Bright aromas of lime, pear and crushed chalk rise to the nose atop a slight bit of effervescence in this latest release from the actress Drew Barrymore. The sip is bright and playful with lots of fun energy and a compelling texture, proving easy to quaff if simple overall.

This golden straw colored Pinot Gris has an inviting citrus fruit bouquet that includes vanilla and light wet stone. I also detected hints of peaches. This light bodied wine from Monterey is smooth with a lemon, lime, citrus and melon palate with a dash of green apple. I enjoyed the vibrant and balanced acidity. The finish was slightly dry and faded away nicely. This is an easy-going Pinot Gris and will be a crowd pleaser. I would serve it at your next gathering with light appetizers and/or cheese and crackers. 88 points. Very good.

Green apple and unripe pear flavors dominate this savory style. The crisp finish shows dried green herbal notes.

Fresh tasting, dry and well balanced, this wine doesn’t go overboard but has everything in reasonable balance, including a buttery appley aroma, and good acidity to bolster the fruit flavors and add a little bite to the texture.

Light gold color. On the nose, I get apricots, lemon curd, honeycomb, toasted oak, whipped butter. Creamy texture but refreshing acidity makes for a rich wine but it stays fresh. Bruised apple and apricot mix with whipped honey, cinnamon, nougat and floral perfume. Quite delicious for this style and price range. 87 points.

There is no lack of substance or size to this hefty offering, and it teams elements of spice, smoke and slight chocolate with its ripe, somewhat blackberry-like fruit in a solid, fairly full-bodied look at the variety, and, if a little blunt and short on polish, it is a lot of wine for the money and shows more aging potential than Syrahs of its price are wont to do. One star, good value

5 100-Point Wines from Issue 235 Over 2,300 wines were tasted in Wine Advocate Issue 235, and while many of them are outstanding, a handful—five, to be exact—received the top score. Editor-in-chief Lisa Perrotti-Brown had a fruitful visit with Pierre Seillan of Vérité, awarding the 2015 Le Désir a perfect 100-point score. “I cannot stress enough how truly singular the wines of Vérité are,” she says. “This makes sense when you consider the far-flung vineyard locations in Knights Valley, Bennett Valley, Alexander Valley and Chalk Hill, the many soil types, topographies and exposures they encompass and how dedicated Seillan is to bringing to the forefront the unique signatures of these places.” Medium-bodied, very firm and very elegant yet incredibly intense in the mouth, it delivers loads of red fruit and earthy layers, finishing with great length and depth.

Medium straw-yellow colour with a shy, reserved bouquet of honey and mead, straw and lightly toasted nuts. The wine is lighter-bodied than anticipated, with moderate depth and length. It finishes a touch short, but what's there is appealing. I suspect it will fill out a little with a bit more time in the bottle. ( Aged in French barriques, 10% new, for 6 months) Drink 2019 - 2024

Destemmed whole berries, cold soaked, with wild yeast employed in small open topped fermenters. There's a distinctly sauvage feeling all about this wine which is entirely appropriate. It's sophisticated McLaren Vale shiraz in all its glory so to speak. Aromas and flavours purely of the black fruit from the red earth, and with minimal interference, here it is.

Recommended Wineries and Wines in St. Helena Appellation

A statewide tour of California pinot noir Carmel Road winery has fashioned three beautiful small lot wines in 2014 from the Panorama Vineyard in Arroyo Seco: North Crest - dark fruit, full, intense spice; South Crest - tangy red fruit, firm, silky; First Row - floral, spice, deep red fruits.

A statewide tour of California pinot noir Carmel Road winery has fashioned three beautiful small lot wines in 2014 from the Panorama Vineyard in Arroyo Seco: North Crest - dark fruit, full, intense spice; South Crest - tangy red fruit, firm, silky; First Row - floral, spice, deep red fruits.

A statewide tour of California pinot noir Carmel Road winery has fashioned three beautiful small lot wines in 2014 from the Panorama Vineyard in Arroyo Seco: North Crest - dark fruit, full, intense spice; South Crest - tangy red fruit, firm, silky; First Row - floral, spice, deep red fruits.

A pretty pinot with bright cherry fruit and notes of toffee and vanilla bean. It’s a balanced pinot because its bright acidity keeps it in check. Lovely. 3½ stars.

Wine of incredible quality in a breathtaking setting 86 percent Cabernet with 14 percent Merlot blended in. Rich texture and refined aromas of dark fruits and smoke with flavors of black cherry, plum and toffee.

This wine is 100% sauvignon blanc. 65% of the fruit came from Lake County with the remaining 35% coming from Sonoma County. The wine was fermented in stainless steel followed by ten months of sur lie aging prior to bottling. The wine showed a straw color. Apple, lemon curd, grapefruit, hay and slate all arrived on the nose. Apple, lemon candy, hay, slate and dried apricot followed on the palate where the apple led the way to the dried fruit that clung to the finish. The wine exhibited good acidity and balance, along with good structure and length. This wine would do well as an aperitif and would pair nicely with steamed mussels or grilled shrimp.

Tasting SA's Priciest Chardonnay The Capensis Chardonnay 2015 is doubtless all the more drinkable for its wait. The oaking (only 50% of the wine in new oak) is informative, but not at all egregious as it slightly was on that year-old maiden vintage, and will surely soon be fully absorbed and supportive of the flavour complexity. This vintage strikes me as rather more restrained and refined than the previous one. Looking back I see I was in fact generous in my comparisons then. But the standard of local chard has been rising inexorably to the present undeniably excellent level, with 2015s obviously no exception. I can’t see any problem in still putting Capensis up there towards the top, where there are at least a dozen or so jostling happily. Perhaps it is (and I’m relying on a sadly fallible memory) a touch less precise than Leeu Passant, for example, less intensely mineral than Storm, less vivid than Richard Kershaw, but certainly excellent. Unlike those wines, and most of the other really ambitious Cape chardonnays, however, it’s not about terroir, this wine, except very widely interpreted. It’s blended predominantly from Stellenbosch (52% off the home farm high on the Banghoek slopes, 26% from elsewhere), with 12% from Kaaimansgat vineyard in Elandsrivier and 10% from Robertson). Perhaps the team (including US-based winemaker Graham Weerts and Therese de Beer, the latter present at this lunch and in charge of the cellar between his visits) are looking at a tighter terroir expression instead of, or more likely as well as, the blend. We were given a single-vineyard version from Fijndraai, the Banghoek farm, which was less complete, perhaps, but I enjoyed its greater delicacy and savoury-lemony quality. This wine not for commercial release, however. Capensis is also the priciest of local chardonnays – something over R900, I believe. But the pricing is done largely with the US in mind, and there it’s going to be retailing around $85, which makes 900 local bucks seem quite modest.

A statewide tour of California pinot noir 2014 Cambria "Benchbreak" Santa Maria Valley dark fruits, intense.

For our small birthday table, we also visit the hotel’s famous wine cellar, choosing a pretty special local Yangarra 2012 Ironheart shiraz to fit the celebration. Good red goes with anything in my book, including my star choice of fish wings.

Four special Pinot Noirs from Adam Lee at Siduri The intensity of the wine is obvious, but the flavor development seems just a tad backward, so decanting is suggested. Excellent acid and pH indicate it will expand in 2-3 more years.

So muscular, sinewy, powerful, and gorgeous, it might as well be a thoroughbred. A-

Four special Pinot Noirs from Adam Lee at Siduri Wild berry and subtle (almost peppery) spice notes mark this dramatic version of cool-climate PN. It’s only $5 more per bottle than the three other PNs in the release, and worth the extra outlay. Shows brilliantly a day after it is opened.

Four special Pinot Noirs from Adam Lee at Sidur Quite expressive with fresh plum, raspberry and strawberry notes, and a lot of intensity in the finish. Best after a few hours in a decanter. Should be better in 3-5 more years. Right now the wine is less complex than I had hoped, given the region from which it came.

Delivering the generous fruit of the CA sun, but with the flab trimmed. A-

Four special Pinot Noirs from Adam Lee at Siduri Slightly more retarded in its aroma than the prior wine and also slightly more tannic, this wine really responds to aeration and is a good bet for the cellar. To drink now, decant for an hour.