The nose is an angular slate, fresh red berry fruit and saline. The palate is an ebullient spice box and cherry pie. Beautiful length and concentration. Drink 2019 – 2025.

The nose is a soy, cherry and blackberry with a deep powerful undercurrent. The palate entry is crisp wild berry with a firm, dry core that gains intensity with air, finishing with mouth-coating black fruits. Drink 2020 – 2028.

The nose combines crisp red, and crunchy blue fruit underlaid by pie spices. The palate entry offers more blue fruit along with a silk-textured core of cocoa and spicy oak finishing with an encompassing feel of warm sweet cherry. Drink 2019 – 2028.

The nose is a polished black fruit, dried honey and graphite. The palate entry is a delicious layered black fruit, nougat and acidity with strong definition. Drink 2019 – 2030.

The nose is lemon with hints of white berry and juicy tropical fruits. The palate entry is lean and precise with lemon, pear and wet stone. Drink 2019 – 2026.

The nose is a lean, crisp white fruit, cherry and grapefruit with bright acidity and notes of floral. The palate is a fresh lemon and chalk, bone dry texture finishing with hard nectarine. Drink 2019 – 2026.

The nose is a delicate yet full lemon and chalk. The palate is pure lemon, saline and crisp white fruits merging into a full, balanced core of focused golden stone fruit and citrus. Drink 2019 – 2027.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2017 Chardonnay Journey, aged in 30% new French oak, unfurls with fresh quince, lilac, jasmine and honey toast with accents of warm peaches, hazelnuts, crushed shell and beeswax. Medium-bodied, it has a lovely silky texture and slowly blossoming, savory flavor layers, with acidity that begs you to take another sip, finishing very long and savory. So pretty! 300 cases were made.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 Medium ruby-purple in the glass, the 2017 Pinot Noir Sea Lift, aged nine months in 35% new French oak, is scented of blueberries, cinnamon toast, crushed red cherries and boysenberry with fragrant earth, potpourri and tobacco touches. The palate is medium-bodied, silky and perfumed with lightly chalky tannins and seamless freshness on the long, spicy finish. 2,000 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2017 Pinot Noir Fog Veil aged 15 months in 37% new French oak. It's pale to medium ruby, opening to red licorice, saline, rhubarb and pomegranate with accents of tangerine, red plum, roasted sage, blueberries and a spicy undercurrent. Light to medium-bodied, it's delicate but with loads of flavor layers from ripe fruits, spices, bitters and earth, with a fine, grainy frame and juicy acidity lifting the long finish. 2,000 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2017 Chardonnay Kelli Ann Vineyard was barrel fermented and aged 15 months in 35% new French oak. It comes from vines off Eastside Road on the banks of the Russian River, planted in 1989. It opens to scents of yellow apple, salted almonds, crushed stone, lemon peel and meringue with a classy framing of sweet spice. The palate is light to medium-bodied and delicately intense, with appealing citrusy flavor layers and mouthwatering acidity, finishing long on a honeyed note. 1,500 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 This was barrel fermented and aged 15 months in 35% new French oak. The 2017 Chardonnay Durell Vineyard has a singular nose of dried herbs, sweet mint, pie crust, honeyed apples and a peachy core with nuances of hazelnuts and beeswax. It's medium-bodied and creamy textured with a savory, toasty profile, balanced by bright acidity and finishing very long. 750 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2017 Stature Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of fruit from Alexander Valley (62%) and Knights Valley (38%), aged in 70% new French oak for 20 months. It has a deep ruby-purple color and offers up scents of cassis, cocoa powder, coffee bean, crushed boysenberries, Morello cherries, cedar and cigar box. Full-bodied, it opens slowly in the mouth to spiced fruits, with a firm, granular frame and great freshness, finishing long. This is still very tightly coiled and youthful but has the frame and stuffing to improve in bottle, so give it at another few years in the cellar. 188 cases were made.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2017 Pinot Noir Jackson Estate Outland Ridge aged nine months in 42% new French oak. Youthfully shy, it slowly opens to Earl Grey tea leaves, crushed cranberries, warm raspberries, blackberries, earth and sweet spices. Medium-bodied and silky, it offers intense, perfumed fruits with a firmer frame of grainy tannins and juicy freshness, finishing long and layered. 864 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2017 Jackson Estate Cloud Landing Chardonnay was barrel fermented and aged 10 months in 35% new French oak. It's scented of red apple skin, crème fraîche, white peach, crushed shell and almonds, plus notes of honey toast and saline coming through with time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and slightly rounded, with intense, savory and toasty flavors enlivened by mouthwatering acidity on the long finish. Delicate and delicious. 343 cases were made.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 Deep ruby-purple, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Jackson Estate Trace Ridge, aged 20 months in 61% new French oak, opens with aromas of candied violet, lilac, mixed berry perfume, licorice, garrigue, sage and exotic spices with cassis, blueberries and black plum at the core. Full-bodied, it's slow to unfold in the mouth, giving glimpses of perfumed flavor layers. It has a frame of ripe, fine-grained tannins and great freshness, finishing long. This has loads of potential and needs more time in bottle for sure. 200 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2016 Syrah Les Voisins is medium ruby-purple with an inviting nose of warm marionberry, blackberry, boysenberry and blueberry—wonderful layering of black and blue fruits!—with mint chocolate, roasted coffee bean, olive and violet nuances. The palate is medium-bodied with fantastic intensity, expertly framed with grainy tannins and great freshness, finishing long. This is so delicious! 800 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 One of the more rustic, savory styled Syrahs in the Copain lineup, the 2016 High Rock Syrah is medium ruby-purple and scented of chargrill, roasted coffee beans, black soil, warm blackcurrants and blueberry sparks with accents of bay leaf, violet and tapenade. The medium-bodied palate offers intense, herb-tinged fruits with a firm, chewy frame and seamless freshness, finishing very long. 350 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 This is the inaugural release of this vineyard—Copain hasn't worked with this fruit before. Pale to medium ruby, the 2017 Pinot Noir Edmeades Vineyard, aged 16 months in 30% new French oak, opens with very pretty scents of loamy earth, rose petals, cola and strawberry jam layered with notions of orange peel, wild blackberries, crushed cherries and cold earth plus a nutmeg hint. It's medium-bodied, fleshing out in intensity before zeroing back in with juicy acidity. It has a soft frame of tannins and finishes very long. This is delicious! 1,000 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2017 Pinot Noir Côte Bannie, aged 16 months in 33% new French oak, opens with savory notes of dried tobacco, tea leaves, scorched earth and bay leaf over a core of perfectly "al dente" fruits—blackberries and black cherries—with accents of bergamot and undergrowth. The palate is light to medium-bodied, savory and intense, with a firm frame of grainy tannins and juicy freshness, finishing long and powerful. Give this at least another year in bottle as it has the stuffing and structure to develop well in bottle. 350 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 The 2017 Maggy Hawk Pinot Noir aged 16 months in 20% new French oak. Pale to medium ruby in the glass, with scents of baked marionberry, black licorice, shaved nutmeg and loamy earth with notes of pipe tobacco, crushed black cherries and mixed berry jam. Medium-bodied and silky, it offers wonderful intensity and purity of layers, wrapped firmly by grainy tannins and refreshed by mouthwatering acidity, finishing long and layered. 500 cases produced.

An absolutely fabulous value is the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa. This comes from multiple sources and there are 46,000+ cases of it. A stunning Cabernet Sauvignon and a classic example of Napa viticulture, this blend of 75.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, was aged just over two years in oak. Loads of sweet blackcurrant fruit, cocoa, a touch of toast, earth, and baking spice are all present in this wine that has terrific fruit on the attack and mid-palate, a full-bodied mouthfeel, no hard edges and a luscious, opulent, gorgeously pure style. Drink it over the next 10-15 years. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see it last longer. For old-time reader/subscribers, this might be the modern-day equivalent of the great 1974 Souverain Vintage Selection that I recommended back in the late 1970s and is still going strong today.

Smooth, ripe and balanced with rich plum and cassis; juicy, supple and classic; generous and refined; long and lovely; another Ted Edwards triumph.

If you’re like me and prefer your Cabernet in a more restrained and balanced style, there are some fine examples from the 2010 Vintage, and this is one of them. Sourced from vineyards in Rutherford, Atlas Peak and Mount Veeder, it’s got all the right Napa markers -- blackberry, black cherry, currants, dried herbs, fall spice and cedar in the nose and on the palate, with firm structure and a long well integrated finish that is approachable now with decanting and will age nicely for 15+ years. Contains 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and small amounts of Petite Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc.

Shows all the hallmarks of an important young Napa Cabernet. Bone dry and quite hard in tannins, it's immensely concentrated in blackberries, black currants, cassis and fine, smoky new oak. Possesses that elusive quality of dramatic terroir, a real sense of place. Very fine young wine that needs time. Cellar until at least 2015.