Deep ruby, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard offers its cassis aromas slowly, continually unfolding to accents of lavender, cured meats, chargrill, coffee and loads of savory spices. Matured 12 months in 70% new French oak, the palate is surprisingly lifted and silky, soaring with youthful fruit and spices, focused acidity and a streak of graphite driving the long finish. 1,379 cases were made. Hélène Seillan notes that the oak is sourced from about 15 different forests in France, and its singular, spicy, integrated oak is part of what makes this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon so distinctive.

The 2019 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon comes 100% from the Keyes vineyard. Deep garnet-purple in color, it prances out of the glass with showy notes of kirsch, black plum preserves, and warm cassis, plus suggestions of charcoal, roses, and forest floor. Full-bodied, the palate is completely coated with crunchy black fruits and firm, grainy tannins, finishing long, earthy, and refreshing.

The 2019 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon comes mainly from the Wallis Vineyard, located at around 1,100 feet and consisting of gravelly loam. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is fairly closed to start off, soon revealing earthy scents of truffles, crushed rocks, and forest floor over a core of cassis and blackberry preserves plus a hint of tar. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is firmly structured with ripe, grainy tannins and stunning freshness supporting the tightly wound fruit, finishing long and savory.

The 2019 Red Wine is made from 67% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 0.5% Malbec, and 0.5% Petit Verdot, with all 4 mountains in the blend. Deep garnet-purple in color, it slowly unfurls to deliver a provocative perfume of chocolate-covered cherries, rose oil, and star anise with hints of violets, fallen leaves, forest floor, and dusty soil. Full-bodied, the palate has the most beautiful, silky tannins and well-integrated freshness supporting the perfumed fruit, finishing long and mineral-laced.

The great Aussie blend, this is 52% Cabernet and 48% Shiraz. It is sourced from four discrete blocks, all planted more than half a century ago, in 1971. All are low yielding. The varieties were kept separate for fermentation. All grapes were destemmed. The Cabernet spent 15 months in fine-grained Bordeaux barrels, 60% of them new. The Shiraz went to one and two year old barrels, spending 6 months on lees. Overall, the wine saw 50% new oak. At this stage, barrel selection took place with the best blended together for this wine. Although the wine certainly climbs the heights, it is not named after any local mountains, not that there are any, but rather, after Mr Edward John Peake, who planted the first vineyard in Clarendon around 1850. Black/purple. This is deep, dark, brooding and coiled. Serious underlying power with balance, force and focus. Notes of aniseed, blackberries, dark chocolate, axle grease (in a good way) and coffee beans. Great length here with soft powdery tannins. The two grapes meld together perfectly, neither dominating, but both enhancing the other. Plush and soft and cuddly, this is a cracking red. 15 years plus if needed, but good luck keeping your hands off it for that long. Love it.

Sumptuous, lively and generous in dried herbs, allspice and forest floor, this is a memorably intense and complex coastal wine, thick in tannin and enduring structure. Red berry and citrus give it a lightness that boosts the lovely, lasting acidity.

Sourced from a propitiously sited plot within the oldest realm of 1946 plantings, all on deep sands. Destemmed to whole berries and fermented wild for 21 days on skins. Matured 11 months in older, large-format French wood and eggs. This is the benchmark of the region on many levels, made in a denser fashion, perhaps, than its siblings. Yet this vintage feels more elegant. The fruit, crunchy and of the red spectrum. The acidity, salty. The tannins, lithe and slinky with the embellishment of oak an accent of intrigue, rather than a jarring dialect. Resinous. Powerful. Yet pixelated of detail as it strides to a long finish clad with thyme, orange verbena and a whiff of cedar.

Sourced from two blocks of the Keyes Vineyard at La Jota, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain shows more caramel, barrel toast and mocha notes, derived from the choice of Demptos as the cooper. Cassis and blueberry flesh out the flavor profile of this full-bodied, rich, velvety effort. Mouth-filling and plush, it's broad and expansive in the mouth, finishing long and intricately textured.

Made mainly from WA's Gingin clone and planted in Gruyere on the same grey clay as Applejack. Whole bunches pressed into French puncheons with 20% new oak. Smells tightly wound and concentrated with aromas of ripe peach and nectarine, together with just a hint of lanolin and apple custard. Equally powerful and punchy on the palate. This has more of everything, including sprightly acid and some phenolic grip on the very long, stone-fruit pithy finish. Today, this is my pick of the 4 single-vineyard 2021 chardonnays, but who knows what will come out on top in 5 or even 10 years from now!

Purple fruit, such as ripe plums and white peaches with flowers. Medium to full body with lots of perfumed flavors and a savory finish. Powdery tannins provide roundness and beauty. Long finish. Tight at the end. Needs two or three years to soften and open.

Aromatic and complex with sweet tobacco, fresh and dried herbs and fresh flowers, as well as red fruit. Medium-to full-bodied with wonderful polish and drinkability, especially for the mountain fruit from Howell, Veeder, Diamond and Spring mountains. Elegance. A blend of 67% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon, 12% cabernet franc and a dash of malbec and petit verdot. Drink or hold

The essence of cabernet sauvignon on the nose with cassis and fresh flowers. Full-bodied with orange peel, blackberry, cassis and hints of rose stems. Creamy and powdery tannins. Needs time to come together. Try after 2026, but already beautiful.

The nose is of lifted blackberry and dark forest fruit on this blend, made from a combination of Napa’s mountain fruit. There are overtones of gravel, of stone, of hints of smoke. The palate is immediately concentrated, powerful and intense. This is like a primal force, bold but toned, rich but fresh. Ripe tannins coat the mouth, assert themselves while that dark fruit lingers.

A shy nose hints at dark berry and some graphite only. It is on the palate that the fine freshness, the superfine tannin, like combed, starched silk, breaks though. There is crunch, there is freshness, there is this insistent, lasting, long and pure, tart red berry fruit. This is Cab Franc the California way.

Blueberry smoothie, perfumed, slight black pepper and exotic spices, violet perfume, dried herbs, and mocha oak. Medium to full-bodied, powerful, blackcurrant, some red fruits, ferrous tannin and plenty of them, firm ‘mineral’ acidity keeps it fresh and it’s very long and powerful. Needs a fair amount of time, but a what a great Cabernet this is. So emphatic.

Always an exciting proposition. A transparent grenache of pixelated precision. As reminiscent of its nebbiolo brethren as it is of pinot. A shimmering red-fruited veil. Gritty, attenuated tannins derived from old vines (1946) and a long, gentle agitation in ceramic eggs. Here, a spontaneous ferment occurs across an astounding 170 days. Like biting into the juiciest raspberry that bridles the perfect edge of ripeness, before sucking on sandstone. Long is an understatement. This is among Australia's greatest wines from the country's finest cultivar.

Moderately light garnet color in the glass. Seductive aromas of Bing cherry, raspberry, sap and spice. Delicious, mouth filling flavors of black cherry and raspberry saturate the palate with goodness. Very polished in the mouth, with buried tannins and a vibrant acid backbone. Everything works in harmony so that the wine can be thoroughly enjoyed now. Fabulous when tasted the following day from a previously opened bottle.

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder is one of the most distinctive wines in this range from Lokoya, but it is also the most backward. Huge beams of tannin give the Veeder Cabernet energy and shape. It will be at least a few years before the fruit starts to fully emerge, so a measure of patience is essential. Iron, red plum fruit, sage, mint and white pepper lend striking brightness to this gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignon from Lokoya and winemaker Chris Carpenter.

In 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is entirely from W.S. Keyes ranch. A huge, statuesque wine, the 2019 possesses tremendous intensity right out of the gate. Inky dark fruit, gravel, menthol, licorice and spice build in an opulent, dramatic Cabernet that hits all the right notes. This is such a classic expression of Howell Mountain.

The 2019 Red Wine, Caladan's Merlot-based blend, is flamboyant to the core. Inky dark fruit, chocolate, new leather, licorice and sweet oak are all kicked up in this decidedly exuberant wine. Winemaker Chris Carpenter opted for hillside sites for this blend, so there is plenty of supporting mountain structure lurking beneath all of that fruit.

With time, this Cabernet is now beginning to reveal its cornucopia of autumn fruits on the nose; black currants, plum, figs, red and blue berries. The palate is equally packed with flavour. However, the tannins remain upright, structural, imposing even, less rounded out than in La Muse or Le Désir. There is a delicious, savoury note to this wine, making it immensely appetising despite its firmness. It is drinking now, with a little help from a good steak, but has really only just begun its journey to ultimate pleasure.

Right from the start, this wine tells you exactly what it is all about, all Cabernet class, cassis, green leaf on the nose and pure, compelling graphite on the palate. This is an immensely powerful wine of regal stature. Statuesque but dynamic thanks to the seam of fresh acidity running through it like a current of air, the tannins are beautifully managed but are uncompromising at this stage. There is a denseness to the wine at this stage. The overall impression is one of monolithic splendour, like the greatest of Bordeaux Pauillacs.

The 2019 Red Wine, based on 67% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and miniscule amounts of Malbec and Petit Verdot, is the most difficult blend to put together. A deep, rich, powerful Merlot, it has tons of red and black fruits as well as chalky minerality, medium to full body, a dense, compact mid-palate, and complex notes of spring flowers and spice.

Winemaker Chris Carpenter fashions the Caladan releases to be more complex, lifted, and perfumed. Mostly from Spring Mountain, the 2019 Cabernet Franc checks in as 79% Cabernet Franc and 21% Merlot, aged in 75% new French oak. Gorgeous black raspberry, cassis, and earthy currant fruits as well as lots of spring flowers, iron, and spice notes emerge on the nose, and it’s medium to full-bodied, pure, and polished on the palate, with plenty of tannins and structure. It has some accessibility today, yet smart money will hide bottles for 4-5 years, and this beauty is going to evolve for at least two decades.

2018 Cardinale is a 90/10 cabernet sauvignon/merlot aged 22 months in 81 percent new French oak. It comes at you in waves from the glass as it gulps in oxygen. Winemaker Chris Carpenter appears to be letting Cardinale find its way, and the result is a less boisterous, more stylish Napa cabernet that tells an impressive tale. The wine is magnificently balanced, rich in black and blue fruits, bright acidity and Napa Valley power with a strong, savoury, mineral undercurrent. Long, complex, and nowhere near ready to drink, it is a delight to taste. You will eventually get to enjoy the full picture by 2024-26, but it will age effortlessly into the 2040s and beyond.