This pale straw-colored Sauvignon Blanc opens with a nectarine pit and yellow grapefruit bouquet with hints of fresh cut grass, green apple and green pepper. On the palate, this wine is light plus bodied with gentle acidity. The flavor profile is white grapefruit and lime blend with notes of stony minerality and green apple candy. The finish is dry and drifts away nicely. The Panel would pair this Sauvignon Blanc with crab avocado stack salad, crab cakes or oysters.

As big and as sprawling as it is, the Sonoma Coast AVA is known for its strong maritime influence due to fog moderating the warm summer temperatures. It is always the richest version of the brand's many chardonnays, mixing ripe red apple and lemon curd with orange and coating baking spice and vanilla-scented oak. It boasts a broad mix of clones, all barrel fermented and aged seven months in a mix of French (75%) and American (25%), but only 17 percent is new. It is a perfect chardonnay vintage and a wine you can enjoy now through 2023. Dungeness crab is a terrific match in British Columbia.

Winemaker Randy Ullom has does a fine job of keeping this wine in play, tightening the structure and restraining the sweetness as much as possible without upsetting its millions of customers. It is part of the new California chardonnay style. It all begins with some impressive fruit sourcing up and down the Golden State’s coolest hillside vineyards influenced by the Pacific Ocean from Mendocino to Santa Barbara. Look for a bright and lush palate of ripe peaches, a touch of caramel candy, and creamy, buttery lees all freshened by an acidity that sets off the tropical pineapple and Meyer lemon. Pair with lobster, crab, butter chicken, or popcorn.

Cool-climate is a good descriptor of this Monterey pink made from pinot noir. The nose is aromatic with notes of strawberries, watermelon, and mandarin that spill onto the palate with equal freshness. The finish is clean, if a bit short, but hey, it's rosé, not rocket science. Serve cool with your favourite charcuterie plate, and let the summer begin.

Avant is all stainless steel fermented and bottled under a screwcap, a reliable recipe to rein in its bright tropical fruit. In 2019, the wine was 50% Monterey County (lemony citrus and mineral notes), 36% Santa Barbara County (fresh pineapple), and 14% Mendocino County (juicy green apple flavours). This wine has put on a little mid-palate weight to add to its ripe, sweet fruit. It is ready to drink all summer with your choice of west coast seafood or creamy cheese dishes.

“Full fruit” is a trite expression in the wine business, oftentimes used as an excuse for wine that has no complexity. What a stunner it is to taste a wine that has so many points of flavor, including primary lemon, pear, and peach flavors, as well as earthier flavors of caramel and treacle, yet tastes like wine, not grape juice. The restrained oak and clean palate on this wine truly makes you pause and reflect, as you slowly break out into a smile.

Women are making it in the bigger corporates as well. In California, the substantial Jackson Family Wines business is run by Barbara R Banke, who co-founded the company with her late husband and has run it alone since his death in 2011; she has employed women winemakers in three of their divisions, including Jill Russell, who leads an all-female winemaking team at the Cambria estate in Santa Barbara, and whose inaugural vintage of Cambria’s Katherine’s Vineyard Chardonnay 2017 has already been justly celebrated: a lovely wine that strikes a perfect balance between weight, oak, citrus, refreshing stone-fruit flavours and hints of spice.

Using sustainably farmed estate grapes, Russell creates lively and fresh wines. The single-vineyard 2018 Katherine’s Vineyard Chardonnay ($27) hits the sweet spot for California chardonnay. I love the moderate oak influence on this. It has a creamy mouthfeel, with flavours of apricot, peach, flint and popcorn. This would be fantastic with crab or lobster.

Deep purple colour, concentrated aromas of blackcurrants and sweet baking spices. Rich, smooth texture, a hedonistic treat of wild cherries, plums, tamarillo and dried herbs. Colossal tannins, full-bodied and a finish that lingers.

Purple colour with an inky black core, notes of incense and brambles. Full-bodied, fleshy, round mouth-feel with powerful notes of blackcurrants, fruitcake, cigar leaves and fenugreek. Ample, svelte tannins offers extra dimension, long persistence.

This full and rich Chardonnay from the Katherine's Vineyard has a fragrant floral bouquet full of fresh fruit and a slight citrus breeze. The flavors are apple and peach, with a little lemon zest, and a mild buttery presence which finishes with a vibrant crescendo.

A California wine shop staple, this Pinot Noir hits all the Pinot varietal buttons from its bright red fruits, mouth-filling, earthy, cran-cherry, and soft tannins. Fresh, mouth-watering acidity balances the ripe fruit before ending in a savoury, smooth finish. Ready to drink.

4 fantastic wines for women’s dayThis Pinot has lots of dried sage and tarragon over bright black cherry.

This pale white gold colored Sauvignon Blanc opens with a ripe honeydew melon and gentle grapefruit bouquet with hints of pineapple and wet stone. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, well-balanced and smooth. The flavor profile is a tasty white grapefruit and ginger blend with notes saline and gentle lime. We also detected some hints of chalky minerality throughout. It closes with a dry, refreshing and lingering finish. The Panel would pair this Sauvignon Blanc with raw oysters, shrimp scampi, or grilled mahi-mahi.

Slightly golden in color with a mild nice apple/pear nose. On the mid palate the wine matches the nose with nice apple and pear along with some oaking notes like vanilla. This is not a super oaked wine, but more of a subtle gently oaked wine. On the medium length finish the wine displays some nice soft acidity, nice and dry, beyond what the g/l would imply. We paired it with grilled scallops and it was perfect. I would give it an -88. Not bad at all.

Colour: bright, light gold.Nose: aromas of pineapple chunks, peach, citrus and vanilla with hints of musky, woody spice.Palate: juicy notes of white peach, pineapple and baked apple with vanilla custard, soft spice, slightly smoky, toasty oak and a touch of grilled grapefruit on the lingering finish.Food match: versatile with a variety of food, including chicken stroganoff, grilled chicken, scallops, vegetarian risottos and pasta dishes.

On the nose, there was buttery shortbread, lemon zest, white blossom, vanilla, crisp apple and a faint trace of nutmeg. On the palate, I found peaches, pears, lemon, Newtown Pippins apples (reminiscent of my childhood as our garden had 49 apple trees, mainly that variety), wonderful butteriness from malolactic fermentation, melon, pear, sweet almonds, vanilla and a distinctive minerality. This wine was perfectly balanced between fruit and acidity. It was also long on the palate.

Top 6 in the 6ix: Wines of the Week - Netflix Wine PairingsA delicious full bodied and easy going cabernet Sauvignon ideal with saturday night date night, lamb rack and season two of The Crown – a wine and series that is both serious and exciting!

This is all about restrained richness. It’s a Chardonnay with some richer elements: some meal, toast and spice, together with pear, peach and pineapple, but also some finesse and some lean citrus and green apple notes. Shows purity and concentration, with a bit of crystalline citrus fruit. There’s a lot of latent potential here: while currently it’s a bit constrained and turned in on itself, with a primary sort of character, I think it could develop really well.

This midnight purple colored Tuscan blend opens with a pleasant black cherry and mild leather bouquet with hints of earthy blackberry. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied with slightly elevated acidity. It also has a nice round mouthfeel. The flavor profile is a juicy black cherry and fine-grained graphite blend with notes of cedar and strawberry licorice. We also detected some hints of walnut, black plum and traces of bay leaf mixed in. The finish is quite dry and its moderate tannins stick around for quite a while. We would decant this Merlot based wine for about an hour and then pair it with a five-star recipe of sweet Italian sausage with peppers and onions.

This well-integrated, complex and structured wine from the mountain appellation is substantial in red fruit, toasted oak and powerful concentration. Cassis, black cherry and sage perk up a broadly rich, lively palate of bright, lasting acidity and savory dried herb and earthiness. This will do well in the cellar; enjoy best from 2027–2032.

Stainless-steel and concrete-egg fermented, this is a tight-grained, textured white, with nuanced complexity and elegance. Stony mineral elements boost a body of green apple, melon and Meyer lemon that make for a lovely, balanced expression of the grape.

Done in the Méthode Traditionnelle, this vintage-dated brut is the first Oregon sparkler from La Crema. It opens crisp and clean, showing little impact from four years en tirage. There is green-apple fruit and sharp acidity but little complexity. Give it ample aeration (open the bottle, re-seal it, and let it sit for some hours) and it shows much better, with touches of straw, toast, citrus and good length and texture. Drink 2024–2035.

This has aromas of underbrush, truffle, blue flowers and French oak. Reflecting the nose, the tightly wound, full-bodied palate features coconut, vanilla and licorice that accent a black cherry core. Close-grained tannins provide the tight framework and leave an assertive, drying close. Drink 2023–2029.

Thick, earthy and red-fruited, this approachable red offers tremendous value and quality. It is solid and well integrated in its hearty texture and fresh notes of pomegranate and plum. Characteristics of nutmeg, vanilla and oak rise on the finish.