Deep red/purple, glass-staining, with a shy but deep bouquet, which is latent and full of promise. Underlying spices, a core of sweet ripe cherry fruit, the tannins soft and full on the finish, adding structure and length. Spices and graphite. A superb wine with a big future. Needs time for the full payoff.

Biodynamic farming, ceramic eggs, natural fermentation, fruit all de-stemmed, Pete Fraser concentrating, a zephyr of autumn, a banjo string is plucked, someone runs a wet finger over the rim of a wine glass, a theremin wails.Magnificent grenache feeling achingly pure, all skinsy, excellent tannin chew, exceptional length, memory imprinted on the taste buds, just-ripe red berries, spice, green herbs, ferrous minerality, a bit lip of fresh blood and something sweet earthy-salty. Superb scents and flavours conspire here, it feels fresh but deeply-flavoured at once. Shimmering transparency and mouth-watering acidity in tow. Here’s a high water mark.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2018 Zinfandel Dina's Vineyard is bright, perfumed and incredibly gracious. There is plenty of energy, but the Dina's has a weightless feel that gives energy and a real feeling of finesse. A wine of precision and nuance, the Dina's hits all the right notes. It is such a gorgeous and expressive wine.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2017 Syrah Brosseau is another exceptional wine in this range from Copain. Dark, brooding and intense in the glass, the 2017 needs a bit of air to emerge, but when it does, turns utterly captivating. A black cherry, plum, lavender, menthol and blood orange infusion gives the Brosseau tons of character. The tannins need time to soften, so readers need to be patient.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2017 Syrah Hawks Butte is bright, floral and full of energy. Sweet red and purplish fruit, wild flowers, blood orange, spice and pepper notes all race out of the glass. The 2017 is wonderfully inviting and alluring, with stunning aromatic presence, bright fruit and exceptional balance. Wow. This is a sensational wine by any measure.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Brought up all in new French oak, the 2017 Pinot Noir Radian Vineyard is another brilliant Pinot Noir that does everything right. Black cherries, cassis, ground herbs, graphite, and hints of background oak all emerge from this beautifully textured, seamless wine that has the depth and class to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for a decade.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s The 2016 Pinot Noir Machado showed beautifully, with the rounded, supple, and opulent style of this great vintage front and center. Loads of candied cherries, raspberries, spice, and floral notes all define the bouquet, and it has no hard edges and wonderful balance. It’s going to continue drinking brilliantly for another decade or more.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Made from equal parts 459 and 37 clones, the 2017 Pinot Noir Machado has a complex bouquet of blackberries, caramelized orange peel, spice, and earth. It's a beautiful, elegant wine, with medium to full-bodied richness, fine tannins, and a great finish. This is another complex, silky, incredibly compelling wine from this team.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s All from clone 37 (also known as Mary Edwards clone, which originally came from Mount Eden), the 2017 Pinot Noir Hapgood saw the standard no destemming and aging in neutral oak. Greg calls the clone velvet and dense, yet with a sultry x-factor. Its ruby color is followed by a complex bouquet of spiced raspberry, forest floor, salty mineral, and underbrush. Complex, layered, and nuanced, it's medium to full-bodied, with fine tannins and a great, great finish.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s From a cooler, subtle north-facing parcel, the 2017 Chardonnay Hapgood offers layered notes of poached pear, white flowers, crushed tons, and citrus notes, resulting in an incredibly classy, layered, concentrated Chardonnay. With good acidity, perfect balance, and a great finish, it's another thrilling Chardonnay from Greg Brewer.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s One of the larger production single vineyards as well as the only one to go out to distribution, the 2017 Chardonnay 3D comes from a more easterly site that was planted in 2007. It's a richer Chardonnay and offers an ethereal, gorgeously pure bouquet of caramelized citrus, white flowers, pineapple, honeysuckle, and toasted bread. Beautifully layered, seamless, and polished, with medium to full-bodied richness, it's another rocking effort.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Cabernet Franc Howell Mountain is very deep purple-black colored and gives expressive black cherries, kirsch, warm blackberries and boysenberry scents with touches of sawdust, red roses, camphor and cinnamon stick plus a waft of stewed tea. Full-bodied, the palate reveals a lot of depth with tons of red and black fruit layers and savory accents, framed by ripe, firm, grainy tannins, finishing with a refreshing lift and some mineral notions coming through.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm There was no Wallis vineyard fruit used this vintage. Very deep purple-black colored, the 2017 Cardinale charges out of the glass with notes of fresh blackcurrants, blackberries and Black Forest cake plus hints of menthol, cardamom, baking spices and lilacs plus a waft of cigar box. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is built like a brick house with firm, grainy, ripe tannins and fantastic freshness supporting the taut, muscular black fruits, finishing long and mineral laced. 1,440 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard, bottled six months ago, is very deep purple-black in color. Red roses waft sensuously, provocatively out of the glass, taking center stage until the notes of kirsch, blackberries and black raspberries come through, followed by Ceylon tea and forest floor. The palate is medium-bodied, very freshly perfumed and drop-dead gorgeous in the mouth, with a firm, grainy frame and long, mineral-laced finish. 900 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm Fruit for this was harvested on September 8th, and the wine was bottled six months ago. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard gives up exuberant notions of warm blueberries, crème de cassis, lilacs and chocolate box with hints of fertile loam, licorice and menthol. Medium-bodied, elegant, very fresh and juicy, the palate has beautifully ripe, fine-grained tannins supporting the generous fruit, finishing long and perfumed. 1,200 cases produced.

USA, California, Sonoma: 2017 Vintage – Part 2 This will be the last vintage of the Monte Rosso vineyard for Arrowood moving forward. The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso aged 32 months in 52% new oak and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. It's deep ruby in the glass, offering kirsch, blackcurrant liqueur, exotic spices, new leather, cedar and chocolate-covered cherries with an undercurrent of cast-iron pan, cured meats, aniseed and a classy framing of new oak. The palate is medium to full-bodied, silky and slow to unfold, blossoming with flavor layers. It has a frame of seamlessly woven acidity and finely pixelated tannins, finishing very long. This is a stunner! It's gorgeous now, but give it the few more years in bottle that it deserves. 171 cases produced.

An amazing wine, possibly the winery's finest Sycamore ever. It's ripe and concentrated, in typical California Cabernet fashion. It dazzles with black currants, crème de cassis and chocolate, yet is firm and dry throughout. The tannin-acid balance is near perfect. Really impresses for sheer power and authority, and will age for a very long time. Best after 2018.

An amazing wine, possibly the winery’s finest Sycamore ever. California Cab doesn’t get riper or more concentrated than this. It dazzles with black currants, crème de cassis and chocolate, yet is firm and dry throughout. The tannin-acid balance is near perfect. Really impresses for sheer power and authority, and will age for a very long time. Best after 2018.

The 2017 Chardonnay Machado is a sensational effort from this terrific region. From a site right next to Clos Pepe composed of sandy loam soils, it offers a light color yet terrific intensity in its poached pear, citrus oil, floral and salty seabreeze aromatics. Beautiful on the palate as well, with bright acidity giving some cut to what's a rich, textured, concentrated wine, it's going to put on weight with a year or two in bottle and have over a decade or longevity.

Here's a meritage which works superbly. Deep purple color leads to wonderfully expressed aromas of violets and black currants, add to flavors of the same sort. The cabernet/merlot fruit is ripe but elegantly put forth, and oak is present in its proper supporting role. One would have to consider this wine, in style and in quality, in the same league as contemporary vintages of Cheteau Margaux. Its fruit is so compelling that enjoyment over the next two to three years would be best.

Napa Valley’s Extraordinary 2016 Cabernets - Part 1 The 2016 Cardinale is distinctly aromatic and nuanced. In 2016, winemaker Chris Carpenter built Cardinale around a core of Spring Mountain fruit. Perhaps for that reason, Cardinale is a bit more refined in the early going than is often the case. Silky, fine-grained tannins and mid-weight structure frame expressive dark cherry, plum, chocolate and new leather, but it is really the wine's overall feel that stands out most. A dollop of Merlot adds to a feeling of openness in this super-expressive Cardinale from winemaker Chris Carpenter. A range of sites in Stags Leap, Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain, Mt. Veeder and St. Helena round out the blend.

The 2015 Cardinale is dark, sensual and totally beguiling. Voluptuous fruit and soft, racy contours make a strong opening statement. The dark cherry, mocha, smoke, plum, spice and new leather flavors are all amped up in a seamless, alluring Cardinale that is going to be nearly impossible to resist in its youth. There is so much to like here.

Weekend Wine Picks Every year Cardinale begins with 50-plus lots of wine that winemaker Chris Carpenter eventually reduces to a handful of complex, aromatic selections that are all about intensity, texture and length. In 2015, it was Diamond Mountain and Spring Mountain that would carry the load. Carpenter and his followers insist that the wine be different every year by taking what the land gives you. In this case, the red, floral fruit of Spring Mountain is the shell while the voluptuous mid-palate and fine, dense, silky tannins are supplied by the Diamond Mountain fruit. Volume is low the yields are down the cases are few. A slightly cooler version than 2014, the 2015 is at least as good if not better. Time will tell. If you can’t wait, a lamb leg would be an excellent match.

Bright purple color. Needs time to open up, but has lovely aromas: showing blackberries, dark currants, plums, concentrated but lovely fruit, with complex notes of sweet pipe tobacco, mint, eucalyptus, black tea, vanilla. Full-bodied, structured but so velvety and suave, medium acidity keeping it vibrant. Blackberry, cassis, plum, mixed with a complex host of roasted chestnut, espresso, tobacco, mint, charcoal, earth and mineral. Complex, long-lasting, this could be buried and forgotten for a long time but gorgeous and polished young. A blend of fruit from 12 different vineyards across Napa Valley, with a focus on Mountain fruit, this includes 10% Howell Mountain Merlot. This is aged 20 months in 84% new French oak.

Washington Wine Blog Top 100 of 2018 - #16 The massive wine is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot. This wine opens with a bouquet of coffee grounds, creme de cassis and dried herbs with a touch of blueberry cordial. This has a marvelous tension and weight. Creme de cassis, anise, mocha, blueberry compote and sandalwood flavors show impressively. The combination of weight and tension is marvelous here. Try to resist this gorgeous wine for at least another year.