From a site planted in 1906, it possesses dramatic fruit in addition to a wonderful perfume of black raspberries intermixed with kirsch, loamy soil, and spice box. Deep, full-bodied, opulent, and elegant, this is another beautifully pure, flashy Zin to consume over the next 5-7 years.

Inky black in color and densely rich on the palate. This is one of the five fine Zins from this winery-plush, silky, sexy and complex, with a broad array of black cherry, plum, cola, coffee, chocolate, spice, and herb flavors. Velvety smooth and long on the finish.

Inky black in color and densely rich on the palate. This is one of the Zins from this winery - plush, silky, sexy, and complex, with a broad array of black cherry, plum, cola, coffee, chocolate, spice, and herb flavors. Velvety smooth and long on the finish. Editors' Choice.

Saturated medium ruby. Roasted blackberry and blueberry, bitter chocolate and black pepper on the nose. Urgent and vinous, with syrupy sweetness of fruit, superb concentration and a strong suggestion of wet slate. Very much like tasting a barrel sample, but with the clarity of flavor of a finished wine. Ends with serious, firm tannins and outstanding lingering sweetness of fruit.

A century ago, when the vineyards used in this wine were planted, immigrant farmers tried to replicate the hearty reds of home. They planted grapes they could ferment together: Zinfandel, Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah and Carignan. Don and Jennifer Hartford were only looking for a house when they bought this property in 1991, but they fell in love with old-vine Zin. Winemaker Jeff Stewart made this red from lots not used in the winery's single-vineyard Zins: Hartford, Dina's and Highwire. Stewart used indigenous yeast in small open-top fermentors and aged the wine nine months in French oak, about 40 percent new. Plump and fleshy, with a dense core of focused tannins and lively acidity. Aromas of ripe black raspberry, anise and licorice open to layered, slightly jammy flavors of black cherry, blueberry pie and smoky cracked pepper.

Aromas of ripe raspberry, anise and licorice open to layered, slightly jammy flavors of black cherry, blueberry pie and cracked pepper.

Plump and fleshy, with a dense core of focused tannins and lively acidity. Aromas of ripe black raspberry, anise and licorice open to layered, slightly jammy flavors of black cherry, blueberry pie and smoky cracked pepper.

Plump and fleshy, with a dense core of focused tannins and lively acidity. Aromas of ripe black raspberry, anise and licorice open to layered, slightly jammy flavors of black cherry, blueberry pie and smoky cracked pepper. Drink now through 2024.

The 2013 Zinfandel Russian River Valley is an attractive, boisterous wine to drink now and over the next few years. Dark red cherry, raspberry, spice, and mint inform the juicy finish. The 2013 is gracious, inviting and pretty much impossible to resist.

Pale copper color. Aromas of strawberries, white cherries, roses, honeysuckle, biscuits, toasted almond, sea salt, ginger — wow! Crisp acidity and a lot of textural depth and richness but such a refreshing, lip-smacking wine. Strawberries, white cherries, red apple peel, the fruit is topped in toasted baguette, flaky biscuits, salted almond, ginger, honeysuckle, sea breeze. The minerality is gorgeous. What an impressive sparkling wine. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Oregon: An Embarrassment of Riches and Richness Brilliant red. Highly expressive Chambord, cherry, potpourri and allspice aromas show excellent clarity and pick up a smoky mineral quality with air. Alluringly sweet and penetrating on the palate, offering sappy red fruit liqueur, cola, candied violet and exotic spice flavors that show a suave blend of richness and finesse. Puts on weight with air and finishes impressively long and floral, with velvety tannins coming in slowly.

Deep brilliant red. Suave, mineral-tinged black raspberry and cherry scents, along with building floral and star anise nuances. Sweet and spherical on the palate, offering intense red and dark berry liqueur and spicecake flavors that firm up slowly on the back half. Closes sappy and impressively long, delivering a whiplash of juicy dark fruit, supple tannins and lingering florality.

Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2015 Pinot Noir Dropstone reveals fragrant raspberry leaves, rose hip tea and dusty earth notes over a core of cranberries and pomegranate with a touch of forest floor. Medium-bodied and delicately crafted on the palate, it gives a quiet intensity of red berry, herbal and earth layers, finishing long with some mineral suggestions.

The deeply seductive nose entices with forest floor, fennel, red cherry preserves and teaberry aromatics. The palate shows wonderful weight, tension and minerality. The mouth-watering acidity brings you back to the glass for more. Elegant, yet showing the warmth of the vintage, this is a simply outstanding wine that will cellar well for the next ten to fifteen years.

This great Yamhill-Carlton wine begins with rather intoxicating bright aromatics reminiscent of black truffle, forest floor, cigar box, red cherry and red currant. The mouthfeel is gorgeous here as the wine displays red cherry pie, red raspberry preserves, white truffle oil and suggestions of blood orange rind flavors. Hugely complex and inviting right now, this gorgeous Pinot Noir wine will drink well for a decade or more.

The 2013 Estate Reserve comes from the 35-acre Solena Winery vineyard that Eugenia told me tends to provide very small berries. This vintage was matured in 40% new oak, nearly everything destemmed. It has an expressive bouquet laden with dark cherries, briary and wilted violet aromas that unfurl in the glass while maintaining great delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very well-judged acidity, silky smooth in texture dovetailing into a plush and elegant, caressing finish. This was one of the picks from the vintage.

Oregon Displays Collective Greatness: 400-Plus Wines Rated Grilled lemons and white peaches with a supple array of stone fruit on the palate. There’s a lovely sense of layering here and a very freshly focused, lemon and yellow-grapefruit finish.

Finally came the white. The 2015 Gran Moraine Yamhill-Carlton chardonnay is benchmark Oregon chardonnay in my book and the twinkle in the Gran Moraine eye. Priced in the mid $40s, it’s not cheap, but routinely out performs many of the State’s more expensive chardonnays. This vintage is a stellar one. The nose gives off sweet oak, dried mango, honeysuckle, vanilla custard and a smidge of Earl Grey tea. It’s a plush medium weight on the palate with a bit of a glycerin sensation that I just love. The barrel influence is restrained but present in the structure and flavors as well as the nose, it’s managed just right for this profile. There’s oak vanillin, Meyer lemon, sweet cream, Thai basil, persimmon and dried apricot. 93 points, value A.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages One-hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Latro Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon gives up notions of crushed red and black currants, warm plums and baked cherries with touches of garrigue, dusty soil and bay leaves. The palate is medium to full-bodied, firm and grainy with lovely freshness and great intensity in the mouth, leading to a long, purely fruited finish.

Deep purple-black colored, the 2015 Latro Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon offers up warm blueberry and plum notions with hints of black soil, stewed tea, menthol and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied, the fruits flavors completely fill the mouth, with blue fruit preserves and a lovely perfumed nature, featuring plush tannins and plenty of freshness defining the long finish.

The 2014 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon called Pleinair is a blend of 95.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest tiny quantities of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It is aged 20 months in 58% new French oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. This wine has a similarity to a top-flight St.-Julien from Bordeaux. Loads of Christmas fruitcake, cedar wood, tobacco leaf, black currants and spice box all jump from the glass and from the flavors of this round, juicy, medium to full-bodied wine with silky tannins. Drink it over the next 15 or so years.

Mortar and a taste of black-olive tapenade ride softly layered waves of leathery tannin and peppery clove in this richly balanced wine that features tension between notes of cedar and cured meat. Focused and full bodied, it’ll do well in the cellar; drink now through 2023. Cellar Selection.

A reduction of tar and meaty leather at first overrides elusive fruit in this 100% varietal wine. It’s alluring nonetheless, for its soft tannins and toasted hits of oak. Currant, clove and tobacco give a savory, compelling and complex edge to the full-bodied frame.

Quiet and aromatically floral, this is a wine given time in both stainless steel and concrete, as well as a sizable percentage of neu¬tral French oak. Lemon zest and grapefruit adorn a robust body of stony minerality and touches of spicy lemongrass.