Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Harmonie gives pronounced plums, black berries and black cherries notes with a touch of cedar. The full-bodied palate really packs a wallop of rich, ripe fruit, although it finishes just a little on the warm and firm side. Still very young and angular, I recommend giving a couple more years in bottle to marry and mellow.

The dense ruby/plum-colored 1999 Pinot Noir Bench Break exhibits abundant quantities of vibrant berry fruit intermixed with smoke, charcoal, and mineral. The wine was aged in 100% new french oak, and is slightly more structured and denser than the open-knit Julia's Vineyard. This wine will benefit from another 6-8 months of bottle age up to a decade.

Bright ruby-red. Cherry-cola, raspberry and licorice on the fragrant nose. Spicy, gripping red and dark berry flavors show very good energy and an exotic note of black cardamom. Picks up spiciness and a floral nuance with air and finishes with lingering sweetness. This youthful wine will benefit from an hour of aeration.

The 2013 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard is plump, juicy and expressive, but also has an attractive, savory side to its personality. Sweet red cherry, herbs, rose petal and mint are woven together. There is a slight element of reduction that currently masks some of the fruit. If that reduction disappears in bottle, the 2013 could merit a higher rating.

Really showing the whole cluster, with white pepper, stems, underbrush and charred earth, the 2010 Pinot Noir Whole Cluster is firm, structured and slightly unfriendly at the moment. It should come together nicely with another year or two though and have a fairly broad drink window, with a decade of longevity not being out of the question. There's lots of stem influence here though. Drink 2015-2020. Relatively firm, structured efforts, these should all benefit from short-term cellaring.

More straightforward at the moment, yet with solid concentration and depth, the 2010 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard has a blacker core of fruit with plenty of raspberry, cherry, flowers, spice, hints of crushed stone and chocolate flowing to a rich, concentrated palate that has fine tannin and good length. Juicy, fresh and lively, it will benefit from another year in bottle and drink nicely through 2018 or so. Drink 2014-2018.

The famed red soils of the Monte Rosso Vineyard produced a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard with a dark ruby/purple color and lots of pen ink, graphite, red and black fruits, and dusty, earthy characteristics. There may be more structure and earth than actual fruit in this medium to full-bodied wine. It is certainly excellent and may turn out to be outstanding with several more years of bottle age. It will easily last for another 15+ years.

This is a good result from a tough vintage. For the record, it's a blend of 41% grenache, 31% shiraz, and 28% mourvedre. It's a good wine to drink. Spicy, peppery, herbal, cherried. Leathery too, particularly on the nose. Complexity, is has down pat. The finish is good though there's a slight (dilute) dip through the mid-palate. I could knock this back any day of the week; it's fun to drink. In many ways it proves how well the Yangarra vineyards are managed. To make 1130 dozen of this wine, to this standard, is an effort worthy of respect.

Bright ruby-red. Aromas of cassis, minerals, bitter chocolate, graphite, and cedar; less expressive than the '99 Merlot but pure and lively. Dense and firmly structured, with nicely concentrated, well-defined black fruit flavors. Finishes with ripe, firm tannins and very good persistence.

The 2007 Merlot Lost Pine is a dense, structured, tannic example whose best days are 2-3 years in the future. A big, dense ruby/purple hued effort, it offers up notes of mocha, black cherries, and chocolate in a full-bodied style. Forget it for a couple of years, and drink it over the following 10-15 years. These are far and away the most impressive group of Stonestreet Alexander Mountain estate wines that I have ever tasted.

From the well-known site in the AVA Fort Ross-Seaview, the 2013 Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard has a dark ruby color and a lovely nose of red and blackcurrants, a touch of sour cherries intermixed with herbaceousness, damp earth and spice. The wine is medium-bodied, ripe and complex. Drink it over the next 4-5 years.

Saturated, bright ruby-red. Aromas of currant, bitter cherry and fresh herbs, sweetened by sandalwood and roasted oak notes. Firm, backward and solidly structured; less sweet today and more tightly wound than the Reserve Selection. Dark berry flavors complicated by licorice and herbs. Finishes with very good persistence. Needs three or four years of additional cellaring.

Saturated ruby-red. Brooding, tight nose hints at briary blackberry, medicinal black cherry, licorice and bitter chocolate. Fat and broad in the mouth, but more juicy and less filled in than the Rutherford bottling. Distinctly briary berry flavors. A more muscular, structured style of cabernet whose big, dusty mountain tannins will require several years to harmonize with the wine's fruit.

A blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits a deep ruby/purple color as well as a sweet bouquet of smoked herbs, damp earth, black currants, plums, and a hint of licorice. Dense, medium to full-bodied, and lush with silky tannins, it should drink well for 10-15 years.

Dark, ruby color, significant structure, tannin, weight, and flesh, its dominant flavor characteristic is spicy black cherries dripping with oak. It will benefit from another year of bottle are, and work well for 4-5 years.

More backward, elegant, and highbrow, so to speak, is the 2007 Highland Estates Merlot Taylor Peak. This 100% Merlot from the Bennett Valley should turn out to be an outstanding wine with another 1-2 years of bottle age. The wine displays plenty of dark berry fruit, along with some crushed rock, coffee, and blueberry notes. It is a pretty wine to drink between 2010 and 2020.

.exhibits an opaque purple colr, accompanied by a smoky, mineral, cassis, and roasted olive-scented nose, and dense, fulll-bodied flavors with abundant black fruit, licorice, and smoke.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon (Alexander Valley) is powerful, intense and also massively tannic. Dark red stone fruit, chocolate, menthol, licorice, firm tannins add lift in a big, intense mountain Cabernet. Far from an easy going wine the Alexander Valley needs at least 6-12 months to come together.

The 2012 Grand Reserve offers excellent aromatics, including spicebox,black currants and a touch of oak before this medium-bodied,fleshy wine hits the palate. Very good balance, sweet tannin, and plush fruit make for a fairly priced wine to drink now-2023.

The 2006 Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits sweet black currant fruit intermixed with toasty oak, crushed rocks, tobacco leaf, and licorice. Medium to full-bodied with good minerality as well as a heady finish, it can be consumed over the next 10-12 years.

The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Trace Ridge, a Knights Valley cuvée that is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, offers nice chocolatey, black currant notes with some underbrush and forest floor. The wine has excellent texture, zesty acidity, and the vintage's tell-tale tannin and almost Bordeaux-like structure superimposed on the exuberant fruit of northern California. It should drink nicely for a decade or more.

From an Alexander Valley vineyard planted at lofty heights of 900-2,200 feet, the 2004 Highland Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Hawkeye Mountain is a structured, austere, Bordeaux-like offering displaying a backward, brooding fruitiness. Terroir-driven, it exhibits notes of black currants, crushed rocks, earth, and tobacco leaf. It should be cellared for 3-4 years, and drunk over the following 15 or more.

More natural, layered taste, and elegance allied to considerable richness. The 1991 Cardinale should drink well for 15 or more years.

Vivid red. Very ripe but reticent nose shows cherry and dark berries, with hints of vanilla and woodsmoke. Then sappy and fat in the mouth, offering sweet dark fruit flavors complicated by exotic spices. Boasts lush texture and very good concentration, but this is a bit brooding and dominated by its structure now. Give it a little bottle age.

Ruby-red. Complex, spice-accented aromas of cherry, dark berries, plum and smoke, lifted by a violet topnote. Dense, spicy and intense, with a smoky quality to its powerful dark fruit flavors. Aeration brings up livelier red fruits, but this could use some time to stretch out. The finish is firm, spicy and very long if a bit undifferentiated.