This Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Chardonnay is rich, nuanced, and complex as the nose opens with aromas of baked apple, creamy meringue, ripe pineapple, mandarin orange and fresh peach.
The palate is supple as it is balanced and integrated and exhibits flavours of tropical nectar, orange marmalade, baking spices, ambrosia and vanilla, and offers creamy, long, lingering finish.

Murphy Goode 2019 Pinot Noir, California
Get deeper into wine and food pairing:
From the start wine has been made to be enjoyed with food. So if you are not already, why not make this the year to really get into thinking about food and wine matches? While the reality is that great pairings are subjective, there are strategies to help massage a match. For starters, it helps to serve a food-friendly wine. This California Pinot Noir shows both bright fruit and acidity, two traits that work well to counter richer, even fattier foods. This Pinot’s juicy red fruit, for example, is primed to parry unctuous BBQ ribs, while it’s also deft enough to take-on grilled salmon.
Bottom line: B, Oozes juicy berry and bramble.

Also amazing is the Tenuta di Arceno Chianti Classico Riserva 2018. This is sangiovese at its best, with cherry and plum sauce on the nose. It's so light and floral that cherry and strawberry flavors vibrantly shine. Part of the original tasting notes featured my take that the wine is not overpowered by wood or tannin.

A very well known, and delightfully consistent producer that is also quite easy to find at many shops, Kendall-Jackson makes a number of very agreeable, crowd-pleasing wines. Well-restrained with oak characters, but showing off dominant apple and citrus fruit, and a zippy acid. Could work very nicely with certain seafood dishes, but better with grilled poultry or even a not too meaty charcuterie board...

I wouldn't normally call chardonnay a "crushable" grape, but the 2019 from Cambria is finding that fine balance between oak (yes, it's there) but offset by bright and fairly tart fruits on the tropical spectrum, with a rather delicate floral component. A very clean, very modern expression of the grape that is versatile at the table and for a wide range of enthusiasts. Very nice.

Vivino and The Best Pinot Noirs for your Cellar
Russian River Valley, California
Best wines under $40:
2019 La Crema Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

Lovely with red fruit flavors of cherries and raspberries; spicy backbone of clove and pepper.

Lovely with red fruit flavors of cherries and raspberries; spicy backbone of clove and pepper.
Lovely with red fruit flavors of cherries and raspberries; spicy backbone of clove and pepper.

Earthy and spicy with plum and red fruit notes; medium acidity and long finish. It’s the perfect wine to pair with Salmon!

This is a medium-bodied, dark fruit flavored Pinot Noir with good acidity and medium-long finish. Good quality-to-price (QPR) ratio, so buy now!

Splurge for World-Class:
For when you sold your company and you want the neighbors to know that not only can you afford the good stuff – you actually also know what the good stuff is. These wines are incredible, and you will want to share them with people that know how to appreciate the best.
Mt. Brave 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon

As a symbol of grenache’s revival in Australia, it’s hard to go past this extraordinary wine, which Yangarra proudly calls “the pinnacle of our estate” (and prices accordingly). Made from grapes grown on gnarly old bush vines planted in 1946 on the highest block of the Yangarra vineyard, where the sandy soils are deepest, this is all about power and finesse: pretty, almost rose-petal perfume, but a deep, mysterious earthy scent, too; sweet, generous, ripe grenache fruit tumbling across the tongue, but also lots of dark, fine, dusty tannin holding it all in check. Superb wine.

One of the most interesting projects we’ve been watching is over at Yangarra. They’ve got most of the grape varieties of France’s Chateauneuf-du-pape region planted, some of which I can barely pronounce, like Counoise, if you say something like “Coo-Nwah-z” that’s about right.
In 2018, they released something with all the red varieties blended together called “Noir”. Pete Fraser is the brains behind the winemaking, my parents also happen to be his godparents, but even with an unbiased view, his wines are nothing short of incredible. This is fresh, lively and jam-packed with flavour, perfect for the introduction of winter and something braised!

The 2018 Strada al Sasso Gran Selezione is also phenomenal, a more sweetly fruited and generous — yet still very age-worthy — expression of Chianti Classico.

The 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva is particularly exciting, with tart black and red cherries, leather, and violets ringing through the vibrant and mouthwatering finish.

Plush and loaded with character, the Capture Pine Mountain, Cloverdale Peak, Sonoma County Merlot is loaded with soft red fruits of strawberry, raspberry and cherry. There's milk chocolate nibs and a dusty, mountain scrub green note on the finish.

The Capture Pine Mountain, Cloverdale Peak, Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 had majestic mountain fruit that started with blueberry, blueberry cobbler, hot coals and dusty, fresh-ground coffee. It was propped up with tannins that are well integrated with the fruit and spice notes.

A medium translucent garnet colour to the core. Lighter aromas of red berries, bramble berries, and hints of smoke and coffee. Raspberries and floral aromas with some air.

A bright deep lemon colour. Medium evolving aromas of pineapple, pear, pear and butterscotch plus honeysuckle with air. Dry, fuller body, round with a thicker mouthfeel. Ripe pineapple along with apple citrus pith, and touches of toast and villa. There is some pepperiness to this wine, getting stronger toward the finish.

Big and Delicious:
For when you’ve bought an incredible piece of tuna you really can’t afford, and you realize you need a bottle of wine you also can’t afford to accompany it. These wines are very high quality and will make even the most stubborn of wine snob accept you as their peer.
Penner Ash Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2019

Vertical in the Heights: Lokoya's Spring Mountain Cabernets
Winemaker Chris Carpenter shares 4 vintages of Lokoya's Spring Mountain bottling, back to 2007
With the 2007, things are unfurling nicely, with the fruit stretching out over the top of the structure as the spice and floral notes also expand. At 15 years of age, a point at which many valley floor Cabernets would be at their peak, this bottling is still quite youthful, pure and vibrant.

Vertical in the Heights: Lokoya's Spring Mountain Cabernets
Winemaker Chris Carpenter shares 4 vintages of Lokoya's Spring Mountain bottling, back to 2007
It’s with the 2009 that some evolution finally seems to be occurring, with the fruit showing a lightly mulled hint as the sleek, iron-edged tannins are giving some ground, slightly.