Santa Barbara Dreamin'…Part One The 2016 Pinot Noir Q Block Bien Nacido Vineyard is one of the best wines I have tasted from Byron of late. Unctuous and yet light on its feet, the 2016 is simply gorgeous. The inky blueberry fruit, lavender, spice and mint flavors offer notable intensity, and yet the wine comes in at under 13%. The 33% whole clusters add layers of dimension without dominating the wine. The 2016 is a total stunner. Own-rooted vines planted in 1973 deliver pedigree and class in the Q Block. This is what terroir is all about.

The 2008 Pinot Noir Monument (a blend of their very best barrels) is extraordinary. A super Pinot Noir, with full-bodied, opulent black cherry and black currant flavors touched by a nice, subtle smokiness and a hint of charcoal, this wine has great fruit, purity, and depth, without being heavy or over the top. This beauty should drink well for 7-8 years.

The 2015 Chardonnay Bien Nacido presents intense grapefruit, peach and pineapple notes with hints of honeyed toast and ginger plus a honeysuckle waft. Medium-bodied, rich, intense and with a satiny texture, the palate is wonderfully expressive and refreshing, finishing very long with mineral notes.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Machado comes from a 15-acre site just adjacent to Clos Pepe, which is across the road from Hapgood and just behind the Kessler-Haak Vineyard. It's more restrained than the 459 (which is from the same vineyard) and is more medium-bodied, tight, and fresh, with a classic perfume of black cherries, raspberries, rose petals, and forest floor. With beautiful balance, high yet integrated acidity, and a great finish, it's a classic wine from this estate that needs 2-4 years of bottle age and will keep for a decade after that.

An absolutely gorgeous wine, the 2015 Pinot Noir Drum Canyon is also the highlight in this range from Brewer-Clifton. All the elements come together in a wonderfully expressive, complete Pinot loaded with personality and class. Aromatics, fruit and structure are all deftly balanced. Calera and Swan are the main clones.

I think the first vintage for this cuvée, the 2015 Pinot Noir Drum Canyon is a complex, more ethereal style of wine from this team that has darker, perfumed notes of black cherries, black raspberries, forest floor, dried herbs and earth. It has a good mineral streak, medium-bodied, richness and a solid finish. It’s not as upfront and hedonistic as some of the other releases in the line, but I suspect will be better with another year or two of bottle age.

The 2015 Chardonnay Hapgood has a lovely savory/nutty nose of almonds and cashews with a core of muskmelon, apricots and allspice. Medium-bodied, it delivers a rasping line of invigorating acidity—cutting through the densely packed flavors beautifully—and fonishes with a lively citrus peel lift. 95 cases were made.

A Spotlight on Santa Barbara Moving to the younger vintages, the 2014 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills is still tight and reserved, with lots of matchstick, orchard fruits, and buttered citrus. Medium to full-bodied, gorgeously rich, fresh and lively in style, it needs short-term cellaring but is fabulous juice and loaded with potential.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Smothers-Remick Ridge is a dark, virile wine. Black cherry, chocolate, leather, smoke, licorice all fill out an ample frame. I would prefer to give the 2015 at least a few years in bottle, as it is shockingly primary and raw at this stage, just a few months after bottling.

From the first-growth vineyard of Monte Rosso, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso (again, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 32 months in 4% new oak) is a 30- to 35-year proposition. Inky blue/purple, with notes of underbrush, forest floor, wet gravel, and scorched earth as well as plenty of blackberry and blueberry fruit, this big, masculine, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon is fragrant but structured, dense and built for the long haul. Forget it for another 2-3 years and drink it over the following three decades-plus.

Arrowood's 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard is rich with iron, smoke, licorice, bramble and dark red fruit. A relatively soft, supple wine from this historic Sonoma site, the 2009 is also quite open at this stage. I expect the 2009 will gain complexity with more bottle age, but it is already pretty attractive today. Sweet hints of oak and a dash of floral notes linger on the finish. This is a sexy Monte Rosso Cabernet from Arrowood. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2029

From one of California’s grand cru vineyards, Monte Rosso, Dick Arrowood produces a Cabernet Sauvignon from very old vines. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard boasts a dense ruby/purple color followed by a big nose of loamy soil, cedarwood, black currant, sweet cherry, and oak characteristics. Dense, full-bodied, muscular, and more broodingly backward than the Reserve Speciale, this wine will benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age, and drink well for two decades.

Showcasing the potential for outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon in Sonoma County is the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale (1,600 cases produced). This wine is fashioned from four sources, including the Monte Rosso Vineyard, Murray Vineyard, and the Smothers-Remick Ridge Vineyard. A deep blue/ruby/purple color resembles that of a 3- to 4-year-old wine. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 24 months in both French and American oak, was bottled unfined and unfiltered. It reveals notes of licorice, road tar, toast, black currants, kirsch, underbrush and forest floor. Full-bodied with beautiful purity and moderate tannins, it remains a dense, youthful, exuberant, rich Cabernet that has not yet reached its peak. Give it another 3-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 15+.

The 2009 Il Fauno di Arcanum is a compelling blend of Merlot (61%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), Cabernet Franc (16%), and tiny parts Sangiovese and Petit Verdot. This is a deeply concentrated red blend from Tuscany that shows complexity, inner poise and grace. The combination of fruit is spotless and you get plush cherry, blackberry, leather and tobacco. The wine isn't all about primary aromas, however. Tertiary aromas also appear and give hope for the future evolution of the wine. The mouthfeel is endowed with textural richness.

The 2014s are 30-year wines, even in such a supple, easygoing and charming vintage. The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana has an opaque purple color, a beautiful nose of graphite, creosote, incense, blackberry and licorice, and maybe a touch of charcoal and earth. The tannins are soft, and there is enormous fruit as well as a deep, full-bodied mouthfeel and some coffee in the finish. It should drink well for 25-30 years.

A drop-dead gorgeous wine, the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard is more overt than is often the case. At the same time, there is plenty of underlying structure; it's just that those elements are nearly buried by the fruit. Layers of cool, intense, minerality support the fruit, giving the wine its energy, delineation and nuance. Layers of blackberry jam, violets, cloves and graphite develop over time, adding tons of nuance and complexity, especially on the finish. This compelling 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon captures the very best qualities of the year. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2029.

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota, which comes from a 750-foot elevation, is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 14 months in all French oak. It shows lots of white chocolate, dense opaque purple color, a hint of red and black currants, floral notes and some crushed rock/wet stones. It is very dense, powerful, rich and full-bodied and still shows considerable tannin. Forget this wine for another 4-5 years and drink it over the following 20-plus years. This and its sibling are somewhat atypical of 2004 in requiring more cellaring.

Possesses aromas of white flowers intermixed with spice box, licorice, black currants, raspberries, cherries, toasty oak, and background scents of volcanic/scorched earth. With lovely richness, medium to full body, impressive purity, and a long, heady finish, it should hit its peak in 3-4 years, and last through 2020+.

USA, Oregon: 2016 Vintage – Part Two Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Slope has a nose of wood smoke, smoked meats, potpourri, black pepper, blackcurrants and black cherries—this is very savory and Syrah-esque! Medium-bodied, it packs in the blue and black fruit layers in the mouth, wonderfully sweet and ripe, with savory/earthy layers of turned earth and pipe tobacco. It's framed by firm, fine, grainy tannins and great freshness, finishing long and sweetly fruited. This is great!

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2014 Pinot Noir Slope is a little closed at this youthful stage, o􀃗ering glimpses of black raspberries, wild strawberries and pomegranate with suggestions of fertile loam, dried leaves, moss and truffes. The medium-bodied palate is firm and broody, revealing glimpses of the fragrant earth and red fruit layers that should blossom over time, which are now firmly encased by chewy tannins and racy acid.

Pale to medium garnet-purple, the 2015 Grenache Ovitelli reveals a stunning nose of kirsch, dried roses, cinnamon stick, sandalwood and Sichuan pepper with hints of lavender and Marmite toast. Medium-bodied, taut and very Finely structured in the mouth, the perfumed red berry flavors are textured by soft, fine-grained tannins, and it finishes with great persistence.

Medium garnet-purple in color and intensely scented of kirsch and warm red currants with an alluring peppery undercurrent, plus suggestions of dried roses, cloves, garrigue and dusty earth the medium-bodied 2011 High Sands Grenache is still a little angular in the mouth at this youthful stage with chewy tannins and crisp acidity supporting the pronounced pepper and spice flavors. It finishes with excellent persistence. Drink it 2015 to 2022+.

A reserve label made only in the best vintages, the 2010 High Sands Grenache has a deep garnet-purple color and expressive notes of blackberry, black cherries and roses over touches of peppered salami, fertile loam and yeast extract. Medium to full-bodied and packed with muscular fruit, it has a solid backbone of medium to firm grainy tannins and refreshing acid, finishing long and layered.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Ironheart Shiraz offers up notions of crushed black cherries, mulberries and plums with hints of chocolate box, licorice, tilled soil, cardamom and Provence herbs plus a hint of black olives. The medium-bodied palate is both harmonious and vivacious, packed with youthful blackberry and exotic spice flavors and a good backbone of ripe, rounded tannins. It finishes long with a pepper and herbal lift.

Rich smelling wine - licorice, black fruit, raspberry liqueur, fragrant dried herbs and spice, meat and chocolate. Medium to full bodied, chocolaty and meaty,even acidity, pulls and grips a bit with powdery tannin, especially on the dry mineral finish. A muscular-raise-one-eyebrow kind of GSM. Yes.