This really packs in some serious plum paste, cassis and black cherry pâte de fruit notes, all wrapped in brambly grip and laced with mouthwatering anise and iron notes. There's a tarry underpinning on the finish, with a deftly inlaid roasted apple wood note. Nicely set up for the cellar. Best from 2023 through 2038.

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine of tremendous character. Bright acids and vertical structure give the 2018 its incredibly distinctive feel. Dark cherry, tobacco, cedar and spice lend complexity, but it is the wine's precision and overall nuance that make the deepest impression. The tiny Pine Mountain AVA is capable of yielding magnificent Cabernets that are all about the energy these sites at altitude confer, as is very much the case here.

A more rounded, concentrated, sexy Chardonnay, the 2019 Chardonnay Red Point Vineyard comes from a southeast-facing site in the Alexander Valley and vines planted in 1994. It's always a bigger, richer wine in this lineup, yet it has beautiful balance, good acidity, and ample minerality in its stone fruits, brioche, honeysuckle, and spice-driven aromas and flavors. It has real class and will keep for at least 7-8 years, if not a decade, if well stored.

Loads of Bing cherries, ripe strawberries, flowery incense, and sandalwood notes emerge from the 2018 Pinot Noir Arrendell Vineyard, another pure, rich, almost full-bodied Pinot Noir in the lineup. It certainly has Russian River Valley levels of fruit, yet there's not much cola character, and it has an incredibly floral, pure, vibrant style.

More mulberries, sour black cherries, bouquet garni, and a distinct yet subtle marine-like character all emerge from the 2018 Pinot Noir Jennifer's, a rich, beautifully balanced, incredibly singular Russian River Pinot Noir. This is another up-front, fleshy, already impressive 2018 from this estate that has the fruit and texture to shine today yet the class and balance to evolve for a decade.

While the 2018 Chardonnay Seascape Vineyard comes from a cooler site on the Sonoma Coast, it brings solid ripeness levels in its tropical and honeyed citrus-like fruits as well as notes of baking spices, candle wax, white flowers, and chalky mineral nuances. With bright, integrated acidity, medium to full body, and a great finish, it comes together beautifully with time in the glass and will continue to impress over the coming 7-8 years.

Another Russian River release, the 2019 Chardonnay Four Hearts Vineyard brings plenty of ripe tropical fruit as well as medium to full body, a supple, layered mouthfeel, nicely integrated acidity, and building spice, toast, and green almond nuances. It's another thrilling, brilliant Chardonnay from this estate. Drink bottles over the coming 5-7 years.

This has a very attractive, stony edge, almost flinty, together with bright, fine red fruit in the plum and red-berry zone. There’s a gently floral edge, too. The freshness is impressive. The palate has a very succulent edge and a fine squeeze of tannin that carries a long, detailed and vibrant finish. Still very youthful. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Packed with fruit, this dense version is nonetheless vivid and full of energy, with plum pâte de fruit, açaí reduction and boysenberry preserves flavors streaming through, carried by a graphite note, all while an invigorating licorice snap and floral streak work throughout. A great racy iron note at the very end carries it all through the encore. Built to last. Best from 2023 through 2038.

Bright, medium to full red/purple colour with a sweetly raspberry-like aroma, a lovely fragrant perfume. Rose petals and pot-pourri. Light to medium-weighted, with a fine sheen of tannins contributing a nicely tailored firmness to the structure. A wine of real finesse. (A higher altitude site but the soils are grey clays usually found in the lowest parts of the valley)

Aromas of almond, malt, smoky-sulfides and cracked wheat. The 60% malolactic doesn't show. A supremely refined, delicate yet intense wine with lovely flow to the palate, the aftertaste has a distinctively malt-biscuit character and lovely citrusy mouthwatering acidity that is beautifully integrated into the seamless whole. Tremendous length, a very smart wine. (400m altitude. North and north-east exposures. The highest site in the Yarra to reliably ripen fruit, formerly a sparkling wine vineyard)

Lots of licorice and blackberry aromas with violets and hints of fresh leather. Full-bodied with very fine-grained tannins that give the wine length and depth. So well crafted and long. Really excellent. Elegance with power. Drinkable now, but give it a year or three to show its really excellence. Best after 2023.

Impenetrable in color with captivating violet reflections, hints of black plums, blackberries, wild myrtle, cinnamon, juniper berries and green pepper emerge. In the background, the slight opalescence given by the stay on large and fine lees makes it more attractive and will protect it over time. Full body, velvety tannins and an incredibly radiant and essential, defined and progressive finish. Fantastic now it will be better from 2023 onwards.

Grenache purity at its finest. A sublime example of Grenache. Delicate, elegant and sophisticated. You'd think you were drinking Pinot. It's so light and bright. Transparent even. Raspberries, red cherries and rhubarb, it is a wine that is so fine that it sneaks up to you and draws you in. Seeing 101 days in a ceramic egg, it is like a boxer fighting in the featherweight division with a light presence that evades any distraction and just dances on. Superfine textural feels, what is not to adore about the powdery like to finish? Just Brilliant! Organic and biodynamic. Drink to five years+.

The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Réserve Spéciale may very well be the finest wine I have tasted from Arrowood in this incarnation. Readers will have to be patient with the 2017, as it is a powerhouse. The purity of the flavors is just striking. Sweet red cherry, pomegranate, mocha, spice and cedar all open gradually in the glass. This is a fabulous example of Sonoma Cabernet. Don't miss it, but give the tannins time to soften.

Vérité: Now at age 10The 2011 La Joie is also gorgeous and about as classy as they come. Based on 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and the rest small quantities of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec, it's a Bordeaux look-alike with its cassis and darker currant fruits as well as lead pencil, flowers, and cedary herb-like aromatics. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has terrific tannins, a wonderful sense of elegance, and a great finish. This is just a classic California Cabernet Sauvignon that blossoms with time in the glass, has wonderful balance, and another 15-20 years of prime drinking ahead of it.

Aromas of five-spice, strawberries, raspberries and my nanna's garden (geraniums, roses etc). There's a bit of musk and herb action as well. The fruit flavours are bright, crunchy, perfumed and lively, with cherry, raspberry, some darker fruit notes at play as well as earthiness. There's a whole lot of other top stuff happening: it keeps unfolding in the glass. The tannins are a real feature. How does a wine that looks quite light in the glass get such a drive of serious tannin firmness and structure? Delicious stuff.

Squid-ink-purple colour, scents of plush boysenberry, balsamic flowers and coffee. A rush of flavour, sweet red and black cherries, bacon fat, dried herbs and vanilla bean cradled by a full-body with svelte tannins. Showcasing flavour concentration, depth, opulence and long persistence to finish.

Intense ruby colour, bright and clear throughout the glass. Wine gums, dry earth and wakame on the nose. The palate is medium in weight but full in power. Fruit sits with depth, but the tannin profile is something special in its intensity and grip. Great length, it lingers very long. Time in the cellar is highly recommended as this will age very well. If you're a classical Châteauneuf-du-Pape fan, then this is a wine to note.

Very deep, dark, youthful purple/red colour with a rich, complex, profound bouquet that has a substantial oak input but not overdone—given the concentration of flavour. The palate flavour persists a very long time. It’s firm and youthful, needs more time, and promises much for the future. Dark berries galore: rich and ripe and very, very attractive.

Dark licorice, dust and sage meet a thread of white pepper in this deliciously built, powerful and complex wine from an old-vine estate site. Juicy blackberry dominates on the midpalate in concentrated form, seasoned in graceful hints of nutmeg and oak.

From a block within the Arrendell Vineyard, this is an earthy, hearty and generously ripe wine, smooth and complex with underlying brightness. Dense layers of black cherry and berry meet a savory edginess of forest floor and black tea, showcasing the beauty and brawn of the variety.

Moderately light garnet color in the bottle. Soaring aromas of Bing cherry, raspberry, spice and sap right after opening. Delicious tastes of black cherry and raspberry have mouth-filling fullness and length. Beautifully balanced with buried tannins and an invigorating acid backbone. Very polished with a thoroughbred finish. The next day, when tasted from a previously opened and re-corked bottle, the wine led me on a wonderful Pinot high.

Tenuta di Arceno: chasing perfectionThe use of 70% new French oak for Arcanum is well integrated already in the young wines and deliciously melded in this 2013. More tight and elegant than powerful, this vintage produced a restrained Cabernet Franc (blended with 17% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon) full of earthy minerality, cedar wood aromas, balsamic notes in depth and a sweet finish of pipe tobacco. The cedar flavours flow with a velvety, almost silky texture and juicy acidity. The sternness of Castelnuovo Berardenga is here matched exceptionally with the fleshy character of this stylish Left-Bank blend.

Tenuta di Arceno: chasing perfectionThe celebrated 2016 vintage in Tuscany continues to impress. This Bordeaux blend is based on Merlot but has a slightly Left Bank style, and will soon become the estate's current vintage of Valadorna, due to be released this year. Aged in 60% new French oak, it is polished and intense, with bramble fruit, earthy balsamic tones, a milk chocolate aroma and a slightly herbal touch. Its tight-knit structure, combining crisp acidity and firm yet velvety tannins, makes this a powerful yet graceful wine. Even if you're not a fan of Tuscan Merlot, the tense character it gives to wines in the Chianti region is to be admired.