From a cool site in the heart of the Sta. Rita Hills, this wine has the district’s windswept scents of pine and sage framing dark red-cherry fruit. It’s given contour by a tart cranberry edge, all of it delivered with nimble acidity and a lively mouthfeel. -P.J.C (353 cases)

Back to a more rich and meaty profile, the 2020 Syrah Sealift is ripe with blackberry
preserve, lavender, and Kalamata olive. Full-bodied, with building structure, it has firm
tannins that will take time to settle, but it’s ripe with iron richness, as well as meaty black cherry fruit, tea leaf, and scorched earth. Give it another couple of years and drink 2025-2032

Lifted with ripe aromas of fresh peach, the 2021 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast is generous with orange peel citrus, delicate baking spice, and fresh white flowers. Medium-bodied, with snappy, refreshing acidity (but not austere), it offers notes of ripe green apple,vanilla custard, and lemon balm. This is a fresh and inviting white to drink now or over the next several years, and it offers great value.

All these Pinots from Copain are a concentrated ruby color with a pinkish hue. The 2021 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is ripe with wild raspberry, fresh herbs, and pressed flowers.Medium bodied and attractive, with good structure, the palate opens to crunchy fruit with mixed berries, fresh earth, and a floral flourish on the finish. It’s a solid wine to drink over the next several years.

A saturated but transparent purple/ruby, the 2021 Grenache Syrah Mourvedre Hawks
Butte is juicy with ripe mixed berries, pine, and fresh mountain herbs. Medium to fullbodied, it has good freshness that holds things together nicely in terms of its structure, with crunchy fruit of grenadine, wild berries, and candied violets. It needs some time to soften a bit, as the tannins are ripe and angular, although I enjoy the freshness and lift it offers. Drink 2025-2032.

Moving to a darker expression, the 2019 Bootleg Red Blend pours an inky black hue and offers up aromas of pencil shaving, boysenberry preserve, and sweet tobacco. Fullbodied, with full, ripe tannins, it reveals notes of preserved black plum, crushed purple flowers, and turned soil.

A youthful medium yellow hue, the 2021 Chardonnay Durell Vineyard is herbaceous and fresh with thyme, yellow pear, and citrus flowers. Softly textured and medium-bodied, it opens with notes of ripe pear, fresh orange, and wet stone as well as a touch of lemon
curd, with softness throughout and a lasting floral perfume. Drink 2023-2028

This has a wonderful plumpness to the velvety core of blackberry preserves, with notes of green cardamom, black pepper and toasted cumin. Reveals details of chai tea, salted black licorice and dried rosemary and sage on the long, expressive finish. Drink now. 148 cases made, 105 cases imported.

Polished, well-balanced and agile on its feet, this offers raspberry and blueberry flavors laced with bittersweet mocha and savory spices

Named in homage to W.S. Keyes, who planted vineyards on Howell Mountain in the late 1800s, the grapes for this excellent Chardonnay are sourced from altitudes of 1,600 feet. The W.S. Keyes vineyard is one of the last blocks of Chardonnay vines existing on Howell Mountain, which makes this wine even more special. It opens with aromas of white flowers, toasted hazelnut, and white peach. It offers pronounced minerality with flavors of Fuji and Granny Smith apples, buttered toast, and brown baking spices. It is full bodied and bold on the mid palate with a long finish in the post palate. Drink now or over the next five to seven years.

Packs generous pear, lime and apple flavors, with notes of lemon zest, fresh-clipped herbs, smoked salt and toasted green tea. Shows fresh, crisp acidity on the juicy finish.

Savoury, with earth and graphite notes on a slightly reduced and closed nose – a function of nutrient-poor grey clay loam soils. In the mouth it reveals ripe plum, cherry and dusty fig flavours, with meaty undertones and a hint of tobacco. Still very young, this 100% destemmed Pinot needs time to flesh out. The fruit comes from the saddle of the Sexton vineyard, planted to the MV6, G5V15 and Abel clones.

Old oak. Lovely weight and texture here with pear, white peach, a bit of table grape character, showing nice texture and some fine mineral notes as well as generous fruit. Lovely balance here with some generosity but also a bit of structure

Drink now - 2038. Certified Organic/Biodynamic with ‘Australian Certified Organic’. 20% whole bunch, 30% whole berry and 50% crushed. Beautiful deep inky hues of ruby edging into purple. A punchy nose, full of classic peppery tones, and fermented sausage (hello 'Nduja), yet with a lifted elegance fuelled by jewel-like red fruits and an earthy, cedary spice. The palate hasn’t quite pulled together at the same pace as the nose. Acid is fresh, fruit is dense and powerful, and the French oak is elegant and makes its presence known. This is a wine determined to make an impact, and it delivers. Tannins are loosely woven and ropey, a muddle of damson and red plum sways with star anise. Give this a few years in the cellar and let those tannins soften. Decant if you can’t hold off.

Crushed cherries, raspberries and dried cranberries here, together with savory herbs, dried flowers and wet stones. Medium-bodied, chalky and polished with delicious cherries and hints of red spices. Crunchy and vibrant finish. Drink now.

Ripe and fruit-driven, with a big wave of warmed cassis and plum coulis flavors dotted with violet, anise and tobacco notes. Shows good underlying juicy energy, too. Drink now through 2030. 558 cases made.

Appealing for the restraint and complexity, with fresh apple, pear and citrus flavors that mingle with hints of toasted herbs, wild fennel, honeycomb and wet stone minerality on a fresh, juicy frame. Drink now. 395 cases made.

The 2021 Chardonnay Viñedo Maricerro was produced trying to keep the minerality of the quartz-rich soils from Itata, where the grapes grow. It fermented and matured in barrel for 10 months. It has lots of apples and flowers, with a round palate, and it's nicely textured, with 14.5% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity. 1,600 bottles.

The surprisingly dark 2021 Pinot Noir Viñedo Maricerro has a ripe nose. It was produced with grapes grown at only six kilometers from the sea on granite soils with lots of quartz. It's ripe at 14.5% alcohol, round and lush, with chalky tannins and a soft mouthfeel, where the spicy oak makes a shy appearance. 1,600 bottled were filled in February 2022 after 10 months in barrel.

A combination of dark cherries, racy strawberries and red berries with some roasted black spices and some undergrowth notes. Shows good depth of fruit on the nose with a generous splash of oak spices. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate with juicy, flavorful berries in the spicy finish. Ripe and pretty vertical for a pinot. Still pretty ethereal. Drink now.

Currant and blackberry succulence runs through this Cab, grown in a comparatively cool McLaren Vale subregion. Soft violets, graphite and savory, earthy spice are tucked underneath, framed by toasty, vanillin oak that floats further to the fore with time in glass. The palate is powerful with tightly wound, chalky tannins. Drink now with protein or hold for up to 10 to 15 years. Majestic Imports

Toasty aromas of roasted almond, baked pine nut and sandalwood warm up the seared citrus elements on the nose of this bottling. A bright, zesty acidity fires up the palate, where orange flesh and wood-spice flavors are enhanced by a crushed stone minerality

This friendly, ripe and smooth-textured wine bursts with black cherry and candied cherry flavors on a full body, braced by light tannins and decent acidity. Oak spices of cinnamon and cedar are layered in for extra interest.

Big and bold, this fullbodied and rather tannic wine boasts a dark color and deep black-cherry and dark plum flavors. A mouth-filling presence and rich, almost thick texture give it significant heft on the palate

Complex and minty, an unusual medley of flavors gives this full-bodied wine a distinctive expression. Look for cedar, tamarind and menthol accents on good black-cherry flavors bolstered by moderate tannins