USA, California: More Napa & Sonoma New Releases Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Zinfandel Highwire Vineyard explodes with black cherry compote, blueberry pie, raspberry preserves and fruitcake notes with hints of tobacco, sandalwood and potpourri. Full-bodied, the palate is completely coated with blackberry preserves and spicy layers, framed by soft tannins and lovely freshness, finishing very long and layered.

Napa Valley's 2017s Lastly, the 2017 Cabernet Franc comes from three separate parcels and is 100% Cabernet Franc aged in 92% new French oak. It’s an awesome bottle of wine with classic Franc black tea and forest floor notes as well as perfumed black raspberry fruits, lots of floral and bay leaf hints, medium to full body, fine tannins, and a terrific sense of elegance. It’s a classy wine to enjoy any time over the coming 15-20 years.

Napa Valley's 2017s One of the flagship releases from this estate, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Bosche comes from a single vineyard (it's one of the earliest single vineyard releases from Napa) in Rutherford and is close to 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot aged in 67% new French oak for 28 months. Its opaque purple color is followed by a stunning bouquet of red and black currants, crushed violets, dark chocolate, graphite, truffle, and hot gravel-like minerality. Showing the elegance and purity that's the hallmark of the vintage, it’s medium to full-bodied, with beautiful tannins and a seamless, elegant texture.

Aromatic, detailed, generous and plush, featuring notes of cream soda and milk chocolate that add a touch of polish to the concentrated kirsch, spiced plum and blueberry flavors at the core. The details of cigar box, espresso and palo santo show appealing precision, exhibiting harmony on the long, expressive finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Drink now through 2035.

Even better than their entry level bottling, the 2016 Brewer-Clifton ‘Machado’ Pinot Noir is a spell-binding new wine from this storied state in the Santa Rita Hills. The ‘Machado Vineyard’ is a 15 acre site that is adjacent to Clos Pepe and immediately behind the Kessler-Haak Vineyard. Planted to Pommard, Merry Edwards, Mount Eden, and 459 clones, the Pinot Noir opens with peat moss and wild blackberry tones that connect with the seaweed and citrus rind aromatics that are all woven together brilliantly in the glass. The palate is lithe, elegant and marvelously textured. Red and dark fruit flavors collide with copious minerals and damp earth undertones, with a beam of salinity that sings through the mid-palate. A complete wine, the 2016 ‘Machado’ will provide an exceedingly long life in the cellar. Drink 2020-2040.

2017 & 2018 Napa Valley In Depth The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon (Mt. Veeder) is another huge, tannic wine from Mt. Brave. Inky dark fruit, blackberry jam, bittersweet chocolate, spice and new leather are all kicked up a few notches in this dramatic, unctuous wine. Huge tannins wrap around all of the fruit in a big, potent Cabernet endowed with tremendous personality and class. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that the 2017 needs a number of years to be at its very best.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Retrospective Deep garnet in color, the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Christopher's Vineyard gives up evolving notes of Black Forest cake, baked blackcurrants, dried mulberries and fallen leaves with touches of leather, camphor, roasted nuts and dusty soil with a waft of pencil shavings. Full-bodied, concentrated and wonderfully layered in the mouth, it has firm, very fine-grained tannins and bold freshness, finishing very long and mineral laced. 360 cases were made.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Retrospective Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard explodes from the glass with wonderfully profound, expressive notions of baked plums, Black Forest cake, chargrill, molten rocks, tapenade and woodsmoke with nuances of dried flowers, bay leaves, truffles and unsmoked cigars. Full-bodied and firm, with fantastic freshness, the palate is laden with black fruit preserves and savory layers, finishing on a lingering savory note. 800 cases were made.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Retrospective Very deep garnet in color, the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard gives up a gorgeous fragrance of dried roses, oolong tea, underbrush and spice cake over a core of minted cassis, blackberry compote, star anise and preserved plums. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a wonderful savory personality with a firm frame of chewy tannins and just enough freshness, finishing on a persistent mineral note. 1000 cases were made.

Wells Guthrie made this wine after selling Copain to Jackson Family in 2016. A blend of syrah from the High Rock, Yorkville Estate and Hawk’s Butte vineyards, all between 1,200 to 1,600 feet in altitude, this was fermented with ambient yeasts, then aged in neutral barriques for 18 months. It starts out with the scent of a field of lavender. Then, between the wine’s tactile gentleness and lasting coastal forest scents, it develops into a glorious Pacific Coast red. Underneath, there’s something dark and disruptive about the wine—some tasters found the acidity overpowering or the stemminess overt. As for me, I want it in my cellar.

This vintage sees the split at 59/40% merlot/cabernet sauvignon and that all important 1% petit verdot. Made with the same exacting attention to detail as all the wines in this range: hand-picked fruit, vinified separately, natural fermentation, aged in French barriques for 14 months. Don’t be fooled by its approachability. This is a classy, medium-bodied rendition that will unfurl and garner more complexity given more time. Today, it’s almost pretty, with its array of red and blue fruits, finely chiselled tannins and a smooth texture across the palate.

Fruit from the Coal River Valley in Tassie, but made in the Yarra via the gentle way that defines Giant Steps. Yet the density and power of the place, the fruit intensity, comes through strongly. Dark cherries abound, but so too savoury, umami flavours of soy sauce and dried porcini with meaty reduction and spicy oak adding another layer. Full bodied with shapely tannins and a persuasive finish. A neat counterpoint to the Yarra Valley single-vineyard wines.

This pitch-black colored Cabernet Sauvignon opens with a black cherry and cassis bouquet with hints of graphite and blueberry. On the palate, this wine is full bodied with medium plus acidity. The mouthfeel is round and savory. The flavor profile is black currant and blackberry blend with notes of integrated crushed stone minerality and black plum. We also detected hints of blueberry and dark chocolate. The finish is dry, and its dusty tannins build-up and last for a very long time. The Panel would decant this Cab and then serve it with a Wagyu steak or Jiko's wild boar tenderloin.

In this warmer vintage than the previous one, the inherent power of Ironheart has returned. But it hasn’t lost its elegance or flavor depth. Waves of heady aromas—first fresh blueberries and satsuma plums, then wildflowers, scrubby Aussie bush and roasting herb notes—fill the senses. The palate offers chiseled tannins that juxtapose crunchy fruit. Both polished and rustic, this wine is highly expressive of place and variety. Drink now with roast lamb or grilled vegetables, or cellar until 2040.

The Hickinbotham Grenache, now under the Yangarra label, demonstrates the power and concentration of this dry, lowyielding vintage but with Winemaker Pete Fraser’s exceptional talent for elegance and site expression. The wine comes from 1963 bush vines, fermented and matured in large terra-cotta amphorae. It offers a heady perfume of fleshy blueberry, sour-cherry tart, fresh-cut springtime hay and warm stones. The bouncy, plump fruit is enveloped on the palate by highly textural, powdery tannins. Set for the long haul, this isn’t quite ready to drink yet, but should be a stunner with age. Drink 2022–2036.

The 2018 Syrah Tepusquet is without question the finest wine I have tasted from Cambria under the direction of Jill Russell. Dark and sensual in the glass, the 2018 possesses tremendous depth and power, but with tannins that are almost impossibly elegant. Black plum, chocolate, lavender and spice all build in the glass. Syrah can be magical in Santa Maria, as it is here. The 2018 spent 15 months in French oak, 30% new.

The 2018 Chardonnay Katherine's Vineyard Signature Collection emerges from the estate's oldest vines planted in 1971. Rich and oily in the glass, the 2018 possesses tremendous character as well as nuance. Lemon confit, chamomile and lightly honeyed notes open beautifully with a bit of aeration. A hint of reduction adds personality, but is not distracting.

The 2019 Chardonnay Machado is another dazzling wine in this range from Brewer-Clifton. The Machado is powerful and vertical in feel, with an intensely mineral/savory profile that is so distinctive. The Machado is not an obvious wine, but rather a Chardonnay that impresses with its nuance and complexity.

Offering verve and persistence, this Pinot is taut at first but slowly blooms into dynamic blueberry and black cherry flavors that are accented by forest floor and spice tea. Best from 2023 through 2031. From Oregon.

The 20-year-old Primavera Vineyard up in Hoddles Creek has really performed well in 2020. This offers such a showy and attractively expressive style with an abundance of fresh-sliced strawberry, blueberry and red cherry fruit on the nose, fragrantly sweet and exuberantly sappy. The palate is succulently plump and has plush bright mixed berry fruit flavours. Acidity elevates this beautifully and the plush, ripe tannins roll deep and even. Drink over the next six years.

Deep, polished and filled of terroir, the 2018 Mt. Brave Merlot is a spectacular bottling by Chris Carpenter. Once on the nose this evokes tar with leather, baking spices and copious dark fruits with chocolate tones adding to the intrigue. Full-bodied and decadent, with good structure, enjoy this outstanding bottling over the next fifteen to twenty years. If enjoying in its youth, give this beauty at least an hour decant. Drink 2021-2038.

Something like this Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard The Peake Cabernet Shiraz 2019.It’s hard to talk down the quality of the Hickinbotham reds. Alongside Jackson Family Wines stablemate Yangarra, this is one of the most impressive estates in McLaren Vale bar none, crafting grandiose reds of luxury and impact.What I like about the Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard range is that, despite the ‘McLaren Vale goes to Napa’ weight, these are detailed wines. It helps that the clever Pete Fraser is on the ground (with Chris Carpenter dropping in from a US time zone) but at every turn you can see the thought behind the decisions. Couple that with the uncompromising quality of the grapes by plucked feom the coveted contour planted slopes of the ’71 planted Hickinbotham Vineyard and you’ve got a pretty magic recipe.And the winemaking notes? My kingdom for specific notes like these (and Yangarra for that matter) more often. pH, TA, block numbers, all of it. It’s a benchmark that more producers should aspire too (numbers here: ph 3.61 TA 6.4g/L).Anyway, the Peake is indeed the peak of the Hickinbotham empire and it’s a magnificent beast. Something majestic, that squarely takes aim at 707 or the like, yet built with more honesty and less added tannin.That’s a nice segue, because this wine’s biggest challenger is the already superb Brooks Road Shiraz.The Peake lays is all out there. Sourced from the original 1971 plantings, this is a best blocks, best barrels blend, the winemaking following the Brooks & the Trueman.There is an almost limitless coffeed richness here, a sense of oak-drawn purpose, backed up by fruit. That palate is absolute top-draw in a seductive, overt way. Reminds me very much of top Napa, unsurprisingly. Seamless, dark fruited, with not a hair of place. Big hats, big fruit, but wearing a very expensive wool suit. Lots of oak too. Hmm.On polish and purpose alone this is a megastar, long, tannic and taking square aim at Grange. That’s it. It’s Grange-like. Is it perfect? Not yet. That hat is so big that you can’t see the face underneath. But next year? The year after that? The years and years after that? It’s a lay down misère. You’re probably going to love this wine…

Reductive on the nose, this bold mountain red is brimming in plum, cranberry and currant, with underlying earthiness that complements in savory cedar and tobacco. High-toned acidity and lifted aromatics provide a balance and brightness that surprises and lengthens the impressive palate.

Enter, the latest majestic McLaren Vale red the Hickinbotham stable, the Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard Brooks Road Shiraz 2019.For anyone who loves Penfolds Shiraz, this is the alternate choice – a McLaren Vale red that has the grandiosity and Penfoldian lavishness, but with authenticity and a sense of place.Notionally, Peter Fraser makes this wine, while Chris Carpenter makes the Bordeaux varieties. Of course, Peter is across both given that Chris is Napa-based, but this Shiraz still feels different (and less oaky) compared to the Cabernet (for example).The recipe for success here is undeniable. Sourced from the original ‘71 plantings on the Clarendon vineyard plus some 2002 plantings. Gentle maceration, 20 days on skins. 6 months on lees in 30% new French oak puncheons. Then a further 6 months in a combination of old, large foudre and an 18hl concrete egg (numbers: TA 5.9g/L pH 3.6).Ultimately, it all leads to an incredibly polished, ultra-classy modern McLaren Vale Shiraz. Oak plays an important bit part in this wine, giving the finishing touches to the texture. But that’s not discounting the core of coffeed, richly flavoured, dark berried fruit. If I had to zone in on just one perfect component, it would have to be the texture. It had me thinking of Sassicaia, such is the unquestioned smooth-yet-forceful nature of it. Cosseting, powerful, savoury, yet incredibly rich in a fancy flourless chocolate cake fashion.Satisfying. Balanced and wonderfully regional. The score will only go up with another few years in bottle too. Top class.Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard Brooks Road Shiraz 2019. Best drinking: sure, open it now and revel in the depth of flavour. Or wait just a few years for even more oak cohesion. Either way, it will live for decades.

Impeccably elegant, this showstopper of a Napa Valley Chardonnay is sleek, focused and nuanced. Harmonious from start to finish, the rich flavor palate nicely meshes with the integrated yet hard-working acidity that lifts this muscular and intensely bewitching palate to a very intellectual level. Well-proportioned and grown-up yet showing the sincere intensity and layered concentration needed for carrying well in bottle, this has it all. Flavors of baked apple interlace with baking spices and hints of tart tatin and caramel. Voluminous on the palate with a noticeable touch of alcoholic heat, everything is so well balanced that the wine is supremely balanced. Fully focused on robust fruit flavors with only a tinge of toastiness despite (xx oak), the light minerality seems to add a dry touch to the lingering finish. This plot is one of the last Chardonnay plantings remaining on Howell Mountain.