Soft and lacy to start and highlighted by dark fruits and plums, but there is some oak here to negotiate. Not many people would reach for a straight Merlot out there in retail land, but if you do, this may inject some enthusiasm into the variety for you. Roasted capsicum, cedar and vanilla muse on a medium bodied delivery. Drying to finish, it leaves the mouth puckering as spices linger on a persistent finish.

The Tasmanian excursion for Giant Steps. Coal River Valley site. Whole bunch portion for one clone of the two used here. Taut and tense, dry and edgy. Sour cherry, tart cranberry drink characters, a bit of game meat, clove, meat drippings, paprika too with graphite notes in the mix. The tannin of paprika powder here too. Brooding but also kind of light too. Grippy and with this pleasing sour-bitter note through it all. Strict pinot, done well.

Supple, soft, spicy pinot noir, an almost gamay-freshness and light, lithe feel here. Cherry juice, dried cranbery, clove, cumin piquant notes and smoky notes. Bouquet and palate match well. Feathery tannins tickle the palate but with judicious grip and pucker in tow. A bit dust and overly drying to finish, slightly breathy, but pleasing is the main message.

“It was a cold, wet vintage, from spring all the way through summer and into the growing season. We were scratching our heads saying ‘are we going to make wine here?’ January turned things around somewhat, though there was botrytis to deal with. Fruit set was low, yields were low. A tiny bit of wine, but what’s there is precious. Beyond this, all the wines seem to amplify their personality of their place”, says Steve Flamsteed.Has some generosity, depth, glide and zest. A plucky, perky chardonnay full of tension in fresh-feeling and getting-ripe stone fruit characters, light mealy notes, licks of talc and faint pumice-like texture. Light on its feet but not without depth, layers of fruit, cinnamon spice, faint yeasty-sourdough savouriness. Feels pretty darn good.

Roussanne a strong suit for Yangarra. Slippery texture, ripe apple, cashew nut, cookie dough characters and some corn juice going on. Really good slide then grip to texture, a flavoursome white wine with lots to experience and sink one’s teeth into. Mojo is high. Delightful drinking.

Smoky complexity and good depth of flavor make this medium-bodied and ultrasmooth wine a standout. Light wood smoke, toasted almond and grilled peach flavors are lifted by fresh acidity for excellent balance, and the finish is lingering.

Focused fruit flavors are at the core of this well-balanced, lively, almost nervy wine as it gives up light caramel, Bosc pear and toasted almond aromas followed by lemon, butter and crisp apple on the palate. Best from 2025.

Hints of ripe peach, Pink Lady apple and lemon coast under a veil of tart dairy on the nose of this bottling. The palate is tightly woven, with orange-like citrus notes riding a penetrating acidity that rises through the sip, proving to be an engagingly sharp wine.

Honeysuckle, grapefruit pith and slight petrol aromas show on the nose of this bottling. The palate is wrapped in compelling tension, with flavors of lime balm, lemon verbena and brie rind complementing each other.

This is Merlot-dominant, full of plum and raspberry fruits, the silkiest of the three Vérités and the most approachable. Textured and rich, with grilled oak and cocoa powder, the tannins seductive but with big shoulders, and they do a great job of balancing out the more exuberant side of the wine. A long and relatively cool growing season at this estate.

There's glistening acidity to the richly spiced dried apple and dried apricot flavors in this lusciously spiced white, with a long, plush and mineral-filled finish that shows notes of dried thyme. Drink now through 2025.

Savory, shadowed by its oak and lees into supple complexities, this wine is layered in notes of baked apples and fresh autumn apples. Heady and rich, with a yeastiness that touches on a Saison beer, this wine continues to give more of itself the longer you spend with the glass. It would be delicious with wood-roasted oysters and duck-fat fries.

This wine gets its cool tones from the high altitudes at the Jackson family's Alexander Mountain Estate, a 5,000-acre property on the western slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains. Lisa Valtenbergs builds the blend from a range of parcels, at elevations from 400-1,800 feet. While the texture is soft and mellow, the wine sustains a crisp green freshness and bright undertones of lemon. Satisfying to drink on its own, this will readily take on soft-shell crabs or other rich shellfish.

One of the more challenging releases, this Yangarra Ovitelli Grenache 2019 is a fascinating, layered wine, if not as loveable as the current release High Sands.From the 2ha Block 30, planted in 1946. Destemmed, crushed and tipped into 675l ceramic eggs and spends 101 days on skins. Matured for a further 8 months on skins post-press. Numbers: pH 3.37 TA 6.5g/L.There’s a waft of VA to announce things, then a nose and palate that is so lucid. Raspberry and red texta, there is a glycerol roundness through the palate, but the tannins are sandpapery and firm. I get a little distracted by the volatility and a slight soapiness, but the vibrancy of the fruit is excellent. The tannins are going to be divisive too – they’re pronounced and grainy – though that just adds layers. Quality Grenache, although I preferred last year’s release more (and the Hickinbotham too).Yangarra Ovitelli Grenache 2019. Best drinking: It’s going to live. But I would drink it within the next five to eight years.

A precise, subtle wine with great balance between ripe pineapple and mango, crunchy saline acidity and a hint of roasted nut and vanilla oak. A youthful wine that can be drunk now but will reveal more exotic complexity and nutty character with age.

Tightly wound, pure and minerally, this is packed with vibrant, fine-textured dried red fruit and berry flavors. Forest floor notes lingers on the direct and powerfully structured finish. Drink now through 2026.

Pleasantly leafy and herbal—without getting into the vegetal end of things—Hickinbotham's 2019 The Nest Cabernet Franc is the third consecutive strong vintage for this wine, which is loaded with dark cassis and black cherry fruit. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated and richly textured, it finishes long, with echoes of cigar box and pipe tobacco.

2019 Pinot Noir, Soberanes Vineyard The nose is sweet and concentrated dark cherry and plum with a forest floor spice. The palate entry offers nice density with impressions of licorice, sassafras and black plum in the core. Finishes with dried black fruit and polished spiciness. Drink 2021 - 2026.

2019 Pinot Noir, Ewald Vineyard The nose is cool forest floor and dried red berries. The palate entry is bright, focused pomegranate and cherry with well-integrated acidity leading to a sappy dark cherry core finishing with graphite and blossoms. Drink 2021 - 2027.

The 2018 Chardonnay Radian Vineyard comes from one of the top sites in the Sta. Rita Hills and was brought up in 30% new French oak. Spiced apple, lemon, brioche, honeysuckle, and hints of toasted almond emerge from the glass, and this beauty is medium to full-bodied, with a rounded, layered texture, beautiful purity, and a great finish. Readers looking for a classic example of Chardonnay from this appellation can't go wrong here.

The 2020 Chardonnay Santa Barbara County comes from the talented Greg Brewer, and it's been an incredible value in every vintage I've been lucky enough to taste. Revealing a medium to lighter gold hue, it's medium-bodied and juicy, with a lively, up-front nose of ripe Meyer lemon, tangerine, honeysuckle, and exotic white flowers. This pure, elegant Chardonnay brings beautiful fruit and texture, has plenty of acidity, and a great finish.

A big step up in price, the 2018 Chardonnay Signature Collection Katherine's Vineyard is similarly gold-hued and offers a beautiful sense of reduction in its ripe stone fruits, peach, and citrus-like aromas and flavors. Rich, medium-bodied, toasty, and mineral-laced, it has plenty of mid-palate depth as well as a great finish.

Lots of mulberry, cherry, and raspberry fruits as well as classic Santa Maria herbal, briny, peppery notes emerge from the 2018 Pinot Noir Signature Collection Barbara's Clone 667. Medium-bodied on the palate, it’s beautifully balanced and has an elegant texture as well as wonderful depth, all with a firm, focused, masculine vibe that should keep for a solid decade.

A ripe, toasty, yet pure, clean Chardonnay, the 2019 Chardonnay Nielson Vineyard, which comes from a site in the Santa Maria Valley, is medium to full-bodied and has a rich, layered textured, plenty of background toasty, nutty oakiness, and a great finish. This rich, satisfying, undeniably delicious Chardonnay should drink well for 3-4 years.

There's toasty richness to concentrated apple pastry and pear tart flavors backed by crunchy acidity. Lusciously spiced finish features accents of quince paste and hints of marmalade. Drink now through 2025.