Broad and spicy, with nutmeg and paprika overtones to the dark berry flavors, finishing with generosity but not excess weight.

Tightly wound raspberry fruit is the dominant flavor here, with slightly chalky, lemony acids wrapping up the finish. It's a pleasant, fresh wine, a bit lighter than the other designates, and best enjoyed over the next couple of years.

Bright violet. Primary black and blue fruit, peppery spice and floral scents show good clarity and pick up a smoky nuance with air. Juicy, focused and lively on the palate, offering gently sweet blueberry and cherry flavors and a palate-numbing suggestion of cracked pepper. Lingers nicely on the finish, which features dusty tannins and a hint of jammy blue fruit.

Medium purple color. Tart black cherries and plum aromas with some smoky, pepper, earthy notes along with tar, sweet violets and coffee. Silky on the palate but structured with medium acidity and tannins. Tangy black currants and crunchy plum fruit blends so well with pepper, black olive and tar, but I also flower pot and violet petals, some incense sticks. Good now but I’d cellar this for a few years or give it time because it really opens up and gets smooth and expressive.

Delicate and pretty with star fruit and lychee nut aromas and supple, oily apricot and lemon flavors that glide along the finish.

This pale straw colored Viognier from Oregon opens with an orange and lime bouquet. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, slightly acidic and savory. The flavor profile is a saline and light lemon-lime blend with notes white pepper and a faint touch of apricot. The finish is dry and its flavors linger and last for quite a while. This Viognier is food friendly and would pair well with shrimp scampi. Very good+.

Retasted in Vancouver, fruit is a 61/25/14 mix of Crater View, RoxyAnn and Power Block vineyards. It's 100 percent viognier and entirely fermented and aged in stainless steel. The attack is fresh with honeysuckle, orange blossoms, apple and citrus. The fruit and acidity is perfectly matched along the spine of this vibrant white, with hints of jasmine, apple and citrus zest and a dash of peach pit bitterness in the finish. A perfect wine for halibut and a fruit salsa.

Light green-tinged yellow. Fresh citrus and pit fruits on the perfumed nose and in the mouth. Subtle floral and mineral nuances emerge as the wine opens up, as does a deeper suggestion of honey. Closes smooth and gently spicy, offering very good cling and echoing florality.

Medium yellow color. On the nose, this bursts with white peach, lemon zest, apricot, an oily note, honeycomb, new tennis ball, yellow flowers – lots going on here! The palate is medium-bodied with brisk, mouth-watering acidity, and the wine feels near bone dry but shows plenty of ripe fruit (orange, lime, peaches). Balanced with saline, minerals, tennis ball, orange marmalade, a long, lingering finish. Complex, delicious, beautiful stuff.

Youthful purple. Aromas of ripe dark berries, violet and licorice are lifted and sharpened by a peppery nuance. Smooth, broad and supple on the palate, offering appealingly sweet black and blue fruit flavors that tighten up slowly on the back half. Finishes sweet and broad, featuring an echo of candied flowers and even tannins.

Bottled in April of this year (as were all of these 2014s), the 2014 Syrah Santa Lucia Highlands is a smoking value that readers should snatch up. Jammy dark fruits, black pepper, wild herbs and black cherry notes all emerge from this beauty, and it's medium to full-bodied, nicely textured and balanced on the palate. It has tons of charm and will drink well for 4-5 years.

Lastly, the 2014 Syrah Susan's Hill is certainly outstanding, but is not one of the greatest vintages of the cuvee. Dried herbs, dried earth, sweet red and black fruits and a touch of that rock minerality that's common from this site all emerge from this medium-bodied, nicely balanced, charming and forward Syrah that's ideal for drinking over the coming 4-5 years.

Charming and expressive, with floral black raspberry and licorice aromas and jammy, well-built flavors of smoky plum, grilled herb and cracked pepper.

The nose of this juicy wine conjures plum and raisin cake, and the palate follows with explosive red cherry and clove and cinnamon seasonings. Big and brawny, it’s also softly textured and layered, winning one over in its head-on hedonism.

This is the only 2015 wine from Novy that has thus far gone to bottle. The other Novy 2015 wines were tasted as tank samples and show great promise, although I’d prefer to revisit these in a few months and review them as bottle samples. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Zinfandel Russian River Valley offers expressive blackberry, black cherry and baking spice notes with a touch of licorice. Full-boded, concentrated and purely fruited in the mouth, it has a gorgeous velvety texture and a delightful burst of blackberry flavors on the long finish.

Novy's 2014 Zinfandel Carlisle Vineyard is bold, juicy and also quite tannic. Even so, there is more than enough depth and texture to fill out the wine's frame. Dark red stone fruit, tobacco and grippy tannins are the main signatures. As always, Carlisle is a site that confers notable pedigree and nuance throughout.

The 2014 Zinfandel Limerick Lane is 100% Zinfandel. It reveals blackcurrant and black raspberry fruit, some licorice, underbrush and roasted Provençal herbs. It is peppery, spicy, ripe, medium to full-bodied, and another delicious Zinfandel for drinking over the near-term – four or so years.

Zesty and a bit brooding, delivering ripe fruit flavors balanced by lively acidity. Notes of black raspberry, charred pepper and licorice finish with racy tannins. Drink now through 2024.

A terrific value is the 2014 Zinfandel Russian River. This is the largest cuvée (639 cases) and it showcases the beautiful briary, black cherry, licorice-infused, slightly herbaceous fruit of Zinfandel. The wine has terrific body, a yummy texture that is medium to full-bodied, and a heady finish. This is best drunk over the next 2-3 years.

The 2014 Zinfandel Papera Ranch, from a vineyard planted in 1934, is 97% Zinfandel and the rest mixed blacks. Deep ruby-colored, with loads of raspberry and cherry fruit, some tart acids, in a medium to full-bodied, stylish and elegant Zinfandel. Drink it over the next 4-5 years.

Robust and jammy, with bold black raspberry and licorice aromas and dense, briary flavors of cherry, smoked pepper and grilled herb. The tannins tighten up the finish.

Grippy and somewhat subdued and tightly wound, this wine black in color and profile. Blackberry and black licorice open the proceedings, before powerful hits of black pepper. Leather and game are in the mix, too, giving the wine a wild edge. Drink now through 2023.