89-91. Barrel sample. Spicy new wood dominates this wine, with the weight of fruit to justify it. It's solid, full-bodied and already balanced.

Blackberries, plums, dried figs, herbs and dark chocolate on the nose. It’s full-bodied with chewy tannins and a grainy texture. Some toasted nuts on the finish. Drink now.

A graceful white, offering a lithe spine of acidity, layered with a creamy mix of nectarine, Golden Delicious apple, elderflower and ground ginger. Rich hints of toasted almond and fleur de sel emerge on the finish. Drink now through 2025.

This pale salmon colored wine open with an inviting watermelon and wet stone bouquet with hints of ripe nectarine. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, round and nicely coats your mouth for a Rose. The flavor profile is a tasty mineral infused gentle tangerine and watermelon blend with hints of lime zest and nectarine. The finish is dry and refreshing. The Panel would certainly sip this Rose on the porch on a hot summer day. With food, we would pair it with a grilled fish taco or poached trout.

A juicy style, with accents of dried savory herbs to the apple and green pear flavors. Shows hints of white currant on the ripe, spicy finish. Drink now through 2024.

It is in the most difficult vintages that you see the winemaker's hand; the length on this wine comes not from the depth of the fruit but from the gentle spicy notes of nutmeg and white pepper. Raspberry leaf and smoked earth comes through as things open. Helped in this vintage by the fact that the Seillans live on site at Serilhan, making it easier to treat at weekends, and this was a vintage when you certainly needed to do that.

The fruit of 100-year-old vines treated to nine months in French oak barrels (43 percent new), this is a heady wine packed with fruit tannins and fruity black-mushroom umami notes. It has the primary flavors of freshly stomped grapes, enjoyable in its youth with grilled shitakes or beef with black trumpets. Best suited to several years of bottle age for the fruit to mature.

Pale straw in the glass, the 2018 Chardonnay Silene opens with beautiful aromas of cardamom madeleines, yellow apple, crème brûlée and sweet lemon pastry cream. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is fresh and vibrant with a balanced structure, lively acidity and oak tones woven through the mid-palate. The wine concludes with a bright finish of soft, nutty flavors of almond and a lingering tone of lemon panna cotta.

This medium ruby colored Pinot Noir opens with a boysenberry and black cherry bouquet with hints of moist peat moss, wild mushrooms and black plum. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, nicely balanced and soft. The flavor profile is a tasty crushed stone, tart cherry and toasted oak blend with notes of red plum. We also detected hints of dried herbs. The finish is dry and drifts away nicely. The Panel would pair this Pinot with roasted quail with Pinot Noir sauce or with cast iron pan-roasted chicken breasts.

This pale straw-colored Sauvignon Blanc opens with a lemon-lime and mild yellow grapefruit bouquet with hints of honeydew melon. On the palate, this wine is light plus bodied, nicely balanced, pretty and delicate. The flavor profile is a gentle grapefruit and mild stony minerality blend with hints of lime, green apple and white pepper. The finish is dry and pleasantly refreshing. The Panel would pair this Sauvignon Blanc with fried walleye or sushi.

The 2018 Syrah Tous Ensemble is an attractive, affordable wine that delivers the goods. Readers will find a Syrah that delivers the savory, earthy style that is so typical of Mendocino. Vineyard sites are High Rock and Hawkes Butte. The Tous Ensemble is a bit rustic, but long on character.

The 2018 Grenache Brosseau is a bright, punchy wine. Sweet red cherry, hard candy, orange peel and sweet spice give the 2018 a decidedly exotic character.

The 2018 Chardonnay Tous Ensemble is a blend of mostly younger vines on the Sonoma Coast. Lemon confit, marzipan, chamomile and dried flowers all grace this expressive entry-level Chardonnay. The 2018 balances fruit richness and energy, while avoiding some of the austerity of the recent past.

It is year 19 for the Viognier label, and it arrives with a great flavour profile. It is 92 percent fermented in Stainless steel for freshness, with an additional 8 percent fermenting in a concrete egg to add some texture and mouthfeel to the finished wine. The growing season started cool before moving to a warmer than average summer followed by a cool finish — perhaps best for tuning all of the viognier’s panoply of flavours to a perfect pitch. Look for an exotic orange blossom and jasmine nose that spills across the palate that adds some green apple freshness and subtle notes of bitter lime for complexing — a delicious and stylish viognier that walks the tightrope of richness and leanness to a tee.

Tenuta di Arceno managed to succeed in a difficult vintage. Their bold style worked well in 2017 because they captured ripeness, good acidity and suave tannins simultaneously. Though rich and fruity, a subtly haunting bitterness in the finish reminds us, thankfully, it’s not just about fruit. There’s a lot of herbal earthy notes and energy to complement those juicy cherry-like flavors. This Riserva, unlike many, is ready to drink now because the tannins are finely polished and not intrusive. Still, a hearty beef dish would be a good match.

Mid-straw in colour, with some bronze tints. The aromas are of wheat, hessian, nuts and haybales, really savoury and expressive. The palate is mid-weight, with flavours of white peach and apricot kernel, there's also a nuttiness and a hint of honey. The wine has a little phenolic grip and combined with the acidity, it gives excellent structure and savouriness to the finish.

The colour is quite deep in colour, with bronzed hues. Aromas of cut-hay, candied orange and a nuttiness. A richly-textured wine that has a real presence on the palate. There's tangy, citrus flavours melding with a grippy, mealy, savoury, phenolic dryness that gives the palate some real length.

This medium ruby colored Pinot Noir opens with a black raspberry and pencil shavings bouquet with hints of blood orange and band-aid. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied with bright acidity. We also found it to be juicy and have a round mouthfeel. The flavor profile is red raspberry and red plum blend with notes of cola We also detected hints of strawberry, fig and clove mixed in. The finish is dry and its flavors and acidity linger nicely. The Panel would pair this Pinot with duck breast with fig sauce or with a cassoulet.

This represents solid value for the solid quality—an expressive wine in dark rich cherry, cinnamon and vanilla notes and one that is sticky in tannin and shows plenty of structure. Blended with small amounts of Cab Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot, it remains light on the palate in integrated oak.

It's cabernet sauvignon on the label, but a Bordeaux blend in spirit. It takes full advantage of California's ability to blend in a healthy dollop of other grapes into a single varietal wine, with merlot (16%), malbec (4%), petit verdot (3%), and cabernet franc (1%). It also blends valley floor and mountain fruit from five vineyards, to produce a wine led by cassis and backed by an appealing savouriness with graphite, mint, and a touch of developing cedar. The vanilla-tinged oak is present but balanced (35% new French oak), leading to a medium-full bodied palate that's linear in texture with firm tannins. Just starting to enter prime time, this is true both to Napa and the estate's house style.

This very pale pink colored Rose wine opens fragrant strawberry and maraschino cherry bouquet with hints of gardenia and tangerine. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied with lively medium plus acidity. The flavor profile is a stony mineral influenced strawberry and blood orange blend with hints of peach and watermelon. The finish is dry, extended and refreshing. The Panel would pair this very nice Rose with Rick’s shrimp cocktail.

This medium ruby colored Pinot Noir from Copain opens with a black raspberry and craisin bouquet with hints of strawberry and oak. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, slightly acidic and juicy. The flavor profile is an oak influenced black plum with notes of stony minerality. I also detected hints of red raspberry and mint. The finish is dry and its flavors and mild tannins drift away nicely. This Pinot would pair well with cranberry-glazed pork chops.

Perfect for a quintessential Tuscan pappardelle al cinghiale with shaved pecorino, the Tenuta di Arceno 2018 Chianti Classico is a steady, fruity and fresh expression that delivers on and exceeds the basic promises of the appellation. Dark fruit and wild cherry segue to leather, spice and earth. The wine (made with Sangiovese and a small part Merlot for extra softness) offers a classic window onto the warm and sunny Castelnuovo Berardenga village on the southern side of the appellation.

2019 in Monterey was cool, with plenty of fog and overcast skies. No big heat spikes were leading to a slowly ripening crop of fresh fruit. Best of all, the acidity is juicy and the perfect foil to its ripe tropical fruit. Look for an aromatic nose with baked apples and pineapple dusted with butter scented brioche. On the palate, lemon and tangerine pull it all together along with a mineral coating. Balanced, fresh, and ready to drink. The wine is aged eight months in an 85/15 mix of oak (15 percent new) and stainless steel. The Monterey AVA consists of a long valley stretching from the uniquely cold Monterey Bay to the far southeast reaches of the Salinas Valley.

This bold, ripe pinot embodies the warmth of Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara. It's not shy on dark berry fruit, with cola, rhubarb, and sweet spices. It's drinking well now with a nice combination of fresh fruit and tertiary complexity coming from bottle age at five years. Medium-full bodied, it's dense and concentrated with impressively supple tannins. If you like pinot that's at the riper end of the spectrum, but without being over the top or just a fruit bomb, this is a winner.