Deep ruby-red colour in the glass. The nose lifts with ground coffee, tobacco leaf and mixed berry. It fills the mouth with dark berries and mocha notes, glides with a slippery tannin line and a hint of oiliness that adds depth to its flow. Good length and finishes softly .

Ink black core to a deep purple rim. Cassis, bay and wood oil aromatics. A big and voluminous wine that shows ripe cassis alongside significant oak spices. Goes long and the structure is up to the task of controlling the flow. Time and a serious serve of red meat will bring it into context.

Grown in California, most Dijon clones deliver fruit forward wines, making this savory bottling of Barbara’s, made with Clone 667, somewhat anomalous. Cambria’s Barbara’s doesn’t much behave like a Dijon clone, at least not at first; this wine’s smoky tobacco savor goes up against its cherry fruit, lingering with a sneaky persistence. The subtle plum fruit is weightless and lifted, ready for something with an umami feel, like a pork cutlet.

This estate wine is remarkably elegant, with scents of smoke, olive and cola all wrapped around a plum compote core. The sleek and soft texture, with tannins as suave as pipe-tobacco, suggest a pairing with braised beef, like Bourguignon.

It’s easy to anticipate the concentration of this wine just by looking at its dark purple color. It smells of pine and dark plum, then tastes of spiced cherry, rye and peppercorn, with terrific acidity that keeps the wine on point.

High Rock Ranch is Copain’s estate vineyard in the Yorkville Highlands, a stark, barren hilltop composed of schist and exposed to plenty of Pacific wind, cold and fog. This syrah leads with baking spices and smoke, coolly delivering a dark array of fruit—fig and carob and black plum—with a finely wrought texture that feels firm and balanced. For grilled pork.

A side project from Greg Brewer of Brewer-Clifton wines, this brings out the funk from Santa Barbara vines. Its dark concentration yields with scents of thyme, ash, olive and cheese rind over blackberries. The brushy herbal notes provide a savory backdrop to a wine that’s packed with flavor, for ribs.

The Yarra Valley chardonnay comes off five sites: Sexton, Tarraford, Applejack, Primavera, and Wombat Creek Vineyards. It is hard to believe it could get better than last year, but it is, and the alcohol is down an entire point to 12.5 percent. The vintage was large and of high quality. The overall temperature during the growing season was lower than average, which led to a long, slow ripening period and great concentration of flavours and natural acidity. The result is a high quality white with mealy, leesy notes, bright apricot, and lemon that rush through the finish. Rich in a Grand Cru way but not overpowering. Outstanding value. Food possibilities are endless, including these winery suggestions: fish tacos with coriander, chili and avocado salsa, grilled eggplant with tomato relish, salad with grilled goat cheese on croutons, roast crispy skin chicken with preserved lemon and roast garlic. It is all hand-picked, chilled overnight to 12C, then whole bunch pressed, fermented on full juice solids with wild yeast in 500L French puncheons (15% new) for eight months. No lees is stirred, and only 10% of the blend underwent spontaneous malolactic fermentation.

Lassegue’s 2015 Bordeaux is a sumptuous Merlot-driven blend from the Right Bank. It is immensely pleasurable now and worthy of a spot in the cellar. It’s a lustrous garnet red, with vibrant aromas of ripe plum, cherry, dark chocolate, and violets. Medium to full in body, it has a dense but balanced feel on the palate with opulent layers of spiced black fruit, cassis, and mocha. The blend is 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine evolves nicely in the glass and is the perfect candidate for a case purchase.

Flinty to begin, the 2020 Chardonnay takes some time to reveal baked peaches and quince with honey-nut undertones. The palate offers incredible texture and saline-like mineral character, with soft white-flower perfume on the refreshing finish.

The Conifer designation is right on as there is a pine-tar accent streaking through the bright red-berry and cherry-fruit flavors here. The full body characterizes this excellent vintage, and the extra details of texture and length, along with highlights of truffle and toast, keep this wine interesting through the lengthy finish.

Sourced from specific blocks on the estate, this aromatic wine mixes potent blueberry and blackberry fruit with sharp lemony acids. It’s powerful and blocky, punching those flavors on through a long finish. More bottle age should help to fully integrate all components.

An aromatic mix of toasted hazelnuts, blackberry fruit spread, nutella and peanut butter opens into an inviting palate with generous fruit and well-tempered tannins. The moderately low alcohol in no way detracts from the flavor, and subtle details of spice and herb that higher alcohol often conceals are here to discover.

This is a smooth, medium-ripe wine that’s been fermented and aged in 20% new puncheons. The mouthfeel is firm—almost glossy—with tight apple and pear fruit. There are hints of honeysuckle, jicama and a bright pine-needle note shining through.

This wine offers sizable tannin and power, within a framework of earthy structure and oak. Cedar, dried herb and red-currant and cherry flavors combine effortlessly along a textured palate of richness seasoned in baking spice and caramel.

Well integrated in blackberry, vanilla and with a hint of molasses, this wine offers moderate weight and balanced richness, with fine tannins giving it a lush texture. Juicy on the finish, it shows the power of the appellation and vintage without ever becoming overbearing on the palate.

Steely, fresh and resolved on the palate, this is a cool, coastal white with textures and flavors reminiscent of oyster shell and wet stone. The fruit is crisp and crunchy—a mix of green apple and pear adorned in just a hint of oak.

Hickinbotham’s 2018 release of Cab Franc is a savory and quietly expressive wine. There are dusty herbal, tobacco, black olive and iodine notes wound up in plump black cherry and plum fruit and framed by chocolatey oak. There’s a lovely crunch of acidity in the mouth amidst powdery tannins. The tangy fruit and driedherbal flavors flow to the finish. Typical to this label, this is a full-bodied style unafraid of power and oak influence, but it’s skillfully made with the ability to age until around 2028.

Glistening ruby. Cherry pit, boysenberry, baking spices and a subtle floral nuance on the incisive nose. Tangy red currant and bitter cherry flavors show good tension, and sweetening mocha and vanilla flourishes emerge on the back half. Fine-grained tannins frame a long, focused finish that echoes the cherry and spice notes.

Deep magenta. Aromas of mulberry, cherry cola and woodsmoke pick up baking spice and mocha notes as the wine opens up. Fleshy and gently sweet, offering sappy red and blue fruit and floral pastille flavors that become firmer with air. The long, smooth finish features even tannins and lingering blue fruit and spice notes.

Vivid ruby. Spice-accented red and blue fruit and floral scents take on suggestions of cola and mocha with air. Juicy and supple on the palate, offering sweet boysenberry and cherry flavors that show very good depth and spicy back-end lift. Finishes long and smoky, with a repeating blue fruit note and round, even tannins coming in late.

COMMENTARY: The 2015 Nielson by Byron Pinot Noir is fragrant, attractive, and nicely textured. TASTING NOTES: This wine has aromas and flavors of warm berries, black fruit, and graphite. Serve it with oxtail stew.

This is a soft red with the texture of fine velvet, offering dark-berry and chocolate aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied palate that’s attractive and delicious. Seductive. Drink or hold.

Rockfall is a mix of the best cabernet sauvignon vineyard sites on Stonestreet Mountain, focusing on the structural elements given up by the Mayacamas range and the vintage. The nose is Sonoma savoury with black raspberry and tea. The attack is rich and full-bodied with heaps of black currant, brambleberry, and milk chocolate that rises to take on the savoury, earthy undercurrent. The tannins are perfectly managed, but you could hold this wine for seven to ten years with no problems. The fruit is grown mostly above the fog line at 400 to 2,400 feet and is handpicked, destemmed, and fermented in stainless steel. Next, it goes through malolactic fermentation in barrel, and there is a minute 1.5 percent petit verdot added to the cabernet sauvignon. Finally, it spends 19 months in 38 percent new French oak.

There's unctuous richness to the concentrated dark cherry and raspberry tart flavors that are backed by svelte acidity, with chocolate and allspice notes filling the focused and contoured finish. Drink now through 2025.