USA, California, Napa Valley: More New 2018 ReleasesA new wine under the Caladan label, the 2018 Red Blend is composed of 41% Merlot, 25.5% Cabernet Franc, 25.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec and 3% Petit Verdot. It was aged for 22 months in oak, 70% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, the nose delivers beautiful fragrant notes of black cherries, red roses, chocolate box, licorice and boysenberries with stewed plums and eucalyptus at the core. Medium to full-bodied, the rich, plushly textured palate is nicely balanced by a lively backbone, finishing long with baking spices notes coming through.

Napa Valley’s Thrilling 2018s & 2019s, Part 1 The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is a powerful, tightly wound wine that captures all the natural intensity of Howell Mountain. Blackberry jam, graphite, smoke ,iron and crushed rocks give this dark, massively tannic Cabernet a lot of character. Even after having been opened for several hours, the 2018 remains forbidding, with serious tannins that are going to require a good bit of cellaring before the wine becomes approachable.

42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, 14% Petit Verdot. This is a cabernet blend. It’s worth studying. It has finesse, it has flavour, it’s finely-tuned and it feels flush through the finish. Oak and fruit are on great terms, tannin is perfectly formed, and acidity adds a line of freshness to the wine without moving a petal. It’s not a sweet wine but it’s ripe; it’s not bitter but there are layers of herbs; it’s not ‘big’ but it spreads across the palate impressively. It’s worth every cent.

I think this is maybe the best Trueman I can recall tasting. It’s true, man. There’s certainly a Napa-esque lushness about this, and the Cabernet Franc. Dark chocolate, ripe blackberry, flowers, garden herbs, spicy biscuit oak. It’s full-bodied, but not heavy, a flood of dark and persuasive flavour, cocoa richness of tannin, baking spices and sage, and a powerful finish, layered in with sweet tannin and surprising freshness. Exemplary Cabernet here.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018The flagship Chardonnay, the 2018 Chardonnay Upper Barn Vineyard comes from a high elevation block and spent 11 months in 46% new French oak. It shows the more rounded, supple style of the vintage and has beautiful depth and richness, a seamless texture, and layered notes of white currants, white flowers, crushed stone, and subtle brioche. Its oak is nicely integrated, and this rich, powerful, flawlessly balanced Chardonnay should continue drinking nicely for 7-8 years or more.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018A blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% each of Petit Verdot and Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Red Wine spent two years in 55% new French oak. This inky colored effort has an awesome nose of blackcurrants, charcoal, lead pencil, and smoke tobacco, with more chocolate and subtle oak emerging with time in the glass. It's concentrated, full-bodied, fabulously balanced, and just a gorgeous Sonoma Bordeaux blend that's going to have 20-25 years of longevity.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018From the Anderson Valley and a mix of clones (115, 667, 777 and Pommard), aged 16 months in 34% new French oak, the 2017 Pinot Noir Velvet Sisters reveals a ruby/translucent color to go with a kiss of the blue fruit that's always present in Anderson Valley Pinots intermixed with Bing cherries, savory herbs, dried earth, and candied violets. Playing in the medium-bodied end of the spectrum, it has good acidity, plenty of structure, and a great finish, yet its seamless, pure texture is what stands out. My money is on this blossoming with 2-3 years of bottle age, and it's going to drink nicely for a decade. It's impressive.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyard comes from a vineyard located at the end of Bella Oaks Lane in Rutherford. This has slightly less Cabernet Sauvignon than the Bosche Vineyard, at 84%, and the rest is Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged three months less in oak. Loads of clove, sweet blackberry and cassis, black olive tapenade and earthy forest floor notes are all present in this wine that shows dazzling richness, a heady full-bodied mouthfeel and stunning finish. The wine is slightly more evolved with the tannins and structure less present than in the Bosché.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2016 Maggy Hawk Pinot Noir sings of lilacs and red roses with a core of warm cranberries, raspberry leaves, kirsch and black tea with hints of underbrush and tobacco. Medium-bodied, it fills the palate with elegant, intense red berry and earthy layers, supported by ripe, fine-grained tannins and compelling freshness, finishing very long.

This wine's vineyard sources include Rutherford, To-Kalon, Mt. Veeder, and Keyers Vineyard on Howell Mountain. The wine's opaque purple color is accompanied by a glorious nose of licorice cassis, lead pencil, and minerals. Sweet, with a terrific attack displaying stupendous ripeness, full-bodied richness, and a natural texture with a super-concentrated mid-palate and finish, this is a star of the vintage.

Napa Valley: 2007 Retrospective - Napa's Turning-Point Vintage Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot, the 2007 Proprietary Red Wine still possesses a youthful deep garnet-purple color and gives up a truly gorgeous nose of crème de cassis, blackberry pie and blueberry compote with notions of Chinese five spice, licorice, mocha and dusty soil plus wafts of cardamom and smoked meats. Full-bodied, rich and totally seductive in mouth, it has a firm frame of super ripe, grainy tannins with oodles of freshness and epic persistence.

Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Hapgood has notes of black cherries and black raspberries with hints of black pepper, dried herbs and damp earth. Medium to full-bodied, rich, densely and superbly structured with grainy tannins and a racy acid line, it has an epically long, complex finish. Yum.

A real blockbuster, and one meant for 25-30 years of cellaring, is the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard, made from 50-year-old vines. Treated like the Reserve Speciale, aged 30 months in oak prior to being bottled unfined and unfiltered, this shows off this hallowed terroir that is now owned by the Gallo family. A very full-bodied wine with notes of cedar and black cherry liqueur intermixed with creme de cassis, graphite, and loamy soil notes, the wine is deep, chewy, full-bodied, and intense. The tannins are high, but the fruit and concentration are more than adequate to match them. Give it 3-4 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following 25-30+ years. This should be a brilliant wine down the road.

The 2015 Valadorna (65% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot) is a dark and thickly endowed red wine that boasts a rich and lasting grip on the palate. The bouquet offers depth and complexity with dark fruit, leather, cured tobacco and spice. There are also softer notes of chocolate and ground espresso beans. The wine's seamless integration of flavors leads to increased momentum and intensity as the wine continues to open in the glass.

The 2012s are the most showy and forward of the three vintages, which is not surprising, since the vintage is flamboyant and they are already three years of age. The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana (1,317 cases) is a beauty. Loads of chocolate, crème de cassis, black cherry and crushed rock are all present in this broad, savory, full-bodied, multi-dimensional wine. This is a gorgeous wine with terrific intensity and, while approachable now, should continue to evolve for at least 20-25 years.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard is cut from the same cloth. Its opaque purple color and sweet creme de cassis fruit intermixed with crushed rock and forest floor notes lead to a broad, rich, full-bodied mouthfeel with excruciatingly high tannins and intense power and richness. It should be forgotten for at least a decade.

These high elevation Cabernet Sauvignons, culled out from a larger vineyard, are remarkable offerings with aging potential of 25+ years. Readers looking for slightly more structure and Mouton Rothchild-like nose of creme de cassis, licorice, black currants, cedar, and a hint of bay leaf should check out the Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota. The tannic, impressively endowed, full-bodied Helena Dakota is clearly meant for true connoisseurs with cold cellars as well as the patience to wait 5-6 years for it to evolve. It is a 25- to 30-year wine...at a minimum.

The 2002 Helena Dakota is slightly softer and perhaps not as profoundly deep as its sibling. Nevertheless, it explodes off the back of the palate with abundant notes of crushed rocks, blue and black fruits and a boatload of massive tannin. This dense, full-bodied effort should be forgotten for another 5-6 years and drunk over the following two decades.

The 2001 La Joie (71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc) remains a backward, youthful wine revealing an inky/purple color as well as notes of graphite, licorice, creme de cassis, truffles and new saddle leather. It has fabulous fruit on the attack and mid-palate, a massive, concentrated, tannic mouthfeel and a long finish. Even younger than La Muse, it needs another decade of cellaring and should age for 40-50 years thereafter. Pierre Seillan told me that 44% of the grapes came from Alexander Valley, 35% from Knight's Valley and the rest from Chalk Hill. These are the visionary efforts of the recently deceased Jess Jackson, one of the great men in California's history of high quality winemaking. Verite was started in 1998, when Jess Jackson brought over Bordelais winemaker Pierre Seillan, and essentially gave him carte blanche authority to pick the best fruit he could to fashion these three cuvees. La Muse is his version of a Pomerol, made from Jess Jackson's high-elevation vineyards in Alexander Valley, Knights Valley and Chalk Hill, the La Joie is his Medoc look-alike from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and of course, Le Desir is a Sonoma clone of a St.-Emilion, made generally from high quantities of both Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with just a little Cabernet Sauvignon in them. These wines are the epitome of natural wine, aged 24-32 months in new French oak, with wood staves selected by Jackson and his team in France, and the wines then bottled unfined and unfiltered. There's no acidification, no additional concentration by reverse osmosis, and obviously no water added. The production of each cuvee runs between 1,500 and 2,000 cases. According to Pierre Seillan, the aim was to produce wines capable of lasting 25, or in some cases, even 40+ years, and based on the three vertical tastings I did of all the cuvees made to date, the great vintages will certainly attain that potential longevity.

A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec, the inky/purple-colored 2006 La Joie (1,300 cases) reveals aromas of graphite, creme de cassis, unsmoked cigar tobacco, and incense. It possesses a rich, full-bodied personality with mouth-filling levels of tannin, extract, and fruit. Forget this 2006 for 5-7 years as it is a long-term monster in the making. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2045. With Bordeaux winemaker Pierre Seillan in charge, owner Jess Jackson has clearly positioned Verite as one of the two or three flagship wines in his impressive empire. These cuvees represent California versions of Bordeaux appellations, with the Merlot-dominated La Muse very Pomerol-like, the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated La Joie a hypothetical California version of a Medoc, and the St.-Emilion look-alike, the Merlot and Cabernet Franc blend, Le Desir. These wines are fashioned from the finest Sonoma vineyard sites owned by Jackson, and are meant for long-term aging. In 2007, the Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot) grown in California’s North Coast exhibit sweet tannins as well as superb fragrance and purity. Yet, Verite’s wines are among the more structured, dense, and powerfully backward of the vintage.

It offers up smoky, sweet scents of lead pencil shavings, cedar, spice box, volcanic earth, black currants, and smoke. With excellent fruit, full-bodied power, a layered texture, and an exceptionally long finish.

A Medoc-styled offering, the 2003 La Joie is composed of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that achieved 14% alcohol. It represents a Sonoma Country version of the famous Pauillac, Lynch Bages. Cedar, black currant, licorice, black olive, coffee and white chocolate characteristics are found in this tannic, structured, masculine effort that still needs 4-5 years in the cellar. It should drink well for at least 20 years. These Verite wines are not for those who lack patience.

USA, California, Northern California: Napa & Some Sonoma New Releases Composed of 100% Cabernet aged 20 months in 60% new French oak, the deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Rockfall Vineyard opens a little youthfully reticent, soon giving way to notions of black and red currants, wild blueberries and wild thyme with touches of cigar box, tilled soil, black truffes and camphor. Medium to full-bodied, it is very taut, muscular and firmly structured in the mouth with a rock-solid grainy texture and tons of freshness supporting the densely packed black fruit, finishing long and earthy.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Rockfall Vineyard comes from a high-elevation site of 2,000 to 2,200 feet. It is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 21 months in 66% new French oak. This vineyard is a south-facing micro-terroir with lots of rocks, and the wine smells of mountain garrigue intermixed with black cherry, blackberry and cassis. The wine is dense, full-bodied, rich and rugged, but not rustic. It is a full-bodied, massive, rather backward and primordial wine for those with the patience to cellar it. Forget it for 5-8 years, and drink it over the following 40+ years.

A 50-year wine named after Jess Jackson’s son Christopher, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Christopher’s Vineyard comes from a more north-facing site on red volcanic soils with high concentrations of slate and iron, planted in 1986. The resulting wine displays loads of blueberry and blackberry fruit, wet, gravelly rocks, some graphite, a full-bodied, mouthfeel, huge, massive fruit and extract, and a long, juicy but substantial finish of close to a minute, with plenty of tannin. Forget this wine for 5-7 years and drink it over the following 50+ years.