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Score
Matanzas Creek
2018 Merlot Alexander Valley
Fredric Koeppel, Bigger Than Your Head

Matanzas Creek, founded in 1977 in Sonoma County’s at-the-time remote Bennett Valley, built its reputation on merlot and sauvignon blanc. Presently, the winery releases five separate bottlings of each of those grape varieties, as well as a bit of chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. Since October is Merlot Month (#MerlotMe), I’ll focus today on the Matanzas Creek Merlot 2018, Alexander Valley. The wine aged 533 days (!) in French oak, 32 percent new barrels. I’ve never seen a producer list length of aging in days, a device that seems counterintuitive. Anyway, the color is opaque ruby-purple with a transparent magenta rim; florid aromas of ripe black currants and raspberries are permeated by notes of iodine, mint and graphite, lavender and bittersweet chocolate; a few moments in the glass bring out touches of woody spices like cloves and allspice; the wine is quite dry, animated by keen acidity for a lively mouth-feel, and juicy with black fruit flavors, abetted by hints of blueberry and pomegranate; dusty, velvety tannins provide support and lend some austerity to the finish. 13.8 percent alcohol. Now through 2024 to ’26. Winemaker was Marcia Torres Forno. The winery, part of Jackson Family Wines, is certified sustainable. Excellent.

La Crema
2019 Pinot Gris Monterey
88 Points MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator

Harmonious, with melon, peach and yellow apple flavors that are fresh and juicy, with details of dried flowers and crushed rocks on the finish. Drink now.

Bootleg
2017 Prequel Red Wine
94 Points Ken Hoggins, Dave Planchet, Mark Pharo, Ken's Wine Guide Excellent

This midnight purple colored red blend from Bootleg is a big boy! It opens with a blackberry and boysenberry bouquet with hints of black licorice, graphite, and oak. On the palate, this wine is full bodied with medium acidity. The mouthfeel is round and lush. The flavor profile features delicious concentrated fruit. Those fruit flavors are ripe blackberry and stewed black plum with notes of black jellybean, clove, and acai berry. We also detected hints of cardamom, black tea, graphite, and black cherry. The finish is rather dry, and its big boy dusty tannins stick around for a very long time. This blend is perfect for sipping by the firepit on a cool fall evening or with food, it calls for a well-marbled ribeye steak.

Freemark Abbey
1997 Sycamore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Alder Yarrow, Vinography 9.5

Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of forest floor, thyme and rosemary, licorice and black fruits. In the mouth, gorgeous, powdery tannins wrap around a core of black cherry, blackberry, dried and fresh green herbs. Wonderful bright acidity and freshness still. Outstanding. 14.2% alcohol. Tasted out of magnum.

Giant Steps
2020 Wombat Creek Vineyard Chardonnay
96 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

Giant Steps' higher-elevation sites, as in this and Applejack Vineyard, have turned out racy, long and superfine wines – it’s the moreish, mouth-watering acidity. Of course there’s more: the complex flavours and heady aromas. Smoky, slinky and talc-like texture to the acidity, with a dab of creamed honey and citrus on the palate. There’s a lot of precision and it’s a pure wine in a way that evolves superbly in the glass.

Giant Steps
2019 Harry's Monster
95 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

This vintage sees the split at 59/40% merlot/cabernet sauvignon and that all important 1% petit verdot. Made with the same exacting attention to detail as all the wines in this range: hand-picked fruit, vinified separately, natural fermentation, aged in French barriques for 14 months. Don’t be fooled by its approachability. This is a classy, medium-bodied rendition that will unfurl and garner more complexity given more time. Today, it’s almost pretty, with its array of red and blue fruits, finely chiselled tannins and a smooth texture across the palate.

Tenuta di Arceno
2017 Strada al Sasso Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Tom Marquardt and Patrick Darr, Capital Gazette, MD

The Tenuta Di Arceno Strada al Sasso Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2017 is the result of a new chianti classico designation implemented in 2014. This classification is a level above riserva and requires slightly higher minimum alcohol levels and six months more aging than riserva. Tenuta Di Arceno is sourced from one vineyard on their estate and is 100% sangiovese. The result is a complex chianti classico featuring fresh and dried cherries and plums with hints of earth and leather.

Tenuta di Arceno
2017 Chianti Classico Riserva
Tom Marquardt and Patrick Darr, Capital Gazette, MD

The Tenuta Di Arceno Chianti Classico Riserva 2017, however, displays a deeper, richer quality with softer and riper plum and cherry fruit notes. It is 90% sangiovese and 10% cabernet sauvignon. Very elegant.

Tenuta di Arceno
2018 Chianti Classico
Tom Marquardt and Patrick Darr, Capital Gazette, MD

The Tenuta Di Arceno Chianti Classico 2018 is crafted from 85% sangiovese and 15 percent merlot grapes and presents youthful fresh fruit notes of fresh cherries. The merlot softens the sangiovese acidity to make a very agreeable package.

Hickinbotham
2019 The Peake Cabernet-Shiraz
95 Points Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review

Something like this Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard The Peake Cabernet Shiraz 2019.It’s hard to talk down the quality of the Hickinbotham reds. Alongside Jackson Family Wines stablemate Yangarra, this is one of the most impressive estates in McLaren Vale bar none, crafting grandiose reds of luxury and impact.What I like about the Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard range is that, despite the ‘McLaren Vale goes to Napa’ weight, these are detailed wines. It helps that the clever Pete Fraser is on the ground (with Chris Carpenter dropping in from a US time zone) but at every turn you can see the thought behind the decisions. Couple that with the uncompromising quality of the grapes by plucked feom the coveted contour planted slopes of the ’71 planted Hickinbotham Vineyard and you’ve got a pretty magic recipe.And the winemaking notes? My kingdom for specific notes like these (and Yangarra for that matter) more often. pH, TA, block numbers, all of it. It’s a benchmark that more producers should aspire too (numbers here: ph 3.61 TA 6.4g/L).Anyway, the Peake is indeed the peak of the Hickinbotham empire and it’s a magnificent beast. Something majestic, that squarely takes aim at 707 or the like, yet built with more honesty and less added tannin.That’s a nice segue, because this wine’s biggest challenger is the already superb Brooks Road Shiraz.The Peake lays is all out there. Sourced from the original 1971 plantings, this is a best blocks, best barrels blend, the winemaking following the Brooks & the Trueman.There is an almost limitless coffeed richness here, a sense of oak-drawn purpose, backed up by fruit. That palate is absolute top-draw in a seductive, overt way. Reminds me very much of top Napa, unsurprisingly. Seamless, dark fruited, with not a hair of place. Big hats, big fruit, but wearing a very expensive wool suit. Lots of oak too. Hmm.On polish and purpose alone this is a megastar, long, tannic and taking square aim at Grange. That’s it. It’s Grange-like. Is it perfect? Not yet. That hat is so big that you can’t see the face underneath. But next year? The year after that? The years and years after that? It’s a lay down misère. You’re probably going to love this wine…

Château Lassègue
2017 Lassègue
David Zivan, Wine & Whiskey Globe

If I get my hands on another bottle of the 2017 Chateau Lassègue Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, I’m going to set it aside for a while. First, it’s plenty special for a special occasion. Second, I would love to see what it becomes. This is not to say the wine isn’t beautiful now, and indeed ready to drink; for a wine this young, it is exceptionally balanced and complete.But two hours after I opened it, those waves of lush fruit that had been prominent at the outset folded more thoroughly into the mouth filling, lush tannins. Minerals emerged on the long finish, decorated with warm florals. Yes, if I can get my hands on another one, I hope I can get my hands on two: I’ll share one with good friends now, and the other some time in the future.

Mt. Brave
2016 Merlot Mt. Veeder
Joe Roberts, 1WineDude.com A

Elegant, enthralling, enigmatic, engaging… and easy to adore.

Kendall-Jackson
2019 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay
Aleesha Badkar, Woman & Home

21 inexpensive Christmas gift ideas for coworkersA bottle of wine can never go amiss as a Christmas present and this classic Californian chardonnay will tick the boxes for anyone who loves that oaky, buttery, west-coast taste. With notes of pineapple, mango, and papaya that blend with subtle vanilla and honey ,and a finish of toasted oak and butter, your teammate will be left thinking this is a lot more expensive than it really is—making this a great Christmas gift for neighbours too!

Château Lassègue
2012 Lassègue
Mira Honeycutt, The Paso Robles Press, CA

You Had Me at MerlotFor good measure, we included a Bordeaux wine with some age on it, the 2012 Chateau Lassègue Saint Émilion Grand Cru, an opulent wine with brooding aromas of violets on the nose and classic blackberries and herbal notes.

La Crema
2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
Eric Hanson, Richmond News, BC

Wines to be thankful for at ThanksgivingHungry for red with your turkey or ham? Choose one with smooth tannins. Keep the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for red meats. But Pinot Noir would be an ideal choice. A recent discovery of a perfect Thanksgiving Wine is the 2018 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.The Sonoma Coast AVA is one of the largest in Sonoma Country and stretches along the mountainous coastline of the Pacific Ocean. The strong maritime climate provides a cool growing climate throughout the year, essential for producing premium Pinot Noir.The elegant La Crema reveals black cherry, boysenberry, and plum, along with earthiness, vanilla, and cinnamon. These complex aromas transition into multi-layers of flavours with silky tannins, a creamy texture balanced with crisp acidity, and a long fruity but dry finish.

La Jota
2018 Merlot Howell Mountain
Liz Barrett, What's in that Bottle

Whoa, mama! This is what I call a serious Merlot. It’s powerful, plush and luxurious, showing dark cherries, some dried herbs and bittersweet chocolate. This tastes expensive and it delivers the “wow” with every sip.

Giant Steps
2020 Fatal Shore Pinot Noir
95 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

Fruit from the Coal River Valley in Tassie, but made in the Yarra via the gentle way that defines Giant Steps. Yet the density and power of the place, the fruit intensity, comes through strongly. Dark cherries abound, but so too savoury, umami flavours of soy sauce and dried porcini with meaty reduction and spicy oak adding another layer. Full bodied with shapely tannins and a persuasive finish. A neat counterpoint to the Yarra Valley single-vineyard wines.

Mt. Brave
2018 Merlot Mt. Veeder
95 Points Owen Bargreen, OwenBargreen.com

Deep, polished and filled of terroir, the 2018 Mt. Brave Merlot is a spectacular bottling by Chris Carpenter. Once on the nose this evokes tar with leather, baking spices and copious dark fruits with chocolate tones adding to the intrigue. Full-bodied and decadent, with good structure, enjoy this outstanding bottling over the next fifteen to twenty years. If enjoying in its youth, give this beauty at least an hour decant. Drink 2021-2038.

La Crema
2019 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast
Editor, Off The Mrkt

Touchdown this Tailgating Season with our Game Winning Wine PicksThe winemaking team at La Crema has been perfecting Chardonnay for 40 years, and it shows. The 2019 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is flavorful, bright, and juicy, making it an ideal pairing for a wide variety of cheese-centric Sunday snacks - plus, it’s incredibly easy to find at your local grocery store while you’re out hunting for game day supplies. For a low-key pairing, kick back with a bowl of cheese-its or some warm, gooey queso with chips. If you’re looking to take things up a notch, try dungeness crab mac and cheese or honeycrisp apple pizza with balsamic onions.

Cambria
2019 Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay
89 Points Ken Hoggins, Ken's Wine Guide Very Good

This light-yellow colored Chardonnay from Cambria opens with a light oak, pineapple, and pear bouquet. On the palate, this while is medium bodied with nice light acidity. The mouthfeel is round and pleasant. The flavor profile is similar to the nose. It features light oak, vanilla, and pear blend with notes of green apple skin. There is also a little almond, chamomile tea, and ginger mixed in. The finish fades away nicely. This easy to drink Chard will certainly be a crowd pleaser. It will not last long. I would pair this food friendly Chard with a garlic and herb butter roasted chicken.

Freemark Abbey
1997 Sycamore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
96 Points Clare Tooley MW, Decanter

Deep mahogany. An outstandingly gorgeous nose, redolent with autumnal fruit. The palate is equally beautiful – perfumed with fruit and flowers but still minty fresh, bright and remarkably youthful. The age only becomes apparent in the perfectly resolved tannins adding layered texture as padding rather than structure. This is a complete and balanced masterpiece, alive and dancing; immensely flavourful but with flavours yet unnamed, making it wonderfully intriguing and totally moreish. Superb wine from a great Napa vintage.

Tenuta di Arceno
2017 Strada al Sasso Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Dan Berger, Napa Valley Register, CA Wine of the Week

Authenticity returns in this classic rendition of a 1970s-style Tuscan red with a balanced aroma of red fruit, dried tomato, trace of licorice and Turkish tobacco.The gorgeous dry/tart mid-palate makes it ideal for pairing with grilled chicken, tomato-sauced seafood, and lots of other medium-weight foods.

Tenuta di Arceno
2018 Chianti Classico Riserva
Editor, Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri - Three Glasses
Gran Moraine
2018 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton
91 Points Ken's Wine Guide Tasting Panel, Ken's Wine Guide Very Good+

This very pale straw-colored Chardonnay from Oregon opens with a toasted coconut and almond butter bouquet with hints of lemon zest, lychee, and pine wood shavings. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied with medium acidity. It is balanced, clean and has rounded edges. The flavor profile is pineapple and lemon blend with notes of vanilla, oak, and coconut. We also detected hints of almond, key lime pie and ginger ale. It is pretty complex. The finish is dry, and its acidity and flavors linger nicely. The Panel would pair this Chard with seared diver scallops, coconut grilled shrimp or shrimp or linguini in a lemon and garlic cream sauce.

Siduri
2018 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley
Alder Yarrow, Vinography 8-8.5

Medium garnet in the glass, with purple highlights, this wine smells of cherry and even darker berry flavors. In the mouth, a touch of raisin character mixes with cherry and cranberry compote. Faint, putty-like tannins. Decent acidity. Slightly overripe for my palate. 14.2% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap.