Top 100 of 2019! - #76 Veteran winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash crafts dynamic Pinot Noirs. She has a deft hand at coaxing supple textures and elegantly complex flavors from the grapes, and it shows in the Shea Vineyard bottling from the warm 2016 vintage. Planted across 200 acres of rolling hills, Shea is a source of grapes for many of Oregon's best producers. Penner-Ash, which was sold to Jackson Family Wines in 2016, has made a Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir since 2002. Starting with just one block, the winemaker expanded the vineyard selection to six, blending grapes from all of the blocks into this wine.

Top 100 of 2019! - #61 Barbara Banke and Jess Jackson's daughters Katie Jackson and Julia Jackson are the proprietors of this Santa Maria estate. The Katherine's Vineyard bottling—named after Katie—successfully expresses the site's terroir. Shallow sand and granite soils combine with cool maritime influences and a protracted growing season to provide a well-structured wine. Six months' aging in 15% new French oak retains the fresh fruit and minerality but also lends smoky richness and a creamy texture. Most impressive may be the volume and value that comes along with this textbook Santa Maria Chardonnay.

Top 100 of 2019! - #37 Chris Carpenter knows mountain wines. As the winemaker for Jackson Family Wines' Lokoya, Cardinale, Mt. Brave and La Jota, each focused on Napa mountain terroir, he finds that his biggest challenge can be wrangling rugged tannins. With the Merlot on Howell Mountain, Carpenter pays close attention to how the tannins harmonize with the sugar and acid during harvest. He often picks specific rows rather than the entire vineyard for optimal balance, and in the cellar he employs pump-overs and gentle racking to further manage the wine's tannic strength. The result is an elegant Merlot, but with plenty of richness that also captures Howell Mountain's signature minerality.

Totally reliable, consumer friendly, very tasty chard, perfect for a party.

Bright, crunchy red fruit, orange peel and pomegranate play around a core of nicely integrated, well-mannered texture and acidity. Fleshy and fresh, it sparks accents of black tea, cardamom and forest floor as it opens in the glass.

Earthy, textured and thickly rich, this is a well-made full-bodied wine, with grip and power to spare. Dark-cherry cola mixes with cardamom and orange peel, the oak and tannin behaved but undoubtedly present.

Polished and expressive, with pretty violet and raspberry aromas that open to elegantly tiered cherry and cola accents that flesh out on the finish. Drink now through 2026.

Crunchy in texture and high-toned acidity, this wine evolves to show richness and girth on the palate, undertones of grip and tension never far behind. Plum, baked cherry and earthy black tea highlight the varietal classicism and structure.

Robustly rich, layered and rounded in red cherry, tea and toasted oak, this is a full-bodied and concentrated wine, with plenty of power and ripeness. A touch of orange peel gives it a pleasing sweetness on the finish.

This is a delicate, medium-bodied wine that offers lively red cherry and raspberry flavors and shows restraint through light tannins and vivid acidity.

Red raspberry and cherry flavors are accented by hints of hot spice and paprika in this open-textured version. Hot stone notes show on the finish. Drink now.

Balanced, with crunchy, well-structured flavors of dark currant and dried raspberry. Fresh minerality and hints of black pepper emerge on the svelte finish. Drink now.

Mild and quite fruity, this medium-bodied wine smells like fresh strawberries, tastes like raspberries and has a smooth easy texture.

Spice and toast notes accent the pear and yellow apple flavors, showing restraint, with a hint of honeycomb and fresh acidity. Drink now.

This is a serious, dry, oak-aged wine, with full body, firm tannins and good concentration. It's well balanced and a bit reserved in flavor, as light smoke and beef accents mingle with tasty black cherry and cranberry.

Sleek in feel, with an herb-laced cassis core and floral notes in the background. A light mineral twinge runs through the focused finish. Drink now through 2022.

Racy flavors of wild berry and pomegranate are fresh and fruit-forward, with toast, cedar and tobacco shadings set on a smooth and juicy frame. The tannins firm up on the finish, revealing a note of star anise. Drink now.

The 2015 vintage was a challenging year. Maybe that accounts for the closed nose. The palate displays brioche and savory notes. Definitely memorable and complex in the mouth. A fact that makes up for the closed nose.

This wine is 8-10 months in French oak, 35% new. The nose is cherry and rose fragrance. The palate is bright open fruit with a long fruity finish. The Russian River brings a character to pinot noir that is different to Burgundy or Oregon. A kind of third expression. This wine illustrates that with its gushing fruit and freshness.

La Crema’s widest-sourced pinot noir. This wine is 8-10 months in French oak barrels with 25% new oak. Nose of raspberry and toffee. Palate of dark fruit, forest floor, root beer. A lot of complexity for the money here. A wine to look for on restaurant lists. Pleasant on its own or with pork, veal or liver.

The Saralee’s vineyard can be described as the estate vineyard, being right outside the visitor centre. La Crema used the fruit before they bought the old Kunde estate. This wine is aged in 30-35% new French oak. The nose is citrus fruit (lemons) and wine gums. On the palate oranges and stone fruit. However, my favorite feature is a trenchant phenolic backbone that makes the finish long-lasting and distinct. The Saralee’s vineyard can be described as the estate vineyard, being right outside the visitor centre. La Crema used the fruit before they bought the old Kunde estate. This wine is aged in 30-35% new French oak. The nose is citrus fruit (lemons) and wine gums. On the palate oranges and stone fruit. However, my favorite feature is a trenchant phenolic backbone that makes the finish long-lasting and distinct. The Saralee’s vineyard can be described as the estate vineyard, being right outside the visitor centre. La Crema used the fruit before they bought the old Kunde estate. This wine is aged in 30-35% new French oak. The nose is citrus fruit (lemons) and wine gums. On the palate oranges and stone fruit. However, my favorite feature is a trenchant phenolic backbone that makes the finish long-lasting and distinct.

Aged in 35% new oak, 100% French. Nose of honey, brioche, mandarin orange. Palate confirms the fruit in the nose and frames it with a medium acid. This wine is very much in the big, ripe, fruit California idiom. Nonetheless, it is not a fruit bomb and brings sufficient backbone to keep it fresh.

This wine has a nose of tropical fruit (mango, pineapple) with hints of orange. On the palate there is vibrant fruit due to the medium-high acid. Despite being the volume white in the La Crema range this wine should not be overlooked. It is distinctive and well-balanced. A comparative bargain, it is also flexible, pairing well with lobster, chicken, turkey and veal. Or just as a quaffing wine.

Top scoring wines of 2019: 100 points The wines tasted in 2019 that received a perfect score from our experts…

Winespeed's Wine of the Year 2019 It’s been a phenomenal year. Over the course of 52 editions of WineSpeed, we tasted thousands of wines. And so many wines stood out—a phenomenal 2017 Vintage Port (Dow’s), a luscious shiraz (Penfold’s St. Henri), a superb Napa cabernet franc (Detert), and, as an eye-opening surprise, a fantastic pinot noir from Patagonia, Argentina (Chacra). Plus many more. But one wine really galvanized us. For its sheer deliciousness; for its superb tension between minerality and richness; for being emblematic of the surging success of an entire region; and for costing less than $50 a bottle when so many great wines cost more than $100, we’ve chosen: GRAN MORAINE Chardonnay 2016 from the Yamhill Carlton district of the Willamette Valley in Oregon.