Mint and anise notes add depth to the exuberant wild blackberry and cassis flavours. Richly oaked and solidly structured.

Smooth as silk and with no elbows. Dark chocolate, black plum and black cherry fruit, with subtle oak spice and minerality.

Muted cherry nose, but stylish. Fresh and zesty, sleek and elegant, with delicious fruit on a slender frame. Good length.

An amazing wine, possibly the winery’s finest Sycamore ever. California Cab doesn’t get riper or more concentrated than this. It dazzles with black currants, crème de cassis and chocolate, yet is firm and dry throughout. The tannin-acid balance is near perfect. Really impresses for sheer power and authority, and will age for a very long time. Best after 2018.

The vintage was generally a good one in Napa Valley, and with this ’09, Cardinale shows its usual sumptuousness. It’s beautiful and elegant, with hard, chewy tannins framing intensely concentrated blackberries and cassis. Blended from various vineyards by winemaker Chris Carpenter, the wine is as stylish as Napa Cabernet gets. Full bodied and heady, it should provide good drinking over the next 12 years.

This is an awesome Cabernet, that’s so packed with blackberries and cassis, it blows your mind. The richness is superbly balanced by fine acidity and sweet, complex tannins that rein everything into a focused structure. Feels velvety, refined and ageable. Hold until 2018 and drink it for an additional decade or beyond.

Three things mark this Cab-based blend— intense tannins, fantasically concentrated fruit and a lively acidity that keeps the palate refreshed. It has a molten core of blackberries and cassis that is spectacular, yet nowhere near ready to drink. Needs serious time. Consider drinking from 2018, although it could be going strong for many additional years.

This legendary bottling shows all the hallmarks of a young, vital Cabernet that needs plenty of time. It’s classically balanced and rich in blackberries, currants and chocolate, with perhaps a bit more tannic structure than in the past, due to the cool vintage. Drink from 2018 and well beyond.

At the age of three years, this Cabernet Sauvignon is still very tannic and closed. It has a solid core of black currants, with sweet oak and mineral complexities. The structure is exceptionally refined, and it’s crisp with acidity. A gorgeous wine to age for eight years, if not longer.

This low-production Cab defines Stonestreet’s mountain vineyard, high above the Alexander Valley. It’s very tannic now, with the drying astringency that marks a young wine. Given the fruity concentration, it should have no trouble aging for 10–15 years. High elevation fruit yields an amazing combination of cassis, minerals, tannins and acidic freshness. Drink 2020 and beyond.

The best of Stonestreet’s quartet of 2011 Chardonnays. It’s notable for the creamy, honeyed mouthfeel that’s so opulent. Also very complex in flavors, offering waves of tropical fruits, baked apples and peach jam. Yet it’s all brightened by zesty acidity. Delicious now, but don’t drink it too cold. Or cellar it for 6–8 years as it develops dried fruit and nut notes.

Fantastically concentrated with blackberry, cassis and dark chocolate flavors that are wrapped into massive tannins, this impressive Cab defines Mount Veeder’s early deliciousness coupled with ageability. It’s just beginning to soften and show what it can do. It’s still a tight, hard young wine whose elegance will allow it to evolve over the next 8–12 years.

An extraordinary Viognier, as rich as they come. The great Saralee’s Vineyard gave fantastically ripe grapes, and the winemaker has lavished the wine with opulent touches of oak and lees. It’s flamboyant in tropical fruits and honey, with mouthwatering acidity

This wine is inky black in color and insanely tannic. Yet it’s massive in blackberries, and clearly of pedigreed origins. It should begin to blossom by 2018, and develop for years beyond.

A lovely Cabernet, ripe and delicious, yet complex enough to hold your interest. It’s just beginning its journey in the bottle. Very dark in color, with hard tannins, it has an immense core of blackberries and cherries. Give it at least 6–8 years, but it could still be rocking in 2022

A brilliant Merlot, showing the intense complexity of its mountain terroir. There’s a briary wildness to the blackberry and cassis liqueur flavors that’s molten in concentration. Sweet, toasty oak provides additional richness. Very fine, but needs time. Give it 5–6 years to mellow.

An interesting and elaborate Chardonnay that shows intense winemaker intervention. It’s sweet in honey, butter and cream, with lees-inspired notes that give balancing bitterness to the tropical fruits. Soft and opulent now, it will hold for 4–5 years.

K-J has a way with Merlot, and with this wonderful 2010, they’ve produced a wine that tastes far more expensive than it is. It’s silky on the palate, with wild berry, red currant and persimmon fruits. This could even develop bottle complexity over the next 5–6 years.

Huge in blackberry, currant and dark chocolate flavors, yet locked down by sturdy tannins. Shows indisputable pedigree in the balance and complexity. Good now, with airing, but give it 3–4 years in the cellar to get even better.

This is deliciously drinkable now despite firm tannins that give it a bite of astringency. Blackberry, cherry, currant and chocolate flavors testify to it’s ideal ripeness. Should glidepath in its evolution until 2020 or so.

This dark, dense Cabernet Sauvignon is extraordinarily concentrated, with blackberry and black currant fruit, and super ripe suggestions of raisins. It’s very dry and tannic, but should achieve elegance and balance with 6–8 years in the cellar

A big, vital, complex wine whose multiple layers reveal themselves as it warms and airs in the glass. With a smooth, creamy texture and just enough acidity for balance, it’s rich in apricot-and orange-jam flavors. The finish lingers, with honey and vanilla accents.

Crisp acidity and a fine minerality give this wine an elegant, clean mouthfeel. Flavor-wise, it’s rich in pineapple and sour lemon candy, with hints of pepper and papaya. Honeyed tones unfold on the midpalate, but the finish is dry. Drink now–2016.

There’s a beautiful delicacy to this Pinot Noir, despite fairly high alcohol. Yet there’s nothing light about the fruit. Waves of raspberry and cherry jam, ripe persimmons and pomegranates flood the mouth, satisfying and delicious. Good as it is now, it should develop over the next 5–6 years.

Brooding and tannic, this Cab is hard to appreciate now. But it’s massively rich and concentrated with blackberry and cassis flavors, and the overall balance suggests aging. Drink from 2017 and beyond.