A lighter-weight La Muse (and probably the least intense since the 2000), this blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc (61% from the Alexander Mountain Estate, 21% from Chalk Hill, 11% from Bennett Valley and 7% from Knight's Valley) is an elegant, fresh, lively wine offering up notes of berry fruit, crushed rocks, spring flowers, forest floor, coffee and roasted herbs. This sweet, round 2010 should be seductive early in life as well as one of the fastest developing La Muse cuvees to date, drinking well during its first 15 or so years of life.

There are generally 2,000-3,000 cases produced of this Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend, one of the flagship offerings in the Jackson Family Farms umbrella. The black/purple-colored 2002 Cardinale boasts a sweet perfume of vanilla, blackberry and currant fruit, roasted herbs, licorice, and Asian spices. Full-bodied and chewy, with considerable power, low acidity, and tremendous ripeness, this big, thick, juicy 2002 should hit its prime in 5-6 years, and last for two decades.

The 2020 Château Lassegue is another brilliant Saint-Emilion in the making. Offering a full-bodied, rich, textured, and at the same time pure and precise style on the palate, it has classic notes of ripe black cherries, charcoal, crushed stone, and truffly earth. Emerging from the home estate of Pierre Seillan, who’s the force behind the Verite wines in Sonoma, this beautiful 2020 is going to require just 2-4 years of bottle age yet keep for 15+.

Deep purple-black colored, the 2020 Lassegue needs a little swirling to begin, to unlock bright, cheery scents of fresh blackberries, black raspberries and redcurrants, plus hints of black cherry preserves, charcoal, woodsmoke and underbrush with a waft of tapenade. The medium to full-bodied palate has a firm structure of ripe, rounded tannins and just enough freshness to support the generous black fruits, finishing long and earthy.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2018 Syrah Sea Lift is another gorgeous, expressive wine in this range. Inky blue and purplish fruit, sage and lavender notes are framed by the incisive tannins that are typical of the coast. The 50% whole clusters are nicely balanced. The 2018 is a bit stern today, but it has plenty of time to fully come together in aging. The tannin is a bit aggressive, but it works.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2018 Pinot Noir Sea Lift is bold and expansive in the glass, with terrific textural resonance and body but, as always, it is done in the mid-weight style that is typical of these wines. Sweet dark red cherry, red plum, spice, blood orange and cedar add aromatic nuance throughout.

Strawberry jam a go-go on the nose and also on the palate, this is a lovely, fruity expression of Pinot. Excellent.

Baking spice and cooked cherry. Juicy fruit and great balance this is clearly another winner. Excellent.

Fruity and rich nose, mostly red fruit. Whoa. Tart and delicious on the palate: great fruit, a bit of depth. Fruity. Excellent.

Lovely nose of cranberry and the palate is equally delightful. Good juice. Really good juice. Excellent.

Oaky and dark fruit, a bit of smoke. Lovely on the palate with balance, fruit, tannins at the backend. Whoa. Excellent.

Cherry vanilla with a bit of spice and earth. Big fruit and quite tannic, this is a rather healthy, muscular wine. Not really my style, but it is darn good. Excellent.

Full bright ruby. High-toned, pure aromas of black cherry, licorice, violet and bitter chocolate. Powerful and very intense, with enticingly sweet black cherry and mocha flavors. A rare combination of strength and finesse. This may ultimately be sweeter and suppler than the '99. The tannins are currently covered by extremely persistent fruit. Mt. Veeder and Howell Mountain fruit comprise the core of this blend.

Good bright ruby. Briary aromas of cassis, black raspberry, bitter chocolate and minerals. Bright, juicy and intensely flavored, with lively acids firming the black raspberry, black cherry and bitter chocolate flavors. This boasts excellent inner-palate energy. Finishes very long and pure, with sweet tannins and terrific grip. I tasted a pre-fining sample, as most of the wine had just been bottled and was in a shocked state. Incidentally, Cardinale is now 100% from Napa Valley fruit, while Verite and Anakota are entirely from Sonoma.

Full medium ruby. Blackberry and licorice on the nose, with some oaky torrefaction. Sweet, broad, dense and sexy, with medicinal black cherry and dark berry flavors complicated by chocolate and spice cake. Downright velvety in the middle palate, but its building tannins are a bit youthfully aggressive (and will be smoothed out with a fining, according to winemaker Chris Carpenter). Very long and promising.

Wine of the Day Greg Brewer’s Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir cuvee sees only neutral barrels (well seasoned) of French oak and is a selection of the best lots of each of the estate farmed vineyards. Depending on the vintage, Brewer-Clifton goes all for whole cluster fermentation(s) for expressive and pure Pinot Noir(s), they farm with a focus of having ripe stems as well as evenly ripe grapes, allowing for harmony and balance in this offering. This 2016 really has a lot going for it with beautiful layers of juicy strawberry, racy red cherry, sweet plum and an array of delicate spices, nervy or thrilling stem energy and subtle floral tones. Working with the stems allows for wines that are more structured, it’s earthy underneath, though somewhat hidden by youth, and with a fine tension to match the forward Sta. Rita Hills fruit. When opening, this 2016 BC Pinot starts with an almost Grenache like character, like a lighter Chateauneuf, highlighting the whole cluster and fresh stems, with a fruit and spice burst, before settling into a fine Pinot Noir, it’s also a wine that gets deeper with food. This vintage is made up of the three main Brewer-Clifton estate farmed sites, that includes the 3D, Machado, and Hapgood vineyards. According to Brewer and team, the 3D Vineyard, expresses a primary emphasis on it’s predominantly sandy soils, it’s main focus is Chardonnay planted here, but there is a small block of Pinot Noir here planted to classic Swan and Pommard as well as some 667 and 828 clone(s) that really stands out, then there is their Machedo Vineyard, a 15 acre parcel on the Machado family land that is located adjacent to Clos Pepe and immediately behind the Kessler-Haak site contains a selection of Pommard, Merry Edwards, Mount Eden, and 459 clone(s) on rolling terrain with sand, clay and loam soils, which I suggest adds a sense intensity and power, and lastly, there is the Hapgood Vineyard, which is planted exclusively to the Merry Edwards clone, the mainly clay and loam soils gives a fuller mouth feel, a feeling of density and impact. It’s funny, because, I almost always love this cuvee more than the more acclaimed Brewer-Clifton single cru bottlings, in fact Steve Clifton, ex-founder/partner here and now La Voix (his own label) winemaker, always told me to never miss this bottling, as they (He and Greg) used to pick the most expressive barrels from their single vineyard lots to craft this one, counter to the usual practice of using the downgraded barrels for the basic Pinot or village wine! It was a piece of advice that stuck with me and so far I’ve never been let down, and this one does not disappoint, in fact it’s a sublime vintage and gets better with every sip, over the course of a full day being open it revealed wonderful character and charm, it’s red fruit core seriously reminds me of a ripe year Volnay! I can imagine many years of great drinking ahead, I might suggest putting a few bottles away too, best from 2010 to 2027.

Outstanding - Wine of the Week We opened this with some microwave popcorn and the latest episode of This is Us. While I am not sure how I feel about letting the world know that I watch the series, this wine was nothing less than gangbusters. Light but a bit cloudy in the glass, with black cherry, earth, and cassis on the nose, this is simply stellar. Subtle yet tasty fruit, an earthiness on the mid-palate that defies most American Pinots, and a finish that is simply remarkable. I have had a few wines from Brewer-Clifton and this wine underscores the need for more. Bravo.

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Crown Vineyard is a new vineyard designate for this estate and comes from a site on the edge of Alexander Valley. It’s a medium to full-bodied, exotic, seamless effort that has perfumed notes of cassis, blueberries, California bay, and lavender. It has sweet oak, a pretty, silky texture, and considerable elegance.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Réserve Spéciale is laced with gravel, black fruit, smoke, tar, licorice and earthiness. Savory notes develop later, adding nuance. The 2010 is deep, powerful and explosive to the core, with tons of character as well as potential. The Réserve Spéciale is a blend of fruit from Smothers-Remick Ridge and Justi Creek.

Bright, deep ruby. Nose dominated by bitter chocolate and minerals. Chewy, rich and seriously concentrated, with strong acidity and terrific violet lift enlivening the highly complex flavors of black cherry, musky coffee, spices, bitter chocolate and black olive. Displays a lovely combination of freshness and power, with the 100% new oak in the background. As with his Verite wines, winemaker Pierre Seillan keeps the Anakota wines in barrels for only 15 months.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard is incredibly primary at this stage. Layers of fruit flow across the palate, nearly covering the mineral notes and persistent tannins that are so typical of this site. A round, incredibly seamless wine - especially within the context of Knights Valley - the 2012 boasts tons of depth and pure concentration. The 2012 finishes with tremendous richness and volume.

Bright medium ruby. Lovely lift to the aromas of black fruits and leather. Juicy and intense but not yet as expressive as the Helena Dakota (the Montana has a slightly lower pH). The black fruit flavors offers excellent definition though, and are joined by dark chocolate on the powerful, broad, very long finish, which features big, ripe, horizontal tannins and excellent lift. Both of these 2010s are powerful and dense without being excessively high in alcohol.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard stands out for its delineation and nuance. A vibrant, powerful wine, the 2010 faithfully expresses the signatures of this site. Violets, cloves, blackberry jam and white pepper all make an appearance in this luscious full-bodied wine. The 2010 is both large-scaled and opulent, yet it also has great underlying intensity and tannin. Mocha, sweet spices and a hint of French oak inform the serious, intense finish. As always, the Helena Montana is sleek and polished. In 2010, it is particularly compelling. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025.

Anakota's 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard is wonderfully alive in the glass. Freshly cut flowers, violets, spices, graphite and mint are all woven together in a Cabernet that has plenty of mountain character as well as pure opulence. All the elements are very much in balance. These red soils rich in volcanic deposits contribute tension and verve as the flavors built to a huge crescendo of intense pleasure. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2030.

(15.1% alcohol; 100% cabernet sauvignon; aged in 82% French and 18% American oak, 95% new): Bright saturated ruby. Aromas of blackberry syrup, mocha and licorice. Thick and powerful but with a light touch to its fine-grained flavors of black fruits, licorice and espresso. Combines sweetness and density of fruit with outstanding energy. A wine of great purity and refinement. Finishes long and strong, with tannins saturating the entire palate.