50 Wines That Inspired Us in 2017

The fleshy plum and licorice notes are generous, with a plump, plush body, cinnamon-scented spice accents and touches of black tea on the finish. Drink now through 2027

The Shiraz Brooks Road is a rich and spicy bold flavored wine of black berry and toasted oak. It reveals nice purity of blackberry fruit on the palate with good acidity and freshness. The finish is persistent with assertive tannins.

The fruit of the historic Hickinbotham vineyard once went into some of Australia's top wines, including Penfolds Grange. Currently owned by California's Jackson family and meticulously farmed by Vineyard Manager Michael Lane, this top-notch fruit is getting the recognition it deserves under its own label. This wine is a heady combo of juicy ripe blackberry fruit, damp wood, the charred embers of a fire, sumac spice and something sanguine and meaty. The palate shows richness of fruit but it's well integrated with savory spicy wood and drying tannins. It's one for the cellar. Drink now–2038.

This dark red colored Cabernet Sauvignon from the McLaren Vale is very good. It opens with a fragrant blackberry and coffee bouquet with hints of black licorice. On the palate, this wine is full bodied, nicely balanced, very fruit forward and juicy. The flavor profile is a tasty mulberry jam with notes of cinnamon and oak. I also detected hints of red currant and red plum. The finish is dry and its flavors and refined tannins drift away nicely. This Cab is very food friendly and I would not sit on it. Instead. I would pair it with a filet mignon in the near term. Very good+.

Plenty to latch onto here. Sweet fruit coated in coffee-cream oak. Overtones of truffle. Cassis and mulberry fruit flavour, by the spadeful. Firm tannin. Sweet and accessible but with a serious side.

A darker fruited shiraz that marries some real depth and brooding characters with some very fresh, fragrant and lively ones. Smells of crushed blackberry and plum fruits, some fine mineral-like aromas, stony and very spicy, it’s an attractive and inherently complex wine. Tannins are fine for the most part, they are delivered in a smooth and supple, really nicely focused and medium-weight in style, fleshy middle palate, nicely detailed, balanced, tastes of toasted biscuit spices and blood plum, really pure and focused. Fine to drink now, best from 2017.

Plump blackberry, cherry and toasted rye bread flavors are supported by a muscular backbone of tannins, set in a velvety texture. Black tea and licorice details lend a refined element to the long finish. Drink now through 2030.-M.W.

This has a clear leafy and fragrant blue fruit thread, really set in the cassis and blueberry zone, some fresh leafy and floral elements too, oak is set back in this wine, chalky savory minerals prevail as the most salient savory character. The palate has crisp, even and elegant tannins, nice and juicy. Flavors are in the blueberry and plum spectrum, some redder tinges, lithe juicy and nicely pared back. Supple, fine, fleshy tannin spread. Drink now, best from 2018.

Australian winemaker Charlie Seppelt and American Chris Carpenter have combined their talents at Hickinbotham to produce what they term is the pinnacle of Clarendon cabernet. Elegance and intensity is the hallmark of this deliciously style red with perfectly crafted tannins to bring structure and frame but with no toughness or dryness. The fruit is a generous mix of bright black fruit flavours with a fleshy mid-palate and perfect acidity. Hand-picked from Clarendon high country at 220 metres the berries were on skins was eighteen days then basket pressed mixing free run and lightly pressed juiced. Three rack-and-returns over eighteen months fed the ageing in Bordeaux-coopered French barrels. At 13.5 percent alcohol this wine makes a serious statement for the New Australia. Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard was first planted by Alan Hickinbotham in 1971 in McLaren Vale, and over the years has been the source of fruit for some of Australia’s finest wines including Penfolds Grange and Hardy’s Eileen Hardy. it was purchased and refurbished by Jackson Family Farms beginning in 2000.

Australian winemaker Charlie Seppelt and American Chris Carpenter have combined their talents at Hickinbotham to produce what they term is the pinnacle of Clarendon cabernet. Elegance and intensity is the hallmark of this deliciously style red with perfectly crafted tannins to bring structure and frame but with no toughness or dryness. The fruit is a generous mix of bright black fruit flavours with a fleshy mid-palate and perfect acidity. Hand-picked from Clarendon high country at 220 metres the berries were on skins was eighteen days then basket pressed mixing free run and lightly pressed juiced. Three rack-and-returns over eighteen months fed the ageing in Bordeaux-coopered French barrels. At 13.5 percent alcohol this wine makes a serious statement for the New Australia. Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard was first planted by Alan Hickinbotham in 1971 in McLaren Vale, and over the years has been the source of fruit for some of Australia’s finest wines including Penfolds Grange and Hardy’s Eileen Hardy. it was purchased and refurbished by Jackson Family Farms beginning in 2000.

A perennial favorite with our tasting panel, the Marin Pinot (in years when it is made) has its own distintly wild, floral-herbal aromas. Cherries and earth combine on the supple palate and pick up spicy, peppery nuances on the finish. Hold for 5-7 years to bring out even more spice notes.

A slightly funky note to the smoke and oak overlay adds complexity - we're not sure what it is, but we like it. Black Cherry and plum fruit flavors are buttressed by clove notes. Once again, the mouthfeel is something special, full rich and very supple, yet packing enough tannin to suggest holding several years if you desire.

Deep, dark ruby purple color; spicy, cinnamon, deep black cherry aromas; deep full, intense and concentrated black cherry and plum flavors with a touch of bacon, tobacco and spice; very good structure, acidity and balance, finishes with a toasty oak note. One of the biggest Carneros Pinots I've had in a long time, the Sevens Bench bottling still manages to be balanced and complex.

Lots of very solid appley fruit sets this engaging effort firmly on the varietal track, and, in both aroma and flavor, sweet oak is a well-placed comlement rather than a potential scene stealer. Medium-full-bodied and as graceful in its balanced construction as it is composed in its inviting mix of fruit and oak, this finely crafted wine favors brightness over unbridled extract and will drink beautifully over the next several years with any number of meaty dishes ranging from salmon to sea bass.

Aromas of dark fruit, anise, smoke and dried herbs morph into flavors of stone fruits (plums, cherries) in the mouth, with a strong undercurrent of pomegranate. This thick, almost syrupy wine is almost steroidally concentrated, but stays focused ...

Hartford Court's 1999 Pinot Noir Arrendell Vineyard is exquisite. Black raspberries intermingled with blueberries and cherry liqueur are wrapped with toasty oak. This rich, full-bodied, expressive Pinot Noir possesses impressive purity, decent acidity, sweet tannin, and layers of concentrated fruit, yet it is neither heavy nor overblown. This superb effort should drink well during its first 7-9 years of life.

The 1999 Pinot Noir Sevens Bench Vineyard comes from a vineyard planted largely with French Dijon clones. This seven-year old vineyard, which was cropped at two tons of fruit per acre, has produced an opaque purple-colored, dense, full-bodied, superbly concentrated Pinot with plenty of creamy black fruits intermixed with smoke, toast, and spice. Rich, with moderate tannin, sweet levels of glycerin, and enough acidity to provide delineation, this opulently-styled Pinot Noir can be drunk now, or cellared for 6-8 years. Very impressive!

Coastal winds infused this wine with a taste of the sea, with floral scents of thyme and honey, with a sea-salt rasp of minerals. It's tightly wound, but the flavors play out complex and long. Decant a bottle for a roast halibut.

This Pinot is a full percentage point lower in alcohol by volume than the winery’s Russian River bottlings, and that shows in the delicacy of mouthfeel and crisp acidity. There’s nothing shy about the flavors, though, which range from ripe raspberries and cherries through red currants and red licorice to savory notes of bacon and tobacco. Drink now–2020.

Pinot Noir World Series

Bright ruby. Pungent cherry and dark berry aromas are complicated by Indian spice and floral nuances. Broad and chewy in texture, offering sappy blackberry and cherry-cola flavors that provide impressive palate coverage. Gripping tannins build on the long, spicy finish, which leaves notes of bitter cherry and candied lavender behind.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2016 Pinot Noir Jennifer's offers an intriguing combination of super-ripe red fruit and also bright acids that give the wine its distinctive feel. Succulent red cherry, hard candy, wild flowers and bright, piercing acids give the Jennifer's its distinctive personality and feel.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2016 Pinot Noir Land's Edge Vineyards is a fabulous appellation-level wine. Bright, focused and wonderfully nuanced, the Land's Edge offers compelling balance as well as a real feeling of harmony. Savory herb, floral and dark red tones are finely cut.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2016 Pinot Noir Seascape Vineyard is wonderfully fragrant and lifted. Dried cherry, autumn leaves, spice, crushed flowers, mint and raspberry are all laced together in this effortless, lilting Pinot. The Seascape is one of the more delicate, lithe wines in this range from Hartford Court.