Wines of the Week Freemark Abbey winery dates back to the pre-prohibition days of the late 19th century when the historic stone winery was constructed by Antonio Forni and named Lombarda Cellars after his birthplace in Italy. Today, the winery follows traditions going back to 1967 when modern-era Napa winemaking favored Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. This rich and toasty Chardonnay features pear and baked apple with oak spice and vanilla.

Screw cap. Fine Pinot: supple, ripe, and very well balanced, it is lightly oaked, intensely fruity (raspberry, baked cherry, rosehips), with overtones of black tea, toast, clove, and cedar. Great value. 4 stars, excellent.

One Star, Best Buys in the Market Pinot Noir’s trajectory is still on the rise, and, if compelling versions abound, so too do a good many exceptional values that make fine Pinot more than an occasional treat…the fresh and inviting * CARMEL ROAD Monterey 2015…

Screw cap. Dry, full bodied, and smoothly textured, this is an excellent unoaked Chardonnay. It has white peach, apple, candied lemon, and roasted nut aromas/flavors, good balance, and a lingering finish. 4 stars, excellent.

Deep crimson. Really pretty luscious on the nose but not over the top – apart from the price! A fine-grained, very slightly sandy texture keeps it interesting. Although it’s not short of alcohol, it’s not sweet. Luscious but I think I would understand it better if I knew exactly where the fruit came from. Clean, bracing and far from heavy. 17/20

A supple, intensely flavored Pinot Noir with fine character (cherry, red currant, kola nut, plum, rosehips, black tea, nutmeg), light oakiness, good balance, and a long, lightly tannic finish. Warrants modest aging. 5 stars, exceptional.

Wines of the Week This Chardonnay has been a favorite of my tasters for many years. The fruit comes from Katherine’s Vineyard (named for Jess Jackson’s daughter, Katie) in the Santa Maria Valley. The wine offers aromas of orchard blossom, white peaches, wet-stone minerality and pear. On the palate, flavors of apple, pear and pineapple invite the taster to pair with Asian dishes or fresh seafood such as halibut or lobster.

A fine Chardonnay. The 2015 Benchbreak is extremely aromatic and complex, with intense lime, white peach, orange blossom, hops, and spicy oak aromas/flavors, crisp acidity, and a very persistent finish. Will develop with modest aging. 4+ stars, excellent.

Lemon and apple on the nose. Lots of lemon and apple, and a touch of tropical fruit, on the palate. Smooth and creamy with subtle oak, good balance and long finish. Very good.

There is slightly more tannin grip in this equally high toned, bright, flowery scented yet finesseful single-vineyard, estate grown bottling. When asked to define the Sta. Rita Hills distinctions so apparent in the glass, winemaker/partner Greg Brewer shared: “I agree that Sta. Rita Hills exhibits a uniform element that differentiates the area from many others... On a collective level, I find something very carnal, authentic, pure and raw to the fruit profile... this is where I really see the spiced fruit characteristic that you reference.” The root, adds Brewer, is in “cool environment.” Then again, there are a number of equally cool climate regions on the West Coast. Brewer contends, “We rely on fruit generous clones such as 37, 459 and 667, which harmonize our objective with whole cluster fermentation,” achieving “a lush curvature of flavor which is corseted by the role played by stem inclusion... For us, this gives a brambly component reminiscent of running through wild berry bushes... Frequently when I work in Japan, clients mention components like umeboshi and other salted raspberry and plum preparations.”

I love the consistency in which this winery has been able to harness the ultra-fragrant perfume, blasting off from the glass, found in the best of Sta. Rita Hills grown Pinots. The strawberry/cherry fruit is pure, zesty, and electric with acidity, feeling light and lacy despite generous alcohol (14%) and savory tannin.

Drink Like The Stars: Ten Celebrity Wineries, Ranked by Vivino Ratings Drew Barrymore has teamed up with the Monterey winery, Carmel Road and winemaker Kris Kato to bring you a Pinot Noir, Rosé and Pinot Grigio. While Barrymore’s crisp, fruit driven wines have yet to receive the accolades one might hope for, the Poison Ivy star might be more focused on her offerings’ color. Speaking with Vogue, it’s clear Drew thinks pink. “A rosé should have that inherently, Pavlovian to women, peachy pink quality that just draws us in. Somehow, I don’t know what it is about us girls, but — we love pink.” Barrymore’s Rosé of Pinot Noir 2016 has an average rating of 3.8 stars on Vivino and I suggest you pair it with popcorn and picnics as light fare works best here.

Given away by California standards! A bit sweet and ripe and typical but not a bad price. Straightforward. 16/20

Pine Wine: Oregon and its wine regions More bold than refined, this wine with personality is full-bodied with expressive fruit, excellent balance and great length.

Pine Wine: Oregon and its wine regions Also, the winery’s 2015 Pinot Noir “Pierre Léon, Yamhill-Carlton” has the tannins to be a red-meat wine plus superb fruit, engaging complexity and great length.

Vegy and fresh. Not at all heavy or sweet. A bit tarry in fact. Dry finish. Very different from most. Racy. Sinewy. Possibly too much so. 16.5/20

A number of vineyards contributed to this utterly delicious and layered Pinot. It brims with tangy cherry, pomegranate and raspberry fruit, accented by hints of black tea, cola, vanilla and spice. It’s structured, polished and perfect for grilled duck and lamb burgers.

Pungent Pinot perfume with earthy underpinnings; sense of “opulence” and weight on the palate – densely textured, meaty with tannin, yet zesty in its high flying fruit qualities. According to Siduri’s Adam Lee, the wine’s aggressive yet scented personality is totally in keeping with the site, which he describes as “impossibly steep hills facing into the wind on the eastern (and climatically warmest) edge of Sta. Rita Hills... this leads to small clusters and tiny berries with thicker skins... (and) darker fruit flavors and more tannin than many of our Pinot noirs.”

In Pisoni grown fashion, a luxuriously rich and spicy Pinot aroma with high, low, and middle notes filling the nose; full yet round and fleshy – high wire balance (even at 14.8% alcohol), and very “complete” in its feel. “Years ago,” says Lee, “I would have told you there are similarities between Pisoni and John Sebastiano, since both produce a bigger, richer style of Pinot... In recent years, as the vineyards at Pisoni have gotten older, the wines from there have proven to be more complex, with a wider range of flavors... part of that because Pisoni is actually a collection of vineyards, and we source from three of them... What is fascinating is that Pisoni tends to push later – the southern end of Santa Lucia Highlands gets colder in the winter – but ends up ripening sooner, so there is a bit less hang time... The positives are that the soils are poorer, and thus the vines really have to struggle, which gives you the vineyard’s concentrated character.”

A savory pinot with tasty red fruit and great structure –– backbone. It has a tasty undercurrent of spice and nice length. Well-crafted. Four stars.

The 15 Best Pinot Noir Wines from California Adam Lee moved from Texas to Sonoma with $15,000 in his pocket, a big personality and a dream. Lately, it all has turned out right. His winery recently sold to Kendall-Jackson, but he’s retained control of the winemaking. Sourcing grapes from premium vineyards around the state, Siduri doesn’t tend its own vines, but makes the most of their vineyard relationships. Tasting across the Siduri spectrum is also tasting across the entire state, which is, as recreational activities go, a pretty good time.

Pine Wine: Oregon and its wine regions This wonderful, exceptionally well made wine features highly pleasing fruit but develops much more in the mouth and finishes with great beauty and length.

Wine Women of the World, Part Two: A Vinitaly International Preview I first tasted Lynn Penner-Ash's wines very early in my work as a writer. My palate certainly wasn't developed enough then to fully appreciate them, but her narrative caught my ear and stayed there, and I've been following her all this time. Penner-Ash was doing all the things right that a young winemaker needs to do. She had gone the UC Davis route of studying viticulture and enology, and she'd worked at some of Napa's most prestigious wineries. And then she saw the writing on the wall: Her growth in Napa would be limited, and she'd be able to advance in that environment only so far. It wasn't far enough. So Penner-Ash left Napa and its secure, if limited, future. She went to Oregon which was, then, still a fairly unknown proposition in itself. (2017 is Penner-Ash's 38th vintage, and her 30th in Oregon.) In 1988 became the first female winemaker hired in Oregon, at Rex Hill Vineyards, where she also served as President and COO. In 1998 she and her husband Ron started Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, to which she focused full time in 2001. The Penner-Ash Estate Pinot Noir comes from an iconic 11-acre vineyard planted 100% to pinot noir in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The vineyard site was originally covered in poison oak, which was considered an omen for great pinot noir.

Outstanding and Wine of the Week Pioneering winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash long has favored Southern Oregon for her Viognier program, and sites such as Crater View (61%) and RoxyAnn (25%) have allowed her to more than triple production of this white Rhône variety since 2010. Her work with the 2016 vintage ranks among Oregon’s largest and alongside the Northwest’s most expressive and balanced examples. Aromas of Pink Lady apple, white peach, anise and blanched almond lead to flavors of pineapple, dried apricot and cantaloupe. In the background is a fascinating pulse of lime acidity that allows this to standout from a crowd of Viognier, a grape that easily can lead to flabbiness. Enjoy with steamed mussels, roasted chicken, pork chops, turkey or springtime salads.

Wine of the Week Despite the weird recurrences of winterish (for Florida) weather we’ve had lately, we know the hot weather is coming. Time to stock the wine racks with that summer staple, sauvignon blanc. One delicious and versatile candidate is Murphy Goode 2016 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc, widely available at about $13 per bottle. Made by Murphy Goode, founded in Sonoma County in 1985, this wine is 94 percent North Coast sauvignon blanc grapes, with a little kiss of semillon. Its pale straw color alone has a cooling effect, and its aroma conjures a bright salad of citrus and melon. Take a mouthful for even more of that fruit yumminess: cantaloupe, pineapple, tangerine, lime and peaches. There’s just a hint of herb, but no gooseberry funk — this is a California-style sauvignon blanc, not the New Zealand school. (I love them both, but they’re very different.) The Murphy Goode finishes crisply, with a chilly mineral edge under all that fruit. It’s a splendid aperitif, and it was born to wash down raw oysters. Or try it with a plate of linguine with fresh asparagus, zesty lemon and nutty Parmigiano-Reggiano.