Hard mountain tannins characterize this Cab, which was grown above 2,000 feet in the Mayacamas. It's hugely deep in blackberries and black currants, with notes of dark chocolate and violets. Meanwhile, 100% new French oak adds an elaborate layer of smoky caramel and char that's entirely in keeping with the wine's volume. Impressive and flashy, but immature, this wine requires cellaring. Best 2012-2018.

The top red wine cuvee is the sensational 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Christopher’s Vineyard from a 2,400 foot elevation site on Jess Jackson’s Alexander Mountain Estate Vineyard. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, this sensational, dense ruby/purple-hued 2005 exhibits notes of crushed rocks, blackberries, blueberries, charcoal, and graphite. Full-bodied, powerful, and rich, it is meant for long-term aging. Forget it for 5-6 years, and enjoy it over the following three decades.

Here's a true gem, with rich, buttery aromas from barrel fermentation and aging, together with clearly defined chardonnay fruit and just the right note of acidity to unite all elements of the package.

The 2017s From Sonoma Also brilliant, the 2017 Chardonnay Red Point Vineyard is slightly richer and more rounded, offering medium to full-bodied notes of stone fruits, toasted brioche, white flowers, and a liquid rock-like minerality. It’s rich, concentrated, and powerful, yet has terrific balance and length. This cuvée comes from vines planted in 1994 and a southeast facing vineyard in the Alexander Valley and spent 11 months in 44% new French oak. It too will keep for at least a decade.

More tropical mango and pineapple notes define the 2016 Chardonnay Upper Barn, which is fresh, lively, and pretty on the palate. Both Chardonnays here have a terrific salinity, impeccable balance, and a great finish. This estate is from Wente and from vines planted in the 1980s. It's a seamless, elegant, structured, rocking Chardonnay that's going to age.

From a site made famous by Helen Turley when she was buying its fruit, the 2014 Chardonnay Upper Barn is at an 1,800-foot elevation and spent 11 months in 52% new French oak. A killer Chardonnay (as it always has been), the wine offers up notes of wet gravel, citrus oil, apple blossom, orange marmalade, honeysuckle, and a hint of almond paste. Fabulous fruit on the attack, mid-palate and finish characterizes this dry, gorgeous, compelling Chardonnay that should age effortlessly for a decade or more.

Bright medium yellow. Brilliantly pure aromas and flavors of ripe peach, green melon, soft citrus fruit and brown spices are complicated by a subtle leesy quality. Hugely rich, pliant and sweet but with harmonious acidity and an impression of dusty extract framing the wine's almost exotic fruit. This is bigger than most red wines but not at all over the top. The wonderfully tactile, youthful finish features outstanding palate-drenching length. Exceptional chardonnay.

Nearly as good as the 2012 Chardonnay Upper Barn is the 2012 Chardonnay Gravel Bench, which exhibits lots of wet stone-like notes intermixed with Corton-Charlemagne-like honeyed citrus, quince and white peach characteristics, and a finish that lasts for 40+ seconds. This killer Chardonnay can be consumed over the next 6-7 years.

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.