This briary red is loaded with jammy fruit, showing very ripe, supple black cherry, sage and smoky cracked pepper flakes.

From a steep hillside site planted in the 1800's, only ten miles from the Pacific Ocean, the 2007 Perli Vineyard exhibits a deep ruby/garnet color as well as an intoxicatingly heady nose of spice box, herbs, blue and red fruits, pepper, and incense. The wine is rich and full-bodied with tart acids as well as heady, but well-concealed alcohol. It should drink well for 3-4 years.

While Diatom was formerly wedded to sites in the Sta. Rita Hills, Brewer-Clifton produced a Chardonnay from Katherine's Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley (neighboring Bien Nacido) in the 1999 vintage, so in a sense this cuvée represents a return to old haunts. At 445 cases, the 2017 Chardonnay Katherine's is also by some margin Diatom's largest bottling this vintage. Notes of peach, grapefruit, pastry cream and lime cordial precede a mediumbodied, glossy, saline, acid-driven wine with beautiful purity and concentration.

Santa Barbara Dreamin'…Part Two The 2017 Chardonnay Santos Road offers a super-appealing mix of textural density and freshness. A wine of real presence and power, the Santos Road is wonderfully complex and multi-dimensional.

2017 CHARDONNAY, SANTOS ROAD The nose is a tart lemon and chalk with green apple and wet stone. The palate is bone dry with underlying peach, pear and mineral.

Santa Barbara Dreamin'…Part Two Intense aromatics give the 2017 Chardonnay Machado an exotic Sauvignon or Riesling-like character that is beguiling. Intense saline notes bring out a bright, energetic profile. Deceptive in its feel, and yet wonderfully persistent, the 2017 Machado has a lot to say and offer.

The 2017 Chardonnay Hilliard Bruce—which hails from a northfacing site on the western edge of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA planted with clone 96—reveals crisp notes of pastry cream, Asian pear and citrus blossom. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, glossy and fine-boned, with taut, stony structure and a pure, tangy finish.

2017 CHARDONNAY, HILLIARD BRUCE The nose is a juicy tropical fruit with honey, peach and chalk. The palate is crisp peach with notes of honey and golden currant. Lovely texture.

The 2016 Chardonnay Spear Vineyard has pristine, unadulterated and fresh lemongrass, orange blossom and white peach notes with touches of wet pebbles and coriander seed. Medium-bodied and with a pleasant oiliness to the texture, it delivers a great intensity of spicy flavors, finishing with lingering pepper notes. 97 cases were made.

The nose is a tropical banana and pie spice with whiffs of white pepper. The palate has a broader round quality in entry with a cut velvet texture of tropical fruits and well-integrated acidity.

The 2017s From Sonoma From a site in the middle of Anderson Valley, the 2017 Pinot Noir Abel was aged 16 months in 15% new French oak. Black cherries, spice box, spring flowers, and forest floor notes all flow to a medium-bodied, juicy, incredibly elegant Pinot Noir that has bright acidity yet an upfront, juicy feel.

A harmonious blend of four vineyards; silky texture and bright cherry fruit with subtle notes of oak; a tangy, elegant finish that invites another sip.

Sweet red cherry, dried flowers, mint, white pepper and blood orange all meld together in Copain's 2015 Pinot Noir Kiser En Haut. Nervous and energetic, but with good depth, the 2015 is a very promising wine. The 2015 has begun to fill out since I tasted it a few months ago. All the elements are very nicely balanced in this pliant, mid-weight Pinot from Copain.

The 2014 Pinot Noir Kiser En Bas presents a much soft expression of this Anderson Valley site because of the greater presence of clay in this part of the vineyard. Ample and creamy, but in the restrained Copain style, the 2014 possesses striking immediacy and impeccable overall balance.

An addition to the range, the 2013 Pinot Noir Wendling is a powerful, immediate wine. Super-ripe red cherry, plum, chocolate and sweet spices give the wine its round, succulent personality. The 2013 is bold, ripe and voluptuous, with striking intensity and plenty of up-front appeal. This is one of the riper wines in the range.

The 2013 Wendling Pinot Noir is a complex and brooding wine, rich and bursting with aromatics, layered with earth and dark fruit flavors. One of the richest Pinots in the line.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2017 Syrah High Rock Ranch is an intriguing wine from Copain. This site in the Yorkville Highlands yields an especially savory, tightly wound style. Dark fruit, game, licorice, smoke and tobacco all develop. The tannins remain forbidding though, and need time to soften. Readers should expect a brooding, inward Syrah.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages The medium garnet-purple colored 2015 Syrah les Voisins (100% Syrah) displays bold black cherries, blackberries and warm plums scents with a very spicy undercurrent of baking spices and black pepper. Medium to full-bodied with firm, rounded tannins, it gives a great intensity of peppered black fruits, finishing long and perfumed.

From three Yorkville Highlands vineyards planted on schist, this is a compact syrah, its deep blue fruit juicy in its ripeness, with tannins as gripping as chokeberry skin. Hints of green olive and white-peppercorn spice place it with a lamb burger.

The 2014 Syrah Les Voisins is superb. Rich, pliant and expressive, the 2014 Syrah Les Voisins is beautifully layered in the glass, the 2014 exudes balance and class. Sweet red plum, blood orange, mint and pomegranate shape this creamy, deeply expressive Syrah. The flavors are bright and nicely lifted throughout. This is a terrific, mid-tier wine from Copain.

Copain's Syrahs are Aging Wonderfully Dark and fruity nose with rich plums and blackberries and a spicy/smoky element. Rich but bright on the palate with structured tannins, bright acidity, and I get a lot of tart currant and plum fruit. Charcoal, smoky bacon, roasted red pepper, coffee grounds, rich earth. On Day 2, this got even more expressive. Still time ahead, but this is very impressive. More put-together and prettier than a bottle of this I had in 2016. Lucky me! This site, north of Yorkville, is full of rocky soils and vines planted in a series of benches and hillsides at the base of Hawks Butte.

Copain's Syrahs are Aging Wonderfully Aromas of blackberries, tart cherries, a lots of smoke and meat. Crisp acidity on the palate, plump texture and the blackberry fruit is still going. Notes of violets, smoke, olive brine, pepper, beef broth and roasted red pepper. Nice and tangy with a peppery finish. Still going! From a vineyard 1,800 feet above Ukiah Valley in Mendocino County.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond A gorgeous wine, the 2017 Chardonnay Brosseau is also one of the distinctive Chardonnays in this range. Orange peel, dried flowers, chamomile and sage all develop in the glass, but it is the wine's feel - the single most telling signature of Brosseau - that stands out most. This is a strong showing from Copain.

The 2016 Chardonnay Dupratt comes from the Anderson Valley and was brought up in 20% new French oak. It’s a more racy, vibrant Chardonnay that offers lots of white fruits, wet granite-like minerality, white flowers, and hints of tart apple. It builds with time in the glass and is medium-bodied, has a rounded, supple texture, beautiful purity of fruit, and a great finish. While it plays in the lighter style of the estate, it has terrific intensity and depth. It’s going to keep for upwards of a decade.

From a great site in the Chalone AVA south of Monterey, the 2016 Chardonnay Brosseau is a classic, complete, and beautifully balanced Chardonnay that has loads to love. Sauteed orchard fruits, lemon peel, some slate minerality, and lots of spice give way to a medium-bodied, supple, seamless effort that shows the house style here nicely. It’s great today, yet I suspect will evolve nicely on its balance.