Classic pink with a rich nose and lovely fresh fruit. Tart, but not bracing. Good fruit and lengthy finish. Very Good to Excellent.

Dark in the glass with red fruit, vanilla, cigarette smoke. A bit too one-dimensional on the palate, with good fruit and drying tannins, but lacking depth. Very Good to Excellent.

Funky and fruity on the nose. Big rich, extracted to a certain extent. Very Good to Excellent.

Lighter, but fruity, elegant, and pretty, the 2000 exhibits a more evolved personality, displaying notes of coffee, black cherry and currant fruit, and spicy new oak. Although meduim-bodied, it does not have the depth or persistence fo the 1999 and 2001. Nevertheless, it offers plenty of charm.

From a great vineyard, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and will be aged 30 months in about 43% new French oak. This wine has a deep ruby/purple color and notes of cedar wood, damp earth, spice box, pepper and roasted herbs. This rich, concentrated, earthy style of Cabernet should drink well for 12-15+ years.

Potentially outstanding were the last three barrel samples I tasted. The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Smothers Remick Ridge Vineyard is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that will be aged 30 months in 50% new French oak. The wine offers good graphite notes intermixed with cedar wood, blackcurrants, vanilla and spice box. It has excellent body, concentration and purity and should drink nicely for 15 or more years.

The only red wine that I can recommend. Exhibits a dense purple color as well as spicy, ripe black currant notes intermixed with loamy tannic, dense, and promising, it requires 3-4 years of bottle age to strut its stuff.

The appellation release from the Santa Lucia Highlands--the 2015 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands--has outstanding potential, and at 35 bucks it should be a no-brainer. Peppery herbs, darker fruits and mineral notes all emerge from this medium-bodied, nicely concentrated and textured 2015 that shows a darker core of fruit, ripe tannin and solid length. Drink it on release and over the following 2-4 years.

Siduri's 2015 Pinot Noir Ewald Vineyard is bold, juicy and expressive, with plenty of up-front fruit, soft contours and an accessible personality. Blood orange and a host of reddish-toned fruits add to the wine's immediacy. This should drink well upon release. I tasted the 2015 from tank just prior to bottling.

Savory herbs, leather, tobacco, blue/purplish fruit are some of the notes that take shape in the Pinot Noir Sonatera Vineyard. One of the more savory wines in the range, the Sonatera will also likely need time in bottle for the tannins to soften.

With respect to Matanzas Creek's Chardonnay, the new winemaking techniques include largely indigenous yeast fermentations, whole cluster pressing, and lees stirring. That is evidenced by the 2001 Chardonnay, which exhibits a creamy texture along with notes of minerals, oranges, and tropical fruits presented in a medium-bodied, clean, delicious, dry style. The wood influence is kept in the background.

Bright, deep ruby. Rather Medoc-like aromas of black fruits, licorice, bitter chocolate, roasted herbs and mint. Then somewhat tough, even dry, in the mouth, with less density and stuffing than the '99. Seems distinctly less ripe than the Diamond Mountain sample.

It exhibits an opaque purple color, a sweet, ripe, olive, chocolate, smoky, cassis-scented nose, dense, full-bodied flavors, moderate tannin, potentially exceptional extract, fine purity, and a long, spicy finish. The wine admirably combines the purity and ripeness of California fruit with a slight degree of the austerity and restraint exhibited by a top Bordeaux.

The 2012 Pinot Noir Jackson Estate Los Robles is 100% Pinot Noir from the Los Alamos valley in Santa Barbara County. It offers lots of black and red currants intermixed with a hint of attractive barnyard (in a positive sense), roasted herb and underbrush notes, medium body and a rich, succulent, fleshy mouthfeel. It should drink nicely for 4-5 years.

The opaque blue/purple color is followed by smoky, camphor, blackberry, currant, and pepper notes. Good acidity, medium to full body, and a well-textured, long finish suggest it should be consumed over the next 5-6 years.

100% Syrah aged 11 months in French oak. Displays pepper, blackberry aromas and flavors with a notion of graphite in the background. Smoky/earthy characteristics.

More serious with an inky/purple color, full body, and impressive volume....reveals excellent to outstanding potential.

... the dark ruby/purple-colored (Merlot) exhibits abundant quantities of mocha, black cherry, and currant fruit with smoke and fennel in the background. Textured, rich, pure as well as medium to full-bodied, this wine should drink well...

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2016 Merlot Vintner's Reserve is a plump, yet delicate wine with lovely fruit intensity to match its gentle, mid-weight personality. I would prefer to drink it over the next few years, while the plum and blueberry flavors retain their youthful freshness.

The 2017s From Sonoma Not yet bottled, the 2016 Merlot Vintner's Reserve checks in as 89.6% Merlot, 8.2% Malbec, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, all aged 21 months in 74% French and 26% American oak, with roughly 20% being new. Plums, black cherries, and smoky earth notes as well as plenty of background herbal nuance all flow to a juicy, fruit-forward Merlot that has plenty of texture and length. It’s certainly a very good wine.

The 2013 Merlot Taylor Peak Estate comes from Jackson Park Vineyard in Bennett Valley and is 100% Merlot. This is a soft, heady wine with notes of damp earth, mulberry and black cherries. It is lush, fruity and ideal for drinking over the next 7-10 years.

A blend of 47% Grenache, 43% Syrah and 10% Mourvedre aged largely in French oak with a touch of American wood, the 2012 GSM Grand Reserve exhibits the classic aromas of a very good Cotes du Rhone from Southern France. Kirsch liqueur, licorice, underbrush, loamy soil and pepper notes are present in this rich, luscious, consumer-friendly, sexy red. Enjoy it over the next 2-3 years.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Hawkeye Mountain, from a site in Alexander Valley, is the richest and deepest of these wines. Today, it boasts serious depth, density and sheer extract. Blackberry jam, cloves and sweet French oak all meld together in the glass. I find the French oak a bit dominant today, but that is not too surprising, given that I tasted the 2010 from barrel. I hope to have a chance to revisit the 2010 after it has been bottled.

Tasted from barrel, the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Jackson Hills seemed more backward, tannic and unevolved. Jess Jackson likes his Cabernets to age a long time and therefore, almost all of them, even the low end cuvees, have plenty of structure and extract. This 2008 does not reveal the charm, opulence and intensity of the 2007, but there is a lot going on and it unquestionably has outstanding potential. Kendall-Jackson enjoys a well-deserved reputation for over-delivering quality vis à vis price for its wines.

Top-notch…Its dense purple color is followed by a stony, earthy, terroir-driven nose, black currants, high tannin, and a backward, primordial personality. It requires 2-3 more years of bottle age to round into shape. Only time will tell whether the tannin of fruit will ultimately dominate.