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.

The Pinot Noir Perry Ranch Vineyard is light bodied with a savory mid-palate.It offers a silky elegant mouth feel, pure light red fruit flavors with notes of earth, firm acidity, fine tannins, and excellent focus. A significant portion of the fruit is whole cluster fermented with a significant amount of whole clusters; matured in 40% new French oak. Perry Ranch (formerly part of the Keefer Ranch) is a 16 acre vineyard subject to intense morning fog planted in Goldridge soils and managed by the Dutton family in the southwestern part of the Green River Valley.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018As with the Chardonnay 9 Barrel, the 2017 Pinot Noir 9 Barrel is a tiny selection made from the Russian River Valley that spent 14 months in 50% new French oak. Rocking notes of black raspberries, wild strawberries, toasted spices, caramelized violets, and forest floor notes all emerge from the glass and it's medium to full-bodied, has a fresh, focused texture, good mid-palate depth, and nicely integrated oak. It's going to benefit from a year or two of bottle age and should keep nicely through 2027.

USA, Oregon: Searching for Hidden Gems from Willamette Valley's 2017 VintageThe medium ruby colored 2017 Pinot Noir Estate features crushed raspberries, blueberries and blackberries scents with touches of bergamot, forest floor, rhubarb, red licorice and tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied, grainy and fresh with pure, perfectly ripe fruits and a long, sweet, spice-laced finish. This offers lovely expression now but will reward another year in bottle.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s The 2017 Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard comes from a site in the Santa Maria Valley from vines that were planted in the 1970s. Aged 16 months in 69% new French oak, it gives up a pretty, classic bouquet of mulberries, dried earth, forest floor, and spice. With medium body, a focused, elegant texture, good tension, and a great finish, it's another 2017 that's tight and reserved and will benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Chardonnay Bear Point Vineyard gives up bolds peach cobbler, clotted cream and applesauce scents with nuances of toasted almonds and honeycomb. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a lovely satiny texture plus a touch of phenolic grip and is packed with stone fruit and honeyed flavors, finishing with a touch of spiciness to the finish. 304 cases produced.

More backward and less precocious and mature is the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore, a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. Like Bosche, winemaker Ted Edwards ages it two years in French oak prior to bottling. The Sycamore Vineyard, just south of Bosche, is planted in gravelly clay and loam soils. The wine reveals a dark, dense ruby/purple color along with copious spicy oak notes intermixed with blackberry, cedarwood, Christmas fruitcake and licorice characteristics. Deep, full-bodied and moderately tannic, this youthful 2001 will benefit from another 2-3 years of bottle age and drink well for 15+ years. Two brilliant efforts from Freemark Abbey, this is the first time I tasted these wines as I missed them when I tasted the 2001s eight years ago.

Classy aromas of blackcurrant, dark chocolate, coffee, leather and tobacco. Faint complicating note of game. Solidly structured, elegant wine, finishing with serious but firm tannins, a peppery nuance and excellent persistence.

One of the most expensive in the lineup, the 2015 Pinot Noir Signature Collection Julia's Vineyard is another wine from Julia’s Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley and spent 14 months in 32% new French oak. Deep ruby/purple-colored, with some obvious oak in its smoky black fruits, crushed rocks, violets, and spice-driven aromas and flavors, it's medium-bodied, has terrific purity, and a fresh, focused style. Give bottles a few years and it should shine for a decade.

Santa Barbara Dreamin'…Part One The 2016 Pinot Noir Rita's Crown Vineyard emerges from the upper blocks of this site, where the vines struggle to ripen. Translucent and highly expressive, the 2016 delivers serious intensity in a deceptively mid-weight style. The 33% whole clusters are not especially evident. Ripe red berry fruit, rose petal, mint and licorice notes build into the beautifully layered finish. What a gorgeous wine this is.

Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Monument Hill conjures notions of cedar, toast, roasted nuts and mocha over a core of red currants, plums and black cherries. The palate is intensely flavored, packed with red and black fruit flavors and supported by chewy tannins, finishing with lovely freshness and plenty of layers.

Another terrific wine is the 2013 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard, which was completely destemmed and aged 16 months in 40% new French oak. Still showing its oak elevage, with lots of caramelized cherry, black raspberry, sweet oak and spice, it hits the palate with a seamless, silky, gorgeously pure texture that carries plenty of fruit and finishes clean and dry, with notable tannic grip. Give it a year or two in the cellar to integrate its oak and drink bottles through 2021.

The 2016 Pinot Noir 459 is the richest, most powerful wine in the range this year, offering up a ripe bouquet of sweet strawberry preserve, herbs, currant leaf and aromatic bark. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, layered and textural, with impressive midpalate amplitude and a fine-grained but firm chassis of structuring tannins that asserts itself on the chewy finish. This will need some time in the cellar to mellow.

The 2016 Chardonnay Hapgood opens in the glass with notes of pear, peach pit and iodine, framed by a light touch of nutty reduction. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, tensile and saline, with lovely length and a slightly austere, uncompromising personality that will likely unwind with a few years of bottle age.

A Spotlight on Santa Barbara The 2015 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills will be another terrific vintage and, while young, offers plenty of pleasure. Pineapple, citrus blossom, salty minerality and creamed corn all flow to a rich, beautifully textured, layered, young Chardonnay that’s going to benefit from short-term cellaring and have 10-15 years of overall longevity. Like all of Greg’s Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnays, it spent 10 months in neutral barrels.

The aging ability and high quality of the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons is undeniable. One only has to go back 15 years to see how well these wines are aging. Furthermore, they often fare well in blind tastings against their more expensive and prestigious Napa Valley brethren. The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale was aged 25 months in mostly French and some American oak barrels before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. Its deep purple color is accompanied by a classic combination of tobacco leaf, high class cigar tobacco, black currants, cedar and graphite. Full-bodied and pure with layers of fruit and lots of velvety tannin, this generously endowed, still youthful, unevolved Cabernet Sauvignon should hit its stride in 5-7 years and last for three decades.

The brilliant 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 24 months in French oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered tastes like a Sonoma version of a Bordeaux Pauillac. Aromas of cedar, licorice, chocolate, and creme de cassis as well as a hint of toast jump from the glass of this full-bodied, concentrated, fleshy wine. It possesses a French-like structure, but Northern California’s enticingly pure, ripe fruit is on vivid display. This wine can be approached now because of the sweetness of the tannins and its terrific equilibrium, but it will age effortlessly for 15-20 years.

Far more backward and tannic and needing slightly more time is the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale. Also 100% Cabernet Sauvignon bottled unfined and unfiltered after 24 months in French and American oak, 69% of this came from Monte Rosso and the rest from the Smothers-Remick Ridge and Murray vineyards. This is a larger production cuvee of 2,076 cases. Opaque purple in color, it displays notes of graphite, blackberry and cassis, a touch of vanilla and loamy soil notes. The wine is full-bodied, powerful and has yet to reveal its full potential. This is a beauty to keep in the cellar for another 3-4 years and drink over the following 15 or more years. It is interesting that Richard Arrowood always thought of 2004 as one of his favorite vintages and kept more of his Cabernets back for personal consumption than usual. He appears to have been prescient in his judgment.