Six red wines you should be drinking now2016 Mt. Brave Mt. Veeder Merlot17.8 (9.3 for quality, 8.5 for value)The wine: In 2007, winemaker Chris Carpenter launched the Mt. Brave project, using fruit from what was once the Chateau Potelle Vineyard, located between 1,400 and 1,800 feet in elevation on the hillside, where the gravelly loam soils, lacking minerals and nutrients, produce tiny berries with concentrated, complex flavor profiles.Taster’s take: “Blackberry and cherry flavors with a hint of chocolate.”Critical acclaim: The Wine Enthusiast awarded it a score of 94, deeming it a Cellar Selection: “Best from 2026 through 2031.”

Top 6 in the 6ix: Wines of the Week - Netflix Wine PairingsA delicious full bodied and easy going cabernet Sauvignon ideal with saturday night date night, lamb rack and season two of The Crown – a wine and series that is both serious and exciting!

A very good, almost chewy wine, but still very lively on the palate with some perfumed notes, some wood accents and great tannins.

A friend and I tasted this together, and both of us said we would have guessed in a blind tasting that it was a top-growth Bordeaux, with its barrel treatment, blackberry flavors, and a finishing dollop of cream. And it is an all-Bordeaux blend, led by a preponderance of Merlot. Note, too, that with this and the other two Arceno wines, Pierre Seillan, who oversees the estate, likes to hold the release of his reds for a few years until they are at least beginning to mature. (Tenuta di Arceno is one of the prize estates owned by Jackson Family Wines of Sonoma.)

A delicious Chianti that manages to have both the dusty, tannic, earthy characteristics of Sangiovese while also presenting a ripe fruitiness and a great mouth feel. I would decant this for a couple of hours before drinking.

17 Intoxicating Mother's Day Gifts for Moms Who Love WineFrom high-profile Pierre Seillan, who makes wine on Bordeaux’s Right Bank as well as in Sonoma (Vérité), comes a Tuscan project showcasing his favorite variety: Cabernet Franc (representing 73 percent of this wine). High-toned aromas of violets and red berries belie the power and density of the palate that follows, and yet there’s great balance and finesse here, with juicy acidity and rounded tannins.

The 19 Best Grenache Wines to Buy Right NowSand-based soils cradle vines planted back in 1946, and nurture a wine of fantastic aromatic complexity: First cherries, then raspberries, then brambly berries sweep in before the spice notes hit. All of it sets the stage for a plush, elegant, layered Grenache, with mountain berries, fresh-picked cherries, and cracked floral peppercorns. This terrific wine's concentration grows as the finish lingers on: It's nothing short of regal.

The 19 Best Grenache Wines to Buy Right NowThis is in a great place right now, with a razor's-edge balance between concentration and freshness carrying flavors of blood orange, licorice, dried herbs, violets, black and red cherries, green olives, and a touch of candied orange peel. It has another decade to go, at least, but I love this already. Note: 2017 was the last vintage of this wine; the fruit is now going into the Yangarra Hickinbotham Vineyard Grenache, and the 2019 will be released later in 2021.

Give quiche a chance – and give this Californian chardonnay the chance to stand up to the bacon, leek, and cheddar. This style will unite lovers of both new and old world chardonnay thanks to its rich butter, pineapple, and lemon curd on the nose and its fresher red apple on the palate, with enough rich butter and lemon curd flavours to balance its fresh acidity. A great lesson in how to balance fruit, oak, and acidity in a food-friendly white wine.

Wines under $20 to spring into spring withThe 2018 Murphy-Goode Cabernet Sauvignon from California is — well, good. It’s also a great value for an easy-drinking, food-friendly cabernet. Made from grapes sourced from vineyards throughout California, it delivers abundant plum, cherry and chocolate notes across the palate and ends with a pleasing hint of licorice on the medium finish.

Exploring The Cabernet Sauvignon Of Napa Valley, Part Two: Rutherford And St. HelenaKirsch, black raspberries, dark chocolate, and mineral precede a palate of wonderfully detailed and assertive structure, with flavors of Amarena cherries, red and black currants, dusty tannins that are very much classic of Rutherford’s reputation, toasted fennel seeds, bay laurel, and a dash of coffee. This is built for the long haul, with balance and acidity to spare, and should continue evolving in fascinating ways until the late-2040s.

The Best Sonoma Syrah Wines Any Syrah Lover Must TasteCopain Wines is a Sonoma winery that hosted at my Inagaural Pinots & Plaid Pinot Noir Tasting and adore. I had the chance to visit this beautiful Sonoma gem and fell in love. Read more about my visit to Copain Winery, a Sonoma Winery You Won’t Want to Miss. As for their Syrah which comes from Anderson Valley’s Yorkville Highlands it is a bold Syrah with Red Rasberry and Boysenberry fruit flavors, with elements of stone and spiciness adding to the complexity of this lovely wine.

The Best Syrah Wines Under $35I’ve loved Penner-Ash Cellars for quite a while, and all of their wines are absolutely fantastic! Wineries in Oregon are stunning, read about The Most Incredible Oregon Wineries I’ve Visited on my blog here. The Penner-Ash Syrah is $35 and you can find it on the website here.

The Best Syrah Wines Under $35Kendall-Jackson produces some award-winning lines that combine the cool, coastal, mountains of California. See the Kendall-Jackson website to try their fantastic Syrah for $17.

The Best Syrah Wines Under $35Cambria Wines Syrah is a deep, dark purple color with the perfect balance of flavor. Located in the Santa Maria Valley, their vineyards add for the perfect taste. See the Cambria Wines website to grab your bottle of Tepusquet Vineyard Syrah, one of the Best Syrah Wines for $32.

While Chardonnay is only 2% of Willakenzie’s output, it is growing. The 2018 is aromatic, with floral, apple, and lemon notes, plus a hint of spice and vanilla on the palate.

Sourced from nine different blocks, each broken down further into a variety of small lot ferments. Unusually for the areas, the vineyards do include some basaltic bedrock among the more common sedimental formations. Aromatic, the wine shows red fruit, floral, and spice notes on the nose, supported by an almost oyster-shell mineral character, and a savoriness on the finish. Lighter, and elegant, with more overt structure, tighter tannins, and good length.

The Best for $15 or LessA sunny pinot with earthy tannins framing simple red fruit.

Sommelier Tries 20 White Wines Under $15So next up, we have Kendall Jackson. This is the Vintners Reserve chardonnay and this is from California 2018. This is a name that we all know, it's one of the big players in the wine industry. First off, lots of tropical fruit. Pineapple, papaya, a little bit of green mango. Get lots of like luscious vanilla. And that's due to the oak. It's not over the top buttery and rich in that style. And there's kind of just, just whack, it just like hits you right in the mouth. You know, I think at $11 I think you could find some other great interesting wines at that price point. But if this is your jam, this is your jam and $11, you know, it works.

A very elegant pinot, with dark aromas, silky texture, stunning flavors.

A big ripe cab from one of the leaders in the field, at a great price.

A classic California chard, stylish, with finesse, light oak.

The slice of Cambria Estate Winery dubbed Julia’s Vineyard, named for Julia Jackson in 1986, consists of ancient soils with fossilised seashells, shale, limestone and sand, with fog swept vines that have endured since the 1970s.And Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir is the Californian estate's crowning glory; vibrant garnet in colour with a wonderful swirl of juicy red fruits on the nose. Ripe cherry, bold black grape and strawberry flavours on the palate are complimented by a touch of cinnamon spice and subtle underlying earth tones, followed by a well-rounded, mid-palate and a deftly defined elegant finish.

6 Wines Worth Splurging On This WeekOregon has been on a roll the past few years, consistently producing outstanding Pinot Noirs, one year after another since 2014. This voluptuous 2018 Pinot Noir from Penner-Ash Wine Cellars is another stunning wine from another great vintage. Made with grapes from the Yamhill-Carlton subregion in the widely-respected Willamette Valley famous for its complex Pinot Noirs, this wine hits all the rights notes – bright yet subtle fresh berry flavors, a hint of toasted almond, vanilla and fresh herbs mixed with a dash of roasted figs. An outstanding wine that will drink well for at least the next 10 years.

How old are the vines for the Penner-Ash Wine Cellars Old Vines Riesling 2018? The grapes derived from the Hyland Vineyard in Willamette Valley’s McMinnville sub-AVA, planted in 1971, so for this vintage they were 47 years old. Made all in stainless steel, the wine displays a pale but radiant straw-gold hue and enticing aromas of jasmine, lemon verbena, lime peel and spiced pear, with hints of green apple and slightly earthy flint in the background; a few moments in the glass unfurl notes of quince and candied ginger in nose and on the palate, along with pert citrus flavors animated by crisp and taut acidity; a lithe tide of limestone minerality washes through the finish; every element here is meshed seamlessly in a suave, sleek, silky, scintillating package. 12.9 percent alcohol. Production was 300 cases. Winemaker was Kate Ayres. Penner-Ash was acquired by Jackson Family Wines in 2016.