The 2019 Pinot Noir Afleet has a medium ruby color and lovely scents of spiced blackberries, loamy earth, black tea leaves and dried herbs. The medium-bodied palate offers intense, spicy fruit, a finely grained tannic structure and a long finish with refreshing acidity. It was made with about 40% whole clusters and matured for 16 months in 20% new French oak.
The 2019 Chardonnay Skycrest Vineyard comes from vines planted at 1,500 to 2,000 feet in elevation above the town of Boonville in the Anderson Valley. It was mostly barrel fermented and matured for 16 months in 30% new French oak. It has elegant aromas of yellow apples, quince, beeswax, hay and salted almonds. The medium-bodied palate is silky and fresh with savory fruits and flinty streaks, finishing long and gently honeyed.
The 2018 Chardonnay Tidal Break Vineyard is a new barrel-fermented Chardonnay from La Crema that was aged nine months in 26% new oak. It opens with touches of graphite, toast and a core of lemon peel and crunchy apples. The medium-bodied palate is silky and expansive, blossoming to crème brûlée and honeyed tones on the long, creamy finish.
The 2019 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, aged eight months in 23% new oak, has a medium ruby color and scents of cranberry sauce, orange peel, licorice, cured meats, savory spices and iodine. The medium-bodied palate is silky and refreshing, with concentrated red and black berry fruits and a long, spicy finish.
The 2019 Pinot Noir Green Valley was aged 10 months in 25% new French oak. Medium ruby-purple in color, the nose explodes with blackberry and raspberry jam, bergamot, rhubarb and aniseed. The medium-bodied palate is concentrated, ripe and spicy with silky tannins and bursts of refreshing acidity.
Medium ruby, the 2019 Pinot Noir Cloud Landing is scented of dark cherries, orange peel, forest floor and potpourri with touches of tobacco and cinnamon. The medium-bodied palate is concentrated and powerful, with finely grained tannins, juicy acidity and a long, lifted finish.
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve is blended with 7% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot and was matured for 15 months in 30% new French oak. It has a deep ruby-purple color and pretty accents of cinnamon, violet, leather, dried herbs and bitter chocolate complementing cassis fruit. The full-bodied palate is concentrated yet fresh, with finely grained tannins, pure flavors and a very long finish. Give it another 3-5 years in bottle.
The 2019 Winberrie Knolls Vineyard comes from more than 100-year-old vines and was matured for 10 months in 47% new French oak. It has a medium ruby-purple color and is bursting with scents of spicy red and black berries with touches of conifer, tobacco and potpourri. The medium-bodied palate is elegant and earthy, with a balance of grainy tannins and juicy acidity, and it finishes long and layered.
The 2019 Zinfandel Highwire Vineyard comes from head-trained and high-wire vines that are more than 100 years old. Matured for 10 months in 46% new French oak, it offers scents of grilled peaches, red berries, wildflowers, pie spices and licorice. The full-bodied palate is concentrated and grainy, with rounded acidity and a very long, layered finish that hints at more to come with bottle age.
Matured for 16 months in 13% new French oak, the medium ruby colored 2019 Pinot Noir Seven's Bench Vineyard has soaring, savory scents of blood orange, woodsmoke, pipe tobacco, charcuterie, black tea leaves and conifer. Medium-bodied, silky, intense and layered, it offers plush red berry fruit, seamless acidity and a long, detailed finish.
The 2019 Pinot Noir Land’s Edge Vineyards comes from vines on the Sonoma Coast, about four miles from the Pacific Ocean. Matured 10 months in 36% new French oak, it has a medium ruby-purple color and delicate, slowly opening scents of red berries, tea leaves, conifer, bitters and graphite. The medium-bodied palate is powerful, with deep, broody flavors supported by firm tannins, and it finishes with notable length and latency. Allow it to unwind over the next 3-5 years in bottle.
Opaque ruby-purple, the 2018 Syrah Brosseau Vineyard has intense aromas of blueberry and blackberry jam, chargrill, olive, dried mint and lilac. The medium to full-bodied palate is well-balanced, its full, ripe fruits tempered by savory accents and supported by firm, rounded tannins, and it offers satisfying freshness on the long finish.
The 2018 Pinot Noir Côte Bannie, matured in 25% new oak, has a medium ruby color and explosive aromas of blueberries, woodsmoke, cranberries and charcuterie, plus loads of earthy, savory accents. Medium-bodied, firm and fresh, it's deeply fruited and has broody, earthy accents, offering a fan of dark spices and a burst of freshness on the long finish. It's seriously styled and intense and will evolve in bottle over the next 3-5 years.
Matured in 30% new oak, the medium ruby colored 2018 Pinot Noir Abel offers intense red berry fruit on the nose with accents of tree bark, dried herbs, earth, citrus peel and dried flowers. Medium-bodied with a silky texture, the palate explodes with juicy fruits and earthy accents, its bright freshness carrying the long, spicy finish.
The 2019 Chardonnay Tidal Break is bright and mineral-driven on the nose, with fresh apples and citrus underpinned by saline, almonds and crushed stone aromas. The medium-bodied palate is bursting with pure citrus fruits, which segue to expansive, honey-nut tones on the long, ethereal finish. It was matured in 10% new oak.
The 2019 Chardonnay Skycrest Vineyard comes from one of Copain's estate vineyards, where vines are planted from about 1,600 to 2,200 feet in elevation. It opens slowly to hazelnuts, white flowers, beeswax and quince paste aromas, with bright accents of citrus and stone. The palate begins medium-bodied, linear and citrusy before expanding its honeyed bass tones, and it finishes with loads of flavor layers. It deserves another year or two in bottle to unfold.
The 2019 Cabernet Franc is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a little swirling to unlock notes of stewed red plums, baked blackberries, and Morello cherries with hints of bouquet garni, pencil lead, and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is bright, refreshing, elegant, and refined with loads of subtle black and red fruit layers and a mineral-laced finish.
The 2018 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petit Verdot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is a little closed to begin, soon unfurling to offer notes of warm cassis, blackberry preserves, and mulberries, with an undercurrent of dusty soil, fallen leaves, iron ore, and bouquet garni. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is soft and juicy, with plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with beautiful harmony.
The 2018 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon comes from vines just in front of the Cardinale winery. Deep garnet-purple in color, it soars out with vivacious notes of blackcurrant jelly, baked plums, and boysenberry preserves, leading to suggestions of cedar chest, unsmoked cigars, crushed rocks, and black truffles. The medium to full-bodied palate has a firm frame of finely grained tannins and oodles of freshness supporting the muscular fruit, finishing long and earthy.
Vineyard is at the wonderfully-named Gruyere, planted in 1997. North-facing, exposed site. Cherry pie, sweet and delicious, with earthier/meatier aspects. It’s like drinking sweet roasted lamb, studded with berries and herbs. Blue fruit aspects here, woodsy herbs, sweet acidity through the finish. It’s not simple but it feels like a simple pleasure, if that makes sense; it just has that drink-me-now exuberance. That said the tannin here is beautifully crafted. I’d drink this before the others in the Single Vineyard range though it may well hold for as long as any of them. Up-front pinot deliciousness, with substance, is the message here.
A salty, savory version, this red offers woodsy underbrush and loam notes, along with sanguine, iron, leather and meaty cherry aromas and flavors. Lively and balanced, with a lingering aftertaste of fruit and herbs. Sangiovese and Merlot. Drink now through 2029.
A heady perfume of oak spices like clove, cedar, cinnamon and toast leads to a palate full of very ripe black fruits, mint and dark chocolate. Moderate tannins, good concentration and a full body encourage a lingering finish. Best through at least 2028.
This big but well-balanced wine wraps fine-grained tannins around nicely ripe and round black cherry and black currant flavors. It tastes deep and subtly oaky and feels both mouthfilling and lively. Best through 2028.
Soft, spiced and forest-like in earthy pine and mushroom, this wine offers rich additional layers of red berry and orange zest. Herbal with a hint of white pepper, it is complex, full in style and tight with a tannic grip.
This elegant, attractive, light- to medium-bodied wine offers subtle, intricate flavors of black tea, red tea, cranberry, cinnamon and bay leaf on a silky texture of light tannins and lively acidity.