Napa 2016 Vintage: 5 Consecutive Years of Fantastic Wines This is a very pretty and bright white with sliced apples and pears. Some cream, too. Medium to full body, lovely fruit and a clean and fresh finish. No malo leaves it bright and lively.

A pretty ribbon of gardenia opens the nose of this rich, concentrated wine, creamy in texture with a viscosity of vanilla and oak. The richness continues in deep caramel notes, as baked pear provides fruit and nuance.

Weekend Wine Picks Expect an expressive ripe, fruity nose of pineapple, guava and peach reflecting a mix of cooler sites including Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Carneros, and Suscol Creek. The palate is fresh with a linear tone and a complex, spicy nutmeg underbelly with creamy pear, citrus, green apple. The wood and lees is subtle but present with 67 per cent of the wine barrel fermented and no malolactic fermentation. A solid, fair-priced California Chardonnay. Perfect for a lobster dish.

Aged in stainless steel and small barrels of French oak, this wine remains smooth and silky with interweaved acidity, a classic, fresh expression of the variety with very subtle oak. Vanilla and pear find their way onto the finish, providing additional layers of flavor and finesse.

The 2014 Chardonnay is a non-malolactic 100% Chardonnay that’s 45% barrel-fermented. The wine is sensational. There are nearly 10,000 cases of this wine, which shows loads of white peach, honeysuckle, green apple and melon notes in a distinctive, clean, steely Chablis-like style. There is some tropical fruit, such as pineapple, but the overall character is one of great acid, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, and no real oak influence.

There's not much Chardonnay grown on Howell Mountain, but here's one to check out. It has an unusually pungent earthiness, leading to rich flavors of yellow apricots, lemon tart and kumquats, with a complex touch of mushroom. Bone dry and crisp, it should develop bottle complexities over the next 5-6 years.

This dense, round, full-bodied red from a quiet appellation offers smoked plum and dark cherry flavors, with integrated oak and tannin.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon (Knights Valley) is a dark, powerful wine. Inky blue and purplish fruits, smoke, licorice and violets are pushed forward. This is a relatively soft, plush style for Knights Valley, with fewer of the mineral/savory notes often found here. In exchange, the 2013 will drink with minimal cellaring.

Plump and rich without being weighty, with well-defined plum, cherry, currant and blackberry flavors, all evenly dispersed. Ends with supple, graceful tannins and an echo of oak and licorice.

This wine is a steal for its quality—well-rounded, expressive and complemented with additions of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Merlot. Cherry and vanilla flavors predominate, accented with cedar and tobacco, the texture remaining soft and smooth.

Made by Greg Brewer and reminding me of a terrific St. Joseph, the 2016 Syrah Santa Barbara County has vibrant notes of red and black fruits, lots of pepper, hints of tapenade, and even a kiss of bacon fat. It's elegant, medium-bodied, has high yet integrated acidity and a great finish. Readers looking for a more traditional, classic Syrah from California that has some Old World charm should check this out.

Concentrated and brawny, with almost viscous flavors of chocolate, dried fruit and smoke that linger on the thick finish…Tasted twice, consistent notes.

Edmeades has made some great single-vineyard Zinfandels from Mendocino over the years, but this Petit Sirah delivers everything I love about Petit Sirah -- it's concentrated, brawny, and almost viscious with flavors of chocolate, dried fruit and smoke that linger on its tannic finish. It's a bargain at the price.

Concentrated, brawny, with almost viscous flavors of chocolate, dried fruit & smoke lingering on the tannic finish.

Espresso, black walnut and black pepper flavors are bold and thick, with dense tannins framing the blackberry, plum and licorice flavors. Smoke, toast and spice accents linger on the finish.

Espresso, black walnut and black pepper flavors are bold and thick, with dense tannins framing the blackberry, plum and licorice flavors. Smoke, toast and spice accents linger on the finish.

The Folly presents as an old school California Zinfandel based field blend, likely containing Petite Sirah, Syrah among other varieties. There's something adding a bit of complexity here that's unusual in the style -- perhaps a bit of Merlot? But enough wine geek speak -- this is a juicy, cherry fruit driven wine with note of orange blossom and white pepper, a little tar and fall spice, good acidity and moderate tannins that will go great with summer grilling.

…tastes like a fabulous northern Rhone. Blackberry liqueur infused with smoke jumps from the glass of this stupendous Zinfandel. Explosive in the mouth, with huge extract levels, fruit, and glycerin, but no heaviness or heat, this is a full-throttle, opulently-textured, hedonistic offering to drink over the next 5-6 years.

Very ripe and a touch jammy, with spicy cherry, licorice, cedar, sage and wild berry turning smooth and polished.

An earthy, gamy, briery, bramble-like perfume jumps from the glass of this medium ruby-colored, luscious, decadently rich effort.

Both powerful and supple, with melt-in-your-mouth blackberry flavors accented by chocolate, cinnamon-type spice, and the merest whiff of vanilla this Zinfandel is made for any food enhanced by barbecue sauce or simply good grilled char flavor. It manages to be dense and rich but not heavy, and it will make Zin lovers purr with happiness.

Concentrated, bright and focused fruit flavors feel shaped by a moderate oak influence in this full-bodied and nicely structured wine. A good amount of tannin wraps the raspberry and blackberry flavors in a firm texture.

Marginally the biggest, boldest and best filled of the Edmeades Zin trio, this one from Perli Vineyards holds true to the winery's rather lavish ways with the grape, yet, for all of its ripeness, its considerable substance and weight, its dominant and continuous message is one of oak-sweetened blackberries. It is not without an uptick of heat at the finish, and it sports plenty of fairly grippy structural tannins that prescribe three or four years of cellaring, but, in the end, it is unwavering fruit that earns it the nod as the favored child of its family.

Vivid flavors and an unusually firm texture make this a bold, structured and noteworthy wine with good potential for mid-term aging. It is dry, has pure raspberry and blackberry on the palate, fine-grained tannins for grip and a lingering finish.

Juicy raspberry and cherry fruit; silky and bright with tangy acidity and long, fresh finish.