From the cooler Green Valley region of the Russian River, the 2015 Pinot Noir Hailey’s Block was completely destemmed and spent 16 months in 27% new French oak. Hailey's Block is a block within the Arrendell Vineyard, named after Don and Jennifer Hartford's daughter. It’s another beautifully Burgundian wine from this estate that offers crisp black cherry, crushed rock, charcoal, and wood smoke aromas and flavors. It’s fresh, focused, and youthful, with fine tannin and high yet integrated acidity. Give it a year or three and it will keep for a decade or more.

From the oldest vines planted in the 1970s, the 2015 Pinot Noir Arrendell Vineyard is a perfumed, spicy wine that's just singing on the nose. Ripe cherries, raspberries, candied orange, and exotic spices give way to a medium to full-bodied, supple, seamless Pinot Noir. It has bright acidity, sweet, vibrant, fruit, notable tannin, and a great finish. Like a lot of the wines here, it has the fruit to shine, but this is certainly one of the more structured and tannic wines in the lineup.

The 2015 Chardonnay Jennifer's comes from a site south of Sebastopol, which is a cooler terroir. Harvest is normally 3-4 weeks later than what they find in the Russian River Valley. All from Wente clone and brought up in just 28% new French oak, it has a vibrant freshness and purity, with lots of salty minerality in its mango, orange blossom, caramelized citrus all soaring from the glass. Fresh, lively and pure, with remarkable purity and elegance, it's going to keep for a decade as well.

From an extremely cold terroir, it possesses terrific acidity, a liquid minerality, and hints of orange zest intermixed with white peaches and honeysuckle. Produced from tiny yields (255 cases from a 5-acre vineyard), it should drink well for 4-5 years.

North Coast Part 1: Napa Valley’s Incredible 2016s The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Latro is in the same ballpark yet has more savory characteristics as well as plenty of conifer, California bay leaf, currants, and loamy soil aromas and flavors. This full-bodied beauty has plenty of tannin, terrific purity of fruit, no hard edges, and a great finish. Give it a few years.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyards, a blend of 89.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.5% Merlot, 2.8% Cabernet Franc and 2.9% Petit Verdot, opens with youthfully subtle, very primary black currant and black cherry notes with hints of eucalypt, fertile soil, underbrush and new leather. Medium to full-bodied, firm and muscular in the mouth, the tightly wound fruit is well framed by very ripe, fine-grained tannins and wonderful freshness, finishing with an herbal and mineral-laced lift.

From a nearby Rutherford Vineyard, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyard (located at the very end of Bella Oaks Lane in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains) is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5.7% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot, but also aged 28 months in French oak. Notes of Christmas fruitcake, graphite, blackcurrant and black cherry are present in this wine, which is full-bodied and powerful, with high levels of tannin, amazing structure, but profound depth and richness. This baby needs to be cellared for a good 8-10 years and drunk over the following 35-50.

packed and youthfully taut, displaying outstanding energy to the deep, chewy dark fruit and mineral flavors. This very tightly coiled, sharply delineated Saint-Emilion blend has serious tannic clout that will require extended aging. Should evolve positively for 20 years or more.

Bright, full ruby. Complex, vibrant aromas of cassis, cherry pit, licorice and graphite, with a floral topnote building as the wine opens in the glass. Dense, pliant and suave, with a compellingly layered, fine-grained texture to the dark berry, licorice and mineral flavors. A wine of major dimension but today the firm, noble tannins clamp down on the fruit. I'd love to see this again in six or seven years--in a flight of top 2009 Medoc wines.

(67% cabernet sauvignon, 12% merlot, 12% cabernet franc, 7% petit verdot and 2% malbec) Good bright ruby. Black cherry, minerals, musky Cuban tobacco and leather on the nose and palate, lifted by a minty nuance. Lush on entry, then concentrated, sweet and penetrating, with superb focus and sap to the middle palate. Wonderfully expressive even if still youthfully unevolved. Finishes with full but ripe tannins and a compelling combination of sweetness and energy.

Good bright ruby. Black cherry, minerals, musky Cuban tobacco and leather on the nose and palate, lifted by a minty nuance. Lush on entry, then concentrated, sweet and penetrating, with superb focus and sap to the middle palate. Wonderfully expressive even if still youthfully unevolved. Finishes with full but ripe tannins and a compelling combination of sweetness and energy.

From a cool vintage, the Capensis 2021 Stellenbosch Fijnbosch Chardonnay spends an
additional year in bottle to build complexity and soften the impact of youthful fruit. “We
want to reduce the primaries and focus on the savories,” says winemaker Graham Weerts,
describing this small-batch selection drawn from the estate to create what he calls a
“complete snapshot of the property.” The wine shows impressive tension, firmness and
focus, with layered orchard fruit, baked pear and a creamy, toasted almond–inflected
finish. A subtle marine salinity adds precision and elegance, shaped by cooling ocean
breezes and the decomposed granite soils of the Banghoek Valley. Despite its medium- to
full-bodied mouthfeel, the wine carries a striking impression of lightness.

This elegant Chardonnay, sourced from vineyards in Stellenbosch, is an excellent example
of the thrilling white wines produced in South Africa. The aromatic nose reveals spices that
blend with subtle hints of lemon verbena. Its lively acidity enhances the flavors of perfectly
ripe fruits such as limes, apricots, and melons, creating a delightful and creamy palate.
Sovereign Wine Imports. Editors’ Choice. —J.V

Floral and milk chocolate notes on the nose, blackcurrants and damsons with red cherries too. Fleshy and ripe, I love the tannins on this wine, chewy but with a ripe skin texture - not dry but softly chalky that really extends to a long finish. This is the most delicate, if we can say, of all the three wines with a gentle juiciness and lots of concentration. I like it alot, maybe less forward and upfront than the other two but nonetheless interesting and enjoyable. 5% Malbec completes the blend. Owner Jackson Family Wines with director and winemaker Pierre Seillan of Château Lassègue in St-Emilion.

The 2016 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz leads with 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Shiraz. The wine is rich and dark, with layers of blood plum, dark chocolate, a dense corporeal note (not quite meaty and yet not quite not) and exotic spice notes that waft above it all. There are notes of clove and star anise, mulberry, licorice and even nutmeg. This is sensational, with really mid-palate weighted fruit. It is superb. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The 2017 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz contains 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Shiraz, and this is the vintage that the late Yangarra winemaker Pete Fraser stepped in and made the Shiraz decisions. Here, the wine leads with an altogether different perfume. In place of the open-weave notes of blood plum and mulberry, we see a smoother, somewhat sweeter profile to the fruit: notes of cassis, bay, scraped vanilla pod and cedar. It sits differently on the palate, too. It is seamless and unbroken. The higher percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon can be blamed for a lot—in the very best of ways. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The 2014 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz leads with blood plum and cassis, licorice and layered cocoa. It comprises 56% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Shiraz. The wine was made with Charlie Seppelt (he handled most/many/much of the Shiraz decisions). On the palate, the wine is silky, spicy and attractively fresh. It's leafy too, with sweet tobacco and tapenade to close. These are wines that need to age, and it is displaying that comfortability and grace here today, almost 12 years from its harvest. 2014 was hot in South Australia, and yet the wine retains an attractive coolness and mineral drive through the finish. It is very good. The wine will likely live for longer than the stated window. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The 2022 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz comprises 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Shiraz. The vintage was a lovely one, slightly cooler and wetter than 2021, and the wines have been excellent across the board. Here, the aromas lead with pomegranate and red apple, cocoa and bay leaf, licorice and tapenade. In the mouth, the wine is dense and powerful, with a firm base of tannin and a cool graphite-laden finish. This is a lovely wine here. It's lighter than the 2021 in fruit density, which is in line with the vintage. It's very good. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The 2018 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Shiraz, and the wine has a restraint and evenness about it that is most intriguing. 2018 was a warm year in South Australia, but I have found the red wines to have incredible energy and freshness despite that. In the mouth, the wine is cedar and sweet, textural and savory, long and persistent. There are attractive notes of bay leaf and cedar, tobacco and tapenade. This is an excellent wine. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The 2023 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz comes from vintage that was cool and wet in McLaren Vale. The wines have been excellent, and I feel, generally, the conditions in the vineyard were well handled. The cépage here is 54% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Shiraz, and the wine exudes a profusion of leaves (dried and fresh, herbal and floral, tobacco and spice). In the mouth, the fruit is dense and structural, and the length is very good. This is another excellent iteration of this wine, albeit through the lens of this cooler vintage. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. This will be released in 2026 in Australia.

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Rockfall Vineyard seems to be frozen in time. Fresh blackberry, eucalyptus, incense and mocha coast effortlessly from start to finish, leaving behind a saturation of voluptuous, chocolatey richness but no sense of heaviness. Ultra-fine tannins scream polish. It’s easy to envision the 2016 cruising for at least another decade, such is its balance and sense of nascent energy.

From a site at 950 feet of elevation, the 2023 Chardonnay Gravel Bench Vineyard sizzles from the glass with an array of powerful mineral overtones. Finely chiseled yet ample and confident, the 2023 is a rich wine, that’s for sure, but it’s also a wine that impresses with its finesse and sense of gravitas. Apricot, orange curd, chamomile and hazelnut tones resonate through a long, supple finish. Gorgeous.

Concentrated in floral, rose petal prettiness and an earthy underbelly, the 2023 Pinot Noir Velvet Sisters is impressively elegant and complex. Black tea, garrigue, and fresh soil accent a tightly tannic midpalate of medium-bodied oomph flavored in blueberry and cardamom that finishes, yes, velvety smooth. Drink now through 2033.

The 2023 Pinot Noir Marin County showcases the lesser known area south of Sonoma County that tends to encompass extreme coastal sites. In this wine, the acidity is dazzlingly on point, fresh and long-lasting, a worthy accent to the light-bodied savory fruit, forest, and nutmeg at its core, with a finishing touch of lavender that's so pretty you'll want more. Drink now through 2035.