What to Drink Now: Marvelous Merlot Rugged, rough and untamed describes the vineyards of Mt. Brave high atop Mount Veeder, giving their Merlot wines density, robust earthiness and layers of tobacco, leather, and crushed stone minerality.

This wine is mostly merlot (98%) blended with a very small amount of cabernet sauvignon (2%). The fruit is sourced from vineyard sites in three appellations in Sonoma County - Alexander Valley, Bennett Valley and Knights Valley. The lots were each fermented and aged separately. The wine was aged for 17 months (both separately and then blended) in a combination of French and American oak barrels. It comes in at 14.5% ABV. The wine showed a dark ruby almost opaque color. Blackberry, cassis, mocha, vanilla, raspberry and oak all arrived on the nose. Blackberry, cassis, cherry cola, mocha, licorice, oak and mossy earth followed on a palate dominated by dark berry fruit. The wine exhibited good structure and length, along with well-integrated tannins. This wine would pair well with a marinated and grilled flank steak.

Matanzas Creek has produced world-class sauvignon blanc since 1977, and this example is no exception. Very elegant without the excessive acidity and overwhelming citrus notes that plague some sauvignon blancs. It is blended with a mellowing dose of 7 percent semillon. That and 20 percent barrel fermentation in neutral oak barrels produces a balanced drink featuring grapefruit and peach elements.

Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Alexander Valley. 13.5% alc. With 7% semillon. Medium straw-gold color; Granny Smith apples and Key limes, pink grapefruit and white pepper; broader dimension than its stablemate mentioned above but also more subdued and elegant; soft and more supple but still quite crisp and taut, with a dry powdery texture; heaps of limestone minerality from mid-palate back. Excellent.

Every year this wine strikes us as one of the most unique in a crowd of typical, varietal sauvignon blancs. It is due to the winemaker's daring use of various clones, including the assertive musque clone that provides big aromas and a peach and mango profile.

Matanzas Creek Winery Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Sonoma County. 13.6% alc. With 4% semillon grapes. Very pale gold hue; lime and tangerine, fennel and lemon drop, with hints of lemon balm and jasmine, ginger and thyme; quite dry and tart, like a distillation of damp limestone and flint electrified by bright acidity. Very attractive. Very good+.

Happy Pinot Noir Day! Toasting This Morning on KXAS/NBC DFW Maggy Hawk Rose tames that hearty, robust character for a wine with ruby red grapefruit, tangerine and watermelon.

Best Values Only five years ago, many were still avoiding dry rosé wines because “they didn’t go with anything.” Suddenly, rosés are the rage because they go with everything! From a vast tasting of rosés over the last two months, here are my selections as the best values in their respective price ranges.

Ten Best American White Wines Under $20 For Labor Day Most La Crema wines are not to my appeal, too big, too jammy. But the Monterey Pinot Gris is a whole new direction. As they point out: “Bright, fresh, light and filled with all the flavors of spring and summer, La Crema’s new Monterey Pinot Gris is an exciting addition to our family of cool-climate wines.” Good for them.

La Crema is making a lot of good juice in California and Oregon. This gem has forward plum flavors with a dash of spice and tobacco.

Oh, Canadians! The maple leaf flies proudly abroad, through these notable wines Elizabeth Grant-Douglas hails from St. Catharines and was one of the first to graduate from Brock University’s wine program. She brought those cool-climate skills to California’s premier Pinot- and Chardonnay-producer La Crema and has created this easy-drinking Pinot, loaded with cran-cherry and a touch of spice.

Summer Wines An unusually dry winter followed by a warm spring paved the way for this complex chardonnay from California. It drinks incredibly bright with loads of tropical fruit flavours. Citrus on the nose followed by peach, papaya and a zip of acidity.

Wine+Food pairing recommendation I paired this dish with a new wine discovery – La Crema’s 2015 Monterey Chardonnay. The golden-hued, buttery wine had plenty of structure to hold up to both the richness and the acidity of the dish.

Wine Pick

Pure Cali-Chard: vanilla, butter and toasty; not as subtle as previous version. 3½ stars.

Wine & Food pairing recommendation Unique pairings such as the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Chardonnay, California, 2015 , (with tropical flavors of pineapple, mango and papaya, seamlessly integrated with citrus notes in the mouth), with shrimp in Thai sauce , mint, cilantro, basil and Peanut, or Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Pinot Noir, California, 2014 (a garnet jewel with aromas of cherry, strawberry and raspberry with elegant earthy notes framed with a spicy touch), roasted asparagus with black truffle, Organic goat cheese, portobellos and arugula, revealed the world of possibilities of this Californian winery.

Wine & Food pairing recommendation The evening closed with a gold clasp, as the Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County, 2014 , with its aroma of black cherry, blackberry, and cassis , full, exuberant, robust structure in balance with delicate tannins delighting An end to cedar, vanilla and mocha, was the perfect pairing of the sacher tart with bitter chocolate ganache and raspberries.

Wines of the Week Here is another annual favorite with my oyster and seafood wine tasters... going back a dozen years! Blended with small amounts of Semillon, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, the wine offers aromas and flavors of tropical fruits, melon, citrus and floral notes. You can visit the Kendall Jackson Wine Estate and Gardens in Fulton, Sonoma County, California, daily from 10am to 5pm.

Wine & Food pairing recommendation To kick off the celebration, a glass of Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, California, 2015 , flavored with honeysuckle juicy, ripe pear and lemon tea, this wine cellar delighted with its medium body, and fresh tropical grapefruit notes Are complemented with mineral touches, while notes of fig and honeysuckle round this wine fresh and aromatic .

Wine & Food pairing recommendation Unique pairings such as the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Chardonnay, California, 2015 , (with tropical flavors of pineapple, mango and papaya, seamlessly integrated with citrus notes in the mouth), with shrimp in Thai sauce , mint, cilantro, basil and Peanut, or Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Pinot Noir, California, 2014 (a garnet jewel with aromas of cherry, strawberry and raspberry with elegant earthy notes framed with a spicy touch), roasted asparagus with black truffle, Organic goat cheese, portobellos and arugula, revealed the world of possibilities of this Californian winery.

I last reviewed the 2014 vintage of this wine and enjoyed it. This one is slightly golden in color with a nice nose of pear and vanilla. On the mid palate the wine matches the nose with the usual suspects, pear and some apple. On the medium length finish the wine displays some nice subtle vanilla notes along with some acidity. This is a super food friendly wine, we paired it with pan seared scallops and it went beautifully. This is absoloutely not an over oaked chard. The fruit is still present and the star of the show. I am thrilled to see this wine is continuing to be consistent year over year. Not all are, which is why re-review a wine when a new vintage comes out. Sometimes, sadly, a wine that has been a fav or a goto becomes a yuk. Not this one!!!!! I would give it an 88+. The LCBO call it full bodied and rich and I whole heartedly agree! This is a typical chard in that if you serve it too cold you will miss a lot of the complexity. Be sure and take it out of the fridge an hour or so before the meal, or watch it evolve in the glass as it warms ….

When it's planted in the right site, and when the vines are mature, merlot can express a real sense of the land it's grown in. This wine is from a vineyard at Clarendon in the hills above McLaren Vale, established in the early 1970s and rejuvenated in recent years. It's a wonderfully complex wine, with tantalising hedgerow scents and flavours of of black licorice.

Vintners rally to preserve Russian River Valley’s historic Zinfandel vineyards From the Maffei Vineyard, planted in the 1920s; “Jolene’s” is Hartford’s amalgamation of the owners’ names, Joanne and Arlene. This is textbook Russian River Zin: a fruit salad of ripe strawberry and explosive juicy blueberry, zippy with bracing acidity.

Happy Pinot Noir Day! Toasting This Morning on KXAS/NBC DFW I am thrilled that Gran Moraine has also recently added a dry Rose to their portfolio of wines from their Yamhill-Carlton vineyard, layered with white peach, nectarine and berry.

The Wines of Oregon and Washington are Poised for Greatness on the World The Gran Moraine Chardonnay 2014 (SRP $45) reminded me a bit of Meursault with its phenomenally complex layers of smoky gunflint minerality, lemon creme, honeysuckle, toasted brioche, baked pear, fennel, and star anise—it’s a blockbuster, and an utter steal at the price.