Pure, classic California notes of crème de cassis, spicy oak, chalky minerality, graphite, and spring flowers emerge from the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot that's sourced from multiple mountain AVAs in the valley. Full-bodied and powerful on the palate, it has a deep, rich mid-palate, beautiful tannins, notable acidity, and a great, great finish. It's another brilliant wine from Carpenter that can offer pleasure today yet also evolve for 20-25 years or more.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Hapgood is slightly more feminine, with a beautiful perfume of red and black raspberries as well as spice, rose petals, shrimp broth, and iodine-like aromas and flavors. Utterly seamless on the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, has perfectly integrated acidity, no hard edges, and a great finish. This is one of those rare wines that blends power and finesse perfectly. Drink this gorgeous, singular Pinot Noir over the coming 15-20 years.

The Cabernet Franc blend of the trio, the 2018 Le Desir is 82% Cabernet Franc, 12% Merlot, and 6% Malbec, and as with all these wines, it was brought up in new barrels. Ruby/purple and not completely opaque, it offers up a classic Cabernet Franc nose of mostly red fruits, spring flowers, damp earth, cedary spices, and truffle. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it shines for its incredible elegance and purity more than outright power, yet it still brings plenty of richness. With ultra-fine tannins, perfect balance, and one heck of a great finish, it's another great, great wine from this estate.

Lastly, the 2018 La Joie does everything right and offers a Château Lafite-like style in both its aromatics and its elegant, seamless mouthfeel. Gorgeous blackcurrants, lead pencil shavings, damp earth, unsmoked tobacco, and woodsmoke nuances all develop with time in the glass and this is one of those wines that offers something new every time you come back to the glass. Rich, medium to full-bodied, perfectly balanced, and incredibly elegant, it has ripe, polished, yet substantial tannins, remarkable purity of fruit, and a thrilling finish. Give bottles 4-5 years and it will keep for 30 years or more.

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard is even more concentrated and dense, with a massive core of ripe blackcurrants, crushed stone, leather, tobacco, spicy oak, and graphite, and it has this burning ember-like character that reminds me of a great Hermitage. More medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has remarkable balance, ultra-fine tannins, a great spine of acidity, and one heck of a finish. As with the Helena Montana Vineyard, it's a baby that needs at least 4-5 years of bottle age and will have 30+ years of longevity. It's on par with the finest Bordeaux blends coming out of California today.

Napa Valley’s 2018sThe 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District is a monster of a mountain Cabernet that has a primordial bouquet of blackcurrants, smoked earth, chocolate, and graphite. While Spring Mountain wines tend to be more aromatic and complex right out of the gate, that’s not the case here, and this is going to need bottle age to round into form. Full-bodied on the palate, with a rich, concentrated mouthfeel, it has serious tannins, notable purity of fruit, and a great finish. With air, it picks up more and more classic Spring Mountain floral and exotic notes, and it’s flawlessly balanced, with gorgeous tannins and a great, great finish. This is a brilliant wine in the lineup and unquestionably one of the true gems from Spring Mountain in 2018. Give bottles 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 2-3 decades.

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is based on a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot that spent 22 months in 81% new French oak. It’s a wonderfully complete, borderline perfect wine that shows the class of this estate as well as the vintage, revealing a seamless, full-bodied style that carries lots of blackcurrant, graphite, lead pencil, and tobacco aromatics, a deep, layered mid-palate, ultra-fine tannins, and flawless balance. As with most of Chris’s 2018s, it’s a wine that builds slowly with time in the glass, offering a layered, singular character. It’s a gorgeous 2018 that can be drunk today with ample pleasure, but it will ideally be given 4-6 years of bottle age, at which point it should evolve gracefully for 30-40 years.

“The Cab Franc was quite spectacular in 2017. There is a bit more in the blend this year,” Pierre Seillan told me during the tasting of the 2017s with his daughter and one day successor, Helene. A blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2017 La Joie has a very deep garnet-purple color. It opens a little closed and broody, giving glimpses of blackcurrant cordial, espresso, charcoal and black truffles to begin, before blossoming out to a whole array of preserved black and blue fruits, dusty soil, crushed rocks and iron ore scents plus a waft of roses. The medium to full-bodied palate is built like a brick house, with firm, grainy tannins and a lively backbone supporting the muscular fruit, finishing very long and mineral laced. The alcohol weighed in at just 13.9% this year (14% on the label), making for a particularly elegant but no less impactful La Joie!

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018Lastly, the 2017 Le Desir is 80% Cabernet Franc, with the balance mostly Merlot mixed with a splash of Malbec. It has a wonderful Cabernet Franc floral character as well as awesome black raspberry, cedarwood, forest floor, violets, rose petals, new leather, and who knows what else. Incredibly complex, it takes lots of air to show at its best and is medium to full-bodied, has a bright spine of acidity, fabulous tannins, and a great, great finish. The elegance of this wine paired with its richness and depth is something to behold. It’s another damn near perfect wine from this estate, and to see this quality from a challenging vintage like 2017 boggles the mind. Hats off to the father-daughter team of Pierre and Hélène Seillan.

The 2017s From Sonoma Another gem that’s going to flirt with perfection in a decade is the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Rockfall Vineyard. Based on 100% Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in 65% new French oak, its deep purple color is followed by a mammoth-sized bouquet of crème de cassis, lead pencil shavings, scorched earth, and graphite. Showing more spice and tobacco with time in the glass, it has incredible purity of fruit, building tannins, and flawless balance, all making for a majestic Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon that will keep for 30 years or more.

Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain gives up wonderfully expressive crème de cassis, licorice, tar and underbrush notes with hints of charcuterie and bay leaves. Big, rich, full and opulent in the mouth, it has firm, velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long with spice nuances coming through.

The famous Bosché Vineyard is a spot in Rutherford composed of gravelly, loamy soil and situated just at the base of the Mayacamas Mountains. A blend of 93.8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6.2% Merlot, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Bosché Vineyard was aged 28 months in French oak. This vineyard has turned out many a classic wine capable of lasting 30-40 years, and this 2013 is one of the all-time great Bosché Cabernet Sauvignons. It offers an inky ruby/purple color, a gorgeous nose of graphite, black cherry, wood spice and barbecue notes, enormous body and richness, and a heady, full-bodied, long finish of 50+ seconds with moderately high tannins. This is a great classic from Napa, but not one for drinking over the near-term. Give it 7-8 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 50 years.

2021 was a lauded vintage in South Australia. It was long, mild and dry during the growing
season and well set up with healthy yields due to favorable conditions during flowering in
the spring of 2020. Here, the 2021 High Sands Grenache is just starting to emerge from its
shell—the tannins that wrap around the fruit are layered with graphite and dusted licorice,
dried rose petals and paprika dolce. The fruit is pure and speaks of soft black cherry and
pomegranate. This is a wine that, in the context of this lineup, has only just emerged from
"inchoate" and will, like the others, have an extraordinarily long life ahead of it.

The Jackson family purchased the Veeder Peak property in 1994, from which the fruit for
this Lokoya bottling comes. The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder offers up fabulous
spice notes, ranging from cinnamon and clove to anise and sage, all layered atop a darkfruited base of black cherries and cassis. Full-bodied, concentrated and rich, yet silky
smooth, this is tannic but ripe and polished, balanced and long on the finish. Maybe the
strongest of the Lokoya bottlings this year?

Sourced entirely from the Jackson Family's Keyes Vineyard, Lokoya's 2022 Cabernet
Sauvignon Howell Mountain brings an aromatic hint of fir to its core of blueberry fruit, then
adds a touch of savory mocha. A full-bodied wine, it has a wonderfully creamy, lush texture
that envelops its considerable tannins, great concentration and a tremendously long finish.
Great stuff, which should drink well for at least a couple of decades.

Beautiful fruit and dark spice flavors enjoy great balance and structure in this linear, almost muscular wine. Wonderful blackberries, black licorice, black cherries, blueberry pie, star anise and nutmeg, along with hints of wood char, tobacco leaves, dried cherries and pomegranates, give amazing complexity. Taut in texture, vertical drive, agile and muscular in fine-grained tannins, yet balanced and elegant. Drinkable now and best from 2032.

There’s an indulgent purity to the cassis fruit here. Scratched leather. Fresh leaf tobacco. Candlewax. Graphite by the nuclear reactor core full. A gloriously exuberant wine but also so cool and composed at the core. I find this fresher than La Muse and just as expressive of its Cabernet Sauvignon identity as Le Désir is of its Cabernet Franc identity. Plump and juicy on the finish. Exquisite. 

The 2022 Pinot Noir Slope displays a deeper, jeweled ruby hue and offers remarkable depth. Aromas of raspberry liqueur, leather, crushed flowers, and grenadine lead into a concentrated, finely structured palate with velvety tannins and mineral persistence. This contemplative, seamless wine unfolds beautifully and leaves a lasting impression. Drink 2026-2045.

 It's hard to pick favorites from this brand's always stellar lineup, but this clonal selection
from Machado Vineyard earns very high marks this vintage. Fascinatingly delicious aroma
of cherry compote, black raspberry sorbet and alluring mint show on the nose. The vibrant
palate is addictively quaffable, throwing cherry candy and spearmint clippings atop a
grippy texture.

The Rockfall is one of the most extreme sites on the Stonestreet mountain estate, between 2,000 and 2,400 feet in elevation. Fully exposed to sun and wind, it’s earned the nickname “the solar panel” from the team. Often the first Cabernet harvested each year, the wine reflects the raw character of the site: wild, rugged, and precise. The aromas are earthy and dusty, layered with ground spices like turmeric, black pepper, and a hint of bay leaf. There’s a sense of plushness, but tension is more prominent on the palate, with notes of plum skin, tart blackberry, and a green, briny edge. A deeply expressive wine that feels ready ten years in, but with plenty of life to be lived.

Another high-elevation vineyard, Christopher’s, sits above 2,400 feet on steep, quartz-laced volcanic soils just above Upper Barn. The 2015 wine exhibits incredible depth and concentration, a trait that seems to be characteristic of the dry vintage. Classic aromas of the variety, such as currants, tobacco, and leather, mix with savoury dried herbs and a stony edge. There's a cooling herbal finish of menthol that carries through the palate, balancing the rich aspect of the wine, which features ripe berries and plums. It's a fantastic wine with an opulent feeling, and after 10 years of ageing in the bottle, truly shows off the potential of mountain Cabernets in Sonoma.

The 2022 Cardinale is impressively built. You have to understand—there was a major heat
event near the end of the growing season. But this wine? It shows none of it. Not even a
whisper. If anything, the tannins are slightly more approachable, a touch more supple—but
they're no less stratospheric than what we've come to expect from this bottling. The real
kicker is the mid-palate density and length. The wine has tremendous persistence, tension,
and detail, with dark berry fruit unfurling in layers—blackberry, black cherry, and
mulberry—woven with perfumed rose petals, violets, white pepper, and underbrush. With
air, blue fruit tones begin to emerge, adding lift and intrigue. There's an impressive balance
of spice, minerality, and tension—rare for this vintage. Hats off. In my tasting with
winemaker Chris Carpenter, we spoke at length about how Lokoya expresses Napa’s
mountain sub-appellations with site-specific clarity. But with Cardinale—the Oakvillebased crown jewel of the Jackson Family portfolio—the philosophy is different: the sum
must be greater than the parts. This is not an estate wine. It is a masterful blend, culled
from multiple appellations—typically three to nine per vintage—crafted for harmony,
complexity, and longevity. In 2022, the blend is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon from Diamond
Mountain, Spring Mountain, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Atlas Peak, Stags Leap,
Rutherford, and St. Helena, with 4% Merlot from the Keyes Estate Vineyard on Howell
Mountain. The wine was aged for 22 months in 81% new French oak.

Cabernet Franc has been made continuously at La Jota since 1976, says winemaker Chris
Carpenter. Due to the wine’s growing popularity, additional Cabernet Franc vines were
planted at both the Keyes and La Jota estate vineyards. The 2022 is utterly gorgeous. Most
of the fruit was already off the vine before the late-season heatwave arrived—and if it
wasn’t, it was in cooler zones anyway, Carpenter notes. The wine is dark-fruited, led by
pure blackberry and black cherry wrapped in tobacco, with stunning herbal and floral
aromatics. The palate is full-bodied and precise, featuring firm, fine-grained mountain
tannins that are both powerful and refined. Layers of black truffle and loamy earth add
intrigue, gliding toward a long, savoury finish of graphite and sagebrush. Tension-filled,
pure-fruited, and thrilling

This Merlot hails from the same block in the W.S. Keyes Vineyard that Tom Rinaldi once
sourced for Duckhorn Merlot in the early days. Winemaker Chris Carpenter has a bold
vision for this wine—he wants it to compete on the world stage with the greats, from
Masseto to Petrus. The Merlot grapes here have thick skins, and Carpenter doesn’t hold
back, blending in 20% Cabernet Sauvignon from the same site to amplify structure and
depth. Native ferments occur in stainless steel, and the wine is aged for 22 months in 77%
new French oak barrels. With pH levels hovering around 3.5–3.6, the wine delivers
freshness and precision. It opens with a rush of juicy mulberry, cherry, blackberry, and
blueberry fruit, all vivid and inviting. Then the tannins emerge—firm, soaring, and intense,
yet polished and poised, providing remarkable structure and length. The acid tension lifts
the palate, keeping the wine bright and energetic, never heavy or lingering too long. It’s a
marvel of balance and power, and one that promises to hit its stride two decades from now.

From the Applejack vineyard, planted on grey clay soils at 300m in Gladysdale in '97 by Ray Guerin. 40% whole bunches and 40% less wine in '24. Darkly fruited and more intense than the '23 with aromas of wild blackberry, raspberry, briar, and just a hint of sous bois. On the palate, this is as concentrated and mouth-filling as the bouquet suggests it will be, culminating with succulent, grippy tannins on the long, tapering finish. It's a touch more 'sauvage' and a little less floral than normal but, even in this warmer vintage, one of Australia's most celebrated pinot noirs is in impressive form.