Excellent flow of ripe, berried, fruit-driven flavour with grass, dust and herb notes as complexing inflections. Perfectly integrated, and yet assertive, dusty tannin through the back half of the wine. There are no missteps here and lots of highlights. Velvety mouthfeel and the perfect application of cedar wood oak add finishing touches to a dramatically high quality red wine.

The 2018s from Santa Barbara CountyThe 2018 Pinot Noir Julia's is one of the smaller production releases, with just over 1,000 cases produced. Its translucent ruby hue is followed by a complex, nuanced 2018 that offers gorgeous purity in its raspberry and strawberry fruits as well as lots of sappy, foresty, spicy notes, medium to full body, integrated acidity, and a layered, elegant, yet still powerful style on the palate.

The 2018s from Santa Barbara CountyThe 2018 Chardonnay Hapgood offers a touch more precision aromatically and gives up lots of buttered stone fruits, toasted hazelnuts, white flowers, and brioche aromas and flavors. More medium-bodied, concentrated, and nicely focused on the palate, it's a beautifully complete, classic Santa Barbara Chardonnay that does everything right. It has 10-15 years of prime drinking ahead of it.

I was thoroughly impressed by the opulent and layered texture of the 2016 Ironheart Shiraz, a wine that in previous vintages has sometimes seemed more about structure than pleasure. It starts off with scents of cedar, menthol, plums and baking spices, then eases into a full-bodied, plush, velvety palate that delivers waves of ripe black cherries. Deep and long, it's a terrific example of McLaren Vale Shiraz that should drink well for 10-15 years.

Aged entirely in older barrels, the 2016 High Sands Grenache is an epic effort that must surely be one of Australia's greatest Grenache wines. Exquisite perfumes of rose petals, strawberries and raspberries are underscored by hints of fine herbs and cedar, while the medium to full-bodied palate is plush and velvety yet structured, with a long, intense finish. I was still seeing fireworks long after tasting it.

Shit the nest! Second release of a straight Cab Franc from Hickinbotham, and it’s a beauty.Ripe dark raspberry, pencils and fine spicy biscuit oak, good perfume, a smattering of sweet dusty herbs and mint. It’s packing in plenty of ripe red and black fruit, roasted red pepper, feels supple and firm at once, and has a great sense of energy too. It’s succulent yet controlled. It lays on the charm and doesn’t let go. Of all the 2018 Hickinbotham releases, this is the wine that speaks to me most clearly. It’s exceptional.

From a panoramic estate site above Occidental in view of the Pacific Ocean, this wine is peaty and feral, with plenty of fruitiness to spare. Beautifully layered and crisp in orange peel and plum, it is aged in 100% French oak, 37% of it new, allowing for structure and grace with lasting teases of clove, pepper and briny sea.

This rockstar wine is from a cold site south of Sebastopol fed by the Petaluma Gap. Peaty and piquant in licorice, it is rich and balanced, with elongated tannin. Smooth, velvety texture carries strong flavors of blueberry,black raspberry and a tease of grapefruit.

Crisp tones of raspberry and strawberry give this coastal-driven red a sense of place and tangy freshness. The acidity is spread evenly throughout on the robust palate, while a forest floor tone and dense tannins add complexity and balanced weight.

This wine is sourced from an estate site planted to 100-year-old vines, with half the parcel head-trained and the other half trained on a high wire, thus the name. Tangy orange peel, cherry and blackberry mesh around a densely layered core. It’s complex and rich, but buoyed by bright acidity and a shock of white pepper.

Less overt lemon & orange fruitiness than sibling, & less new oak (50%) give 2017 a more refined, even stately, bearing, the vibrancy of the vintage showing in the current of limy acid supplying energy throughout. Thrilling now, will improve 5+ years. Own Banhoek grapes plus small portion brought in from Helderberg. 5 stars.

Full medium ruby. Sexy, wild scents of black raspberry, meat, graphite, mocha and flowers, plus a whiff of leather. Densely packed and fine-grained but also quite powerful; a very tactile wine with lovely restrained sweetness and a strong Cabernet backbone. Dense but juicy, with nothing heavy about it. Very wild, Old World style of wine with terrific definition and inner-mouth lift, not to mention outstanding intensity and sophisticated grain. Boasts uncanny inner-mouth floral/ mineral lift for such a strong wine. Finishes with subtly mounting floral length and noble tannins that arrive late. A stunning showing--and still very young. Clearly a top vintage for this St. Emilion blend. I described this wine as tightly coiled when I first tasted it from bottle, and it still needs cellaring to show its full potential. My sample held up for days in the recorked bottle.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018The only white brought up all in new oak, the 2018 Chardonnay Gravel Bench Vineyard comes from a higher elevation site and was fermented and aged 11 months in 100% new French oak. There are a scant 244 cases produced. This Burgundian styled effort offers a rich, opulent, full-bodied style as well as ample sautéed apple, white flowers, gunpowder, and rocky mineral aromas and flavors. While all of these 2018s have more moderate, integrated acidity, the wines stay light and elegant on the palate and hold onto a terrific sense of tension and freshness. It's a terrific combination, and the wines drink beautifully today (as do just about every 2018 Chardonnay out there), yet my money is on these aging beautifully as well.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018Chassagne-Montrachet-like notes of white flowers, crushed chalk, toasted brioche, honeyed orchard fruits, and a liquid rock-like minerality all emerge from the 2017 Chardonnay Far Coast Vineyard. A beautifully balanced, elegant white from this estate, it builds on the palate, showing a distinct salinity, medium to full-bodied richness, bright acidity, and a great, clean, blockbuster styled finish. This is pure class and just a complete, gorgeous Chardonnay to enjoy over the coming 7-8 years or more.

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.