Earthy forest and damp earth make it clear this is from a wild, mountainous site, the texture rich and rounded with a pronounced profile of oak and tannin. Red and black cherry combine with the savory characteristics to flesh out the full-bodied concentration.

Siduri Likely to Keep on Winning The nose is blue-ish in tone, with blueberry, plum and rhubarb making immediate appearances. Below them rest a mild fungal element and a saline quality. The body is slightly over medium, and texturized by slightly gritty tannin that carries sweet and juicy acid. Structurally it’s a nice wine. Flavors include blueberry, Acai, general florals and top soil, while it finishes on a note that suggests menthol cigarette.

USA, California: More Napa & Sonoma New Releases Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley bursts with a black and red berry melange—raspberries, black cherries, red plums and warm cranberries—with nuances of black pepper, sassafras and mossy tree bark. Medium to full bodied, the palate delivers mouth-coating red berry flavors along with a soft texture and peppery kick to the finish.

USA, California: All Along the Central Coast – The 2017 Vintage in Paso Robles and Beyond Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2016 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands has a bright nose of crushed red and black cherry, dried cranberry, pomegranate liqueur and rhubarb with nuances of dusty earth, dried leaves and floral hints. Light to medium-bodied, it offers fresh red and black fruit flavors in the mouth with juicy acidity and soft tannins, finishing with an herbal tinge.

USA, California: All Along the Central Coast – The 2017 Vintage in Paso Robles and Beyond The 2017 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands is pale to medium ruby-purple, opening with fresh cranberries, Bing cherries, warm blackberries, pulverized stone, floral and citrus peel hints. Light to medium-bodied, it has a good core of spiced fruits, grainy tannins to structure and juicy acidity, finishing long.

USA, California: All Along the Central Coast – The 2017 Vintage in Paso Robles and Beyond The 2017 Pinot Noir Lemoravo Vineyard has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and open nose of crushed blackberries and black cherries, red cherries, warm cranberries, soil, underbrush and hints of citrus peel and dried flowers. Light to medium-bodied and concentrated, it has a frame of grainy tannins and juicy freshness, finishing long and spicy.

Vibrant and focused, with Meyer lemon, stony mineral and spice flavors that take on structure toward the finish.

2018 Oregon Vintage: Vineyard Savvy Reaps Consistency and Quality Dried forest wood, dried red cherries and a light, herbal thread lead to a light, fine-boned palate that holds mellow, red-cherry flavors with a spicy twist through the lacy finish. Drink now.

From several sites in the appellation, this 100% varietal wine is impressively taut and angular in style, with an herbaceous intensity. Made in a full-bodied lushness, it has generous toasted oak and a mix of concentrated red and black cherry.

Napa Valley's 2017s The Galerie wines are now made by Gianna Kelly. The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Pleinair has a bright, juicy nose of blueberries, cassis, violets, and spring flowers as well as a rather firm, streamlined style on the palate. It has some grippy tannins, so give it a year or two.

Napa Valley's 2017s The largest production release is the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. It's 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, and the rest Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc, all of which spent 27 months in 35% French oak. It's a soft, elegant red with pretty black cherry, raspberry, toasted spice, and tobacco notes as well as a medium-bodied, silky, polished style. It's nicely balanced, has present tannins, and a great finish.

Napa Valley's 2017s The 2017 Merlot Stagecoach comes from a site on Pritchard Hill and is a (roughly) 500-case offering that just goes out to the mailing list. Pretty black cherry, floral, and hints of tobacco all give way to a medium-bodied, silky, lightly textured Merlot that has light tannins and a clean finish. Drink it over the coming 7-8 years.

Buckets of fruit, strawberry and cracked black pepper. Sharp and focused, with sweet fruits, dry tannins, and some savoury character.

Pierre Seillan and his wife, Monique, are based at this 60-acre vineyard on the south-southwest- facing hillside east of the town of St-Emilion. In 2003, the Seillans partnered with Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke to purchase the property and its 17th-century château, where Seillan made this broad, ripe 2016. As richly oaked and full-bodied as the wine is, it has elegance in a long line of black-currant flavor. A satisfying wine to drink now, it will gain complexity with extended cellar time.

This dark ruby colored Syrah from Copain opens with a faint strawberry bouquet with hints of blueberry and florals. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, well-balanced and smooth. The flavor profile is a tasty mild plum with notes of gentle minerality. We also detected hints of cinnamon, cedar and red currant. The finish is dry and its fine tannins sail away nicely. This Syrah shows nice finesse. It would pair well with a pork roast.

Peter Fraser makes this wine from a parcel of grenache planted in 1946 and dry-grown (certified biodynamic) in the sandy soils at Yangarra. He allows it to spontaneously ferment and then rest on its skins in ceramic eggs, where its red fruit develops alongside an earthy, floral bitterness. The wine layers ripe strawberry flavors over notes of strawberry seeds, rooty radish tops and fennel. Pour it with roast eggplant stuffed with spicy chopped veal.

Named for Edward John Peake, who planted a vineyard on these ridges above the town of Clarendon in the 1860s, this blend is floral and spicy, with McLaren’s contrast of elegance and earthy rusticity. Its fragrant shiraz notes last, while cabernet adds freshness and fine, if substantial tannins. A wintry red to drink fireside.

The Jackson family of Sonoma bought the Hickinbotham family’s vineyard in the hills above McLaren Vale in 2012. Chris Carpenter, one of the group’s lead winemakers, now travels to Clarendon to make the wines with Charlie Seppelt. This is a floral cabernet with a tight structure that keeps giving juicy red berry flavors. The fruit darkens with air and the florals deepen to violet scents, all of it saturated with oak richness.

2017 & 2018 Napa Valley In Depth The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) is plump, juicy and forward - all characteristics that make it a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next decade or so. Sweet black cherry, plum, new oak, spice, new leather and coffee notes are all pushed forward in this mid-weight, succulent and highly appealing Cabernet.

Juicy black and red fruit highlight a weighty, full-bodied and fruit-forward style of powerful flavor in this well-made appellation wine. Baking spice and cola round out the profile.

Soft and smoothly textured in measured richness, this wine offers rounded flavors of strawberry, dark cherry and cola. With integrated tannin and oak, it presents a seamless experience across the palate, seasoned in hints of black tea and cinnamon.

Supple and smooth, this is loaded with sweet purple berry fruit and a lush streak of mocha. The blueberry pie flavors come with enough of a tannic spine to give the wine good focus through the finish. Drink now to 2025.

89–91 Château Lassègue. St-Emilion Grand Cru. The top wine produced by Jess Jackson in St-Emilion, Lassègue is soft, ripe, open, packed with dark plums, very opulent. —R.V.

Good deep red-ruby. Black cherry, dark berries, minerals, cola and sexy oak on the nose; became more perfumed with aeration. Sweet and fine-grained, but with solid underlying spine to its dark fruit, spice and cola flavors. Thanks to its impression of lushness without weight, this is the most refined wine yet from this property.

The wine pours a deep gold with lemon and vanilla cream on the nose; it is light, just pushing medium in body with flavors of green apple, lemon meringue, light cream and vanilla; some mineral notes and a little oak in the finish. Really well balanced and presented nicely.