Again, a new Byron chardonnay sourced from county fruit. It's not as big or rich as the regular chardonnay, but that works in favor if the Thanksgiving table. Crisp and minerally, with aromas and flavors of stone fruit, fig, red apple and brown baking spices, it finishes with a good cut of acidity to cleanse the palate.

Santa Barbara Chardonnay And Pinot Noir Are Made By The Ocean 2016 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir Sta Rita Hills: floral, tea, spice, slate, pepper, contemplative.

From a single vineyard adjacent to Clos Pepe, this bottling has great aromatics of cherry, rhubarb, mint, cinnamon, florals and a panoply of exotic spices. You will need to decant the wine to get the full effect. On the palate, blackberry, dark cherry and boysenberry augmented with sage, underbrush, mint and green herbs. Admittedly more full-bodied and concentrated than the entry-level wine above. The purity of the fruit flavors are paramount but all the other spice and herb components are perfectly integrated. Perhaps whole cluster fermentation (with the stems) adds a lot of nuance.

There is slightly more tannin grip in this equally high toned, bright, flowery scented yet finesseful single-vineyard, estate grown bottling. When asked to define the Sta. Rita Hills distinctions so apparent in the glass, winemaker/partner Greg Brewer shared: “I agree that Sta. Rita Hills exhibits a uniform element that differentiates the area from many others... On a collective level, I find something very carnal, authentic, pure and raw to the fruit profile... this is where I really see the spiced fruit characteristic that you reference.” The root, adds Brewer, is in “cool environment.” Then again, there are a number of equally cool climate regions on the West Coast. Brewer contends, “We rely on fruit generous clones such as 37, 459 and 667, which harmonize our objective with whole cluster fermentation,” achieving “a lush curvature of flavor which is corseted by the role played by stem inclusion... For us, this gives a brambly component reminiscent of running through wild berry bushes... Frequently when I work in Japan, clients mention components like umeboshi and other salted raspberry and plum preparations.”

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Root beer, sassafras, cola and wet autumn leaves on the nose. On the palate, red cherry, red raspberry and cranberry plus a certain Santa Rita Hills earthiness coupled with wild herbs. Drawn from three vineyards, this blend is big-boned but not overtly heavy. It's refreshing with its lovely concentration of fruit and herbs but firm on the finish with a good backbone of tannins and acidity. This entry-level pinot is quite a bargain.

What to Drink Next: Trust These Names in Wine It’s a safe bet that most of the millions of fans of Kendall-Jackson’s Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay don’t realize exactly how many wineries this Sonoma-based family (now headed by the late Jess Jackson’s wife, Barbara Banke) owns. The answer is 40, making wines from $13 a bottle to almost $400. The secret to their sustained quality? The family’s seemingly unerring eye for winemaking talent.
 Upgrade: 2015 Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
 $40 Co-founder and winemaker Greg Brewer’s deft touch is a huge asset, as shown in this spicy, fragrant Pinot.

10 Great Pinot Noirs From New Winemaking Talent and Visionary Risk-Takers California’s Sta. Rita Hills West of Santa Barbara, cool winds off the Pacific help create some of California’s best Pinots...Others to look for include the peppery 2015 Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir...

I love the consistency in which this winery has been able to harness the ultra-fragrant perfume, blasting off from the glass, found in the best of Sta. Rita Hills grown Pinots. The strawberry/cherry fruit is pure, zesty, and electric with acidity, feeling light and lacy despite generous alcohol (14%) and savory tannin.

Thanksgiving wine on the mind The 2015 Brewer-Clifton Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir is blended from three sites and stuns throughout with fresh strawberry, slate, pepper and anise cookies on the nose, while in the mouth its palate is bright with tart cherries, ripe cranberries and pomegranate. The confident feel leads to an enduring finish of juniper berry, pine and menthol. Couldn’t sound more Thanksgiving-like.

Options abound with Mother's Day Chardonnay Brewer Clifton Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay, revealing honeydew melon and candied ginger.

Salut! Best of the Vancouver International Wine Festival BEST CHARDONNAY Chardonnay is undergoing a style tweak globally: the wine is fresher with brighter acidity and there is more lees contact for texture and complexity. The result is a much better wine with food which must be the goal of any wine in our estimation. Don’t worry about the end of that unabashed California Chardonnay style, it still exists and in its best format it is hard not to like. Don’t miss this list of standouts.

A blend of four Santa Rita Hills vineyards, this entry-level chard shows citrus, peach, nectarine and kiwi on the nose. Noticeably absent is the sometimes typical runaway pineapple express aromas. On the palate, lime, melon and pear fruit flavors are augmented by ginger, jasmine, almond, nutmeg and minerality. Still taught and tightly wound right now, it nevertheless opens up in the glass. Lush and full-bodied but chiseled in its flavor facets. By the way, I recently had a bottle of the 2010 vintage from my cellar and it was just singing. Case purchases will reward you down the line; it only gets better with some age.

Eight Wines You Have To Try In 2019 A single vineyard Chardonnay with exceptional finesse and elegance on the palate. Whole cluster pressed, made with minimal intervention. The palate sings with lemony ginger and apple notes with a fresh aromatic botanical edge. A raft of 90+ scores and Brewer-Clifton’s history of making exceptional wines, make this California Chardonnay a heck of a deal for $36.

Santa Barbara Chardonnay And Pinot Noir Are Made By The Ocean 2016 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay Sta Rita Hills: crushed stone, white flowers, under-ripe tropical fruit, mineral driven, focused.

With all of the insipid, zinfandel-based blends on the market, we can grow very tired of this category. But this one builds on merlot with portions of petite sirah, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot. This combination gives the wine more grip and less of the ripe flavor zinfandel delivers. Plum and blueberry flavors with a touch of strawberry, tobacco and allspice. Generous aromas of espresso and wild blackberries. Goes with: ribs, tomato-based sauces, pork.

2½ stars, Very Good Rhone style red blend, big flavors, great complexity, mostly syrah.

Very Good These wines deliver a lot of flavor interest for the money. This exception to the Bordeaux formula is 92 percent syrah and 8 percent petite sirah. From Kendall-Jackson's Sonoma County vineyards, it's spicy and silky, with deep fruit. Very Good

This is a sassy red blend with notes of tangy cherry, a hint of caramel and black pepper spice. What makes this a tasty pick is its length. The cherry note lingers on the finish. The packaging is trying to appeal to the Millennial, but it’s a solid wine for all ages. 3½ stars.

Syrah and petite sirah combine to deliver a fist-load of blackberry and plum fruit flavors with good depth and hints of black pepper. Rich and long in the finish.

If the beautiful label doesn’t grab your attention, the flavors will. Using grapes from Kendall-Jackson vineyards in Napa Valley, this red blend is patterned after The Prisoner that grabbed everyone’s attention years ago. It includes cabernet sauvignon (hardly dominant at 27 percent), petite sirah, zinfandel, merlot, malbec and petit verdot. Inky in color, it has that luscious, hedonistic appeal with garrigue, lavender aromas and blackberry, cherry and blueberry flavors. Despite the fruit-forward style, it has more complexity than we expected.

3 stars, Superb Kitchen sink blend of big red grapes, considerable power, great texture.