Classic pink with a rich nose and lovely fresh fruit. Tart, but not bracing. Good fruit and lengthy finish. Very Good to Excellent.

It wouldn't be fair to visit Napa Valley without heading across the border to neighbouring Sonoma County. Sonoma is actually twice the size of Napa – and grows considerably more grapes, including some serious cabernet sauvignon.Kendall-Jackson dips into a mixture of mountain and hillside vineyards to perfect its Vintner’s Reserve. The rich black cherry aromas are joined by blackberry and cassis, with vanilla and mocha blending in to help round it off.Speaking of blending, the Vintner’s Reserve is not a pure breed, but rather softened with merlot and malbec, and enriched by cabernet franc and petit verdot. It’s a tried and tested combination that makes for an approachable and incredibly moreish wine.

Mount Veeder is the birthplace of Napa Vallery wine – it's the holy ground for California winemakers. Wine has been grown here since the early 1860s by industry pioneers including Charles Krug, Agoston Haraszthy and William S Keyes.The parcel that became Mt Brave Vineyard, in the northern reaches of the Mt Veeder AVA, was originally purchased back in 1841 – before the Gold Rushhad even begun.It was named after the native Wappo people – known as ‘the brave ones’ – who were the original inhabitants of this land.It sits high atop Mt Veeder at an elevation between 1,400 and 1,800 feet. This high altitude keeps midday temperatures cooler than those in the valley below, while the position above the fog line gives grapes longer daily exposure to sunlight. A perfect combination when it comes to making refined, elegant cabernet sauvignons.The 2013 growing season was another banger – with temperatures regularly in the sweet spot between 85°-95°F, and barely any rain.It’s not all sunbathing, though. Thin, rocky soils and steep slopes make water retention a challenge, but the vines’ beneficial struggle produces tiny berries with unusually concentrated flavors.The resulting vintage of Mt Brave is an addictive burst of blueberries and raspberries, balanced with floral notes and plenty of minerality.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsAn attractively floral edge to the nose with savory, terra cotta-like notes, leading to rich red berries and red plums. The palate is powerful and focused, showing some muscle behind the blackberries and red plums and sturdy, fine-tannin texture. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsA very intense nose with instantly complex aromas of dried spices, dried wood, licorice and sappy blackberries and plums. There’s a direct delivery of strong, fine tannin and a core of succulent, redder plum and berry flavors. Concentrated and bedded in deep at the finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsThis has an intense delivery of redcurrants, raspberries and red plums with an attractive, leafy and bracken edge. The palate has a core of wild red berries with some chocolate also in the mix. Juicy, engaging and flavorful. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsIntense aromas of ripe dark berries, purple olives, violets, intense cedary oak, forest wood, leather and tobacco. The palate is dense, concentrated and packed with dark-berry flavors. Bold tannin chew. Needs time for the oak and tannin to settle in. Try from 2024. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsBeautifully fresh, peachy stone fruit and a wet-stone edge with flinty lemon peel and lightly spiced bread dough. There’s a very attractively fleshy feel on the palate, wielding both succulence and weight, as well as a bright, fresh and mouthwatering finish. Drink now. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsThis is a fresh, juicy glass of ripe apples, pears and light white peaches, delivered in a crisp, flavorful, mid-weight frame. A blend of mostly grenache blanc (74%), roussanne, clairette, picpoul and bourboulenc. Incredible value in this South of France-style white. Drink now. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsIf you’re after a very consistent, very good-value grenache, then this is a wine you should be buying by the case. It has such impressively energetic aromas and flavors of red and darker berries and a beautifully articulated frame of fine, sturdy tannin. Mouth-filling fruit pervades the finish. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsA striking wine for its extreme depth, as well as freshness. Ripe dark plums and blackberries bathe the nose and palate. This is lead in a fuller-bodied direction and makes a very youthful, bold and stoic impression on the palate. Fine now, but better in three to four years. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsThis grenache rosé nails the bright, fresh brief with aromas of light strawberries, peaches and apples, leading to a very elegant, zipped-up palate that delivers crisp, fresh appeal. This is right on the stylistic bullseye. Drink now. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsThis has a very attractive, fresh and spicy nose with rich, darker-plum and blackberry aromas. Chocolate and raspberries, too. This is a vintage that delivers bold, fleshy, darker fruit. Supple, fleshy texture and nice chew on the finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsPlenty of ripe red plums and purple flowers with a cedary and spicy oak thread, too. The palate has a succulent, smooth feel with a bold, assertive cut to the tannin. Ripe, rich and punchy merlot.

McLaren Vale Delivers Top Mediterranean Styled RedsA bright assemblage of fresh red-fruit aromas and flavors with crisp, easygoing texture and a neat, succulent finish. 62% grenache, 15% shiraz, 12% mourvedre, 6% carignan, 3% cinsault and 2% counoise. Drink now. Screw cap.

Melon and white peach flavors highlight this medium-body chardonnay with bright acidity and fresh fruit character.

Bright acidity and light oak make this a good food wine. Apricot and citrus aromas with apple, pear flavors. Long finish. This wine slow to evolve in the glass, so don’t over-chill it.

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.

Full medium ruby. Sexy, wild scents of black raspberry, meat, graphite, mocha and flowers, plus a whiff of leather. Densely packed and fine-grained but also quite powerful; a very tactile wine with lovely restrained sweetness and a strong Cabernet backbone. Dense but juicy, with nothing heavy about it. Very wild, Old World style of wine with terrific definition and inner-mouth lift, not to mention outstanding intensity and sophisticated grain. Boasts uncanny inner-mouth floral/ mineral lift for such a strong wine. Finishes with subtly mounting floral length and noble tannins that arrive late. A stunning showing--and still very young. Clearly a top vintage for this St. Emilion blend. I described this wine as tightly coiled when I first tasted it from bottle, and it still needs cellaring to show its full potential. My sample held up for days in the recorked bottle.

Saturated ruby to the rim. The nose shows more mineral lift but less fruit expressiveness than the Helena Dakota, offering hints of blackberry, cassis, menthol, flowers and spices. Sweet, dense and fine-grained but quite powerful too, conveying strong rocky minerality and verve. A bit less pliant on the finish than the Helena Dakota but the firm tannins are ripe and suave. Really stains the palate with violet. A higher-pitched wine than the Helena Dakota and a bit more tightly wound, reflecting its vineyard's somewhat higher altitude, but with its lovely floral lift and superb definition, this boasts outstanding potential for further development in bottle. (from a vineyard at 950 feet)

If you’re after a very consistent, very good-value grenache, then this is a wine you should be buying by the case. It has such impressively energetic aromas and flavors of red and darker berries and a beautifully articulated frame of fine, sturdy tannin. Mouth-filling fruit pervades the finish. Screw cap.

Deep ruby to the rim. Distinctly sauvage scents of cassis, blackberry, cherry, meat, boudin noir, leather and minerals. Thick, fine-grained and suave but also quite powerful; a bit wilder in the middle palate than the Désir, with the leathery quality drying the finish a bit. This, too, is extremely young and powerful but boasts a creamy sweetness already. More obviously tannic than the last, barely avoiding dryness on the end, but then this is more of a Pauillac blend. Not as satisfying as the Désir but quite broad on the palate. This very wild wine may be a bit leathery and rude for some tasters. Turned drier with extended aeration. Both of my samples were downright sauvage.

Bright ruby to the rim. Musky aromas of mountain blackberry and minerals, plus a whiff of leather and a violet high note. Plush, broad and utterly seamless on entry, but with the lively violet element giving definition to the fully ripe, sweet black fruits in the middle palate. A wave of fine tannins dusts the palate and teeth on the sweet but youthfully medicinal back end, which boasts terrific, slow-building length. This beauty delivers wonderfully plush fruit and considerable power without coming across as hot. (from a vineyard planted at 750 feet)

Appearance: Opaque ruby with a blue tinge;Nose: Cassis, blackcurrant, cedar, vanilla;Palate: A complex bundle of fruit and herbs opens up in the mouth and leads to a long comforting finish. The tannins are velvet smooth and the acid stout enough to retain intrerest even with heavy red meat and sauces.An excellent value. Recommended.

10 Best Red Wines Made in the United States to Buy in 2020National Wine Day is May 25. Stock up!4. Big Little Lies fans will love La Crema, a winery partially based in Monterey, where the popular show is filmed. Its 2018 Pinot Noir is reasonably priced at $28 and features flavors of plums, cranberries, and raspberries. The winemakers highlight its “distinct minerality” and notes of barrel spice.