The 2015 Chardonnay 3 D has an exotic, tropical fruit nose with notes of warm pineapple, green guava and freshly baked bread, plus hints of peach blossoms, mandarin peel and yuzu. Medium-bodied with a wonderfully creamy texture and great density, it has a wicked backbone of lively acidity cutting through the concentrated flavors, finishing long and spicy. 92 cases were made.

The 2015 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills checks in as a blend of the 3D, Acin and Machado Vineyards, and it’s brought up identically to the single vineyards. In addition, there’s really no barrel selection made, so don’t think of this cuvee as a second wine. Like the Hapgood, it’s a seriously rich, unctuous beauty that offers notes of buttered citrus rind, candied lemons, honeycomb and hints of minerality. Deep, rich and thrillingly textured, it’s certainly the smart value play of the lineup as it’s half the price, but more than half the wine.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond Arrowood's 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Crown is fabulous. Rich and explosive, the Knights Crown is almost shockingly sensual for a wine from Knights Valley. Racy and silky, the Knights Crown is more texturally finessed than most Knights Valley Cabernets, it is a wine of sheer sensuality and appeal.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages One-hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon, the deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Knights Crown Cabernet Sauvignon gives up gregarious crème de cassis, plum preserves and redcurrant jelly notes with nuances of dried mint, black pepper, spice box and cedar chest. Full-bodied, firm and grainy in texture, it fills the mouth with mineral-laced black fruits and finishes on an earthy note.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale has a black forest cake and crème de cassis-scented nose with touches of charcoal, black soil, mocha and salami plus a hint of cigar box. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with black fruit and savory layers with beautifully ripe, fine-grained tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with great persistence.

Very attractive aromatics including ripe blackberry, kirsch, fall spice, dried herbs and vanilla lead to a rich palate with great structure, yet manages to be light and lively on the palate, with a blossoming finish that already shows good integration. You'll have a hard time keeping your hands off this one, but get a few extra to age and enjoy the evolution.

The 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard is absolutely spectacular. Some of the older Cabernet vines in Northern California are at this high-elevation site famous for its red soils. The wine was harvested in September over a two-week period and aged 24 months in a combination of French and American oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered this wine is loaded. Full-bodied and dense ruby/purple with notes of cedarwood, the wine is almost Pauillac-like with classic creme de cassis and unsmoked high-quality cigar tobacco, as well as licorice and a touch of subtle oak. It is fully mature, but not going to fall off the edge any time soon. This cuvee of 475 cases should be drunk now and over the next decade. This is an absolute beauty!

The age worthiness and brilliant quality of Dick Arrowood’s Reserve Speciale Cabernet Sauvignon is reflected time and time again in blind tastings when it is inserted against Napa’s finest. Recently, the 1995 acquitted itself at the top of the group in a tasting of some of the very best 1995s from Napa. This is a sensational wine that is blended from different top vineyard sources in Sonoma Valley. The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale, which spent 30 months in oak before being bottled unfiltered, has a deep ruby/purple color and a gorgeous nose of cedar, crushed rocks, black cherry, and cassis, with some licorice and roasted herbs. The wine has fabulous intensity, a full-bodied, opulent palate, ripe tannin, and a long 50-second finish. Arrowood made just under 2,100 cases of this superb wine, and for the price, it is a relatively good value in high-end northern California Cabernet. This wine should drink well for 10-20+ years.

One of the most underrated Cabernet Sauvignons made in the world is Arrowood's 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale. Made from an assortment of vineyards in Sonoma, Alexander Valley and Dry Creek, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for 23 months in primarily French oak. Its youthful dense purple color is followed by notes of truffles, spring flowers, new saddle leather, creme de cassis, cedar and spice box. Fabulously full-bodied, pure and multidimensional, but still youthful, it is not as backward as the Monte Rosso, and should hit its peak in another 2-4 years and age effortlessly over the following 20-25 years.

A brilliant, completely satisfying Viognier that shows its sunny California terroir in the ripe lemon, peach and mango flavors. It finishes dry, with a steely minerality, like stones and cold metal.

2005 ARROWOOD HOOT OWL VINEYARD SPECIAL SELECT LATE HARVEST No one in American produces more decadently rich Auslese, Beerenauslese, and Trockenbeerenauslese-styled late harvest Rieslings than Dick Arrowood, who began making these wines when he was the winemaker at Chateau St. Jean during the decade of the seventies. While their colors now resemble molasses, they remain fresh and lively. Arrowood has hit home runs with all three covees in 2005. Although reminiscent of syrup, yet unbelievably fresh because of its superb acidity, the 2005 Special Select Late Harvest Riesling Hoot Owl creek was bottled with 17.4 grams of residual sugar. In addition to its terrific acidity, it possesses wonderful honeyed flavors. This effort can be served with dessert or as dessert....

This wine is so loaded with glycerine, it actually pours slow from the bottle, like honey. With 17.4 grams of residual sugar, it's decadently, deliriously sweet, but sugar, it's not its only charm. There's a fabulous flood of apricots, pineapples, peaches and limes, concentrated to their essence and geléed, enriched with pure vanilla and clover honey and dusted with cinnamon. Doesn't that sound good?

Rich and satisfying, this opulent Chardonnay dazzles with sheer deliciousness. Master winemaker, Richard Arrowood has pulled out all the stops on this Burgundian-style wine. The flavors, of pineapple custard, lemon meringue, green apple butter, crème brulée and gingersnap cookie, are balanced by perfect acidity. This is by far Arrowood's greatest Chardonnay in recent memory.

Rich and satisfying, this opulent Chardonnay dazzles with sheer deliciousness. Master winemaker, Richard Arrowood has pulled out all the stops on this Burgundian-style wine. The flavors, of pineapple custard, lemon meringue, green apple butter, crème brulée and gingersnap cookie, are balanced by perfect acidity. This is by far Arrowood's greatest Chardonnay in recent memory.

A rich, complex wine of the kind we need more of. Packed with ripe pear, peach, mango and pineapple flavors that are well-oaked, and delicately balanced with acidity.

Italy, Tuscany: Chianti Classico (New Releases) The 2013 Valadorna (mostly Merlot with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot) is yet another home run in this blockbuster collection of new releases from Tenuta di Arceno in the southern part of Chianti Classico (Castelnuovo Berardegna). This is a firm and tightly knit expression that is packed tight with black fruit, tobacco, tar and dark chocolate. The wine shows enormous aromatic intensity, but then it slims down just a touch in the mouth to offer and elegantly tapered finish.

The 2008 Valadorna is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and is named after the remote vineyard where Merlot finds its preferred growing conditions. This is an immensely modern and monumental wine that oozes forth with thick layers of sticky Indian spice or cardamom followed by black current, candied plum and toasted espresso. There's a pretty touch of sweetness that fits perfectly within the super-rich embroidery of the wine. It will be fascinating to see how it evolves over the next decade or so. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2030.

Smooth, rich nose; lush, ripe style with juicy Tuscan fruit; toasty, elegant fruit with silky vanilla oak; intense, balanced and complex with lush style.

Napa 2016 Vintage: 5 Consecutive Years of Fantastic Wines Aromas of blackcurrants, roses, brick and spice. Full-bodied, firm and layered with a chewy and juicy tannin structure and a flavorful finish. Coffee bean. A luscious and generous red with freshness and focus.

Top 100 Wines of 2018 - #63 The 2014 Helena Dakota Cabernet Sauvignon is a completely fascinating wine from Pierre Seillan. The Cabernet fruit was sourced from the 12.4-acre Helena Dakota vineyard, which runs southeast to northwest and possesses slopes of up to 15 degrees. The vineyard benefits from the westerly winds, which pass over a large, cold pond and blow uphill in a direction parallel to the rows of vines, and slow down the ripening of the grapes. The result is a gorgeous wine which displays a dark, opaque color and begins with profound aromatics of ripe blackberries and black currants laced with roasted coffee, spices, loam and well-integrated lightly scorched oak all bursting from the glass. On the palate this is full-bodied with a gorgeous opulent texture as well as remarkable concentration and depth. Everything is kept well balanced from start to finish and the beautiful touch of underlying acidity provides jest enough lift to guide this through the long, supple finish. Overall, this is a flat-out delicious Cabernet, and while it is just about impossible to resist today, the future for this fantastic Cabernet looks even more promising.

An extra special wine, the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard possesses full body as well as a terrific bouquet of blue and black fruits, crushed rocks and spring flowers. A super-muscular, rich, powerful Cabernet built for long-term cellaring (which may explain why it has not yet been released), I would not touch a bottle for 5-7 years. It should last 30-50 years.

Chile 2018 Special Report This superb Carignan, grafted on to old vine País is made for the Jackson family by Andrés Sánchez. Perfumed, refined and well balanced with remarkable precision and focus, notes of mint and liquorice and polished tannins.

Vines planted in 1946. Hand picked, sorted, destemmed, crushed and tipped into two 657 litre ceramic eggs. Kept on skins for 138 days post ferment. No oak time at all; ceramic eggs only; no pressings either. Price seems to have been reduced; I can’t imagine anyone complaining. Beautiful grenache. Fresh, firm, spice-ripped and characterful. A joy to sit and sip. Redcurrant, sand, graphite, cloves, peppers and roasted spices.It cruises, curves and carves its way through your mouth in majestic fashion.

I adore the individual nature of this wine. The medium-depth colour is clear and vibrant. Snappy and fragrant are the cherry aromas. The palate is light yet textural; it epitomises suppleness and the flavours are lively and intense. I particularly enjoy the burst of cherry fruit on the finish, with the flavours long and satisfying.

Joyous fruit is flanked by exotic spices. This is complexity and sophistication all the way. From a 2 hectare block planted in 1946, the crushed fruit is tipped into 675L ceramic eggs. Fermentation occurred in the eggs and remained on skins for 138 days. No pressings used, no oak either with an additional six months in the eggs. Certified Organic and Biodynamic Medium bodied and delicate to taste, mulberries and blueberries reign supreme. Flirtatious from the get-go, touches of raspberry and strawberry are present too. Pretty scents of dried red flowers and almost dashes of violet slowly rise up. Mouthfilling and charming, superfine tannins roll out to a long and moreish finish. Just brilliant.