My favorite of the 2021s from Lokoya is the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain. It boasts complex floral and herbal notes of violets, bay leaf and sage that add wonderful nuance to the wine's ripe cherry and cassis fruit. It's full-bodied yet silky and elegant, a thrilling contrast with what you might expect from a "mountain" wine. It's still concentrated and tannic, with a lingering, dusty finish and plenty of aging potential.

One of the great grenache. Comes from a high-altitude vineyard planted in 1946 into deep sandy soils. There were 50% whole berries, used with the wild yeast ferment in open fermenters with a longer maceration period. Matured in a mix of Austrian and French oak foudres, puncheons and ceramic eggs. Captures the sweet succulence of the vintage with high end perfumes a feature. Medium bodied but extraordinarily rich and complex with layers of flavours building a powerful and very long palate profile. Great wine.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, with 9% Merlot in the blend, came from eight different appellations this year. Deep garnet-purple in color, it comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of warm cassis, fresh blueberries, and Bing cherries plus suggestions of lilacs, wild sage, allspice, and dark chocolate. The full-bodied palate has an impressive frame of wonderfully-ripe, fine-grained tannins and lovely tension supporting the generous black and red berry layers, finishing long with a fragrant lift.

A fabulous wine of focus and polish with very fine tannins that caress your palate and give great length to the finish. Medium to full body. The aromas of violets and currants are so beautiful. Dreamy. Best ever? A blend of 92% cabernet sauvignon, 4% cabernet franc, 2% merlot, 1% malbec and 1% petit verdot. A total of 3830 cases produced. Give it three to four years to soften.

Lovely purple fruits with violets, lead pencil, mint, crushed stones, pine needles, resin, and ceramic. Medium to full body with ultra-fine tannins that show a silky beautiful texture. Blend of Stags Leap, Saint Helena, Yountville, and Atlas Peak plus all the mountain vineyards of Cardinale. A blend of 91% cabernet sauvignon and 9% merlot..

Inky black and completely opaque, the 2020 La Joie (80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Malbec) reveals a more spicy and layered profile and reaches the next level of purity for this vintage, with notes of graphite as well as loads of kirsch, lavender oils, sweet tobacco, licorice, and toasted spice. Full-bodied, with an elegant mouthfeel, it’s pure and inviting, with ripe tannins and fresh acidity. Delivering great energy, it has a long, weightless feel, with outstanding length and freshness, and shows no evidence of smoke effect. Drink it over the next three decades. This is one of the great successes for this vintage in Sonoma.

Another utterly brilliant Chardonnay, the 2021 Chardonnay 3D comes from a site in the Sta. Rita Hills. It has a balanced, full-bodied, incredibly layered style as well as classic notes of honeyed citrus, stone fruits, crushed stone, and white flowers, with classic Sta. Rita Hills marine-like salinity and oyster shell-like nuances. A powerful,
concentrated effort, it has flawless balance,
beautiful freshness, and a great finish. It's one of the finest Chardonnays in this report. Hats off to Greg Brewer for continuing to set his own path and make richly textured, powerful, world class Chardonnay.

Lastly, the 2021 Pinot Noir Machado is similarly darker ruby and translucently hued and offers up a smorgasbord-like array of red and black berries, smoked herbs, underbrush, and gamey, foresty,
marine-like nuances. Flawlessly balanced, deep, rich, and textured, it has an awesome mid-palate, integrated tannins, and heavenly finish. This incredible Pinot Noir stopped me in my tracks and might be the finest I've tasted from Brewer. It can
be drunk any time over the coming 10-15 years.

From the 1.7ha Block 31, the highest section of the 1946 bush vines. 50% whole
berries, wild yeast open-fermented; matured in a foudre and ceramic eggs for 11
months. Truly great wines add something new on each taste; here, there’s an
ethereal, otherworldly purity to the lingering finish and aftertaste.

Composed of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and the remainder of Petit Verdot, the 2019 La Joie is compact and unfolds more slowly in the glass. The nose is rich with graphite, sage oil, and black plum. The palate is full of kirsch, fresh leather, currant, and tobacco, with fine tannins that go for ages, along with the fruit and well-balanced acidity. This will warrant 3-5 years cellar to express its full potential over the following 20 years.

The 2019 La Muse is a blend of 90% Merlot, 5% Cab Franc and 5% Malbec. Deep ruby-purple, it explodes with cassis, violets and aniseed, with wafts of thyme, tobacco and iron, offering new nuances with each return to the glass. The full-bodied palate is powerful and refined, with loads of rounded tannins, focused freshness and ethereal character. It's exceptionally expressive and structured and should be very long lived in the cellar.

The 2019 La Joie is an elegant expression that offers power, freshness and expressive, floral character. A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, it has a deep ruby color and opens slowly from black cherries and blueberries to accents of violets, ground coffee and licorice. The full-bodied palate has generous, grainy tannins, detailed, perfumed flavors and bright acidity, finishing with an alluring iron character.

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard explodes with violets, aniseed and cast iron, with a deep core of crushed blueberries and black cherries, evolving continually with each approach to the glass. The palate is stunning with its intensity and lift, pure fruits, pixelated tannins and focused acidity that drives the very long finish. Its exceptional balance and super pure flavors, plus that characteristic streak of iron that appears across the Anakota portfolio, really take the 2019 Helena Dakota to the next level.

The 2019 Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon comes 100% from the Veeder Peak vineyard. Deep garnet-purple in color, it unfolds beautifully to deliver notes of creme de cassis, licorice, blackberry pie, and fruitcake with hints of Indian spices and underbrush. Full-bodied, rich, concentrated, and powerful in the mouth, it has a firm, grainy texture and tons of freshness to support, finishing with epic length.

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot from Ed Corra vineyard, Stags Leap, St Helena - from all over the valley! Deep garnet-purple in color, it sashays out with gorgeous blackcurrant preserves, wild blueberries, and Morello cherries scents, plus hints of roses, fragrant earth, allspice, and violets with dark chocolate. Full-bodied, rich, and seductive with achingly velvety tannins and a laser-precise backbone of acidity, this beautiful wine finishes with epic length and seductive fragrance.

The 2002 La Muse is a blend of 93% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc. Medium to deep garnet-brick colored, it presents a mushroom cloud of perfumed fruitcake, cigar box, smoked meats, and Chinese five spice with hints of potpourri, iron ore, crushed rocks, and sandalwood. Full bodied, rich, and oh so spicy in the mouth, the palate is coated with velvety tannins and fantastic tension, finishing epically long and layered.

Blueberries, blackberries and crushed stones. Pure fruit. Full-bodied with round tannins that have powdery character. Creamy and round mouth-feel. Very unique. Great finish. 90% merlot, 5% cabernet franc and 5% malbec. Best from 2026.

Blackcurrant and graphite in a big way in the nose. Some asphalt and sweet tobacco, too. Full-bodied with a dense, velvety texture. Shows suppleness for such a big wine, with luxurious sensibility. Such fabulous length. Almost drinkable now, but four or five years of bottle age will bring this into its own. Try after 2026.

Incredibly spicy and aromatic with pumice and cloves. Pops out of the glass. Cedar, too. Full-bodied with soft, polished tannins adding tension and creaminess. Long and beautiful. All about class and breeding. Try after 2025.

Touches of mocha and vanilla play around the crushed blueberry notions of the nose. The palate has earthy depth and an uncommon kind of salty resonance. Stone, salt and earth have a beautiful presence and lend the wine an unusual harmony that pulls together powerful but sumptuous tannins, a bold but sinuous body and rich, layered fruit with a cinnamon and nutmeg finish.

The wine has a gorgeous nose. All botanicals, florals, berries, wet leaves, earth which is dewy and freshly turned. And then there’s a wow factor on the palate which is massive, complex, labyrinthine in its layers and nuances. Like a peacock somehow, a glimpse of the glory of its tail awaiting the years to open to full beauty. This wine will take years. It is dark, powerful, brooding, beyond words beautiful.

From vines planted in 1982, the 2019 Merlot W.S. Keyes Vineyard checks in as 81% Merlot and 19% Cabernet Sauvignon that was brought up in 84% new French oak. This deep, full-bodied, powerful, impeccably balanced beauty offers up loads of ripe black cherries, blackberries, graphite, scorched earth, and Asian spices on the nose. It's another stunning example of mountain Merlot that needs to be forgotten for 4-5 years, and it's going to cruise for 20-25 years in cold cellar. The Cabernet component really shows in the tannin structure. This is a serious, incredibly age-worthy Merlot that, in my opinion, is one of the greatest Merlots in California.

Hand-picked from the certified biodynamic estate Block 12 on a fruit day, wild yeast-open fermented with 25% whole bunches, matured in a 2500l French foudre. It's impossible to find anything done or not done that would improve this superb wine. It's (only) medium-bodied, but fills the senses with its tantalising bouquet, always with something more to say, yet it pales into insignificance once you taste the wine. It takes intensity and length to a new horizon, a sip as complex as that of a Rare Rutherglen muscat.

This is the king of Australian grenache, and is not to be undertaken lightly. Deep, although clear, in colour, it has a rainbow of flavours, its deep roots probing the soil nearby for sustenance that will provide tannins and all things needed for the grapes to provide the magic evolution of the red flowers and spices of this wine.

The 2017s From Sonoma The 2016 Le Desir checks in as 82% Cabernet Franc, 12% Merlot, and 6% Malbec. Readers looking for world-class Cabernet Franc should beg, borrow, or steal to get hold of a bottle of this. Incredible floral, violet, forest floor, lead pencil, and cassis notes all flow to a medium to full-bodied red that’s flawlessly balanced, has ultra-fine tannins, and a finish that won’t quit. More intellectual and elegant than the La Joie, it’s still a wine of incredible intensity and class that builds incrementally on the palate, has an exotic, singular character, and the class to evolve for 30 years or more.