Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2016 Pinot Noir (Russian River) is another gorgeous appellation-level wine in this range that speaks with real personality. Plump, juicy and inviting, the 2016 has so much to offer. Bright red cherry, plum, hard cola and sweet floral notes add nuance to this succulent Pinot Noir.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2016 Pinot Noir Velvet Sisters is plump and juicy in the glass, with tremendous fruit presence and lovely overall intensity. Forward and succulent in feel, the 2016 will drink well with minimal cellaring. The Velvet Sisters is one of the more open-knit, accessible wines in this range.

The 2015 Pinot Noir Jennifer's is the most powerful and bombastic of these wines. There is plenty of Russian River flamboyance. Super-ripe black cherry, plum, cola, spice and licorice all come to life. The Jennifer's will appeal most to readers who enjoy racy, opulent Pinots. For all of its flavor intensity, the 2015 preserves quite a bit of brightness.

Medium ruby; attractive, forward, deep, spicy, raspberry and black cherry fruit aroma with hints of baking spices and damp earth; medium-full body; rich, layered, red fruit flavors with good depth and concentration, and undertones of spicy oak; medium to medium-full tannin; lingering aftertaste. Deserves several more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

Medium-light to medium ruby color; attractive, forward, black cherry aroma with spicy notes and hints of forest floor; medium to medium-full body; rich, deep, textured, dark cherry fruit flavors with a hint of mocha; medium to medium-full tannin; lingering aftertaste. Very appealing to taste now, though deserving a few more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

The first of the two reds was the 2015 Hartford Family Winery Warrior Princess Block Zena Crown Vineyard pinot noir, which has a deep, serious nose boasting aromas of briar berry compote, dark dusty cocoa, graphite, lavender, tar and candied red apple. It’s nimble on the palate, exhibiting youthful finesse. The gorgeous tannins provide a sturdy frame, but don’t overpower while the acid is spot-on. Though I wouldn’t call the structure elegant, it has skillfully found a balance between power and finesse that’s intriguing. In the flavor department you get black and boysenberry, very dark chocolate, rose petals, lavender, Herbs de Provence, and wet soil. Though it’s good now, it will be better in five years. 92 points, value: C.

The 2015 Pinot Noir Hailey's Block is tightly wound and reticent next to the other wines in the range, but it nevertheless offers striking purity in its raspberry, blood orange and pomegranate flavors. I would prefer to cellar the 2015 for at least a year or two, as it is not ready to offer maximum pleasure just yet.

The only 2014 tasted was the early-bottled 2014 Pinot Noir Land’s Edge Vineyards, which come from a vineyard four miles from the Pacific Ocean. Aged in 32% new French oak, the wine displays raspberry and blueberry fruit, damp earth, fresh porcini mushrooms and plenty of minerality. This is a juicy, tightly knit, but concentrated and promising Pinot Noir that has that forward fruit of this vintage well displayed.

Medium-light ruby; attractive, floral, raspberry and cherry fruit aroma with hints of clove, anise, and pepper; medium body; spicy, elegant, nicely balanced, red fruit flavors with bright acidity and some suppleness in the silky mouthfeel; medium tannin; lingering aftertaste. Very highly recommended.

Hartford Court’s Pinot Noirs are also extremely successful, and of course, they make a bevy of them. I tasted eleven separate selections, all of them priced between $50 and $75 a bottle with the exception of the Arrendell, which comes from the oldest vines of the whole batch and sells for $110. The 2014 Pinot Noir Marin emerges from that wealthy county on the western side of the Golden Gate Bridge, where few vineyards are located. Aged 17 months in 37% new French oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered, this comes from Dijon clone 828 and offers up the classic Burgundian notes of forest floor, pomegranate, plum, and smoky black cherries and strawberries. A Côte de Nuits-like Pinot Noir that is medium-bodied, but beautifully fruited and savory, it should be drunk it over the next 7-8 years.

Medium-light to medium ruby; attractive, earthy, cherry and strawberry fruit aroma with hints of clove, cinnamon, anise, and forest floor; medium to medium-full body; moderately rich, elegantly styled, red fruit flavors with firm acidity, notes of baking spices, and a pleasing, silky mouthfeel; medium tannin; lingering aftertaste. Very highly recommended.

Dark reddish purple color in the glass. Aromas of peat and mulch with shy fruits on the nose. The hedonistic fruit in this well endowed wine is more expressive on the palate, offering waves of boysenberry and blackberry flavors accented with spice, dark chocolate and beef. Still somewhat primary, and almost overwhelming in intensity, with an overlay of oak and youthful tannins that need more time to integrate.

Moderately dark reddish purple hue in the glass. Thiol-driven aromas of dark red and black fruits with a modest oak overlay. Impressive mid palate presence with a luscious finish featuring dark red and black fruits framed by firm but not muscular tannins.

The 2013 Pinot Noir Lands Edge Vineyard comes from a site situated less than five miles from the Pacific Ocean. Its deep ruby/plum color is followed by notes of charcoal, spring flowers, red and blackcurrants and cherries. Savory, ripe, elegant, and fresh, it can be drunk over the next 5-7 years.

Moderate reddish purple hue in the glass. Oak-dusted dark red cherry and berry fruits are featured with complimentary notes of herbs and oakdriven vanillin, toast and nuts. Smoothly texture and juicy with fine-grain tannins and a determined finish.

Moderate reddish purple color in the glass. Moderately dark reddish purple color in the glass. Redder fruits are featured on the nose and palate with an earthy, grilled mushroom undertone. Modest in weight with balanced tannins and a sweet cherry finish that offers some length. This wine aims to please now.

The 2013 Pinot Noir Hailey’s Block, which comes from a cool hillside vineyard in Green Valley, was aged in 28% new French oak. This is a more structured, tighter-coiled and earthy style of Pinot Noir meant for aging. It is elegant. Pomegranate, plum and black cherry notes jump from the glass along with underbrush and spice box. It is medium-bodied and pure, with the grip of tannins present in the finish. This should be given another year or so of bottle age and drunk over the following decade.

A very curious and interesting wine. Moderately dark reddish purple color in the glass. Aromas of pine and forest floor lead to a delicious mid weight core of black cherry and black raspberry fruits accented with notes of conifer, spice and mocha. The tannins are very fine, and there is a lively grip of acid on the finish. As Jeff points out, in this wine you get a real sense of the forest that surrounds this vineyard.

Bright ruby. Deeply pitched red fruit preserve, anise and incense aromas are lifted by a sexy floral element. Stains the palate with sweet raspberry and rose pastille flavors, picking up notes of mocha and vanilla with air. Distinctly energetic and pure, with a seamless texture and a firm spine of acidity contributing structure. Finishes sweet, floral and very long, with subtle tannins building slowly and fading smoothly into the wine's fruit.

Moderately light reddish purple color in the glass. Very savory on the nose with scents of conifer, sous-bois, black cherry and a hint of oak. Striking attack of vivid cherry fruit with many added nuances including spices particularly clove, earth and conifer. The tannins are very silky, and the wine finishes with good brightness.

Grown in the cooler Sebastopol Hills part of the southern valley, this Pinot is a great success for the vintage. It’s refreshingly keen in acidity, with some firm tannins framing ripe, savory raspberry and cherry fruit flavors, edged with smoky oak. Delicious now, but give it until 2019–2020 in the cellar.

The 2011 Pinot Noir Jennifer's is quite beautiful. Savory notes meld into tobacco, graphite, menthol, plums and grilled herbs. In 2011 the Jennifer's is bold, deep and beautifully expressive. There is a lot going on in the glass. This cool site in Sebastopol is typically quite late to ripen. In 2011, the savory, cool-vintage characteristics are very much in evidence.

Hartford's 2011 Pinot Noir Fog Dance Vineyard stands out for its rich, ample personality. Layers of deep spices wrap around the fruit in a textured, creamy Pinot loaded with depth and pure resonance. The 2011 is generous and inviting from the very first taste.

There’s a great depth of ripe, bright red raspberry and cherry pie fruit flavors in this Pinot, to which oak adds complicating notes of caramel and vanilla bean. It has plenty of upfront appeal, but should get better until 2020–2021 as the primary flavors recede, allowing drier, mushroomy bouquet to emerge.

The 2010 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard stands out for its deep, resonant personality. Firm tannins keep the fruit from being truly expressive, but there is no shortage of depth and nuance in the glass. The 2010 Far Coast is one of the few wines in this range that needs another year or two in bottle for the tannins to start melting away. Sweet floral and spice notes add lift on the finish. The appropriately named Far Coast Pinot emerges from a site north of Fort Ross on the upper reaches of the Sonoma Coast. This site sits at an elevation of 900-1,200 feet. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020.