More traditionally styled than the Ovitelli or Hickinbotham, the 2018 High Sands Grenache underwent indigenous fermentation in open-top vats and then the free-run juice was put into older French oak, where it matured for 11 months. It's deeper colored yet not dark, with subtle notes of pencil shavings accenting black cherries and licorice. Full-bodied and concentrated without being heavy or dense, it delivers a range of berry flavors, intriguing notions of garrigue and a long, richly textural finish.

Matured in 35% new French oak, the 2018 Ironheart Shiraz adds subtle vanilla and cedar elements to a roaring noseful of blueberries and spice. Full-bodied and concentrated, it's supple and rich on the palate, with a texture somewhere between velvet and silk—velour, perhaps? Marked by mouthwatering acidity on the lengthy finish, it's a balanced, finely proportioned wine that should age effortlessly for at least 10–15 years.

From vines planted in 1946, the 2019 Ovitelli Grenache fermented in 675-liter ceramic eggs and stayed on the skins for another 158 days post-fermentation. Free-run juice was then returned to eggs for another five months of maturation (no press wine is utilized). The result is a medium-ruby wine with extraordinary aromas of red raspberries and cherries, laced with delicate strands of garrigue, wild roses and black tea. Medium-bodied and silky-textured, it's drying yet mouthwatering at the same time on the prolonged finish, an intriguing paradox that prompts sip after sip. It's the best vintage of Ovitelli that I've tasted to date.

Attractively fresh red fruit, blueberries, spiced bread and blue florals make for a fresh impression with plenty of fragrance. The palate is so smoothly polished and has long, fine tannins buried beneath supple, red-berry fruit flesh. Drink over the next six years. Screw cap.

The 2018 Pinot Noir Truly Rita comes all from the Dierberg-Drum Canyon Vineyard and was aged in just 14% new French oak. Its deeper ruby hue is followed by a richer, medium to full-bodied, stunning Pinot Noir that offers ample black raspberry and redcurrants fruit as well as forest floor, black tea, sappy flowers, and a kiss of salty, mineral-like nuances on the palate. I love this, and it's balanced, brings ample texture, and has a good spine of acidity as well as a great finish.

From a valley floor site in the Sta. Rita Hills and aged in just under 30% new French oak, the 2018 Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard offers a classic Burgundian nose of ripe cherries, sappy herbs, forest floor, and loamy soil. It's another classic Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir delivering lots of salinity, medium to full body, ripe tannins, and a wonderful sense of purity and elegance.

More ripe orchard fruits, toasted nuts, brioche, green almond, and crushed stone-like minerality emerge from the 2019 Chardonnay Hapgood. A focused, medium-bodied, vibrant 2019 with beautiful purity, good acidity, and a clean finish, it too can be drunk today or cellared for 15+ years.

Candied lemons, honeysuckle, crushed stone, and hints of tangerine oil all emerge from the 2019 Chardonnay 3D, one of the richer, more opulent, unctuous Chardonnays in the lineup, yet it never comes across as heavy or over the top. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured, and layered, it's already drinking nicely yet should easily keep for at least a decade.

Slightly deeper ruby/plum-hued, the 2019 Pinot Noir 3D offers a wilder, more herbal style in its ripe cherry fruits as well as forest floor, dried herbs, loamy soil, and marine-influenced aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, vibrant, and lively on the palate, it's another flawlessly balanced, elegant wine from Greg Brewer that does everything right.

This hums a mighty fine tune. Starting light and bright with raspberries, red cherries, star anise and a fleck of woodsy spices. It seems almost pretty until the savouriness kicks in. A touch of meaty reduction, lots of tangy acidity, with textural tannins working across a medium-bodied palate. It delivers plenty of flavour, yet it's all well contained.

A low-yielding site set on exposed north-facing slopes, Sexton vineyard produces wines of depth and concentration. There's more richness here than the other 2019 chardonnay releases from this winery, with stone fruit coming into play on the bouquet and palate and a more textural feeling. There's width and length to the flavour profile, the oak a well-integrated component throughout. The finish shows a chalky minerality with real persistence.

Lower yields and small bunches meant 20% was destemmed. Whole berries went into 1 oak vat, topped with the remaining whole bunches. Sealed for some light carbonic maceration, with a bit of foot stomping in between. Pressed to French barriques, 20% new and aged 8 months before bottled by gravity, which excited winemaker Steve Flamsteed. Snap. Crackle. Pop. This is brimming with good stuff. Highly perfumed, crunchy fruit flavours and pliable tannins. Thanks to its laser light of natural acidity, it has energy and drive.

Warm vintages service this doyen of white Rhône varieties so well, almost forcing the phenolic amplitude and textural quilt that would otherwise be lacking, at least in this country. This has it in spades. Scintillating aromas of bitter almond, apricot pith, rooibos, pistachio and freshly lain tatami mat. À point! Pucker and freshness; textural detail personified. The French oak (25% new) and lees work, apposite. The finish, long and rippling across the textural crevices. I'd love to drink this in 5 years.

Hewn of fruit from a southeast facing ironstone sandy outcrop. Hand picked and gently macerated, resplendent with 25% whole bunches. 15 days on skins. 18 months in French foudres (30% new). I like this. A bit looser knit than the Ironheart. Floral and lifted. Sappy and crunchy. A powerful wine, to be sure, but light on its feet. An energetic cadence, weaving a thread of peppery acidity into a quilt of blue-fruit allusions, violet, nori, smoked meat and Asian spice. Firm across the finish, the tannins pulling the saliva forth in readiness for the next glass.

A blend of three distinctive blocks on loams, silt and clay. No whole bunch. Gently extracted by wetting the cap and racking/returning. Circa 20 days on skins. 6 months in puncheons. 6 more in foudres and a concrete egg. A corpulent wine, lush and full. Yet there is nothing jammy about it. Eclipsed by its Bordeaux varietal siblings perhaps, but as far as warm-climate shiraz goes, this is at the apex of the qualitative totem pole. Blue fruits, violet, anise, clove and pepper grind. Some salumi, too. But the tannins are this gorgeous wine's opus.

The 2018 Chardonnay Upper Barn Vineyard is a tremendous wine. It offers a stunning combination of textural richness, vibrancy and energy. All the best elements of the Stonestreet house style come through in a Chardonnay that is incredibly distinctive.

The 2018 Chardonnay Gold Run is an incredibly distinctive wine. Apricot, exotic flowers, butter and passionfruit all flesh out in an unctuous, textured Chardonnay long on class. This is an especially overt, tropical style, and there is terrific freshness as well. These vines planted in 1982 yield a Chardonnay of notable complexity.

The 2019 Zinfandel Hartford Vineyard emerges from vines planted in 1906. A heady, exuberant wine, the Hartford Zinfandel builds nicely in the glass as sweet floral and spice notes emerge to complement dark-fleshed berry fruit. This creamy, layered Zinfandel is pure sensuality.

Fresh melon, Key lime and celery aromas make for a unique and refreshing nose in this tantalizing wine by Greg Brewer. The wine zips across the palate with vibrant, titillating acidity, carrying flavors of sea shell, light herb and zesty citrus into the relentlessly grippy finish.

This is cool-climate Syrah on full amplification, courtesy of Greg Brewer. Aromas of cracked peppercorn, tar, graham cracker, raw lamb and elderberry show on the nose. The raw-meat flavors of the nuanced while bold palate are intense, and dusted with accents of pepper, bay leaf, rosemary and lavender.

Hawks Butte shows blackberry, cherry bouquet with hints of licorice, black pepper and blueberry. On the round balanced palate proper tannin/acidity supports plum, blueberry, cigar box and cumin flavors through a long clean finish. I was surprised at its flavors and long finish due a medium purple color which suggested a less complex wine.

Refined, rich and powerfully structured flavors of cherry, currant and dried raspberry are tensile, supported by firm acidity and tannins. Ends with a minerally flourish on the firm finish, with notes of savory herbs. Best from 2022 through 2027. From California.

The 2018 Chardonnay Journey is fabulous. Rich, unctuous and beautifully layered in the glass, with notes of lemon confit, white flowers and marzipan that give the 2018 stinking texture. The 2018 Journey is silky, with notable creaminess, depth and textural resonance, all in an understated style that holds tons of appeal.

The 2019 Chardonnay Upper Barn Vineyard brings serious richness and depth yet still has a more mineral-laced, pure, balanced style. Ripe tangerines, white currants, brioche, honeyed minerality, and toast all dominate the bouquet, and this beauty is balanced, with nicely integrated acidity and a great finish. It doesn't match the vibrancy and precision of the 2017 and is more in the softer, more rounded style of the 2018.

The 2019 Zinfandel Hartford Vineyard is cut from the same cloth yet seems to have a touch more purity and precision than the Highwire release. Blueberries, candied strawberries, toasted spice, graphite, and spicy wood notes define this beauty, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a wonderful sense of purity, ripe tannins, and a great finish.