Jess Jackson picked a difficult vintage to make his first Saint Emilion but his new chateau has yielded a lovely, ripe (but not too ripe) wine bursting with clean plum and fresh acidity; it is long, pure and beautifully balanced and showing rich fruit, soft oak and excellent breeding. An auspicious debut. Gorgeous package.

Aromas of guava and apricot with pear and pink grapefruit flavors and wet stone elements. Lush, long and seductive.

Ng is a huge fan of the Anderson Valley terroir, famous for imparting Old World nuance and style to New World pinot noir and syrah. He explains winemaker Eric Johannsens's Champ de Reves - it's named for the vineyard high above Boonville and 18 miles from the Pacific coast, where the grapes grow - offers a perfect balance of blue and red fruits. It's supple, yet juicy, with a very silky elegance but also earthy characteristics. From the nose, he gets amazing aromas of cranberry, coriander, rose, juniper, brown sugar, raspberries and cherries. The wine spent nine months in French oak barrels, 33 percent new.

Anderson Valley, in California’s Mendocino County, benefits from temperatures cooler than those in Napa and Sonoma counties to the south, making it ideal territory for pinot noir. This is a prime example: rich in flavor with blueberry and wood spice and sleek in body, with a lingering finish.

Black cherry, cola, cedar, dusty leather and vanilla with savory black cherry skin and spicy tannins.

A pinot with deep cherry fruit and great minerality. Notes of cranberry, blueberry and spice. Good bones (structure).

2011 Champ de Reves Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley: powerful and crisp, with aromas and flavors of black raspberries, licorice and tobacco, full and creamy;$40.

Champ de Reves Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2011 ($40). Bright blueberry flavors highlight this delightful wine from the Anderson Valley. There are hints of anise and toffee with a good dose of mineral to keep it interesting.

Champ de Reves Pinot Noir 2011 ($35). Anderson Valley pinot noirs are the rage and for good reason. It has the right climate for pinot noir. This beauty has great acidity to help with food matches and opulent blueberry and blackberry notes. Hints of anise and truffles on the nose make for a very sexy wine.

Edgy and sharp now, with a cut of acidity giving a rustic bite to the cherry, blackberry and toasty oak flavors...

This is the first release of the high-elevation Anderson Valley Pinot Noir from Jackson Family Wines new artisanal producer Champs de Reves. It's an elegant wine marked by bright acidity and aromas of spice and red-berry fruit.

Floral aromas, flavors of red raspberries and coffee.

...the Edmeades winery has been reinvented by the Jackson Family as a Pinot Noir specialist, under the “Champ de Rêves” (Field of Dreams) name. It was not long after Jess Jackson passed away that locals noted vineyards for sale were being checked by Jackson Family reps. Barbera Banke, Jess’ wife, is said to be behind the revival, and now the family owns four blocks of high elevation vineyards known collectively as “Boone Ridge.” The debut Pinot, the 2010 Champ de Rêves, is an excellent beginning.

Beautiful classic California pinot noir nose of cherry fruit and a nice mouth presence of cherries and minerals. Delicious!

One of the favorite pinot noir discoveries this year, this Anderson Valley wine is a beauty. Loads of blueberry and cherry flavors with traces of toffee, spice and tea. Long in the finish and rich in texture make for a yummy elixir.

It’s dreary and drippy in our neck o’ the woods today, so let’s sample a wine that will lift our spirits and remind us that, yes, it really is Spring. This is the Cenyth Wines Rosé of Cabernet Franc 2017, Sonoma County. Cenyth Wines represents a partnership between longtime friends Julia Jackson and Hélène Seillan. Julia is a daughter of the late Jess Jackson; Hélène is daughter of Pierre Seillan, winemaker for Vérité, the flagship wine (in my opinion) of Jackson Family Wines’ Spire Collection, and vigneron of JFW’s Bordeaux properties Chateau Lassègue and Chateau Vignot, in Saint-Emilion. Cenyth debuted with an exceptional cabernet sauvignon-based wine from the 2009 vintage. Anyway, the Cenyth Rosé of Cabernet Franc 2017 offers a ravishing pale copper-salmon hue and beguiling aromas of spiced peach and orange rind, strawberry and quince, with undertones of damp stones and dusty slate. It’s a spare and elegant rosé, unusually complex for the genre. A few minutes in the glass bring in notes of lychee and lilac, blue plum and almond skin; the chiseled limestone minerality provides ballast but doesn’t come on too strong for a rosé that is essentially, transparently beautiful. 13 percent alcohol. Drink now, of course, through this year and into 2019. Excellent.

5/6

A lovely red blend with lush red and black fruit, and notes of mocha, cigar and vanilla. Bright flavors. Ripe tannins. Well done.

Perfect Bordeaux copy, perhaps because it's made by the daughter of a renowned Bordelais winemaker? California fruit, French breeding.

A gorgeous chardonnay that rivals the best of Burgundy. Highly aromatic with spiced apple and pear wafting from the glass, and backed up with racy acidity and well-integrated oak. Made from Dijon clone fruit grown in Monterey's cool climate, the wine is structured, focused and layered.

Crisp and rich, with floral aromas and flavors of ripe apricots and cloves.

This dry white wine displays full flavors and a creamy texture in a way that finds a middle ground between the style of Alsace and Italian wines from the same varietal. It offers generous flavors of pear, apples, honey and Asian spices. It has much of the appeal of a good chardonnay but without the overwhelming influence of oak. It's all about the fruit.

Pinot Noir Masters 2019: Gold

Striking Pinots A juicy pinot with layered notes of strawberry, black cherry, cola and toast. It’s balanced with bright acidity. Nice length. A steal for the quality. 3½ stars.

I tasted notes of ripe red fruit, tea, vanilla, earth and violets. This wine was not in my SIP certified shipment that I discuss below but is a wine that meets those criteria.