The Best Wines For This Summer Weekend's Outing It was a stifling July evening with pizzas and lamb chops cooked over a charcoal fire. I reduced the temperature of this Oregon Pinot Noir to a reasonable 60 degrees, and it was both refreshing with the pizza, whose Gorgonzola cheese and sweet onions needed a red wine, and a good mineral match with the nicely fatted lamb on the bone, all at a very good price for a party of people.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Stunning and delicious, it shows great depth and finesse without taking itself too seriously. Yes, it was an exceptional year, but this wine goes beyond the great fruit into a rarefied realm: It’s rich, structured, and complex with memorable layers of flavor.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Sour, tart red plum and currant. Astringency reflects refinement. Touch of cellar must; ripe but tame. Rocky and leathery with length.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Intense ruby color; velvety texture with notes of black plum and blackberry. Structured and generous with toasty vanilla and new oak; deep, creamy, and rich with length and beautiful balance. Unlike some Napa producers that expect you to wait years, Chris Carpenter makes wines that are immediately drinkable and delicious.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Both red and black currant. Wood and deep, dark soil notes are subdued by fruit brilliance. Very youthful and delicious.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Smooth, seductive, and delicious. Bright red fruit. Lovely, with perfect balance.

James Halliday On The 2020 Cabernet And Family Varietal Winners The estate is particularly proud of this wine, with the attention to every nuance the wont of the regime: cold-soaked, berry-sorted, naturally fermented and extracted to glean real tannin:fruit transfer to glass. The oak sourcing is, as always, superlative. Franc's bell to chilli pepper lift gently lilts over a torrent of dark fruit allusions. The tannins, licked by bitter chocolate and tomato bush, are impeccably wrought, tightly knit, and milk chocolate smooth; neither hard nor aggressive. Just juicy. The length is very impressive.

James Halliday On The 2020 Cabernet And Family Varietal Winners A quintessential Australian blend in the hands of master American winemaker Chris Carpenter delivers the goods. 18 days on skins in all, before maturation in a combination of Bordeaux and Burgundy barrels. This is stellar gear. Expensive, undoubtedly, but the perspicacious obsession with tannin management rewarding from the first impression until the bottle is empty. The tannins are like a groomed piste of molten chocolate, gently riveted across the palate. These guide the senses to the next lick of fruit and riff of texture, while pulling the saliva out in preparation for the next sip.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Blackberry and bramble berry with dark chocolate and pencil shavings. Wants time.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule A spectrum of berries: red, blue, and black plus gravel. Big yet polished tannins. In one year, this will be damn near perfect.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule A bit of spice here. Black currant and capsicum are the loudest of the flavors, but also boysenberry and violet. So much happening in a very graceful way.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule More blackberry. Rich yet silky; great height with a full tannic push. Drinks big! Warm but stays cool and dry on the lips. A wonderous marvel. Acidity keeps kicking in.

James Halliday On The 2020 Cabernet And Family Varietal Winners A dense crimson verging on opaque. Merlot's postcode waft of leaf and plum is present from the first whiff. The tannins are more gentle than cabernet, sure, but far from shy, expanding with time in the glass and stamped by 21 days on skins, daily pumpovers and three rack and returns. The oak, synergistic with a regime that sacrifices nothing when it comes to attention to detail, is sourced from Bordeaux coopers of the highest tier (25% new; 15 months). As good as any merlot on these shores.

James Halliday On The 2020 Cabernet And Family Varietal Winners Hand-picked, berry-sorted and extracted regally with the thrice rack and return culture applied to alleviate reduction while maximising lees to juice contact across 15 months in Bordeaux wood, new and 1yo. The result is a full-bodied cabernet of currant, brush, sage, leaf, bouquet garni and olive, bound to a strong tannic weave, all needing time to unravel. And unravel it will.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Chalk and gravel, rose petal, ivy, dried leaves, and blueberries. This is a construction zone, but it’s all the nicest wood, with mineral-packed barrels. Reminds me of Conterno Monfortino with age.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule So Howell-driven. Sanguine. Red sous bois, just-ripe mountain berries, leather, meat, olive, blackberry, warm spices, fir, and pine. Cool, candy-coated, and so textured.

Tasting a Twelve-Year Vertical of the Napa Valley-Based Blend The Cardinale Rule Blackberry, dark boysenberry, black tea, and candied black olive. Vast width on the palate. Structurally intense with a touch of Brett.

James Halliday On The 2020 Cabernet And Family Varietal Winners 50% destemmed, 50% retained as whole berry, the remainder crushed. While there is plenty of clove, cardamon and aniseed to Asian five-spice intrigue hidden behind the velour of plush cherry fruit, this is relatively forward in the context of the stable's wines. A lick of vanilla pod oak and a skein of peppery acidity wafts across the long tail.

LDR stands for Light Dry Red, a term used by Maurice O'Shea in the '40s-'50s. From three vineyards, one in the Upper Yarra, two in the Lower Yarra Valley, 51% pinot noir, 49% syrah, co-fermented, very little work during fermentation, matured for 5 months in large French oak vats. The bouquet is highly perfumed, rich and spicy, the palate a near identical display of flavours. This blend is here to stay.

In terrific form. It captures you from the outset. Stone fruit, custard powder, toasted bran and cedar spice notes have sparks flying in the glass. Crushed fennel too, particularly through the aftertaste. It attacks with flavour from the start and maintains a good pace throughout. The finish takes care of itself.

James Halliday On The 2020 Cabernet And Family Varietal Winners Sourced from a single plot of old bushvines dating from '62 at 252m, the fruit was fully destemmed before individual berry sorting, indicative of the resources at the disposal of the Jackson Family stable. Extraction, more European than Australian, with three punchdowns daily across a 10-day extraction period, before 7 months in neutral Burgundian coopered oak, has ensured a prism of savouriness. The result is thoroughly convincing and highly complex. Black olive, cherry liqueur and raspberry bonbon notes are wrapped in the herbal bosom of tannic twine. A gentle rasp, mind you, rather than an aggressive scrape. Delicious wine. Captivating and very long.

If you're looking for a quality pinot noir to drink right now then look no further. This is all about fragrance, juiciness, fruit and flow, a myriad of spice-riddled flavours running wild and free through the palate. It puts a smile on your face; it's joyous. It has tang, smoke, spice and autumn leaf notes thrown through a core of red and black cherry. It's not heavy or profound but it delivers.

Copain (meaning ‘friend’ in French) was set up in 1999. The entry-level Syrah has the savoury, sylvan register of a northern St-Joseph. Its rounded fruits are well balanced, not overly full or intense, and shot through with an agreeable spicy streak. The oak is well integrated and doesn’t dominate. Tannins are very ripe but provide structure.

Medium-light to medium ruby color; appealing, cherry and raspberry fruit aroma with hints of clove, cinnamon, and forest floor; medium body; nicely balanced, somewhat elegant, red fruit flavors with bright acidity and a silky mouthfeel; medium tannin; lingering aftertaste. Enjoyable for drinking now or over the next year or two. Very highly recommended.

Pale pink in color, dusty-rose-and-bold-cherry in scent, this is a rich rosé with some coriander notes that lend it the spiciness to match tête de cochon or cured pork sausages.