Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesOne of the standouts in this tasting, the 2017 Pinot Noir Jennifer's is fabulous. Super-ripe red and purplish fruit, rose petal, lavender, game and blood orange infuse the 2017 with striking character. The Jennifer's is one of the more savory wines in the range. I especially admire the wine's aromatic depth, but there are many dimensions here to discover.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2017 Chardonnay Jennifer's is bright, finely cut and nuanced. Lemon confit, crushed rocks, mint, white pepper and a whole range of saline notes run through the 2017. This is one of the more precise, sculpted wines in the range.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2017 Chardonnay Fog Dance Vineyard from a vineyard in Green Valley, is rich and unctuous in the glass. Apricot, orange jam, wildflowers and light tropical tones infuse the Fog Dance with lovely textural depth and resonance.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2018 Zinfandel Hartford Vineyard is another super-expressive wine in this range. Rose petal, mint, lavender and inky red and purplish fruit all infuse the 2018 with notable dimension that reveals itself fully with aeration. Head-trained vineyards in this site on Wood Road yield wines of real character. The 2018 is layered, silky, and most importantly, flat-out delicious.

Seeing 20/20 – Sonoma & Anderson Valley New ReleasesThe 2018 Zinfandel Highwire Vineyard is rich, boisterous and super-expressive, with tremendous energy and real presence. A wine of character and presence, the Highwire exudes depth, richness and power. Inky dark cherry and plum, chocolate, licorice, spice and menthol add to an impression of gravitas.

Big bottle. Big price tag. Big wine. Despite the all-around size, it is wonderfully balanced and nuanced, combining richness and verve. Matanzas Creek, which has been an iconic source in Sonoma County since 1977, notes on its website that they’ve built its reputation on Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot, which is true. They should probably add Chardonnay to that list, judging by this wine.

This sublime Chardonnay has pretty much everything going for it. Elegant yet concentrated, with gorgeous fruit flavors tempered by lively acidity plus a delicate streak of minerality. The oak is judiciously balanced, suggesting spice rather than wood. Bear Point Chardonnay, whose vines grow at 1000 feet altitude, is complex as well as firm and creamy on the palate without being heavy. It is refreshing, great with food, and has a satisfyingly long and lavish finish.

Italy’s Incredible Year: About 6,400 Wines Rated A muscular Chianti Classico, offering a dense and rich palate with blue-fruit and slate character. Full-bodied, chewy and muscular. Needs two or three years to soften. Better after 2021.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s The 2017 Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard comes from a valley floor, cooler site, and it saw 50% stems and spent 16 months in 40% new French oak. This juicy, rounded effort has some exotic cherry, mulberry, Asian spice, lead pencil, and liquid violet-driven aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, bright, beautifully balanced, and incredibly elegant, it's a rock star effort to drink over the coming decade.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s I loved the 2017 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard. It has a remarkable bouquet of darker cherries, currants, Asian spices, incense, and earth. Deeper, richer, beautifully balanced, and textured, it's a brilliant wine. This saw one-third whole cluster and 40% new French oak for 11 months. It's one of the standouts in the lineup.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s The 2017 Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard comes from 777, Pommard, and 23 clones and was close to 50% whole cluster and spent 11 months in 50% new oak. It offers a bright cherry, floral, cranberry, and orange zest bouquet as well as a medium-bodied, racy, seamless style on the palate, with bright acidity and a great finish.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Slightly backward and reductive at first, the 2017 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard has a terrific core of dark berry fruits as well as notes of blackberries, crushed rocks, graphite, and ground herbs. Tight, medium-bodied, beautifully textured and balanced, with good concentration, it's another brilliant Pinot Noir from this team that has loads to love. Made from a mix of clones 667, 114, Pommard, and Swan, all destemmed and aged 16 months in 34% new French oak, give bottles a few years and enjoy over the following 7-8.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Moving to the Pinot Noirs, the 2017 Pinot Noir Solomon Hills Vineyard comes from a great site in the Santa Maria Valley and was destemmed and brought up in 55% new French oak. This ruby/purple-tinged effort offers a beautiful bouquet of ripe cherries, black raspberries, crushed flowers, and spice. It's pure, clean, and medium-bodied, with terrific fruit and a supple, seamless texture. It's beautifully done.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Similar in style to the 2016, the 2014 Chardonnay 3D offers a medium to full-bodied, forward, supple style as well as classic pineapple, lemon, and rocky mineral aromas and flavors. It’s drinking beautifully today, and I would lean towards enjoying bottles over the coming 5-7 years.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Deep translucent ruby/plum-colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir 459 comes mostly from Machado with a little from Hapgood, which are cooler sites with richer soils. Big cherry, currant, ground herb, and salty/earthy notes all emerge from this beauty, and it's a rounded, fleshy, beautifully textured effort that's going to keep for 10-15 years.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Chardonnay Upper Barn Vineyard is profoundly scented of warm peaches, green mango, baked apples and poached pears with hints of honeysuckle, orange blossoms and lime leaves plus a waft of crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has super intense stone fruit and mineral flavors with seamless freshness and a long, perfumed finish. 823 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm The 2017 Chardonnay Gold Run comes bounding out of the glass with all the exuberance of a new puppy, featuring rambunctious scents of pineapple upside-down cake, guava, acacia honey and cedar with hints of baking spices, lime blossoms and cashews. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is concentrated with exotic fruit and nut layers plus a wicked backbone of freshness, finishing long and savory. 295 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm Deep purple-black colored, the 2017 Cabernet Franc Mt. Veeder reveals expressive black fruits with a tarry, broody undercurrent, featuring baked plums, blueberries and blackberries with notions of chargrill, violets and tilled black soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a lot of energy, with loads of freshness and finely grained, ripe tannins, finishing on a perfumed note. 448 cases produced.

USA, California, Napa Valley: 2017 — Napa's Perfect Storm Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Merlot Howell Mountain reveals pretty baked plums, blueberry pie and blackberry compote notes with touches of cloves, star anise, cracked black pepper and black soil plus a waft of underbrush. Full-bodied, the palate is densely packed with crunchy black fruit layers, framed by very ripe, rounded tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long and peppery.

Worthy Cellar Buy: 2015 La Jota Vineyards Merlot W.S. Keyes Vineyard A nose more reminiscent of Saint-Julien than most of Napa Valley, the fruit is just spectacular. It’s as if an entire farmer’s market fruit section comprised of perfectly ripe fruit has been bottled in this wine. This vision is augmented by kirsch liqueur, cassis, cardamom, pencil lead and light roast coffee. It is full bodied with dense and well-tuned fine-grained tannin. The acid is similarly precise, and the balance stands up to some of the finest of the Old World. The flavors pop in an unusually juicy manner with blackberry, boysenberry, licorice, cherry jam and charcoal. This has two decades of positive evolution ahead of it. I’d wait at least six years to crack this one open.

Best In Show: 2015 Mt. Brave Merlot What a killer, earthy and penetrating nose: sour cherry, strawberry, mesquite charcoal, bitter cocoa, sawdust and emulsified dandelion. It’s full bodied in a way that fills the palate, but the acid is juicy and alive and prevents the wine from settling and cloying. The tannins are fine and focused. The fruit is beautifully layered, with muddled cherry, mountain strawberry and boysenberry that go for ages, and are followed by ground espresso and cocoa beans and graphite. The tail end of the flavor profile features tanned leather, tobacco leaf and a small dose of menthol. This does very well with a couple of hours in the decanter, but I imagine it can go through tremendous evolution over a decade or so.

Sleek, with powerful minerality to the pure-tasting flavors of pear tart, apple pastry and peach. Rich lemon curd accents fill in midpalate and linger on spicy and well-framed finish. Drink now through 2025.

Bold and expressive, opening with plump wild blackberry, black licorice and blueberry flavors, giving way to sage, caramel and chai tea notes. Balances generosity with restraint from the detailed, velvety tannins, which never get in the way, especially on the long finish.

Polished and elegantly complex, with expressive cherry and blueberry flavors, accented by crushed stone and black tea notes, building tension and lively acidity toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2025.

Powerful, brooding and full of dark plum, dried blackberry and cherry flavors that feature notes of dark olive. Shows savory richness midpalate, with firm tannins on the finish, accented by dark chocolate details. Best from 2021 through 2026.