Best Valentine’s Day Wines
The 2018 Lassègue has a deep garnet color. The bouquet shows notes of cassis and violet. The palate reveals lots of red and black fruit, and silky tannins evolving in a long, complex finish.

A mix of red and black fruits, dense in a good way, with savory brambles and a granular, lean finish.

Like several Bordeaux wineries, Lassègue does both late and later releases, so you can often find multiple vintages available. This one is perfect for a bloody steak – fresh but rounded flavors of cherries and cassis blended in with tastes of leather and aging barrels.

Top Californian Wines to Try
Chardonnay
1. Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve 2019 (13.5%)
A perennial favourite and excellent value, this shows ripe peach and slightly tropical flavours with subtle oak. Will age gracefully.

Any wine is the right wine for Easter
Recommended

Any wine is the right wine for Easter
Recommended

Classic Sonoma-style pinot from the ever-reliable La Crema, fleshy but nicely balanced and relatively fresh, with silky tannins and lively acids. Wood is a minor flavour contributor, adding a gentle sheen of chocolate-coffee spice, but bright red fruit dominates. Solid, professionally made. Drink or hold until the mid-2020s.

Clean, polished, creamy and immediately appealing, La Crema’s 2020 Sonoma Coast chardonnay bottling is a broad and generous, orchard fruit-flavoured wine ranging from peach and apricot to pear and apple, with really well-integrated wood, and lingering finish. All in all, a solid wine with integrity and depth. Enjoy over the next 1-3 years or so.

13 Best Sauvignon Blanc Wines in 2022
9. La Crema, Sauvignon Blanc 2021 | Sonoma County, California, USA
This wine offers a bright yellow color with aromas of tropical fruit, some minerality and lemon blossom. On the palate, ripe melon, grapefruit, stone fruit and apple emerge. Good acidity carries the wine into a mouthwatering finish.

My preference for finesse in Chardonnays has been running more and more to Oregon examples, and Gran Moraine’s is a beauty, not oaky nor caramelized, but wholly expressive of the fruit with just 13% alcohol. It’s a good bet for cold salmon or vegetable soups.

Baked apple aromas. Apple, lemon, baking spices and touch of vanilla on the palate, which is just a tad thin. Bright acidity and refreshing finish. Good plus.

Not much nose. Off-dry palate but well-integrated acidity. Difficult to discern much character but it's certainly not too sweet. 13.5% Drink 2020 –2023

Really racy and lively – yes! This is my sort of wine. It has real lift and transparency together with beautiful balance and evolution – though I suspect most of the 2013 vintage will already have been drunk. Drink 2021 – 2029

Mid crimson. Meaty, sweet ripeness on the nose. Paler than most of the Cabernets also tasted at this launch of The California List, presumably because it is so much older. Tannins, acidity and fruit less than perfectly integrated but still a luxurious wine, Drink 2012 – 2025

BONUS: Kendall-Jackson has a pair of limited-release Kentucky Derby-themed wines from California for the annual race. A 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon ($28) from Napa Valley and a 2020 Chardonnay ($17) from Mendocino County. We didn’t get a chance to try these yet, but the Cab is billed as having notes of cigar box, baking spice, black currant and dark cherry, while the Chard is touted as having warm vanilla, tropical fruit and citrus. The 148th Run for the Roses is Saturday, May 7.

BONUS: Kendall-Jackson has a pair of limited-release Kentucky Derby-themed wines from California for the annual race. A 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley and a 2020 Chardonnay from Mendocino County. We didn’t get a chance to try these yet, but the Cab is billed as having notes of cigar box, baking spice, black currant and dark cherry, while the Chard is touted as having warm vanilla, tropical fruit and citrus. The 148th Run for the Roses is Saturday, May 7.

Perfect Springtime Bubbly to Toast the Season
This one just sort of dropped into my lap. I attended a dinner with the folks from La Crema as part of their touring pop-up experience which was so fun by the way. I was of course expecting to drink some of their tasty Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but when they literally pulled this one out of the bag, you know they had my attention. They’ve only been making this wine for a couple of years, but it’s such a well done effort. Vibrant wild strawberries, lemon verbena, a touch of cream and mineral. Count me a fan!

This rich ruby Pinot Noir has an explosive bouquet of garrigue, field flowers, forest floor and sweet bay. The aromas are captivating and fill the room. This sultry wine has macerated Morello cherries, wild strawberries and dried red raspberries that layer your palate with concentration and silkiness. This alluring and expressive Pinot Noir maintained its composure three days later. Wow!!

Raise a glass to Mother Earth with these sustainable wines
Since 1999, LIVE has certified wineries in the Pacific Northwest for their social and environmental sustainability, based on internationally accredited standards. WillaKenzie became the first LIVE certified winery in 2008. It is also certified by Salmon Safe, a peer-reviewed accreditation program that implements farming practices to maintain the health of West Coast watersheds, allowing Pacific salmon to thrive.
Garnet in the glass, this pinot noir is redolent of ripe raspberries, with vanilla overtones. The mouthfeel is soft, and the palate is suggestive of savory boysenberry sauce with a hint of allspice. Floral notes are evident throughout, but express themselves most prominently as violets with a touch of licorice on the finish. This silky sipper is superb for entertaining, as well as evenings alone.
Pair it with: roast pork tenderloin with raspberry sauce, oven roasted salmon filets with figs, and pappardelle with fennel ragout.

So named by Pierre Seillan, who wanted to create a wine in which the Cabernet Franc could express itself to the full, Le Désir is still restrained but shows an undeniable class. The fruit is particularly luscious on the nose. As for the palate, what intensity! The body is broad and powerful before a dazzling finish.

For this vintage, the three classic Bordeaux grape varieties (Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot) were combined with a touch of Petit Verdot and Malbec. A classic and expressive blend, with pronounced spicy notes. Still young, this wine, with its powerful and prominent tannin, becomes mineral over the long, silky finish.

The estate's first wine, the always fresh and elegant La Muse reveals an intense fruit. On the palate, the primarily Merlot wine shows its feisty spirit in a very smooth body. The finish reveals the grace of its age with notes of truffle and leather.

We typically do not recommend wines that are this expensive, but this exceptional effort demands the attention of people who really understand what is happening, one of whom is the man who made this wine, Chris Carpenter. Mt. Veeder is probably the most age-worthy district of all red wine districts in the Napa Valley. It is easy to screw that up, which Carpenter did not! There is black fruit here that has just enough of the black olive and dried herb components that mark the varietal. And although the tannins are firm, the wine displays overwhelmingly interesting characteristics after being open for 24 hours. Brilliant stuff!

There’s finesse in this elegant Chardonnay — it’s got some requisite “Napa heft,” but the fruit is so pure and honest it comes off more like a white Burgundy. Bright and refreshing.

From a legendary estate, this is a voluptuous and elegant Napa Cab, drinking beautifully now, the tannins ripe and present, and the fruit evolving into layers both sweet and savoury. Wonderful.