This is a wonderfully textured Merlot with layers of black fruits, chocolate and black pepper. The finish is refined with mineral, and spice.

Year after year, Mt. Brave produces opulent wines. The ’16 is layered with black and red fruits that finishes grippy with delicious cocoa and raspberry notes. It's a fabulous wine!

As cooler weather starts to set in, we pull out the bolder reds. Here are four standout bottles to usher in the season.Siduri produces a number of pinot noirs by sourcing directly from vineyards up and down the West Coast. What unites them? Soft velvety tannins and big fruit flavor. The Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir is grown in sandy soil, which causes the vines to stunt in the growth process. The result is a nice pop of red fruit at the front with a long, earthy finish. The aromas are light, delicate, and floral, but there’s plenty of structure on the palate.

Party FavoritesThe best wines for every Thanksgiving, from bargain bottles to magnificent magnumsThe 2016 Bordeaux vintage is excellent; this balanced red shows you don’t need to spend a fortune to enjoy it. Think aromas of plum and blackberry with soft, palate-coating tannins.

Merlot Wines to Seek Out In honor of Merlot month, the following are some great domestic examples to seek out. La Jota Vineyard 2017 Howell Mountain Merlot (Napa Valley, California)Rich. Luscious. Seriously delicious! Smooth from the first sip to the last, with balanced black cherry, cassis, chocolate and blueberry pie aromas and flavors. Full bodied and jam packed with flavor. This was a delight to drink! Definitely in my top 3.

Wine in the time of CholeraA Selection of Rutherford Preferred WinesFreemark Abbey, Bosché Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, a stalwart Napa Valley producer, and the most akin to Bordeaux. Winemaker emeritus Ted Edwards celebrates his 40th harvest with Freemark Abbey this year and welcomes Kristy Melton as winemaker.

La Jota Howell Mt. Merlot Packs A Powerful PunchThe La Jota Merlot is a great example of a mountain Merlot. La Jota also gives the grapes a lot more attention than most wines, showing what a premium wine is all about.The wine is a gorgeous deep garnet in the glass, with dark fruit aromas. On the palate I picked up flavors of black cherry, ripe raspberries and blackberries. It has a nice, smooth mouthfeel with some minerality on the long, velvety finish.

La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2017: Delicious easy drinker. Excellent example of well-made commodity pinot noir.

Holiday gifts you should buy in October

Stop Giving Merlot the Side EyeLocated in the appellation of St. Émilion, Bordeaux, France and first built in 1738, the estate was purchased by the Jackson & Seillan families in 2003. Ornate sundials adorn the façade of Château Lassègue, a beautiful 18th century Château. This wine is the second label of Lassègue and is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Back when things were normal, I met and chatted with La Crema’s winemaker, Jen Walsh, at our Rancho Mirage Wine & Food festival. She was pouring the 2017 La Crema Chardonnay Russian River Valley Saralee’s Vineyard. The wine is elegant and focused on the Chard grape. Catch the apple, pear tart, and dried apricot aromas & flavors with hints of crème brûlée. Fresh minerality shows throughout. It’ll be a treat for the holiday table.

Today’s featured wine for Merlot Month is the Mt. Brave Merlot 2016, Mt. Veeder, a wine that qualifies on any scale of grandeur, seriousness and Olympian stature. The property occupies the old Chateau Potelle estate, acquired by Jackson Family Wines in 2007. The vineyards lie at 1,400 to 1,800 feet elevation, above the fog line; the thin, nutrient-poor soil consists of gravelly loam and various size rocks that require the vines to work hard for water and sustenance. This is a blend of 82 percent merlot and 18 percent malbec, fermented with native yeasts, aged 20 months in French oak, 73 percent new barrels, bottled with no fining or filtering. The color is opaque purple-black; the first impression is of mountainside grape character — mint, iodine and iron, cedar, sage and bay leaf; it takes a few minutes for intense and concentrated elements of black currants, raspberries and blueberries to assert themselves; another few moments bring notes of crushed lavender and violets; the wine is — no surprise! — dense, chewy, lithe and supple, bolstered by deeply-rooted dusty tannins and bastions of burnished oak; black and blue fruit flows sleek on the palate, propelled by blazing acidity and a scintillating quality of chiseled granitic minerality. 15.1 percent alcohol, but the alcohol level does not dominate a young, bold, muscular package. Now — somewhat guardedly, with a medium-rare ribeye steak, hot and crusty from the grill — through 2028 to ’32.

The aptly named Zena Crown “Conifer” Pinot Noir 2016, Eola-Amity Hills, originated in four blocks of 13-year-old vines that lie from 380 to 600 feet elevation. The wine aged 17 1/2 months in French oak, 54 percent new barrels, slightly different from the “Slope.” The color is medium transparent ruby with an ethereal magenta rim; the bouquet swarms upon you suddenly — loam and briers, red currants and plums, sandalwood and wild cumin, pine, smoke, forest floor; these heady elements segue seamlessly onto the palate, framed by dynamic acidity that cuts a swath and tannins the multiply in petal-like layers of dusty graphite; flavors take on a bit of cherry-berry ripeness, while perfectly integrated oak provides nuanced shape and supple texture. 14.1 percent alcohol. As complete, balletic yet grounded pinot noir as I have encountered this year.

Derived from three blocks of southeast-facing vines at 390 to 600 feet elevation, the Zena Crown “Slope” Pinot Noir 2016, Eola-Amity Hills, aged 17 1/2 months in French oak, 64 percent new barrels. The color is dark ruby that shades to a transparent mulberry-hued rim; notes of black and red currants and plums are buoyed by hints of forest floor, flint and slate; a few minutes in the glass unfurl touches of lavender, red cherries and cranberries, heather and sage; bright acidity plows a furrow on the palate; slightly dusty tannins emerge to lend structure to a pinot noir that beautifully balances all elements while allowing the wine’s essential elusive, ethereal yet damp earthy nature to prevail; one feels the quality of the vineyard as if it were underfoot.

Wine the most important Thanksgiving choiceIf you want some international flair at the table, try the tangerine-and-herb profile, dry Copain Tous Ensemble 2018 Rose, which sounds like it should be from France, but is really from Mendocino County in California.

La Crema’s more entry-level bottlings always tend toward beefiness, and this expression is no exception, kicking off with a somewhat tough and decidedly meaty character that feels like it will never let up. Give it some time in glass, and the picture changes, albeit slowly. Notes of blackberry and blueberry cobbler emerge, alongside notes of sweet tea and some baking spice notes. The finish is brambly, classic Russian River stuff, with hints of cola and a bit of clove.

The 65 Best Summer Whites, Rosés and SparklersWinemaker’s Notes: The Tradition Sauvignon Blanc elevates the purity of the variety through stainless steel fermentation and ten months of sur lie aging. The result is an expression of bright citrus such as lime peel, white stonefruit, and green apple fragrances.

Oregon was the first state in America to grow Pinot Gris and WillaKenzie has wisely made it part of their portfolio. Their 2018 WillaKenzie Pinot Gris from Willamette Valley has a nose that is full of ripe green apple, melon and honeysuckle aromas. The slightly creamy mouthfeel supports luscious flavors of green apple, pear and tropical fruit. The textured finish is long and crisp with hints of tangerine acidity on the back of the palate.

This Bordeaux-style wine is a study in contrasts, and a super delicious one at that. The 2018 Capture Pine Mountain Sauvignon Blanc has lush tropical flavors of lychees and kiwi, super sharp acidity and flinstone-like minerality. And somehow it all ties in really well together. It begins with aromas of exotic fruit, leads to an explosion of citrus flavors, and finishes on a chalky limestone note. Sam Teakle, Winemaker recommends some great pairings, “This wine pairs beautifully with oysters. Or, if you’re building a cheese board—the laserbeam acidity cuts through the richness of goat cheese, fresh and dried fruit to make the notes of the wine pop, and fresh herbs like rosemary and sage to complement the aromatics of the wine.”

Dark rich plums, brown sugar, mint chocolate chip, and vanilla bean swirl together like a cotton candy machine at the state fair in this very approachable red blend from Bootleg. The creamy oak flares up on the nose like whipped cream atop a chocolate chip sundae with blueberry syrup and a cherry on top. Sounds dangerously good, right? The bold black and blue fruits absolutely dominate here, and that’s the front runner, with all sorts of tug-of-war tannins that grapple in your mouth. But it’s the hint of chalky dark chocolate squares that are irresistible on the palate. It’s concentrated but not dense, berry blasted but not overly fruity, cocoa coated but not milky. A final mint leaf liveliness sneaks across the finish line with precision. The big brooding deviance is real with this one and I suspect the masses will love it.

36 Of The Best Pinot Noirs Willamette Valley Has To Offer2016 WillaKenzie Terres Basses Pinot Noir delivers bold notes of black berries, black tea, forest floor, and cured meat, layered and complex, firm shoulders.

36 Of The Best Pinot Noirs Willamette Valley Has To Offer2015 Zena Crown ‘Slope’ Pinot Noir bold notes of dark fruit, spice, black tea, dusty earth, dried tobacco, slate, worn leather, a cab-lovers pinot, powerful tannins, yet elegant, stunning *sold out, 2016 vintage available.

36 Of The Best Pinot Noirs Willamette Valley Has To Offer2017 Penner-Ash Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir explosion of red fruit, warm baking spice, fresh herbs, lavender, damp underbrush, sweet tobacco, layers, poised, silky tannins, long finish.

36 Of The Best Pinot Noirs Willamette Valley Has To Offer2017 Gran Moraine Pinot Noir offers red and black berries, crushed red flowers, dusty earth, cured meat, and black tea, bold yet sophisticated, fresh, driven.

Cleanliness, acidity and profound, ripe fruity flavors present immediately. One picks up notes of apricots, papayas and limes and hints of white flowers.