Weekend Wine Picks Winemaker Pierre Seillan likes to talk about structure and precision both are in evidence here. The red fruit is intense but hardly soft, supported by a stony, mineral undercurrent. The mid-palate is filled in with earthy savoury, leathery notes before a denouement of lightly smoked blue and black fruits and silky, dense tannins that signal a decade or two of bottle age are possible. It’s a complex Sonoma star and the definition of world class. The fruit is highly selected by the fastidious Pierre Seillan, choosing from an impressive array of sites owned by Jackson Family Farms in the Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Knights Valley. Every block, every tilt of land, every exposure, and the multitude of places and facets that make up any vineyard are the storytellers.

Composed of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec, the 2015 La Muse sports a very deep garnet-purple color, leaping from the glass with exuberant crème de cassis, blueberry pie and licorice notes plus suggestions of Indian spices, dark chocolate, menthol, sautéed herbs and potpourri. Full-bodied, rich and seductive in the mouth, it delivers tons of black and blue fruit preserves flavors, accented by exotic spices, framed with velvety tannins and finishing on a persistent earthy/mineral note.

The Surprise of 2015 in Napa and Other California Wine Reviewed This is dense yet agile young red with aromas and flavors of blackberries, black olives and black truffles. Full-bodied, layered and rich. Pretty ripe and melted tannins. Top merlot. Drink or hold.

Weekend Wine Picks At Vérité every block, every tilt of land, every exposure, and the multitude of places that make up each vineyard are the storytellers. Sweet herbaceous black fruit wafts from the glass streaked with tobacco and chalk. The texture is deep, soft and layered, revealing a little more of the wine every time you taste it. The blend is 53/21/21/5 Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, reminiscent of the great St-Emilion wine, but this has a kiss of California sun that simply lifts this wine to a different level.

The Surprise of 2015 in Napa and Other California Wine Reviewed This is a solid and structured cabernet franc that is compacted and whole. Lots of blackberry and blueberry character. Orange undertones. Long and flavorful finish. Fantastic tannin structure and freshness with balance. Try drinking in 2021.

Top Ten: California Vérité, or truth as the French would say, makes a trio of Bordeaux-shaped reds all grown at the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains at the southern tip of Sonoma County's Alexander Valley, where winemaker Pierre Seillan works with Sonoma Mountain fruit. Seillan is a disciple of the cru concept and at Vérité his selections are released under the monikers of ‘La Muse’, a Pomerol-style merlot/cabernet franc mix; ‘La Joie’, a left bank, Haut-Medoc style cabernet sauvignon; and ‘Le Désir, a Saint Emilion-style blend of cabernet franc/merlot/cabernet sauvignon. In 2013, La Muse reaches for the stars blending a third of its fruit from the Alexander Valley vineyards, some 40 percent out of Chalk Hill and the remainder from the Knight and Bennett valleys. At 89 percent it is fair to call this a merlot especially when you consider its amazing, silky texture, bolstered by eight percent cabernet franc and three percent malbec. The perfect vintage spawned a 14.3 percent alcohol level that fits the harmony of this wine. The flavours are bright but restrained with impressive black fruit aromatics seemingly uninhibited by ageing in 100 percent new French oak barriques. A smoky, savoury, licorice and black cherry affair, but again without any boldness, seems as if it might age for decades. Each year the concentration improves but so does the finesse. A superb bottle of wine now long sold out but look for it in restaurants and private wine shops.

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The 2012 La Muse, which is 85% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec, is a smaller cuvée of 1,840 cases. The wine has plenty of spice box, cedar wood, Christmas fruitcake and Asian plum sauce, along with black cherry and blackcurrant fruit. Ripe, round, full-bodied and opulent, this is a wine that can be drunk now or cellared for another three decades. Interestingly, the alcohol levels are not all that high in any of these wines, with most of them rarely exceeding 14.3%.

The 2017s From Sonoma The 2009 Le Desir is mostly Cabernet Franc and is another wine drinking beautifully today. Classic cassis and dark fruits as well as notes of bay leaf, sandalwood, and spice all flow to a full-bodied, elegant, concentrated red that has fine tannins, perfect balance, and one great finish. Drink it over the coming 20-25 years.

The 2008 vintage presented challenges for Cabernet Sauvignon, but this Cabernet Franc-based blend succeeds wildly. It’s bone dry, tannic and enormously complex, with flavors of sour-cherry candy, red currant, licorice and spicy cola. Ninety-five percent new oak lends this a wonderful toastiness. Few wines could handle that much new wood, but this one can. However, it’s very tannic. You can drink it now, but it should blossom after 2014.

A spectacular wine that defines the upper limit of California Bordeaux-style blends. Based on Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with splashes of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, this is delicious and complex, offering a blast of blackberry, blueberry-concentrate and mineral flavors. Comprised of fruit grown throughout Sonoma County, this is a masterpiece of the art of blending. Absolutely dry and very hard in tannins, drink this from 2013–2022.

Dense aromas of creosote, burning wood embers, blackberries, blueberries, and violets are offered in the full-bodied, fabulously complex perfume. Full-bodied, with tremendous complexity, a voluptuous texture, and flavors of plum liqueur, figs, chocolate, espresso, and minerals, this is a tour de force in winemaking. It is the most approachable of these three 2002s. Anticipated maturity: now-2020.

The complex nose expresses subtle spice and mint notes on a foundation of ripe black raspberry. 93% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc. It has all the Verité hallmarks of density with freshness and lightness of touch on the palate, but also more acidic thrust than the 1998.

Why it's an exciting time for Sonoma Cabernet So many layers to this wine, from a year that saw a very late harvest with small concentrated fruits. It took a good 10 years to really open up, but is now displaying black olives, rich black truffles, bilberry, cedar, rich, generous elegant, an upkick of salinity shows it is...

This remarkably complex wine comes from the inaugural vintage, an El Nino year marked by disruptive weather patterns. It's made from a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, showcasing ripe berry fruits with hints of spice and charcoal along with a minty note that emerges with aeration. It has aromatic clarity and a surprising delicacy and finesse, despite the ripeness of the fruit. Now at its apogee.

Napa 2016 Vintage: 5 Consecutive Years of Fantastic Wines Wonderful purity of cabernet on the nose with blackcurrants and fresh lavender. Full body, with ultra-fine tannins and great beauty in the texture and flavors. It changes all the time. Extremely complex. 84 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 11 per cent merlot and five per cent petit verdot. So approachable, but needs at least three to four years to come together completely.

The Surprise of 2015 in Napa and Other California Wine Reviewed This is a beautiful cabernet sauvignon-based red with blackcurrants, blueberries and a light mint character. Full-bodied, firm and tight with a compressed fruit structure and polished tannins. Extremely long and focused. A beautiful wine. Mostly cabernet sauvignon. Drink in 2021.

Vérité is French for truth, and the truth is that this has has always been an Old World wine made in the New World. Each year is a distinct mix of numerous small vineyard blocks orchestrated by the maestro and vigneron Pierre Seillan, who refers to his methodology as droit du sol, or the right of the soil. In 2013, La Joie is a 71/16/8/5 mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The attack is leaner than you might expect for California, more Bordelais left bank with a firm, spicy, earthy, forest floor undercurrent. The tannins are dense but refined; the fruit pretty but intense, mixing black berries and black cherries, licorice, and cocoa powder with more earth and mushroom notes before finishing long, firm and dry. There is amazing complexity and elegance here, and the potential to keep at least 25 years.

Top Ten: California Vérité is French for truth, and the truth is this is this has always been an old world wine made in the new world. Each year is a distinct mix of numerous small vineyard blocks. The maestro is vigneron Pierre Seillan, who refers to his methodology as droit du sol or the right of the soil. In 2013 La Joie is a 71/16/8/5 mix of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot that spends 15 months in 100 percent new French oak. The attack is leaner than you might expect for California, more Bordelais left bank with a firm, spicy, earthy, forest floor undercurrent. The tannins are dense but refined; the fruit pretty but intense, mixing black berries and black cherries, licorice, cocoa powder with more earth and mushroom notes before finishing long, firm and dry. Amazing complexity and elegance here and certainly the potential to keep at least twenty-five years. Best now with lamb shanks or a T-Bone steak but this baby should be cellared for a decade.

This comes from a vintage that brings together all the elements that showcase the potential of Sonoma terroirs. The wine is made from a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot and 4% Malbec, and aged in new oak for 16 months. This is the most aromatically minty of all the wines tasted, endowing it with grace notes of freshness and elegance that mingle with ripe black fruits, spices and a note of salinity. Dense but superbly polished tannins provide structure, and will carry the heft of this wine for another 10 to 15 years en route to its apogee.

The 2014 Le Désir is the most inward of these 2014s from Vérité. Dark raspberry jam, wild flowers, spice, pencil shavings, mocha, lavender and licorice infuse this deep, powerful, structured Cabernet Franc-based blend. The interplay of dense, sumptuous fruit and aromatic freshness makes for an absolutely compelling wine.

The 2017s From Sonoma Lastly, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Christopher's Vineyard comes from volcanic and schist soils on the Alexander estate and vines planted in 1991. It spent 20 months in 66% new French oak and offers a slightly more rounded and sexy style compared to the Rockfall Vineyard. It boasts stunning notes of black fruits, smoke tobacco, cigar, spice box, and crushed rocks. Full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, and powerful on the palate, it’s another tour de force from this estate that’s going to keep for 20-25 years.

Pretty much as good as any Cabernet out there, if not better, and at a fraction of the price you'll pay for the cults. If there was ever a wine made for the cellar, it's this one, the antidote for those who consider California Cabernet a simple fruit bomb. Completely dry, with exquisite tannins, its blackberry, currant, red licorice and oak-inspired flavors are massive and classic. Hard to exaggerate how good this fine wine is. Drink 2013-2020 and beyond.

This mountain Cab, blended with a little Petit Verdot and Syrah, is grown at 2,400 feet in the Mayacamas Mountains, which provide the east wall of Alexander Valley. The wine is know to be an ager, and the '04 should develop for many years. It's a tremendous wine, the equal of almost anything from Napa, which, after all, is just a geographic boundary away. Fabulously concentrated in cassis, currant, smoky cherry, licorice and chocolate flavors, its tannic structure is nearly perfect.

This mountain Cab, blended with a little Petit Verdot and Syrah, is grown at 2,400 feet in the Mayacamas Mountains, which provide the east wall of Alexander Valley. The wine is know to be an ager, and the '04 should develop for many years. It's a tremendous wine, the equal of almost anything from Napa, which, after all, is just a geographic boundary away. Fabulously concentrated in cassis, currant, smoky cherry, licorice and chocolate flavors, its tannic structure is nearly perfect.