USA, California, Napa Valley: More New 2018 ReleasesThe 2018 Chardonnay Jennifer’s Vineyard was 100% barrel fermented in French oak barrels, 34% new, and aged for 14 months. It springs from the glass with impressive lemon curd, lime blossom, sea spray and mandarin peel scents with hints of shaved almonds, green mango and chalk dust. The palate is like a tightly coiled spring with amazing tension and intensity—loads of citrus and mineral layers—finishing very long and zesty.

Napa Valley’s Thrilling 2018s & 2019s, Part 1 The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon from Mt. Brave is fabulous. Inky, rich and explosive, the 2018 possesses tremendous depth and tons of personality. Graphite, blue/purplish fruit, blackberry jam, bittersweet chocolate, sage, lavender, menthol give the 2018 tons of character to match its explosive feel. The brooding, backward wine is going to need quite a bit of time to unwind, but boy is it gorgeous.

Napa Valley’s Thrilling 2018s & 2019s, Part 1 The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is a wine of tremendous power and gravitas. Inky dark fruit, graphite, cured meat and smoke all meld together in a virile, imposing wine loaded with character. I would cellar the 2018 for at least a few years, as it is quite the powerhouse. Swaths of imposing Howell Mountain tannins wrap around the palate. Even so, the 2018 has more than enough volume and resonance to balance things out.

The 2016 Cardinale Red Wine is a thrilling blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot crafted by superstar winemaker, Chris Carpenter. The wine was aged in 100% French oak (93% new) for twenty months before bottling. The stunning aromatics almost catch you off guard. Deep aromatics of creme de cassis, graphite, creosote, and blackberry compote all come together seamlessly in the glass. The freshness and intensity of the wine is gorgeous, as the silky mouthfeel makes the wine effortlessly glide across the mid-palate. Deep dark fruits collide with chocolate covered espresso bean, tar and anise flavors all marvelously sing in unison on the palate. A truly stunning heavyhitter of a wine, the 2016 Cardinale Red Wine will be very long-lived. Drink 2022-2050.

Napa Valley Cabernet: 2018 vintage reportThere is a palpably regal quality to all four Lokoya wines, but the Mount Veeder Cabernet attains an additional level of purity and class. There is a softness to the nose that is only additive, taking nothing away from the muscular, firm core underneath. The finish is granular, burly and seemingly endless. Reacts instantly to air, and is very much a moving target. An objective, definitive example of Mount Veeder Cabernet.

Wow. This is complex and structured with dried strawberries and fresh flowers. Full body. Wonderful depth and intensity. The texture is so impressive. Give it time, but hard not to drink it. Screw cap.

Great depth of colour. Partly destemmed, and partly left as whole bunches, matured in French barriques (25% new) for eight months. Ripe plum and glossy cherry fruit flavours fill the mouth, with spice and soft tannins adding flavour and texture.

Two barrels spontaneously underwent malolactic fermentation. The elevation of the Wombat Creek Vineyard at 410m makes this the last vineyard to be picked, and gives the wine a spine of acidity, with a wealth of nectarine and melon fruit wrapped around it.

There’s striking freshness of lemon and yellow grapefruit here with a chalky, stony, flinty edge. The fresh fruit carries subtly spicy oak nicely. There are grapefruit and fresh yellow-peach flavors in abundance. This carries energetic, acidity-fueled drive and delivers impressive balance, as well as length. So long and juicy. Drink or hold.

Attractive florals and crushed stones here with lemon and grapefruit pith, as well as white peaches and subtle hazelnuts. Some floral elements, too. The palate has superb elegance, coupled with intensity, concentration and focus. Sleek and fresh, lemon-drenched finish. Excellent chardonnay. Linear. Drink or hold.

A beautiful wine from the vintage, with 5% Merlot, this opens in soy, cedar and leather. Grippy in its youth, it is integrated, cohesive and elegant in its firm grasp of power and intensity, with nuanced layers of black currant, blueberry and dried herb. This will only get better; enjoy best from 2027–2037.

Very deep, dark red/purple hue, with a complex, serious bouquet displaying more oak than the pure cabernet sauvignon of the same vintage: subtle spice, herb and black fruit aromas augmented by gently toasty oak. The palate is full-bodied and well-endowed with firm, authoritative tannins, but not heavy. A powerful, statuesque red wine, with tremendous intensity and elegance, balance and style, and it should last for 35 years-plus if well-cellared. (approx half and half cabernet and shiraz. 370 cases made)

Very deep, dark red colour with a purple tint; the bouquet dense and complex, with savoury rather than fruity personality, and neither variety showing out obviously. Very full-bodied, concentrated and dense, with fabulous ripe, powdery, fine-grained tannins in abundance. Very mouthfilling with a long, long carry. A wine of wonderful depth, power and texture. (57% cabernet sauvignon, 43% shiraz. 150 cases made).

Take the best parcels of cabernet sauvignon from Trueman, same for Brookes Road shiraz, a 56/44% blend respectively, and another selection at the final assemblage to ensure it's the best of the best. Yep that works. It's morphed into a harmonious entity. Complex, detailed on every level with powdery

This is from an estate block within the original Durell Vineyard, 100% barrel fermented and aged, only 27% of the French oak new. Complex and exotic in baked pear, nuts, tangerine and crushed rock, it offers a fulsomerichness balanced by mineral-laden tension and lasting acidity.

The perfume, the nuance, the power. This takes the merlot grape and knocks it out of the park. It's ripped with both fruit flavour and tannin, it's smoked with an appropriate level of oak, and it feels authoritative through the finish. In short, it's a pearler.

Grown on a vineyard planted in '71. This is a superb cabernet. Dusty, dry and herbal but awash with sweet, boysenberried, blackcurrant-drenched fruit. It lays down oodles of flavour, not to mention tannin, but it's fragrant and frisky at the same time. One sip and you can't let go; it has you in its thrall.

The 2018s from Santa Barbara CountyThe 2018 Pinot Noir Machado is pure class, showing beautiful purity of fruit as well as classic Sta. Rita Hills complexity and spice. Lots of raspberry, strawberry, spring flowers, forest floor, spice, and just a touch of seaside-like iodine all emerge from the glass. It's a wonderfully complete, balanced, seamless 2018 that does everything right.

The 2018s from Santa Barbara CountySimilarly ruby/plum-colored, the 2018 Pinot Noir 459 has a big nose of spiced cherries, new leather, toasted spice, and spring flowers. These carry to a ripe, opulent Pinot Noir that stays flawlessly balanced, has good acidity, and a great, great finish.

Defined tones of red fruit and tangerine, alongside bright acidity, give this wine undeniable lift and life. It is sourced from a cool-climate block within the Arrendell Vineyard. Herbal in thyme and celery seed, it delights the midpalate with length and energy, expanding on the earthy theme with lasting freshness and specks of white pepper and cardamom.

The 2017 vintage of Upper Barn is Excellent! It is a light-yellow colored Chardonnay with a golden hue. It opens with a mild apple and pear bouquet. On the palate, this wine is medium plus bodied, extremely well-balanced and graceful. The flavor profile is a delicious delicate blend of pear, apple, vanilla oak, butter and refined minerality. There is a touch of cream soda and apricot mixed in as well. The finish is dry and it drifts away nicely. This Chard is super enjoyable and should certainly be enjoyed with your favorite Chard fan. You can drink this gem on its own or pair it with lobster with drawn butter.

Bright, deep ruby-red. Slightly high-toned scents of raspberry, coffee, milk chocolate and rose petal, plus some Old World hints of meat and earth. Utterly fine-grained and seamless on entry, with perfectly integrated acidity and a floral element giving clarity and lift to the red fruit, spice and mineral flavors. A first sample of this wine showed some porty high tones but this one is refined and pure, rich but not a bit heavy. In fact, it's wonderfully delineated, aromatic and fresh in the style of a top Pomerol. Finishes with firm, dusty, nicely buffered tannins, terrific thrust and sneaky rising floral perfume. This wonderfully elegant, pure, broad wine comes across as less wild than the Le Désir and La Joie bottlings. It should continue to evolve gracefully on its balance and palate-saturating breadth. Wow! Held up beautifully with aeration.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018One of the standouts in the lineup, the 2017 Pinot Noir Jennifer's comes from a vineyard south of Sebastopol, which sees lots of influence from the Petaluma Gap. Brought up largely in neutral oak (32% new), its deeper ruby/purple hue is followed by terrific notes of black raspberries, cedarwood, bay leaf, forest floor, and graphite. This head-turner is medium-bodied and has beautiful concentration, bright yet integrated acidity, and a killer finish. Locked and loaded, it needs 2-3 years of bottle age at a minimum, and my money is on it drinking brilliantly at age 20. It's a stunning, singular wine from this estate!

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018Coming from a block located on a northern facing ridge north of Fort Ross, on the Sonoma Coast, the 2017 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard was destemmed and spent 17 months in 32% new French oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, it offers a deeper, richer, more savory bouquet of black cherry and darker currant fruits as well as loads of ground herbs, chocolate, forest floor, and spice. This rich, opulent, incredibly sexy Pinot Noir has a wealth of fruit, a rounded, seamless texture, and a great finish. It's a rock star in this stacked lineup and a gem of a wine in the vintage. I love it!

This is so very complex and detailed and has an array of fine-ground brown spices with bright red berries and a gently herbal kick. The palate has drive and power with dynamic tannins whisking raspberry, strawberry and red-cherry flavors along in streamlined, linear mode. Excellent grenache. Drink or hold. Screw cap.