Saturated ruby to the rim. The nose shows more mineral lift but less fruit expressiveness than the Helena Dakota, offering hints of blackberry, cassis, menthol, flowers and spices. Sweet, dense and fine-grained but quite powerful too, conveying strong rocky minerality and verve. A bit less pliant on the finish than the Helena Dakota but the firm tannins are ripe and suave. Really stains the palate with violet. A higher-pitched wine than the Helena Dakota and a bit more tightly wound, reflecting its vineyard's somewhat higher altitude, but with its lovely floral lift and superb definition, this boasts outstanding potential for further development in bottle. (from a vineyard at 950 feet)

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018I loved the 2017 Petite Sirah from barrel last year, and it shows beautifully this go-round, with the classic power and richness of the variety yet a lighter, fresher style on the palate. It has good acidity, and I expect it's going to put on weight in bottle, so give it 3-4 years if you can.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018A tiny production cuvee that's a cellar selection from sites in the Russian River, the 2018 Pinot Noir 40th Anniversary was 90% destemmed and spent ten months in 36% new French oak. It has a more fresh, focused, medium-bodied style offering lots of redcurrant and black raspberry fruit, a touch of background oak, plenty of earthy, charcoal, and graphite notes, ripe tannins, and good acidity. It's a beautiful wine yet still tight and closed. Give bottles 2-3 years and enjoy through 2028.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018From an estate vineyard on Cloverdale Peak and an 80/20 split of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Pine Mountain has a rocking bouquet of crème de cassis, violets, lots of crushed rock-like minerality, and underbrush. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, elegant Cabernet with silky tannins, beautiful balance, and lush, layered style on the palate. It's a terrific wine as well as a great value in California Cabernet Sauvignon.

USA, Oregon: Searching for Hidden Gems from Willamette Valley's 2017 VintageThe second vintage of this wine, the 2016 Pinot Noir Vista has a medium ruby-purple color and nose of warm blackberries, cranberry sauce, damp tobacco leaf, dusty earth, smoked meats, amaro and dried flowers. The palate is medium-bodied with intense, savory fruits, a grainy frame and juicy freshness lifting the long, perfumed finish. This will reward another year in bottle.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s The 2015 Pinot Noir Machado shows the more briny, tight, firm style of the 2015 vintage as well as medium-bodied richness, terrific purity, building tannins, and solid length. As with a lot of 2015s, it needs another year or two of bottle age.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Chardonnay Red Point has a very chalky, white pepper-laced nose over a core of fresh Golden Delicious apples, white peaches, cashews and cedar plus a hint of dill seed. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-filling stone fruit and apple flavors plus a racy line of freshness, finishing long and spicy. 372 cases produced.

The estate's 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Bosche is a little less outwardly exuberant than the Sycamore but makes up for that with its notable drive and pure energy. Black currants, crushed rocks, violets and melted road tar flow across the palate in this beautifully delineated vibrant wine. The floral-infused finish opens up beautifully with time in the glass. All the elements are in the right place. The 2009 Bosche is 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot.

The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyard is quite a bit more structured than the Bosche. Menthol, pine, spices, licorice and dark red cherries are nicely layered in this powerful, rich wine. Hints of smoke and tar add gravitas on the powerful finish. The Sycamore Vineyard could prove to be a long-lived wine. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025.

Aromas and flavors of forest floor, pine needles and underbrush, along with mulberry, blackberry and blackcurrant notes jump from the glass of the inky purple 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore. This Rutherford site is one mile south of Bosché Vineyard. The wine is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot and Cabernet Franc, treated identically to the Bosché and aged 24 months in French oak. The most youthful of all three wines, it is dense purple in color and exhibits licorice, charcoal, graphite, and a foresty, autumnal vegetation note. Deep boysenberry fruit is also detected in this rich, full-bodied, structured, dense and powerful Cabernet Sauvignon. Give it another several years of cellaring and drink it over the following two decades. Production levels on these wines range from just over 11,000 cases of their Napa Cabernet Sauvignon to approximately 1,900 cases of each of the single-vineyard wines, Bosché and Sycamore Vineyards. Tel. (800) 963-9698 These are all classically styled wines. Of course, long-time winemaker Ted Edwards is still steering the fortunes of this historic producer. All three of the 2005s are still amazingly youthful wines at age ten.

One of the many highlights in this range, the 2013 Pinot Noir Kiser En Haut is powerful and direct, with a blast of fruit that makes an immediate impression. The flavors are bright and nicely focused throughout. There is an element of reduction that sits above the fruit. Even so, the depth and intensity of the flavors is compelling. This is a gorgeous wine from Copain.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond Another highlight in this range, the 2017 Syrah Brosseau is enticing. Medium in body and yet somehow also quite rich in feel, the Brosseau has a lot going on. Time in the glass brings out an attractive range of inky blue/purplish fruit, lavender, spice and menthol notes. More than anything else though, the Brosseau is differentiated by its creaminess and textural depth.

Beams of tannin give the 2014 Syrah Brousseau its intense, salivating personality. Today, the Brosseau is raw and not fully formed. I imagine the 2014 will require at least a few years to come together. Not surprisingly, this will be the last 2014 Syrah that Copain will release. The 2014 will need every bit of that time to be approachable.

Made by Pierre Seillan of Vérité in Sonoma (the estate was purchased by the Jackson Family in 2003) from 50- to 60-year-old vines on clay and limestone, the 2015 Lassègue is composed of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep garnet-purple colored, it opens with expressive black forest cake, preserved plums and blackberry pie notes with an undercurrent of mocha, grilled meats, sandalwood and cigar box plus a waft of lavender. Medium to full-bodied, rich and densely packed with opulent layers of spiced black fruit preserves and chocolate box notions, it has wonderfully plush yet firm tannins and a lovely suggestion of background acid, finishing long and fragrant.

There are generally 2,000-3,000 cases produced of this Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend, one of the flagship offerings in the Jackson Family Farm umbrella. The 2001 Cardinale allies power with elegance, exhibiting a sweet nose of black fruits, pain grille, espresso roast, and toasty oak. Rich, full-bodied, opulent, and surprisingly forward, it possesses copious quantities of fruit and glycerin in addition to a heady, voluptuous finish that lasts for 45+ seconds. Most Cardinales tend to be more tannic and closed at such a young age. Anticipated maturity: now-2016.

Napa Valley’s Extraordinary 2016 Cabernets - Part 1 The 2016 Caladan is a new Cabernet Franc-based wine from Cardinale made with the same principles as the flagship, meaning that winemaker Chris Carpenter has the freedom to draw across the Jackson family's vast range of vineyard sites in crafting the blend. Dark, dense and voluptuous in the glass, the Caladan certainly has plenty of richness. It would be nice to see a little more Franc character, especially in the aromatics, as that is such a large part of what makes Franc so distinctive. I can't wait to see what future vintages look like.

The 2009 Cardinale is a gorgeous, beautifully balanced wine endowed with gorgeous textural finesse and depth. Dark red fruit, spices and mint are woven together beautifully in this supple, engaging wine. Bright floral notes add lift, freshness and vibrancy on the finish. There is enough finesse to make the 2009 approachable early, but also enough richness to suggest the wine will drink early for a number of years. Winemaker Chris Carpenter creates the blend from a number of vineyards, including Veeder Peak, La Jota, Spring Mountain, Andrew-Geoffrey and Clem Cardinalli. In 2009 the final blend is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot, predominantly from hillside sites, aged in 100% new French oak barrels. This is a remarkable level of quality considering the 1,300-case production. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2029.

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.