The 2008 Chardonnay Lower Rim is another compelling effort displaying enormous flesh, richness, succulence, minerality, and acidity. Notes of steely nectarines, bright oranges, lemon zest, butter cookies, and nutmeg emerge from this serious Chardonnay. These are far and away the most impressive group of Stonestreet Alexander Mountain estate wines that I have ever tasted.

A monster Chardonnay, massive yet balanced. Shows fantastically ripe pineapple, golden mango, lemon chiffon pie, buttered toast, crème brûlée and cinnamon spice flavors, brightened with crisp, clean acidity. Almost a food group in itself. Reserve this for your boldest, most upscale fare, like lobster.

Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Lucia Highlands The 2016 Pinot Noir Hawks View Vineyard Pinot Noir is a more perfumed, elegant effort (it's from the northern end of the Willamette) that has Burgundian notes of sweet cherries, sous bois, spice, and rose petals. Finesse-driven, seamless and pure, but with rock-solid intensity, it's going to drink nicely for upwards of a decade.

This is a stellar representation of the region, combining ripeness with dark earth and wild herb notes. Aromas of black cherry, crushed slate, turned loam, dried hibiscus and violets make for a lavish nose. The rounded palate weaves black raspberry together with gravel, thyme and sagebrush. Iron fist, silk glove, utterly delicious.

From one of the most coveted vineyards in the Central Coast, this is a well-balanced whopper of a wine, starting on aromas of fresh raspberry, black plum, forest floor, violets and dark chocolate. The palate is rich upfront, showing strawberry and other dark berries, and then gains complexity in notes of sandalwood and myrrh. Thanks to deep acidity and tannic framing, the wine is simultaneously bold and balanced.

Rich, savory and yet still beautifully floral, this is all that a Syrah can be. Dark and thick in the glass, it begins with aromas of stewed black plums, burned beef, tar and teriyaki, yet with the lift of violets. The palate shows similar cohesive qualities, from dark fruit to roasted game, and is leveled by dramatic black-pepper spice and a bright acidity.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s Starting with the 2016 Merlot Mt. Veeder, this brilliant wine is one of the top Merlots in the vintage. Purple-hued, fleshy, and beautifully full-bodied, it has terrific notes of black fruits, chocolate, and underbrush, fine yet building tannins, a stacked mid-palate, and a great finish. Even at $80, it’s a screaming deal and has true Merlot opulence paired with considerable purity and elegance. It will keep for 15-20 years.

Crowd-Pleasing Budget Wines Winemaker Chris Carpenter also authored the spectacular La Jota Merlot, from the other side of the Napa Valley, from this excellent vintage. The Mt. Brave is equally stunning but a bit more suave and approachable, showing a note of cedar and wood spice on the nose, ripe black fruits on the palate and uncommon balance for such a big wine. The finish is long and memorable.

This is serious mountain grown Merlot, sourced from vineyards at elevations between 1400 and 1800 feet on Mount Veeder, at the southern end of the Napa Valley. At that elevation the cool nights help red wines retain freshness. This beautifully structured Merlot has exceptional backbone combined with beautiful aromas of blueberry and boysenberry and fresh acidity. Drinking beautifully now, though the tannins are firm and could benefit from another five to ten years in the cellar.

Composed of 87.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec and 1.5% Petit Verdot, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder gives up notions of crème de cassis, violets, baker's chocolate, licorice and yeast extract with a touch of beef drippings. Full-bodied, concentrated and wonderfully expressive, the palate gives lovely ripe tannins and great freshness, finishing long and earthy.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s The 2016 Malbec Mt. Veeder is another fabulous wine from winemaker Chris Carpenter. It offers a vibrant, focused, savory style in its blue fruits, graphite, and lead pencil aromatics, and has a concentrated, layered style on the palate. It’s a complex, age-worthy Malbec that will evolve for over a decade.

2017 California Pinot Noir All-Americans Second Team Wines ….vivacious aromas, descriptors don't do justice….gorgeous and delicious….spot-on balance…..extraordinary finish.

Napa Valley’s Extraordinary 2016 Cabernets - Part 1 The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon (Diamond Mountain) is fabulous. Dark, powerful and explosive, the 2016 is endowed with terrific energy to play off its strong mineral and savory signatures. Crushed rocks, gravel, grilled herbs, smoke, cured meats and lavender are finely drawn in this imposing, impeccably balanced, Diamond Mountain Cabernet. This is a remarkably vivid, poised Cabernet Sauvignon from Lokoya and winemaker Chris Carpenter. The Diamond Mountain Cabernet is sourced entirely from Wallis, which the Jackson family bought a few years ago.

Napa 2016 Vintage: 5 Consecutive Years of Fantastic Wines I have not had many Howell Mountain cabernets like this with crushed blackberry and blueberry character. Nuanced. Full-bodied and extremely fine-textured. It goes on for minutes. Greatness.

Lokoya's Cabernet Sauvignon (Howell Mountain) draws on both fruit from the Jackson family's Keyes and La Jota vineyards, which is unusual, as the wine is usually made only from Keyes. Plush, deep and inky, the 2015 races across the palate with layers of inky blue/purplish fruit, spice, new leather, licorice and lavender. Deep, powerful and super-concentrated, the 2015 has a lot to offer. Here, too, winemaker Chris Carpenter has tamed the mountain tannins considerably.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain displays the saturated black purple color from this site. Offering an incredible nose of volcanic ash, charcoal embers, blackberry, cassis and spice, dense, superb, full body, and a multi-layered richness, this wine is just sensational. The silky tannins only add to its up-front appeal. Drink it now and over the next 25-30 years.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain is the most approachable, sexy and opulent of the 2014s and offers a gorgeous perfume of red and black currants, Asian spices, sandalwood, and white chocolate. This is a ripe, huge wine, yet it stays beautifully balanced and elegant, with no weight or rusticity, and it picks up a beautiful minerality with time in the glass. It's already impossible to resist yet is going to keep for three decades.

Top Ten: California For almost two decades, Lokoya Mt Veeder has been made from a selection of blocks within Veeder Peak Estate vineyard that sits on the sunny western ridges of the Mayacamas Mountains at the northern end of the Mount Veeder AVA. Poor, low nutrient volcanic soil yields small berries and big, concentrated flavours. Blueberries and violets with dense, rich mountain tannins spill from the glass. It’s always 100 percent cabernet sauvignon, fermented with native yeast, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Wisps of smoke and meat complex what is an outstanding bottle of cabernet and a direction many could learn from. I love the dry, firm mineral undercurrent and the subtle red fruit punctuation marks. You could drink this if you had to, but a decade or two in the cellar would leave this close to perfection and a fun bottle to slip into blind tastings.

For almost two decades, Lokoya Mt Veeder has been made from a selection of blocks within Veeder Peak Estate vineyard that sits on the sunny western ridges of the Mayacamas Mountains at the northern end of the Mount Veeder AVA. Poor, low nutrient volcanic soil yields small berries and big, concentrated flavours. Blueberries and violets with dense, rich mountain tannins spill from the glass. It’s always 100 percent cabernet sauvignon, fermented with native yeast, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Wisps of smoke and meat complex what is an outstanding bottle of cabernet and a direction many could learn from. I love the dry, firm mineral undercurrent and the subtle red fruit punctuation marks. You could drink this if you had to, but a decade or two in the cellar would leave this close to perfection and a fun bottle to slip into blind tastings.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain comes from several parcels, most notably the Wallis vineyard. The wine has an opaque, black-as-a-moonless-night color and an incredible nose of volcanic ash and charcoal interwoven with creme de cassis, blackberry, licorice, grilled meats and almost a beef blood-like component from a grilled steak. The wine has fabulous body and tremendous opulence that nearly hides its significant tannin and structure. This is an enormously endowed, rich wine that probably has 30-40 years of upside potential.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain tastes like a first-growth Pauillac. Notes of licorice, crème de cassis, graphite, beef blood and forest floor are all present in this full-bodied, extraordinarily pure, majestic wine that coats the palate, but is neither heavy nor harsh. This magnificent, dramatic Cabernet should continue to drink well for 20-25 years.

Even better is the wonderfully perfumed 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain. Abundant aromas of black raspberries, blueberry liqueur, forest floor and violets are followed by a wine of great intensity, full-bodied richness and a layered, multidimensional personality with sweet tannin as well as low acidity. This beautiful, savory, full-throttle effort should drink well for 15 years.

Lokoya's 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is another striking wine from Chris Carpenter. Mocha, plums and cassis wrap around the palate in a gorgeous, inky Cabernet endowed with gorgeous textural depth and pure volume. Layers of flavor build in the glass in a rich, sumptuous wine endowed with superb depth. The fruit is so rich there is almost no sensation of mountain tannin, which is highly unusual for Howell Mountain, especially in 2011. A deep, plush finish laced with pencil shavings, graphite, plums and smoke leaves a lasting impression. I imagine the 2011 will enjoy a long and broad drinking window once the tannins start to soften.

More crushed stone, mulberry, black currant, lead pencil shavings and wet pebble-like notes emerge from the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain. This beauty possesses great intensity, full-bodied power, low acidity and sweet tannin. It can be drunk now and over the next 12-15 years.

Chris Carpenter's 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder is super-impressive from start to finish. A rich, dark wine, the 2010 saturates the palate with endless layers of huge fruit. Violets, menthol, tar, plums and blueberry jam all flow from this striking wine. Clean veins of piercing, saline Mt. Veeder minerality run through the 2010. Although just bottled, the 2010 is shaping up to be a jewel of wine.