The lovely bouquet of blackberry jam, oak with mint, cedar, and black olives draws you in. Broad and rich on the palate, with ample but fine tanins. Great depth of dark-berry fruit, with coffee and cedar shadings. The explosive finish just keeps going as intriguing sweet-tart fruit and bitter chocolate notes please all the way out.

There are 3900 cases of the prodigious 1997 Cardinale, comprised primarily of Cabernet Sauvignon with a tiny dollop of Merlot. The whine has an opaque bluish black/purple color, a knockout nose of black cherry liqueur intermixed with cassis, lead pencil, mineral, and smoky oak. The glorious richness in the mouth is backed up by a full-bodied, opulently-textured, super-extracted wine that is neither heavy nor ponderous. Stunning purity, a fabulous multi-layered impression & a finish that goes on for nearly a minute make this the most exciting Cardinale to date. For statisticians, this is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon & 9% Merlot, of which 79% of the grapes came from Napa & 21% from Sonoma. It spent 22 months in 100% new French oak before being bottled with neither fining nor filtration. It tips the scale at 14.2% alcohol. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2030.

The 2012 Cardinale Red Wine is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot. This begins with aromas of anise, creme de cassis, black tea and mocha. Dense and layered there are ripe black tea, mocha, crushed mint and blackberry pie flavors. Massive and still young, this needs another year in the bottle to fully evolve. There is a wonderful sense of elegance in this wine.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Cardinale is totally seamless and textured on the palate, with layers of ripe, racy fruit, tons of intensity and an opulent, voluptuous finish that captures the essence of this style to the T. Dark red stone fruits, cinnamon, cedar, tobacco and new leather linger on the creamy finish. Winemaker Chris Carpenter draws across the entire range of Kendall Jackson's Napa Valley properties to craft Cardinale. In 2012, the blend is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot from nine vineyards in a total of seven AVA's (Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain, Spring Mountain, Mt. Veeder, Stags' Leap, Yountville and St. Helena).

The vintage was generally a good one in Napa Valley, and with this ’09, Cardinale shows its usual sumptuousness. It’s beautiful and elegant, with hard, chewy tannins framing intensely concentrated blackberries and cassis. Blended from various vineyards by winemaker Chris Carpenter, the wine is as stylish as Napa Cabernet gets. Full bodied and heady, it should provide good drinking over the next 12 years.

Strikingly graceful, refined, dense and polished, this presents a tight-knit core of dark berry, black licorice, crushed rock and floral-violet scents, keeping its focus and ending with an amazing finish.

Strikingly graceful, refined, dense and polished, this presents a tight-knit core of dark berry, black licorice, crushed rock and floral-violet scents, keeping its focus and ending with an amazing finish.

Napa Cabernet Sauvignon worthy of your cellar 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot. Noticeable maturity with lovely aromatics of dry cassis macerated in reduced balsamic and berries of the forest. Seasoned by spicy vanilla, clove and hint of charcoal. Rich, dense palate with sweet tannins and richly textured fruit leading to the lasting finish.

A perfect balance of the rich and the vibrant, this is a textbook Napa Valley cabernet. It's blended from vineyards on Mt. Veeder, Howell Mountain, Stags Leap District, Spring Mountain and Oakville (To Kalon). The flavors layer black currant and black cherry with redder fruit tones and floral notes. Remarkably, it maintains that detail and freshness even with the youthful potency of its structure and the aggressive power of its extract, you can virtually see the tannin dripping down the sides of the glass. A lovely young wine to decant for Kobe beef, this has the stamina for aging ten years or more.

This 1,000-case cuvee from three separate Napa vineyards – the Veeder Peak Vineyard high up on Mt. Veeder, the Keyes Vineyard on Howell Mountain, and the Stags Leap Vineyard on the valley floor – is a blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot. Deep ruby/purple to the rim, with notes of graphite, black cherry and black currant liqueur, licorice, and spice box, the wine has silky tannins, full body, a gorgeously layered, rich mouthfeel, and a long finish with moderately high tannins and refreshing acidity. It’s a big wine for sure, but it has uncanny elegance, purity, and length.

Consistently one of the best proprietary blends of northern California, Cardianle's 2004 is 100% Napa fruit (from Mt. Veeder, Howell Mountain, Stags Leap District, and Oakville). This blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot boasts a dense purple color in addition to sweet aromas of kirsch, black currants, licorice, olives, and spice box. Fabulous texture, full-bodied power, pure fruit, and an opulent, voluptuous finish nearly conceal significant tannin. This beauty should drink well young, yet age easily for 15 more years. Not yet released. Previously recommended: 2003 Proprietary Red Wine (95).

It boasts an inky/purple color as well as a beautifully perfumed nose of creme de cassis, smoke, cedar, licorice, and spice box. A sweet, expansive, full-bodied attack is followed by impressive purity, elegance, and concentration as well as layers of flavor and ripe, well-integrated tannin. It can be drunk now or cellared for 15+ years.

This inky/purple-colored Pauillac-styled red boasts notes of cedar wood, licorice, and black currants along with smoky, ripe, full-bodied palate impression, terrific concentration, sweet tannin, and multiple layers. It should hit its peak in 2-4 years, and last through 2020.

The 2017s From Sonoma As to the reds, the 2016 Innovant Red Wine checks in as 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot that spent 20 months in 45% new French oak. It’s a beautiful bottle of wine that has loads of blue fruits, violets, and subtle earthy minerality as well as medium to full body, incredibly polished tannins, and a great finish. Coming all from the Alden Vineyard in Alexander Valley, it represents a good value even at the $50 price point. Drink it over the coming 15 years or so.

South Africa 2018 Special Report 2015 Capensis Chardonnay, Western Cape – Jackson Family Wines and its South African winemaker Graham Weerts set out to make a top of the range Chardonnay, using fruit from vineyards in Stellenbosch, Overberg and Robertson. This is the best release yet, with a winning combination of stone and citrus fruit, subtle oak and a taut, mineral-edged finish.

Bruised strawberries and ripe red plums are leveled by iron, ginger snaps, crushed slate and soy on the umami-laden nose of this bottling by Winemaker Jonathan Nagy. Intriguing river--stone minerality powers the palate, where black plums and olallieberries meet with black spice and lots of florality.

This is one of the stunning array of vineyard designated Pinot Noir from the Santa Maria Valley that Byron made in 2006. The vineyard, planted in 1974, contains a healthy proportion of mature vines that contribute to this wine's complexity and depth. Ripe black fruit flavors and succulent, not overdone, and complemented by savory, herbal notes. Despite the 14.6% stated alcohol, it's not heavy or overdone, showing you cannot judge wine solely by the numbers. Its wonderful balance and complexity persists into the long finish because of uplifting black cherry-like acidity. Not a Burgundy wannabe, it's a great Pinot Noir from California.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Hapgood was my one of my favorites from among these offerings from Brewer-Clifton, wafting from the glass with an incipiently complex bouquet of plums, spice, raspberry, currant and rich soil. On the palate, the wine is medium to fullbodied, with the most volume and dimension of all the winery's Pinot Noirs at this stage, with its structuring tannins more supple and velvety than those found in the 459 and its saline finish reflecting its whole cluster fermentation.

2016 PINOT NOIR, HAPGOOD The density and purity of the fruit is notable here with well integrated oak. The palate entry is supple red fruit – polished Luxardo cherry, spice and fine-grained tannins.

2016 PINOT NOIR, MACHADO The nose is a sweet cherry and carbon with a dry spice core. The palate is ripe red berry and tomato tapenade with a core of full on intensity and floral notes in the finish. Beautiful balance throughout.

Explosive floral and fruit aromas leap from the glass in this brilliant bottling, which is bursting with plump red cherry, bundles of rose petals and just a touch of green peppercorn to keep it herbally intriguing. Lively and fresh on the palate, that deep pomegranate and Montmorency cherry picks up an herbally laced line of thyme, oregano, white sage, green cardamom and white pepper.

Coming from a north facing slope just across from Melville and all clone 828, the 2015 Pinot Noir Acin is a deeper, richer wine than the 3D and is up with the crème de la crème in the region. Spring flowers, wild strawberries, black raspberries and spice all flow to a layered, incredibly seamless, pure Pinot Noir that has integrated acidity, a gorgeous texture and a finish that carries plenty of fruit and length. It’s not a big wine, yet it has plenty of intensity as well as complexity. Drink it anytime over the coming decade or more.

More like a focused fruit missile than an indiscriminate fruit bomb, this bottling shows flashy, vibrant waves of pure strawberry, red cherry and black raspberry that are edged by hints of dark earth, light spearmint and sweet bay leaf. The sip offers tart and exotic plums wrapped up in an herbal cape of thyme and potpourri. This will please many palates.

Pale ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir 459 (made with 459 clone) has a very pretty perfume of violets, red roses and fragrant soil with a core of mulberries and red cherries plus hints of chocolate box and oolong. Medium-bodied, it delivers very intense red berry and savory layers with a grainy backbone and tons of freshness, finishing long.

The stunning aromatic profile on this bottling compellingly combines candied fruit with the lift of crushed herbs, while blending cherry and grenadine with mint, bay leaf, a hint of green olive and a touch of crushed gravel on the nose. That lovable core of plush red fruits rides tight tannins on the palate, where bay leaf, thyme and green peppercorn flavors complete the sip.