North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Also borderline perfection, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District offers more conifer and pine forest notes as well as vivid blueberry fruits, a full-bodied, intense, layered mouthfeel, thrilling elegance, and a big finish. My note on this one was sprinkled with a few expletives and this wine has everything you could want from Cabernet Sauvignon. As with the other 2016s from Chris, 2-4 years of bottle age are recommended.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s A tribute to the great Merlots of the world, the 2016 Merlot W.S. Keyes checks in as 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, and unfortunately, there’s only a tiny amount made. This inky colored beauty offers a huge nose of black cherries, currants, graphite, licorice, crushed rocks and new leather. It's rich, powerful, concentrated and layered, with terrific acidity and freshness, building tannin, and incredible length. It’s a tour de force in Merlot that will benefit from short-term cellaring and keep for 20-25 years or more.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Starting with the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District, which comes from a warmer, mountain terroir in the northern part of the valley, this full-bodied, rounded, incredibly textured effort boasts loads of black fruits, savory herbs, eucalyptus, and scorched earth. It has nicely integrated acidity, a deep, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, incredible elegance, and perfect balance, all making for a truly brilliant Mountain Cabernet that will keep for 2-3 decades.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Lots of pine forest, savory herbs, California bay leaf, and both black and blue fruits emerge from the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain District. It’s another full-bodied, singular wine from Chris that’s perfectly balanced, with beautiful concentration and the purity and balance that’s the hallmark of this great vintage. Short-term cellaring will be the name of the game here and it will be long lived. Anticipated maturity: 2021-2046

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s A relatively new release from this team is the 2016 Cabernet Franc Caladan, which includes just under 20% of Merlot. It has beautiful Cabernet Franc character in its blueberry and black cherry fruits as well as loads of complex forest floor, dried earth, camphor, and chocolate nuances. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and silky, it shows the inherent purity and freshness that’s the hallmark of the vintage, is perfectly balanced, and has the class to evolve gracefully for two decades or more.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s My favorite in the lineup was the 2016 Cabernet Franc Mt. Veeder. This rock star effort has a Cheval Blanc-like level of complexity and purity. Possessing a huge perfume of black cherries, blackberries, violets, lavender, and savory herbs, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, incredible elegance, ultra-fine tannins, and a great, great finish. It’s not a blockbuster, yet it has world-class complexity, elegance, and purity. Drink it any time over the coming 10-15 years.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain checks in as a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Malbec, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. It offers a sensational bouquet of blackcurrants, blackberries, black cherries, savory herbs, bay leaf, and earth. It's medium to full-bodied, beautiful, elegant, has vibrant acidity, fine tannins, and a smoking good finish. It’s another age-worthy wine from this terrific estate that needs short-term cellaring and will keep for 30+ years.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Starting with the 2016 Merlot Mt. Veeder, this brilliant wine is one of the top Merlots in the vintage. Purple-hued, fleshy, and beautifully full-bodied, it has terrific notes of black fruits, chocolate, and underbrush, fine yet building tannins, a stacked mid-palate, and a great finish. Even at $80, it’s a screaming deal and has true Merlot opulence paired with considerable purity and elegance. It will keep for 15-20 years.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s The 2016 Malbec Mt. Veeder is another fabulous wine from winemaker Chris Carpenter. It offers a vibrant, focused, savory style in its blue fruits, graphite, and lead pencil aromatics, and has a concentrated, layered style on the palate. It’s a complex, age-worthy Malbec that will evolve for over a decade.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s One of the top Merlots in the report is certainly the 2016 Merlot Howell Mountain from La Jota. This fabulous wine boasts a deep purple color as well as a true “wow” nose of blackberries, ripe cherries, spice, bay leaf, and ample savory, complex herbal notes. It’s medium to full-bodied, has a layered, balanced style, ripe tannins, and a great finish. Drink it any time over the coming two decades.

Australia: Catching Up The blend of the 2016 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz is 57% Cab and 43% Shiraz, aged in 60%-70% new French oak. It's a barrel selection and blend that is solid and rich, with grainy tannins at this youthful stage. Cassis, cherry, vanilla and cedar all come together synergistically to yield a rich, chewy red that should age well for more than a decade.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Made by Lora Diaez (formerly at Lokoya) and coming mostly from valley floor fruit, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Pleinair is a sexy, flamboyant beauty that boasts a deep purple color, a huge nose of cassis and blueberry fruits, a complex floral character, full body, and a pure, elegant, yet pleasure-bent style that’s already a joy to drink.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Lots of spring flowers, chocolate, damp earth, and blue fruits emerge from the 2016 Cabernet Franc Howell Mountain, which is 100% varietal brought up in a mix of new and used barrels. With medium to full body, bright acidity, incredible elegance, and a still tight, focused style on the palate, hide bottles for 3-5 years and it should drink beautifully over the following 15-20 years.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Latro is in the same ballpark yet has more savory characteristics as well as plenty of conifer, California bay leaf, currants, and loamy soil aromas and flavors. This full-bodied beauty has plenty of tannin, terrific purity of fruit, no hard edges, and a great finish. Give it a few years.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Lastly, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder is another winner that more than overdelivers. While from mountain fruit, this 2016 shows a more rounded, supple, even sexy style to go with beautiful Cabernet notes of blackcurrants, lavender, jammy blackberry, and earthy/herbal characteristics. With ultra-fine tannins, nicely integrated acidity, and plenty of mid-palate depth, drink this perfectly balanced Mt. Veeder Cabernet any time over the coming two decades or more.

Australia: Catching Up The inky-purple 2016 Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon is a super effort. It boasts intense, classic aromas of pencil shavings and cassis on the nose, then delivers rich waves of velvety but structured fruit on the full-bodied palate. If there's any complaint, it's that it's perhaps a bit too monolithic, but it's a young wine and should add layers of complexity given enough time in the cellar. It's not unapproachable now, but it probably won't fully hit its stride for at least five years and then be drinkable for at least a decade after that.

Stonestreet produces single vineyard Chardonnay, which, when tasted side-by-side, are distinctly different. Whether the differences are worth the price differential is something for you and your banker to decide. Upper Barn Vineyard, at 1,800 ft elevation, must be an even cooler site because the wine is racier compared to the Bear Point Chardonnay. The balance of this wine, similar to Stonestreet’s other Chardonnays, is impeccable. There’s fruitiness, there’s freshness, there’s subtle creaminess. Nothing is out of place. There’s not a trace of heaviness or oakiness that plagued so many New World Chardonnays in the past. This is a stylish and elegant Chardonnay.

I usually like wines that are a bit more restrained, but I have to say, I’m smitten by this wine’s unleashed wild exuberance. Of course, mountain merlot is vastly different than “regular” merlot; it’s got more power, more potency, and more all-around gravitas. But big wines usually forfeit layers of flavor to achieve their magnitude. Not this one. The fleshy dark berry and sage-like flavors are laced with cassis, spices, and vanilla. An old stone winery atop Howell Mountain, La Jota was built in the 1800s by Italian stone masons and Chinese laborers who had worked on the Transcontinental Railroad.

Kendall-Jackson’s Jackson Estate bottling is a giant step up from their other Cabernet Sauvignon offerings, presumably because it comes from a more rigorous selection of their grapes. With more character and complexity, it mingles olive-tinged and herbal savory elements with a dark plum or cassis-like fruitiness. Kendall-Jackson’s hallmark suave tannins are present and add welcome balancing firmness. Finishing slightly bitter, there’s excitement with each new sip.

Australia: Catching Up From vines planted in 1962 with a southeastern (cool) exposure, the herb-tinged 2016 Elder Hill Grenache (roughly 15% was fermented as whole clusters) features elegant strawberry and raspberry fruit on the nose. It's medium to full-bodied and silky in texture on the palate, picking up hints of roses and mocha on the long finish. It shows ample body but also the sense of weightlessness that often marks great Grenache. It should drink well for another 4-5 years, at least, and probably many more.

Australia: Catching Up One of the best Merlots I've tasted from Australia, Hickinbotham's 2016 The Revivalist Merlot does hint at cherry tomatoes, cedar and vanilla on the nose, but it nails the mouthfeel. It's medium to full-bodied, with a rich, velvety texture and layers of cherry and mocha flavors that linger onto the long, plush finish.

Australia: Catching Up Overtones of vanilla and cedar mark the nose of the 2016 Brooks Road Shiraz, which aged in 20%-30% new French oak. Herbal notes and hints of green peppercorns add nuance to the ripe cherry flavors of this full-bodied red. The tannins are supple, making this wine approachable now, but they also linger softly on the finish, suggesting up to a decade of additional ageability.

This dark red colored Pinot Noir from Oregon opens with a funky raspberry and dark chocolate bouquet. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, balanced, rich and smooth. The flavor profile is a very tasty plum and black raspberry blend with notes of cinnamon and Christmas spices. The finish is dry and its flavors linger for a very long time. Our tasting group thought this Pinot would pair well with a pork tenderloin.

Compared to their regular (multi-vineyard blend) Chardonnay, the one from Bear Point Vineyard has better density and is more elegant. Although the concentration is what’s immediately noticeable, its elegance, especially in the finish, is what sticks in your mind. Judicious oak aging adds a subtle creaminess to its citrus-tinged flavors, making it a good choice for chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce.

The beauty of the wines from the Sta. Rita Hills is the concentration of aroma, and the complexity that is inherent on cool-climate vineyards that allow for long “hang time” and maximum flavor development. Siduri’s 2016 from the John Sebastiano Vineyard is a meaty wine that offers complex savory and sweet fruit aromas, particularly cherry, raspberry and strawberry. On the palate the wine displays impressive weight without sacrificing its elegance, and the finish has exceptional length, with a spice note that begs another sip.