Kudos to Nielson for their 2019 Chardonnay’s bold and appetizing floral and chalky aromas. The wine’s zesty flavors, including pineapple, citrus and other bright fruits, are likewise appealing. Santa Barbara County’s diverse viticultural regions, which include proximity to the coast, contribute to this Chardonnay’s unique character.

Smells like cherries and cinnamon with a whiff of wet stone. Fruit is lean, with a decent oak vibe pushing up from the core of the glass. It doesn’t hang around much on the finish but would be a good social lubricant at a get-together.

2017 Les Cadrans de Lassegue Saint-Emilion Gran Cru is a happy marriage of merlot and cabernet franc from Bordeaux. Les Cadrans will show you why people love Bordeaux.

Quite ripe, but vivid, with lushly textured plum, açaí berry and blackberry reduction flavors layered seamlessly, framed with mocha- and vanilla-accented toast and backed by violet and warm earth hints on the finish. For the hedonist crowd. Drink now through 2026.

A nod to the Australian archetype with cabernet leading the way at 53% of the blend; yields oscillating across blocks between 3–5t/ha. Minimal messing about and assiduous attention to detail, as always. The shiraz adds sweetness and breadth to the Bordelais' austerity, imparting black plum, iodine, lilac and anise. The cabernet, clearly the authority with its chiselled countenance of currant, graphite and sage. A delicious meld. Sumptuous without being jammy. Taut, without being hollow. Extremely long.

This hums a mighty fine tune. Starting light and bright with raspberries, red cherries, star anise and a fleck of woodsy spices. It seems almost pretty until the savouriness kicks in. A touch of meaty reduction, lots of tangy acidity, with textural tannins working across a medium-bodied palate. It delivers plenty of flavour, yet it's all well contained.

Lower yields and small bunches meant 20% was destemmed. Whole berries went into 1 oak vat, topped with the remaining whole bunches. Sealed for some light carbonic maceration, with a bit of foot stomping in between. Pressed to French barriques, 20% new and aged 8 months before bottled by gravity, which excited winemaker Steve Flamsteed. Snap. Crackle. Pop. This is brimming with good stuff. Highly perfumed, crunchy fruit flavours and pliable tannins. Thanks to its laser light of natural acidity, it has energy and drive.

Warm vintages service this doyen of white Rhône varieties so well, almost forcing the phenolic amplitude and textural quilt that would otherwise be lacking, at least in this country. This has it in spades. Scintillating aromas of bitter almond, apricot pith, rooibos, pistachio and freshly lain tatami mat. À point! Pucker and freshness; textural detail personified. The French oak (25% new) and lees work, apposite. The finish, long and rippling across the textural crevices. I'd love to drink this in 5 years.

Hewn of fruit from a southeast facing ironstone sandy outcrop. Hand picked and gently macerated, resplendent with 25% whole bunches. 15 days on skins. 18 months in French foudres (30% new). I like this. A bit looser knit than the Ironheart. Floral and lifted. Sappy and crunchy. A powerful wine, to be sure, but light on its feet. An energetic cadence, weaving a thread of peppery acidity into a quilt of blue-fruit allusions, violet, nori, smoked meat and Asian spice. Firm across the finish, the tannins pulling the saliva forth in readiness for the next glass.

A blend of three distinctive blocks on loams, silt and clay. No whole bunch. Gently extracted by wetting the cap and racking/returning. Circa 20 days on skins. 6 months in puncheons. 6 more in foudres and a concrete egg. A corpulent wine, lush and full. Yet there is nothing jammy about it. Eclipsed by its Bordeaux varietal siblings perhaps, but as far as warm-climate shiraz goes, this is at the apex of the qualitative totem pole. Blue fruits, violet, anise, clove and pepper grind. Some salumi, too. But the tannins are this gorgeous wine's opus.

Some cold soak, some whole-bunch ferment, all matured in French barriques (25% new) for 8 months. Bright, fresh cherry aromas grab your attention on the bouquet, but there are some gamey, greenish notes underneath. Initially seems soft to taste but has a mouth-filling quality and the flavours and the tannin build as it goes along. Give it time in the glass and in the bottle.

Hand picked, mechanically sorted. Fermented with ambient yeast, 25% whole bunches. 16 days maceration. Matured for 9 months in 32% new French oak. The 25% whole bunches bring a briary complexity, while building a tannic bridge between the attack and mid palate. The tannins, grape and oak, serve as a long arc across blue/boysenberry, anise, clove and violet. Peppery and vibrant as much as it is plush and firm.

Fruit off the trio of top sites – Sexton, Tarraford and Applejack – all adding their unique qualities to make a harmonious whole. It's a racy number thanks to a laser lightshow of acidity throwing sparks at the white not-quite-ripe nectarines, grapefruit and lemon oil flavours, with a flash of spices and fresh herbs. It's revitalising and will be even better in time.

Hand picked on a fruit day of the biodynamic calendar across the oldest roussanne planting, now 16 yo. 50% destemmed, crushed and fermented in ceramic eggs on skins, remaining with them for a convincing 96 days. The remaining portion, also in eggs sans skins. Upon blending, matured in eggs. Compelling aromas of apricot pith, bitter almond, pistachio, dried hay and a whiff of marzipan and rooibos. Expansive, broad and rich, with skin-inflected intricacy and a tangerine vibe of freshness, tangier than usual. Takes time to unravel. Still taut. But staining of extract and intensity as it does! I'd drink this after a few years.

Sourced from the proprietary plot of 70+yo bush vines, all unirrigated, hand picked, mechanically sorted and fermented as 50% whole berries. Long. Matured briefly in an assemblage of puncheons, barriques and eggs. A light ruby. The nose, transmitting a crunchy energy from the first impression. Raspberry, sour cherry, orange zest, cranberry and pumice. Alive! Long and detailed with the sort of tannins that suck the saliva and force the 2nd and 3rd glass.

As with all wines aside from the newly acquired Hickinbotham Clarendon grenache, this hails from certified organic/biodynamic vineyards, an even split of sand and ironstone. 20% whole bunches and a splash of viognier for spicing and lift. Open fermented wild and on skins for 14–21 days, albeit, macerated gently. 10 months in an arsenal of French oak formats. Violet, iodine, dark cherry and blueberries. A skein of cardamom, clove and pepper grind-doused acidity tows solid length. Plump and juicy, with a bow of reductive tension across the finish.

7 Best Wine and Book Pairings: What to Drink While You ReadSwingI’d pair this book with two wines from California...The second is this seductive Pinot Noir from La Crema. Pinot is the heartbreak grape, but it finishes with great sensuality. So again perfect.

Red, White and Brew: End of summer selectionsRed Wine: Nielson wines are born on sandy soils, Pacific Ocean breezes and Santa Barbara sunshine. Named after Uriel J. Nielson, who in 1964 planted the first commercial vineyard in Santa Barbara County in California. Today there are more than 100 wineries in the area. Nielson’s 2017 Pinot Noir comes from three main regions within Santa Barbara County. It starts with bright red fruits and tea notes on the nose. The palate is light to medium-bodied. It drinks fresh and finishes a bit earthy. One of my all-time favorites in the $20 range. Also rated 90 points by Robert Parker. Give it a try, you might have just found your new go-to pinot!

Hand picked 20–26 March. Destemmed and whole-berry sorted. Gently crushed into open-top fermenters, cold soaked and pumped over daily. 18 days on skins. Wild ferment. Basket pressed with light pressings added back to the free-run juice. Racked and returned twice during 15 months' maturation in fine-grain French barrels, 75% new. Flying winemaker Chris Carpenter is well versed in the sort of tannin management that defines his Californian expressions. Here, the piste is not as smooth, with a bit more edge to the framework; a little more greenery to the aromas. For the better. Cassis, pencil lead and dried tobacco leaf, to boot. The finish, long and thrumming; the tannic gristle etching fine grooves of tension with each sip. This will age beautifully.

Sourced from the highest plot of bush vines, planted in 1946. Hand picked, sorted and destemmed to an even combination of both crushed and whole berries. Wild fermented, élévage in eggs and older French oak This is an imperious grenache if that adjective can be ascribed to a grape variety this joyous; this giddy of fruit and yet, underlying it all, a defining totem of immaculately extracted tannins. Kirsch, bramble, anise, clove, sandalwood and wood smoke drive long against a tannic parry: sandy, granular and emery-like.

This cuvée has shape-shifted. It's a more compact, mid-weighted and savoury experience than previous vintages. Attention to detail is a given here: hand picked, wild fermented and properly extracted. The oak, top-drawer. The tannins, detailed, finely wound, precise and laden with graphite. The length, compelling. Unrivalled by any other merlot but, perhaps, for Blue Poles in Margaret River. Stunning.

Hand picked 22nd March. Destemmed and whole-berry sorted, gentle crush. Cold soak and wild ferment. Pumped over daily, 15 days on skins. Basket pressed with light pressings included with free-run juice. Racked and returned twice during 15 months' maturation in fine-grained French oak (50% new). The quality of fruit, tannic precision and apposite application of oak under this banner are unequalled in Australia. Nobody else gets it quite as right. The budget and gear help, yet it is the viticulture and sites that are the foundation for everything else. Franc from a warm place, salvaging its sappy cavalcade of tannin, crunch and floral lift. Redcurrant, spearmint and chilli powder lace a finely tuned finish marked by a flourish of garden herb. Kerpow!

This medium ruby colored Pinot Noir from Oregon opens with a mild cola bouquet with a hint of blueberry. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, balanced, round, soft and nicely coats your mouth. The flavor profile is a black plum and gentle cola blend with notes of blackberry and clove. I also detected hints of boysenberry and anise. The finish is dry and its tannins are a bit sticky for a Pinot. I would pair this Pinot with duck breasts with pinot noir and cherry sauce.

May the pinot noir syrah realm continue!Soft, juicy red. Crisp tannins, raspberry and strawberry characters abound, white pepper spice, blood orange acidity. Thirst-quenching kind of feel. Great sense of tension and precision. Fresh as. A vibrant, exciting red.

Pinot noir from Tarraford and Sexton Vineyard so no slouch in the materials department here.It’s a tart and lighter shade of rose, peachy and a little creamy, raspberry licked and ostensibly dry, though you’d say citrusy too. An ease to drinking this, unashamedly in a good zone of savoury and dry and fruity. No fireworks. Well made. Nicely done.