Napa Cabernet Sauvignon worthy of your cellar 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot. Youthful, intense and broad with a mix of red, dark and blue fruit framed by vegetal accents and notes of mineral spiciness. A massive wine with grippy tannins and tonnes of acidity which brings harmony and proportion. This wine easily will develop over the next 30-40 years.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is simply stunning. A real head-turner, the 2013 possesses superb density and tons of pure power. The flavors are deep, powerful and explosive. Mocha, new leather, and licorice wrap around a core of dark, sumptuous fruit. This dense, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon will require considerable patience, but it is super-impressive. And then some. Chris Carpenter crafted the 2013 from an assortment of parcels, most of them mountain sites on Diamond Mountain, Mt. Veeder and Howell Mountain. This is a real stand out.

Exotic, layered and stunning, the 2009 Cardinale Red Wine is an incredible blend of 91% Cabernet with the remainder Merlot. Having an extremely deep hue, this opens with hoisin sauce, mocha and blackberry cobbler aromas. The texture is outrageously good, as is the mouthwatering acidity. Black tea, mocha and creme de cassis flavors impress. The exceedingly long finish dazzles.

Another fabulous Cardinale, better than the 2007 but short of the perfect 2006. This is so complete; it tastes like Cabernet on a cloud, light but ethereal, with ripe, polished blackberry and cherry flavors and touches of mocha, spice and cedar. The tannins are a wonder—soft and pliant—yet gorgeously complex. Drink now-2016, at least.

The 2002 Cardinale Red Wine is a stunning blend of 88% Cabernet with the remainder Merlot. 26% of the fruit was sourced from the To Kalon Vineyard. This begins with exotic aromas of rose petals, red cherry and blackberry cobbler with coffee grounds. This has a marvelous combination of weight and tension. Blackberry pie, mocha, anise and creme de cassis flavors impress. Downright delicious, this has a long life for the cellar.

One of the gems in this report is the 2013 Harmonie Red Wine (85% Cabernet Franc, 9% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Sauvignon). Sourced almost all from the Alexander Mountain Estate and aged in 20% new French oak, its singular purple color is followed by an incredible bouquet of crème de cassis, black cherries, damp earth, and spring flowers. This sensational red hits the palate with a huge, opulent texture, perfect balance, and ultra-fine tannin. Count me impressed by this quintessential expression of Cabernet Franc from Sonoma. It’s straight up awesome today yet is going to keep for two decades or more.

A blend of the favorite blocks (14 and 18) of the estate vineyard and 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2015 Revelation Red Wine is another wine from Sam Teakle that flirts with perfection. Awesome cassis, graphite, crushed rocks and Pauillac-like lead pencil notes all flow to a full-bodied, deep, sexy Cabernet Sauvignon that has sweet tannin, no hard edges, and a blockbuster finish. As with the Harmonie cuvée, it’s going to keep for 10-15 years or more.

Cambria Vineyard and Winery is quickly earning a reputation for rich, Santa-Barbara-style chardonnay. This buxom wine offers a solid array of melony fruit and oak scents, followed by a full, creamy mouth-feel and a long, vanilla-toned finish. Admirable for its great concentration, all the big elements are well-balanced in place.

It would be impossible to exaggerate the grandeur and majesty of the overachieving 2015 Arcanum. The blend is 74% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot. This full-bodied wine is mostly defined by its texture that is exceedingly rich and smooth with significant infusions of blackberry, plum, spice, tobacco and cured leather. The wine achieves beautiful balance, yet it remains intense and powerful all the while.

Very deep purple-black in color, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard has a compelling savoriness of char-grilled meat and roasted nuts on the nose with a core of crème de cassis, violets and crushed plums plus a touch of garrigue. Medium-bodied and tautly structured with firm, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, it has a incredible depth of primary fruit and earthy layers, finishing with incredible length and a lovely mineral hint.

12.7% alc., pH 3.65, TA 0.53, 348 cases, $100. Sourced from Zena East blocks 5 and 6 that stretch from the highest point of the vineyard at 600 feet down to areas of lower elevation. Clone 667, seven years old. Harvest Brix 22.2º-22.7º. Aged 17 months in French oak barrels, 85% new, medium to medium plus toast. · Moderately dark reddish purple color in the glass. You need to be sitting down when you drink this beauty. Pleasant aromas of earth-kissed black cherry, crushed berries and mushrooms. Upon entry, there is an explosion of purple grape and berry flavor that is eye-opening. The sappy fruit saturates the palate with goodness, carrying through to a finish that displays uncommon intensity and length. Even better the following day when tasted from a previously opened and re-corked bottle when the aromas and flavors became exhumed in an orgasmic display.

Planted in 1946 on a sand dune in the cooler, elevated northeast of McLaren Vale. Hand-picked and sorted, then wild fermented. It is a glorious example of grenache picked early, retaining all the freshness of red cherries/berries, spices starting to build, tannins beautifully shaped.

Biggest Australian Wine Tasting Ever: 2,700+ Ratings A majestic grenache that has a super impressive level of poise and concentration. Raspberries, blueberries, red and dark cherries, as well as fresh-tilled earth and dry spices abound. The palate has a very succulent and fresh-cut core of blue-tinged fruit and long, majestic, unwavering tannins. Superb. Certified organic. Drink now. Screw cap.

From the highest section of the vineyard planted ?46 on the deepest sand, hand-picked, 50% whole berries, cold soak, open-fermented, wild yeast, matured in used French oak for 12 months. This is in another league altogether. There is total fusion between the fruit and tannins first up, oak likewise subsumed by the fruit. There is a bright display of a blaze of red fruits, so vivid the structural components are relegated to the bac

Whole bunches, wild yeast, open fermenters and all-French oak (35% new). The quality here is sensational. It delivers a power of fruit in the freshest of ways, its glove of smoky/cocoa-like oak the perfect partner. Seriously ultra-fine tannin, and accompanying length, completes what must be described as a beautiful picture.

An outstanding colour with a mulberry hue. Glorious sweet-fruited aromatics. Vibrant, pure, mulberry aromatics. Tight, pure, poised, lively. Not a foot out of place. Perfectly integrated acidity. Magnificent in its composure. Stylish. Will age gracefully. Vibrant and full-bodied.

50% whole berries, 50% destemmed, wild yeast open-fermented, matured for 10 months in used French oak. Just another $30 McLaren Vale shiraz? Absolutely not. This is profoundly exciting, another masterpiece from Peter Fraser, Wine Companion Winemaker of the Year '16. It's not often I'm tempted to sneakily swallow half a mouthful of a wine, it's almost as if an unseen force refuses to let me actually drink a little. The wine is spicy, textured, with a rainbow of dark fruit flavours - bloody gorgeous.

Hand-picked, wild yeast open-fermented with 25% whole bunches, matured for 15 months in French oak (40% new). A distilled essence of shiraz from two blocks within a single estate vineyard. It's in no way overdone, but it does have some of the authoritarian stance of top flight cabernet. The black fruits speak in one voice of the ironstone soil in which the vines are planted. Great vintage, great wine.

Estate-grown, cold soak, open-fermented, wild yeast, 25% whole bunches, matured in French oak (50% new) for 18 months. Great aromas don't prepare you for the full-bodied palate, every crevice of the mouth filled with velvety black fruits, bitter chocolate, licorice and spice. The balance is such that drinking it now is no crime, however far into the distant future the wine will run.

From two vineyard blocks on a gravelly ironstone outcrop, a barrel selection that is said to focus on ironstone characters. Hand-picked, cold soak, 25% whole bunches, wild-fermented, matured in French oak (40% new) for 15 months. Sombre, earthy black fruits are so intense they momentarily stop the heart from beating. The texture and mouthfeel are such that they throw down the gauntlet to anyone seeking to drink more than a glass at this early (indeed far too early) stage of its life. The balance is spot on the money, so the long term future is assured.

You could serve this alongside any other South Australian shiraz, at any price or prestige level, and it would either hold its own or better it, even allowing for style preferences. The Ironheart is a powerhouse. It's saturated with dark, inky fruit, is grainy and grunty, and for all its churn and wealth it's brilliant with balance. This is one for the deepest, darkest reaches of the cellar, to be forgotten for as long as you can hold out. The fact that it has herbal, spicy, coffeed notes pumping through its veins just compounds the attraction. In fact, for all that, it could even be argued that this wine has an elegance; or a ripped, muscular version thereof.

So polished, so poised, so well fruited. The flavours come in waves, the acid keeps them moving, the tannin gives them traction. Various dark-berried fruits, coffee grounds, spicy oak and sweet, perfumed herbs. Precision is its middle name.

The 2001 Le Desir (50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec) came from Alexander Valley Mountain Estate fruit (two-thirds), 30% from Chalk Hill and a tiny dollop from Knight's Valley. The most evolved of these three wines, it exhibits complex notes of spring flowers, underbrush, truffles, forest floor, camphor and red as well as black fruits. It possesses an opulent, full-bodied mouthfeel, fabulous purity and density and a long finish. The finish for all three of these wines lasts for close to a minute. Each represents extraordinary craftsmanship and, essentially, vinous confirmation of the vision of the late Jess Jackson. Those who think too many California wines are over the top may be surprised to know that the 2001 La Muse has a pH of 3.63 and a real natural alcohol of 14.1%. La Joie's pH is 3.65 and its alcohol is 14.2%, and Le Desir's pH is 3.68 and its true alcohol level is 14.1%.

A blend of 89% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon (84% of the fruit from Sonoma and 16% from Napa), the 1999 is soft enough to be considered fully mature. Sweet aromas of espresso roast, plum sauce, black currants and forest floor are followed by a delicious, chewy, complex wine that should drink well for another 12-14 years.

Another remarkable wine from the complicated inaugural vintage of Vérité. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, it spent 13 months in new French oak. It has a multi-layered bouquet of truffle, leather and spice along with floral scents of peony and rose. There's the telltale precision and freshness of Verité wines here, as well as a suavely-textured tannic glove that perfectly fits the core of the fruit whose finely judged density caresses the palate, showing liquorice and graphite notes on the finish.