The 50 Best Wines of 2019 - #44 This structured Cabernet Sauvignon is beautifully balanced, offering nuanced notes of blackberry, cherry, fresh tobacco leaf, and leather. While $44 is no paltry sum, in the realm of Napa Cab, and from a noteworthy, historic producer, this is as close as you will find to a bargain bottle in the category.

Wine Guy: California red wine beyond cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot or zinfandel Bootleg is a newer label associated with Jackson Family Wines. Crafted with Sonoma County fruit, this is bold and concentrated, luscious with velvety tannins and drinks with a sense of richness and opulence.

Great dark, cherry, a touch of vanilla, and a hint of pine. On the palate, this is a legitimate whoa: fruit? Check. Depth? Intrigue? Check. Check. Whoa. Outstanding.

Dirty and rustic nose with wild cherry, spice, and chalk. Fruity and lovely, this is also fabulous. Just short of a whoa. Excellent.

A bit on the darker side both in color and aroma. Vanilla and red fruit. Rich and full with a nice level of tartness. On the bigger side of Pinot. Excellent.

Minty, pine, and dark cherry. Fruity, rich, another winner here. Excellent.

Holiday Wine Pairings Electric with tiny bubbles and bursting essence of Asian pear, the palate leans more to citrus and nectarine — just add cheese, charcuterie, fried food, oysters, or pretty much anything.

Holiday Wine Pairings This pinot is the Willamette Valley’s version of a steakhouse wine — ample structure, raspberries, and chocolate, and black pepper spice with an elegant finish.

Pinot gris needs warm days and cool nights to make wines that taste this balanced, with exotic tropical fruit aromas of guava and pineapple brightened by a backbone of citrusy acidity. Try it with salads, seafood, or almost any Asian cuisine.

Grenache Masters 2019: Gold

Outstanding. Zena Crown is world-class pinot noir vineyard, equivalent to what To Kalon is for cabernet sauvignon in Napa.

Certified organic/biodynamic. Older barrels used for maturation. You can tell the impetus is tannin and structure here. Great drinking, great wine. Serious feeling but retains drinkability. Game meat, pecan nuttiness, very dark berries, bramble and wild herbs in ferrous earth, or something like that. A jumble of flavour all wrapped up tightly in a very firm weave of ribbons of Italianate tannins. Violets the clincher in perfume. Such a fantastic, brooding but come-hither red wine.

Flying under the Jackson Family Wineries label (Kendall-Jackson et al) this Pinot was the first offering from the Sonoma Coast for Copain. Sweet raspberry and violets lead the nose and are followed with baking spices, roasted beets, cedar chips and tealeaf. Juicy, and silky in texture it offers high-toned red fruits, spice and tealeaf flavours. Bright and balanced, an excellent drop.

Golden, toasty, spiced. Golden and toasty, roasted nuts and yellow apples, spice and buttered toast aromas lead to a fresh palate with sweet golden fruit, buttered warm brioche and spiced nut flavours. Good length, structure and balance--a solid Chardonnay for Chardy lovers.

Ten Top Champagnes And Sparklings For The Perfect New Year’s Eve If you like the La Crema wines, you’ll like this sparkling—it’s rich with a lovely mouse-like texture, aromas of strawberries and raspberries and a fine thread of citrus to keep things fresh.

Rich and soulful, this is an iconic example of the Russian River, with a heavy mineral and licorice note on the nose informing notes of dried cherries and a little currant. The palate shows some chocolate and some mulling spices, particularly on the finish. Rich but really lovely. A-

Initially a bit slight and on the thin side, this pinot sees iconic notes of cherry and some spice emerging, filtered through a grind or two of black pepper. The finish is all cola, tinged with spice, but surprisingly short. B+

As expected, here we have a more muscular expression of pinot noir, with a darker cherry core and stronger notes of cola and an edge of moderately dark chocolate. The wine’s brooding character feels all up front, however, and it surprisingly finishes on the thin side of things.

Drinking just as expected, with notes of cola and spice infusing the strong cherry notes at its core. Hints of licorice, a little dark chocolate, and a light herbal current all run through the wine, leading to a grippy, slightly pushy conclusion with a lengthy finish. Fairly textbook California pinot noir. A-

Wine Press – Wines Worth Splurging On This Holiday Season I’ve long been a fan of Freemark Abbey’s finely-made Cabernet Sauvignon wines. And the 2015 vintage from this old-school Napa Valley standard bearer illustrates why Freemark Abbey has been hailed as one of the better California wineries for decades. Give this big, voluptuous wine plenty of time to breathe. I really liked the wine the first day, but actually found its complex, dark blackberry flavors even more enchanting the second day. Drink now or wait for more fireworks in 3 to 5 years.

12 wines for December $23 and under Really well-balanced wine with citrus and oak playing nicely. Some clean-tasting lemon comes through, and we'd put the oak level around 5-6 on our 0-10 scale. Smooth and creamy, not "sawdusty" as one tasting pal said. The oak mellowed and rounded out this wine. Went well with chicken in cream sauce. Fair price, and the winery's offerings are common menu finds in Northeast Ohio.

Medium garnet in color, this wine smells of cherry and raspberry fruit. In the mouth, tightly wound tannins wrap flavors of cherry, cedar, and wet earth. There's a hint of bitter orange as the wine finishes. This one needs a bit of time. 14.2% alcohol. Score: around 8.5.

Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of slightly sweaty socks and cranberry fruit. In the mouth, cranberry and raspberry flavors have a hint of barnyard to them and are wrapped in a gauzy but muscular skein of tannins. Good acidity. 14.2% alcohol. Score: around 8.5.

Medium garnet in color, this wine smells of ripe cherry and cranberry fruit. In the mouth, juicy cherry and cranberry flavors have a nice zing to them thanks to excellent acidity. Powdery tannins creep around the edges of the mouth and a note of black tea and cedar lingers in the finish. 14.2% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of struck match and raspberry fruit. In the mouth, raspberry and cherry flavors are bright and dusted with powdery tannins. Good acidity brings a citrus peel quality to the sour cherry in the finish. Decent acidity. The tannins grow in strength as the wine lingers with hints of cedar. 14.2% alcohol. Score: around 8.5.