The 2011 Le Desir brings together the aromatics and red-toned fruit of La Muse, but with the slightly greater mid-palate volume of La Joie. Cedar, tobacco, smoke and crushed flowers add an attractive upper register to this soft, forward Cabernet Franc-based red.

Cabernet Sauvignon takes center stage in the 2011 La Joie. Dark red cherry, plum, smoke, mint, licorice, savory herbs and violets are all laced together nicely. The 2011 possesses lovely mid-palate sweetness in the soft, restrained style of the year. Here, too, the flavor profile is distinctly Old World leaning.

The 2012 Red Wine Sonoma County is one of the under the radar jewels of the vintage. Sweet floral notes meld into espresso, plum, dark red cherry and cedar notes. Perfumed, expressive and impeccably balanced, the 2012 impresses for its overall sense of proportion and harmony. The style is rich and quite textured, but younger vines and an overall approach that seeks to preserve freshness give the wine considerable energy. There is a lot to like here, including the price.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard has turned out beautifully. Mocha, dark cherries, plums, spices, new leather and tobacco meld together in a large-scaled, voluptuous wine built on intensity, texture and volume. This is one of the more overt Knights Valley Cabernets readers will come across. The vintage has softened some of the contours, which simply adds to the wine's considerable up-front appeal. A sweet, layered finish rounds things out in style. My sense is that the 2012 will be even better once some of the baby fat drops off, but the wine is undeniably delicious today.

The 2003 Helena Montana Cabernet Sauvignon is richer, deeper and more voluptuous than the Helena Dakota. Inky blue/purple fruit, spice, graphite and lavender are all front and center in this sexy, voluptuous Cabernet Sauvignon. Savory Knights Valley nuances underpin the fruit. Here, too, I would prefer to drink the 2003 sooner rather than later.

The 2011 La Muse presents a distinctly Old World profile of savory herbs, smoke, iron, tobacco, cedar and bright red stone fruits. This is a relatively soft, slender, small-scaled vintage for La Muse, but all the elements are nicely balanced. The 2011 can be enjoyed now or cellared for another decade.

A huge, explosive wine, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard hits the palate with a rush of pencil shavings, smoke, tobacco, incense, blackberry jam and tons of inky blue/purple fruit. This is a very typical 2013 Cabernet built on intense fruit, vibrant acidity and broad swaths of tannin. As such, readers should be prepared to give the 2013 at least a few years in the cellar once it is bottled and released. I imagine the 2013 will still be compelling at age 20, and likely beyond.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard is much more savory and mineral-driven than the 2012, with a greater sense of Knights Valley character. Inky blue and black fruits, graphite, smoke, lavender and cloves are all very much alive in the glass. Underlying beams of acidity and salinity give the wine its pulsating energy and tension. This is a terrific showing from Anakota and Pierre Seillan.

Dark red cherries, plums, mocha, dried rose petals, licorice, tobacco, smoke, game and cedar meld together in the 2003 Helena Dakota Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that is drinking quite nicely today. I don't see much upside from cellaring bottles further. The 2003 is in a beautiful place today.

Violets, blackberry jam, cloves, graphite and crushed rocks are some of the many notes that inform the 2013 Red Wine Sonoma County. The flavors are dark, inky and bold in this super-expressive and highly promising wine from Hélène Seillan and Cenyth. A powerful, resonant finish rounds things out in style.

Dark and peppery, with black fruit and spice flavors on a broad frame, featuring racy acidity and toasty oak notes that pick up steam on the finish. Best from 2017 through 2022. 820 cases made.

This stainless-steel-fermented wine offers a curiously herbal aroma of lemon verbena, with a bit of wet slate and fresh-cut honeydew. As expected, the flavors are steely at first, with fruit flavors of ripe pear and lemon emerging in the midpalate, winding up on a distinctly tart apple-skin finish.

Light-medium in volume and hinting at red cherries with a rich touch of caramelly oak in its aromas, this wine is not quite full in body yet has more viscosity and openness than its weight on the palate would suggest. Its early suppleness invites drinking in the here and now, and while it is not a wine for long cellaring, it certainly can improve a bit over the next three to four years.

From the highest section (210m) of the '46 bush vine grenache, hand-picked, mechanically sorted, cold soak, open-fermented, hand-plunged, wild yeast-fermented, on lees in used French oak for 12 months. Deep, bright colour; the complex dark fruits of the bouquet lead into a palate of exceptional depth and dimension, not least the firm tannins more often encountered in cabernet than shiraz, and almost never in grenache. Amazing. 160 dozen made.

Destemmed and mechanically berry-sorted, 50% crushed, tipped into two 675l ceramic eggs. Fermentation occurs in the eggs; remains on skins for 120 days post-fermentation, the pressings not used. The colour is clear and bright; a perfumed bouquet, then a palate brimming with bright red fruits supported by a spider web of ultra-fine tannins. It is the perfume that is so extraordinary. 94 dozen made.

A 49/29/22% blend of grenache, shiraz and mourvedre. Hand-picked, mechanically sorted, 50% whole berries, cold soak, open fermenters, plunged, wild yeast-fermented, kept on lees in 100% used French oak for 9 months. Brilliant hue; the wine effortlessly communicates its distinguished breeding, the medium-bodied palate with a silken line of fruit, then a thin coat of fine, savoury tannins.

A steep site at 1,500 feet in the coastal ridges above the Anderson Valley, this windy vineyard catches the sun when the valley below is socked in with fog, allowing zin to fully ripen while holding onto its acidity. In 2012 the vineyard grew a zin of captivating intensity, its ripeness feeling warm and energetic, charging forward coastal scents of spruce tips and crushed blackberries, its texture posh in the middle and firm at the end.

Arguably the richest of the new Siduri Pinots yet a wine that is unstinting in deep and defined, black cherry fruit, this full and patently juicy young wine is as extracted as any and uncannily well-balanced at one and the same time. It is wonderfully supple in feel with the first signs of varietal velvet promising fine things ahead, and, while unabashedly ripe, it hides its alcohol with fruity substance to spare. Its outgoing manner is certain to tempt early drinking, but, as good as it is now, it has the pieces in place to get better and better with age.

Picking a favorite from the very impressive Siduri lot is no easy task as the best bottlings offer very different looks at the grape, but this distinctive, very complex, beautifully balanced working contends for top honors. Its intense, neatly composed aromas of ripe cherries, wildflowers, caramel and cream are followed up by deep, exceptionally well-focused, very long-lasting flavors that deliver fully on promise. It is so outgoing in character that it runs the risk of being drunk in haste, and it comes with a plea for three or four years of cellaring.

The best Russian River Pinots evoke a wonderfully pure sense of distinctly cherry-like fruit even when quite ripe, and this lovely effort does just that. It leads with incisive, deeply fruited aromas that are sweetened with a deft touch of oak, and its generous flavors show an extra measure of substance and stuffing. It is fairly full-bodied and aims for direct richness right now, yet it intimates nuance to come, and it is a wine that is wholly worth laying down for a few years.

Subtle in honey and grapefruit, this is a playful wine, vibrant in acidity and swirls of lemon zest that make it simultaneously refreshing and intriguing. Oysters are the obvious call.

Wild vanilla and white peach intermingle in this substantial wine, entirely well-composed in round layers of tropical pineapple and juicy citrus. The oak is subtle and gives the finish a lift, accenting the vanilla.

Powerhouse of a wine: bold, brash and full-on with dense, inky dried fruit. The palate has notes of almonds with a bit of oiliness and great weight and length.

This is a deep and concentrated white wine, ripely adorned in honey and apricot with a streak of honeysuckle dancing on the nose throughout. Creamy and round, it is buoyed by a fresh sprinkling of orange blossom and rind.

Generously fruited with a wealth of ripe cherries well-matched with temperate oak, this deep and very well-balanced bottling is one that outperforms at the price. It is long and insistent with a great sense of precision, and its fine sense of crafting makes it eminently inviting right now even though it is a wine that will age famously. Drink it up soon without guilt if patience comes hard, but know that good things lie ahead for those who are willing to wait for another three to six years.