Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond Kendall-Jackson's 2017 Pinot Noir Grand Reserve is bright, perfumed and nicely lifted. Crushed red berry, strawberry and floral notes all grace the palate in this pretty, understated Pinot.

If a little subdued right out of the gate, this well-defined Pinot shows good aromatic focus and steadily gains fruity richness with air. It is not nearly as reluctant in taste and is an agile, well-mannered offering that is again spot-on in focus. It is at once moderately rich and agreeably balanced with a light touch of tannin suggesting a bit of potential with age, but, that said and acknowledging its youth, there is nothing about it that dissuades drinking with dinner tonight. 1 star.

Wrapped up in toasty oak, a lush Pinot Noir with smoky dark berries, ripe red cherries that is both savoury and silky. Pair with roast duck.

Baked cherry, wet slate and warm baking spices make for a very likable if not overly complex nose on this bottling. The palate is thick with flavors of cranberry, dried herbs and clove—a great show of varietal typicity and a reliable midweek sipper.

This is a juicy, simple red that overdelivers on its price point, offering expansive layers of soft rich red- and black-cherry fruit. Friendly and approachable, it's a fantastic value and balanced in style.

Concentrated, dry and rather full bodied, this substantive wine offers green-apple and floral aromas, ripe apple and kiwi flavors and a soothing mouthfilling texture.

Woody in cedar, pencil shavings and toasted oak, this is a straightforward, full-bodied red, big in tannin weight and breadth that delivers big bold flavor and integrated oak.

The name describes the wine. Big and bold, the tannins are suave, which makes it fine to drink now. Its ripeness imparts a hint of sweetness in the finish. It would be a good choice for highly flavored grilled beef or lamb, even in barbeque sauce.

COMMENTARY: The 2017 Siduri Anderson Valley Pinot Noir is an excellent now-drinking wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine is bright and full of easy-drinking ripe fruit. Pair its alluring aromas and flavors of red and blue fruits with grilled pork chops in a mushroom-wine reduction sauce.

Lush and smoky stone-fruits nose with a sense of underlying power. Density and grip on the palate with impressive weight of fruit. Caramel on the persistent finish.

A broad warm-climate style with buttered popcorn, ripe lemon, apricot crème brûlée and some hazelnut complexity. Silky-textured, full-bodied and creamy yet with a fine sense of detail and poise.

COMMENTARY: The 2018 diatom Bar-M is an excellent example of a Santa Barbara County Chardonnay. TASTING NOTES: This wine is multi-dimensional. Enjoy its aromas and flavors of ripe core fruit, creamy oak, and mineral notes with a pan-seared, panko-breaded flounder.

Very deep, youthful red/purple colour with a dusty, earthy, terracotta note to its bouquet - a savouriness that it's tempting to deduce is derived from the ceramic fermenters they use from time to time. It trumps the varietal fruit aromas. The wine has good intensity and concentration, density and texture, with ample powdery, drying tannins and good length. An unusual and worthy style of mataro.

22 Rosés to Try This Spring A rosé of Pinot Noir from Mendocino County with cool climate finesse. Friendly and approachable, it has a bright, acidity-forward nature and a nice floral nose. Alpine strawberry, melon, a hint of plum, with a long resounding finish. This is a nice seafood wine if that’s your thing. You could consider making it your thing.

Copain Tous Ensemble Rosé of Pinot Noir 2018 was a joyous wine to drink; if “tous ensemble” in French means “all together”, then gather your friends for plenty of sips! A color of pale salmon in the glass, lively aromas of gently crushed red berries, rose petals, pink grapefruit, spice and minerality were enticing. On the refreshing palate, I noted bright acidity, a hint of tannins and flavors of watermelon, lychee, licorice and ripe cherries. This rosé was blended from five different parcels of Pinot Noir from the Copain estate in Mendocino County.

Delicious Pinot Noir Rose from Jackson Family This is a very elegant and classic style of a Rosé of Pinot Noir with red cherry fruit and a floral aroma. It has 12.8% alcohol and is extremely well balanced. This is a great wine to enjoy with a stylish lunch, brunch, or dinner. It can pair well with exotic salads and other main dishes like pork or chicken.

The Château Lassegue 2015 is a wine that doesn’t just express its place of origin with clarity and brilliance—it’s a St.-Emilion Grand Cru, after all, so that’s to be expected—but it also represents the importance of family. It’s co-owned by the Seillans as well as the Jackson / Banke family, a relationship that also bears fruit in Sonoma with Vérité and Tuscany with Arcanum, for both of which Pierre Seillan serves as vigneron. Over the years, I’ve had the great fortune of getting to know the Seillans—Pierre, Monique, Helene, Nicolas, and now his wife Christina, all of whom are involved in the family business—on both sides of the Atlantic, and have always been struck by the similarities between them and their wines: The generosity of spirit, the joyfulness of the juice. That doesn’t happen by mistake. The property may be situated in one of the best neighborhoods of St.-Emilion—Château Pavie, Château Ausone, and more are all within a ten-minute drive—but it’s also about an obsessive focus on the details: Vinification and aging take place using a system of micro-crus—that is, individual parcels are separated out from one another and treated in the unique way that the Seillans feel is best. That might mean aging in a barrel charred to a medium-plus toast from Allier, or in a medium toast from Tronçais. By the time any particular vintage is in barrel, there can be as many as a hundred-plus different parcel-and-barrel combinations to choose from and work with for the final blend. The results speak for themselves in a year like 2015: The wine is shimmeringly expressive, a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon that rises from the glass with aromas of cedar, blackberry liqueur, and blueberry, all of it wound up with sweet spice. It glides across the palate with waves of warm black licorice, figs, hoisin sauce, cedar, and a hint of incense, and keeps on changing with every passing minute in the glass. That layered evolution promises to happen in the cellar for at least another three decades, if not more. This is a wine of balance, terroir, and joy, and a steal at the price.

With the Lasségue Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2011 ($64-$66) you can splurge a little and still get that great Bordeaux flavor. It is a beautiful deep red in the glass with powerful aromas of ripe black fruit. The first sip will tell you why so many people make a fuss about Bordeaux wine. It has layers of blackberry and black cherry flavors that keep getting better as you sip the wine, with some interesting herbal notes. The tannins are still strong, but they don’t overpower the wine. I suspect this wine will keep getting better for at least another 5-10 years as the tannins fade, leaving even more fruit flavor. French wines usually don’t tell you the blend, but this is a Right Bank Bordeaux, so merlot is the predominant grape. This blend is 62 percent merlot, 30 percent cabernet franc and 8 percent cabernet sauvignon.

Pinot Noir Masters 2019: Gold

I tasted notes of ripe red fruit, tea, vanilla, earth and violets. This wine was not in my SIP certified shipment that I discuss below but is a wine that meets those criteria.

WINE WITH…Tuna Confit (Oil-Poached Fresh Tuna) Tuna tastes rich and meaty, consequently calling for a substantial wine, while the fruity salad in this dish is light and lively, so better with a bright, refreshing one. What to do? Our tastings suggest that you try to thread the needle, with light-bodied reds and heartier whites. Fresh rosés will also be a good choice, especially this time of year. Dry rather than sweet, this wine’s fresh fruit flavors echoed the kumquat and blood orange’s own juicy fruitiness.

Pinot Noir Masters 2019: Gold

2017 Cambria Chardonnay, Katherine’s Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley, California, is the embodiment of Springtime California Chardonnay. Ripe fruit, floral and spice aromas dominate the nose. Pink grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, white peach, citrus blossom, and apple flavors are balanced by a bit of wet stone, oak spice and bright acid. This is the one you want to bring outside and sip with the warm afternoon springtime sun on your face; don’t forget to have some oysters or fresh Cheddar with you, either.

Versatile Chardonnays This wine comes from one of California’s truly unique vineyards on the Santa Maria bench in Santa Barbara County. Each of 15 different blocks of Chardonnay are farmed individually allowing nuances of fruit to emerge. Lots are blended to create this inviting wine featuring citrus, earthy mineral and apple with notes of vanilla and spicy oak.

This wine, which showcases the Knights Valley AVA, has notes of cherry, currant, blackberry, black cherry, tobacco, mocha, spice and herbs. It’s a nice Cabernet at an even nicer price point.