Deep ruby. Potent, smoke-accented aromas of black raspberry and boysenberry, with a sexy floral nuance emerging with air. Rich but lively, offering vibrant dark berry flavors and exotic Asian spice and floral pastille flourishes. Closes on a chewy note, with impressive clarity and spicy persistence.

Ruby-red. Black raspberry, incense, rose oil and allspice on the intensely perfumed nose, with a sneaky note of cola gaining strength with air. The palate offers concentrated flavors of sappy red and dark berry flavors joined by a hint of bitter cherry on the back half; showing a lot of fruit today. Finishes with superb energy and lingering spiciness.

Vivid ruby-red. Fresh cherry, raspberry, potpourri and allspice on the highly fragrant nose. Sweet, floral and intense, with bright acidity and minerality contributing energy to this taut wine's sweet red berry and bitter cherry character. Firmly built and sharply focused pinot with suave floral pastille notes lingering on the finish.

Vivid ruby-red. Heady, complex bouquet evokes black raspberry, blood orange and cola, along with a sexy floral overtone. Lush and expansive but lively as well, offering intense red and dark berry flavors that pick up spiciness with air. Closes sweet and very long, with a seamless texture and lingering floral notes.

Bright ruby-red. Candied red fruits and incense on the pungent, intensely perfumed nose. Spicy and incisive, offering sweet raspberry and cherry flavors that pick up a suave floral nuance with aeration. Shows a distinct spiciness on the finish, which clings with outstanding tenacity and persistence. This taut, focused wine has the structure and balance to age.

Bright ruby. Pungent aromas of blackberry, rhubarb, licorice, wild herbs and rose oil. Juicy, brisk and focused, with intense flavors of candied red and dark berries, anise and cola. Delivers a load of flavor and complexity without any excess weight. Finishes youthfully tangy and very long, with a hint of allspice and firm mineral bite. These berries were reportedly extremely small but I detect no overt phenolic character in the wine.

Bright yellow. Powerful, deeply pitched poached pear, mango and iodine aromas, with a zesty mineral overtone. Rich and broad but energetic as well, offering chewy orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a smoky nuance. Quite lithe for such a powerful wine, and showing no excess fat. Closes on a spicy note, with excellent clarity, energy and length.

Vivid gold. High-pitched aromas of pear, anise, iodine and zesty minerals, with a sexy floral nuance that builds with air. Spicy and incisive on the palate, offering vibrant citrus and orchard fruit flavors and notes of honeysuckle, saffron and tarragon. Tightly focused and very lively on the long clinging finish.

Bright yellow. Sexy, highly perfumed nose combines citrus and tropical fruits and notes of wet stone and iodine. Sharply delineated and penetrating, with firm minerality giving spine to the pear, orange and honeysuckle flavors. Wonderfully vibrant chardonnay, finishing with lingering notes of candied lemon and talc.

Bright medium ruby. Classy aromas of blackcurrant, dark chocolate, coffee, leather and tobacco. Firm, tightly wound and backward, with flavors similar to the aromas. Faint complicating note of game. Solidly structured, elegant wine, finishing with serious but fine tannins, a peppery nuance and excellent persistence. Softened nicely with time in the recorked bottle.

More savory than sweet, the 2021 Pinot Noir Clairiere slowly unfurls with a blend of blackberries, sage and cedar shavings. It washes across the palate with soft textures and ripe, citrus-laced red and blue fruits, taking on a saline mineral concentration toward the close. This leaves a subtle tinge of citrus and violet inner florals over a bed of edgy tannins, coming across as only lightly structered and aiming to please. The Clairiere is at the about 620 feet of elevation, ina cooloer exposition, surrounding by woods.

The remarkably pretty 2021 Pinot Noir Estate Vineyard is coy in the glass, with a nuanced blend of crushed blackberries, zests of blood orange and spice. It sweeps across the palate with silken textures lifted by fresh acidity as wild blueberries and strawberries settle on the senses. This tapers off with a spicy tinge and subtle tug of fine tannins, leaving an air of lavender pastille to fade slowly.

All Merlot from a block surrounded by forest, the 2021 Merlot Mt. Veeder is only Merlot, offering up notes of dried sage, cherries and even some vaguely strawberry-like notes. It's medium to full-bodied, silky but concentrated. It doesn't fit the stereotype of round, soft Merlot, being instead firmly structured and linear in shape, with a long, focused finish.

The 2018 Fijnbosch Chardonnay is instantly impressive in the glass with aromas of popcorn kernel, sweet citrus, brown baking spices, ripe yellow apple and hints of graham cracker. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is open and accessible, with gobs of yellow citrus flavors before oak tones sway into focus, with delightfully fresh, energetic acidity. The mid-palate shows surprising weight, and the wine ends with a fantastic finish that should drink well for another decade or so. Just under 700 bottles were produced after the wine aged in French oak barrels, 50% new. This beauty should please most New World Chardonnay drinkers.

Balanced, oaky and with notions of sweet citrus, the 2020 Chardonnay Silene offers notes of golden delicious apple, sweet pear and brown baking spices with delicate aromas of citrus blossoms. Medium to full-bodied, the Chardonnay shows impressive balance with an elegant frame of ripe citrus and pomaceous character before succulent acidity drives the finish, showing layered expressions of oak essence, citrus and delightful minerality on the aftertaste. Bravo! Just under 20,000 bottles were filled after the wine rested for 10 months in French oak, 30% first fill. Give it a try.

The blend for 2013 is 49% grenache, 29% shiraz and 22% mourvedre. Fermented wild, spends time in older oak.
Reminds me of GSMs of the past, the ones I weened myself on in early wine learning days. A good thing. The wine is certain in structure, offers chewy fruit, some tendrils of cedar curling through the riper flavours, a spike of lemony tang distracts in the finish, but it’s bold and heady in floral, ripe fruit-and-spice aromas which drag you back to the glass. Has a feel of something you want to cellar after you have your first sip. Would knock the socks off something you’ve prodded on a Weber BBQ for a long, slow and low cook.

Blackberry, dark cherry, mocha and mint/menthol, biscuit spices too. It’s full-bodied, kind of juicy in dark cherry and blackcurrant flavour, stony and gravelly tannin, some pencil and tobacco flavours, fresh and cool, with mocha and raspberry to close. A fair bit of chew and grip to those, though also quite minty, but it delivers Napa character at a pretty fair price. In short, I like it.

Santa Barbara: Present & Future The 2017 Pinot Noir Hapgood is one of the most reticent wines in the range. The aromatics are full of floral and savory character, and yet the wine is much less expressive and quite compact on the palate. Even so, there is good energy here. It will be interesting to see if the 2017 fleshes out with more time in bottle. There is certainly plenty to look forward to.

USA, California, Central Coast: The 2017 Vintage in Santa Barbara County Medium to deep ruby-purple, the 2017 Jackson Estate Alisos Hills Syrah gives up white pepper, pipe tobacco, candied blueberries, boysenberry, Castelvetrano olives, chargrilled meats and lilac perfume. Medium to full-bodied, it's silky, savory and intense with a firm frame of ripe, finely grained tannins and seamlessly woven freshness, finishing long and layered.

Napa Valley's 2017s Lots of forest floor, truffle, and chocolaty dark fruits emerge from the 2017 Cabernet Franc, a more focused, tannic, backward wine that’s going to benefit from bottle age. It should have 15 years or more of prime drinking.

Napa Valley's 2017s Coming from two sites in Knights Valley, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Latro has a darker, smokier, mineral style as well as plenty of black fruits, tobacco, and dark chocolate notes, medium to full body, and again, some grippy, firm tannins. Nevertheless, it has beautiful fruit, shows more pure cassis and violet notes with time in the glass, and is going to improve with short-term cellaring.

Spicy, curry leaf and black fruits, coffee and tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, again quite savoury and spicy, a little ferrous, fresh blackberry and tobacco, slightly too brisk lemony acidity, though does have energy, and a firm finish of olive leaf and black fruit.

USA, California, Napa Valley: More New 2018 ReleasesThe 2018 Pinot Noir Hailey's Block was aged for 16 months in French oak barrels, 36% new. Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, it leaps from the glass with flamboyant scents of blackberries and black raspberries with hints of chocolate-covered cherries, sassafras, cracked black pepper and tilled soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate explodes with crunchy black berry layers, supported by velvety tannins and tons of freshness, finishing earthy.

USA, California, Central Coast: The 2018 VintageThe 2018 Chardonnay Hapgood has soft notions of citrus blossoms, white peaches, salted almonds and spring honey on the nose. In the mouth, it's medium-bodied with bright, mineral and citrus-laced fruits, and it finishes long, bright and uplifted.

The 2018s from Santa Barbara CountyA big jump up in price, the 2017 Pinot Noir Signature Collection Julia's Vineyard was all destemmed and spent 17 months in 30% new French oak. It's a more backward effort that displays a core of darker currant and cherry fruits as well as lots of spice and dried herbs, medium to full body, a solid backbone of tannins and acidity, and a great finish. Give it another year or three and it should keep nicely through 2029.