Italy, Tuscany: Chianti Classico New Releases & A New Wave of Italian Icons This wine just jumps at you with immediate notes of ripe cherry, chocolate, tobacco and toasted espresso bean. The 2017 Chianti Classico is robust on every level, a very modern and contemporary take on this Italian classic. There's a lot of sunny heat and energy in this vintage, a great choice for a cheerful plate of Tuscany's pici al buristo. The blend is 85% Sangiovese and 15% Merlot. With 95,750 bottles produced, you cannot beat this terrific value.

USA, California: More Napa & Sonoma New Releases Pale to medium ruby-purple colored 2017 Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard opens a little broody, slowly revealing notions of black tea, tar and tilled soil over a core of black raspberries, Black Forest cake and dried herbs plus a waft of yeast extract. Medium-bodied, the palate takes a little dip in the middle with a light chew of tannins and finishes on a savory note.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Moving to the Pinot Noirs, the 2016 Pinot Noir Signature Collection Julia's Vineyard comes from the Santa Maria Valley and spent 16 months in 35% new French oak. It has a big kick of oak as well as notes of ripe cherries, spice box, dried flowers, and underbrush. It's rich and medium-bodied, with good depth of fruit and ripe tannins. Give it a year or two to integrate some oak, and it should drink nicely through 2026.

From a well-known Rutherford vineyard, the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Bosche Vineyard is a blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot aged 29 months in 67% new oak. Backward with a Bordeaux-like framework as well as wonderfully sweet notes of unsmoked tobacco, cassis, fruitcake and cedar, this dense, pure, medium to full-bodied 2010 needs 2-3 years of cellaring and should age for 25+.

The wine is tremendously heady (one glass will provide and instant buzz), with a gorgeous bouquet of raspberry liqueur, cherries, incense, spice box, and other wondrous scents. Slightly sweet, perhaps because the glycerin is so high given the alcoholic power, this intriguing, fascinating effort should be shared among... many friends.

Impressively concentrated, backward, and full-bodied, it exhibits aromas and flavors of blueberries, minerals, cherries, and root vegetables. Tightly knit, full-bodied, structured, and concentrated, it needs 2-3 years of cellaring and should keep from 10-12+. If my instincts are correct, this is going to be a very special Pinot Noir.

A Bordeaux blend (I’m not sure of the varietal breakdown), the 2014 Harmonie Red Wine offers a firm, tight, even backward, style to go with plenty of blackberry fruit, graphite, and crushed rock. Medium-bodied, fresh and focused, with excellent purity and ripe tannin, it certainly has potential, but is going to require 2-3 years of bottle age.

Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard offers notions of ripe cherries, baking spices and potpourri with a hint of dried Provence herbs. Medium-bodied, 􀃒ne, fresh and elegant, it has great intensity in the mouth and a mineral-laced finish.

It exhibits more tannin along with similar floral, blackberry, and cassis characteristics, beautiful density, and full body. the day I tasted the wine, it was playing closer to the vest than the Saralee's Syrah. The Kuljian should evolve for 8-10 years. This is another impressive group of wines from one of the most consistent winemakers and long-time veterans of the California wine scene, Dick Arrowood. He has always had the Midas touch with white varietals, yet he also continues to impress me with what he can do with red varietals. Moreover, Arrowood is also one of the pioneer Rhone Ranger producers, and his Syrah program has been supplemented with red and white French Cotes du Rhone-like blends called Cote de Lune as well as an outstanding Viognier.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Smothers Remick Ridge Vineyard (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) spent 23 months in American and French oak. It reveals a floral, creme de cassis-scented nose, a tannic, backward mouthfeel with a brooding, intimidating style because of its youthfulness and vigor. It is a big, muscular, masculine Cabernet Sauvignon that requires another 3-5 years of cellaring, and should keep for two decades.

Pale ruby-purple colored and just a tad murky, the 2014 has fragrant dried herb and lavender notes over a red currant and raspberry laced nose with earthy / gamey nuances. Medium-bodied and quite chewy with bolder structure in the mouth, it has a savory palate and good length. It seems a little youthful and shut-down right now and I've been rather conservative with my score, hoping it may blossom into an even more exciting wine with age, but judging it for what it is now.

Medium garnet-purple in color and redolent of warm black cherries and ripe black raspberries alongside nuances of black and white pepper and a touch of anise, the medium to full-bodied 2012 Grenache offers plenty of mouth-filling black and red berry preserves flavors, it has a good backbone of medium level, sandy tannins and a refreshing acid line before finishing long and peppery. Drink it now to 2018+.

Deep garnet-purple in color and showing aromas of blackcurrants, black plums and baker's chocolate with hints of tree bark, charcoal and bacon fat, the medium-bodied 2012 Shiraz is tightly knit on the palate with ripe tannins and fruit that are both elegant and nicely expressed in the mouth. It finishes with good persistence. Drink it now to 2018+.

The 2014 Roux Beaute Roussanne offers up a wonderfully spicy perfume of ginger and allspice over a savory / bready core with honeyed apricots beneath it all. Medium-bodied with a nice bit of grip to the texture, it has plenty of savory / spicy flavors on offer with great balance and length. Should age nicely over the next 5-7 years.

USA, Oregon: 2016 Vintage – Part Two The 2016 Pinot Noir Kiana is pale ruby in color with a nose of blackberry pie, black cherries, dried red berries and lots of classy new oak—vanilla, cardamom and cinnamon stick—with nuances of potpourri and dried leaves. It's light-bodied and red fruited in the mouth with spicy layers, firm, grainy tannins and good freshness to lift the spicy finish. Give this time in bottle to soak up all that new oak.

Pronounced and youthful nose with floral notes and classic Sangiovese characteristics of tomato and earth. Palate is concentrated and firm with carefully bound fruit, tannins and acid. Serious stuff and strong with loads of fruit on the finish.

Saturated ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of cassis, graphite and toasty oak. Spicy, intensely flavored and tight on the palate; currently dominated by its firm acid/tannin stricture. But quite ling on the back end. Wears its 14.3% alcohol gracefully.

It possesses a Bordeaux-like profile (although it is fuller-bodied than most Bordeaux) with notes of cocoa, chocolate, black cherries, cassis, and liquid minerals. Smoky, rich, and sweet on the attack, with firm tannin in the finish, this still young, unevolved red required 3-4 more years o cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2018.

Bright full medium ruby. Slightly medicinal but ripe aromas of kirsch, licorice and herbs. Dense and sweet but also bright and nicely focused, with concentrated, somewhat herbal flavors. The tannins hit the palate late. Beginning with 2000, this property will be the sole source of Cabernet Sauvignon for Stonestreet.

Purple-colored, exhibits tremendous density, muscle, and power along with sweet black currant fruit, smoke, licorice, and earthy characteristics as well as great fruit on the attack. This deep, powerful, long 1999 will be at its finest between 2006-2018.

The one wine that appears to have outstanding potential is the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Black Cougar Ridge, which comes from blocks high on the Alexander Mountain Estate. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, it is extremely tannic, powerful, broodingly backward, and meant for 30-40 years of aging. While tasting the wine, I equivocated whether the tannins were just too ragged and astringent, but there is a lot of concentration in this Cabernet as well as plenty of black fruits, a vivid minerality and a big, forceful, masculine style with plenty of wood. Forget it for another 5-6 years, keep your fingers crossed and hopefully it will turn out to be as outstanding as my rating indicates.

USA, California: Sonoma 2017 Vintage Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2017 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley has a pretty, broody nose of warm black and red cherries, spiced blueberry pie, forest floor and dried leaves with amaro hints. Light to medium-bodied, it's very soft and silky in the mouth with a good interplay of warm fruits and earth and great juicy acidity on the finish.

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton has black cherry and mulberry notes with notions of violets, chocolate box and cloves. Medium-bodied, it delivers a great intensity of firmly-textured red and black fruit, finishing long with a fruity burst.

From a site originally planted in the 1950s that requires plenty of hang time to ripen, the 2015 Pinot Noir Van der Kamp Vineyard is aged in 60% new oak, which is one of the higher percentages in the lineup. It has a darker fruited, wild strawberry, earthy style, plenty of fruit, and a good, albeit, shorter finish. There's plenty of tannin here as well, and I suspect it will be better this time next year. I was able to taste Adam Lee’s full-lineup for this report, including his Russian River Valley, Sonoma and Oregon releases. It’s a big lineup, but there’s some gorgeous Pinot Noirs here. I’ve listed the wines in the order tasted, starting with Oregon, followed by Sonoma, Russian River Valley, Santa Lucia Highlands and Sta. Rita Hills.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Syrah Sierra Mar Vineyard is scented of black plums and black cherries with a pepper and spice undercurrent and a waft of dried Provence herbs. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with expressive black fruits and rounded tannins, finishing long and peppery.