherries. Dry and racy, but not anaemic or underdone. Everything here, price included, is in alignment.

Biggest Australian Wine Tasting Ever: 2,700+ Ratings A beautifully fresh nose with expressive pomegranate, wild red fruit and amaro-like, herbal accents. The palate has a very plush, smooth-honed and keenly detailed tannin profile with such long, effortlessly powerful resolve. Brilliant grenache here. Certified organic. Drink now. Screw cap.

Grenache from an egg, a ceramic one at that. I've seen Peter Fraser's egg collection in the winery - quite a sight. This is a great expression of the variety. The fruit was hand-picked and mechanically sorted. 100% of the fruit was then destemmed, crushed and tipped into 675L ceramic eggs. The fermentation occurred in the eggs and the wine remained on skins for 191 days post-fermentation. Exclusively matured in ceramic eggs. No pressings were used. Not fined. Certified organic/biodynamic. A lip-smacking wine. Perfectly manicured edges, generous feels are the hallmark of this beaut drink. In some ways it's purity doesn't it make it feel like Grenache, that's until a soft caress of varietal spice crawls up and cautiously builds momentum through the mouth. Textural feels from time on skins is evident and adds personality. The finish comes across a bit slippery, almost forgetting itself on the way out. But there's enough hang time from the generous fruit to push that concern to the side. Another glass or two certainly isn't out of the question.

Why Australian Wine is Some of the Most Exciting in the World A decadent grenache with dried blueberries, tar, brambleberries and Chinese spices. The palate is also generous but well supported by grainy, tight tannins and a fine line of acidity. A crunchy, chewy finish.

From bush vines planted '46, 50% whole berries, 50% destemmed, wild yeast open-fermented, matured for 10 months in used French oak. Very good colour; rich, full predominantly red fruits supported by fine tannins. No hint at all of confection or jam. The finish simply reinforces the depth and the freshness of the fruit from 70yo vines. Bargain.

Medium ruby/purple, the 2013 Small Pot ‘Ceramic Egg’ Grenache has a funky nose replete with meaty and earthy aromas of yeast extract, kirsch and warm red berries. Rich and full-bodied, it has a solid frame with fine, grainy tannins, crisp acid and a very long, earthy and meaty finish. It should age well.

Vines planted in 1946 develop flavors for the brilliantly hued crimson-purple juice, painted and perfumed with roses and bittersweet chocolate raspberries. Grown on sandy dune soil, the use of wild yeast offers up astringent notes of aspirin-like tannins and lavender bitters, peppered and sauced with sour plum. Tastes like a wine three times its price.

Scented elegance. Nothing overly sweet to the profile here. Red currant, cherry, aniseed, earth/spice. Tangy. Not thick or dense, but it makes an impression. Tannin is internally routed in a completely seamless/velvety fashion.

Light but bright and clear crimson-purple; some estate owned vineyards were able to rise above the challenges of the vintage, and some winemakers sorted the grapes berry by berry in the winery to achieve results such as this - a highly aromatic and pure red-berried wine, with supple mouthfeel and no hint of green fruit.

Deeply coloured, bright purple hue; the bouquet reveals black fruits, prune, mocha and licorice the palate is densely packed with tannins, ironstone minerality and is about as muscular a rendition of Grenache as can be achieved.