Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018I love the appellation series from this estate and tasting through them is a great way to learn about the difference in regions on the West Coast. Starting with the 2018 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, it comes from multiple sites and saw 15% stems and 20% new French oak. Its deeper ruby/plum hue gives way to a medium-bodied Pinot Noir with a fresh, nicely structured style as well as terrific notes of black raspberries, strawberries, dried herbs, wood smoke, and earth. It's balanced, has nicely integrated acidity, and is just a smoking good Pinot Noir.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018From the Russian River and 40% destemmed and aged nine months in 30% new French oak, the 2018 Pinot Noir Parsons Vineyard offers a great nose of mulled black raspberries, red plums, new leather, candied violets, and peppery herbs. Juicy, fresh, and medium-bodied on the palate, it has wonderful balance and is a delicious Pinot Noir that's going to keep for 5-7 years as well.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018The 2017 Chardonnay is terrific, with pretty pineapple, white flowers, and white peach notes as well as a medium-bodied, elegant style on the palate. Coming all from the Alexander Valley and brought up in 39% new French oak, it's beautifully done and should have 4-6 years of prime drinking.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018Another Russian River release, the 2017 Pinot Noir Fogveil comes from three estate vineyards: Barbieri, Olivet, and Piner. Aged 14 months in 37% new French oak, it gives up medium to full-bodied notes of baking spices, mulled raspberries, black cherries, candied flowers, and toasty oak. This rich, nicely concentrated 2017 has a great mid-palate as well as texture and is another beautiful wine in the lineup.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018Coming from a site in the Russian River and brought up in just over one-third new French oak, the 2017 Pinot Noir Bellflower is another spicy, complex Pinot Noir that has a great core of ripe strawberry and raspberry fruit to go with lots of spice, floral, and earthy notes, medium to full body, a rounded texture, and a great finish. It's a polished, layered, seamless wine from this team, and one of my favorites in the lineup.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018From the Anderson Valley, the 2018 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Sable Mountain Vineyard offers more melon and a touch of pineapple fruit as well as subtle background oak, medium body, nicely integrated acidity, and a richer, Montrachet-like character. It's one of the standouts here and well worth seeking out.

Sonoma: Another Brilliant Vintage in 2018Named for Don & Jennifer Hartford's son MacLean and from a vineyard located east of the town of Occidental, the 2017 Pinot Noir Maclean's Block spent 17 months in 38% new French oak and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Spiced cherries, mulberries, dried flowers, black tea, and some forest floor/autumn leaf notes all emerge from the glass, and it's one of the plumper, more sweetly fruited, and slightly straightforward wines in the lineup. Nevertheless, it brings the fruit and texture and is a textbook Russian River Pinot Noir.

A fine example of tempered California chardonnay produced in one of cooler northern appellation of Russian River. Crisp pear, apple blossom, toast and almond are delicately expressed on the nose and palate. Tension from acid adds lift and definition to the wine while the judicious use of oak gently balances the fruit. A sophisticated new world chardonnay that will equally please lovers of classic white Burgundy.

From the cooler Russian River Valley providing some of California's best chardonnays, comes a ripe, rich yet elegant version with a fine beam of acidity buoying the California opulence. The nose is generous and custardy with peach/mango fruit, tobacco-like spice, a hint of fresh mint and citrus. There is gloss to the texture but again this fine acidity keeping it all alive. The focus and length are excellent.

Cenyth Sonoma County Rosé is a story that goes beyond wine. While the wine is well-made and reaches the head of the class in its genre, the vision combines nearly two decades of friendship and the understanding of the place that makes it all real. Hélène Seillan and Julia Jackson, the architects of Cenyth, are the reason why this wine is a cut above others. The 2019 Cenyth Rosé of Cabernet Franc is fresh, beautiful, and seamless. Its aromas and flavors of mineral, tart cherries and mineral notes stay persistent and crisp in the finish. Pair it with grilled chicken thighs over a bed of baby spinach and arugula.

So inviting on the nose, with dark plums, black cherries, cassis, with earth, leather, sage, menthol and mint complexities. Gorgeous texture on the palate with structured tannins and bright acidity, balanced, vibrant, pure. Black currants, plums, deep, suave fruit, laced with beautiful notes of violets, clove, mineral, graphite, earth, sage. Such a nuanced, fresh style, but this will age beautifully. Aged 19 months in 73% new French oak. For the price, this wine has such an elegant, complex, “real” feel.

Siduri Wines, Willamette Valley (Oregon) Pinot Noir 2018: Siduri, named for the Babylonian goddess of wine, specializes in Pinot Noir, especially single vineyard bottlings. According to their website they make only single vineyard wines from a total of 20 vineyards throughout California and Oregon. Fortunately, they have expanded their production and now produce blended wines from three appellations: Willamette Valley in Oregon, plus two from California, specifically, Santa Barbara County, and the Russian River Valley. These additions to their portfolio are a boon for consumers because each of the wines is easy to recommend and reasonably priced — at least for Pinot Noir. Plus, if you taste the three side-by-side, it allows you to taste and discern the differences among the AVAs. Everything except where the grapes are grown is the same: same vintage, same grape, same winemaking team. So, the only difference is the origin of the grapes. The verdict, as you will see, is that terroir is alive and well in the USA. Siduri’s Willamette Valley bottling comes from grapes grown in three AVAs within the valley: Yamhill-Carlton, Chehalem Mountains, and Eola-Amity. Racy and juicy, it delivers far more that bright fruitiness. Indeed, savory notes are clear and balance the red raspberry-like quality. A welcome hint of bitterness in the finish adds to its appeal. Less ripe than Siduri’s Russian River Valley or Santa Barbara bottlings, this one shows the understated charm that Oregon’s Willamette Valley delivers.

The Reverse Skin Contact Wine: 2018 Maggy Hawk Edmeades Vineyard White Pinot NoirHow to refer to it: white pinot noir, or non-skin contact red wineThis is a contrarian wine, the rare example of a wine made from red grapes that escapes maceration. This is pinot noir that comes out of the bottle looking like a completely white wine. Is your mind not blown? If it’s not, a smell and sip will surely get the job done. But like our macerated Flora Springs, let’s not get carried away with this one’s revelatory power: much of the best Champagne in the world includes or is made entirely from pinot noir and/or pinot meunier, but pours white as well. The absurdity of skin contact being considered something new or different continues to grow.Maggy Hawk’s winemaker is Tony Rynders, whose distinguished career includes Oregon’s Domaine Serene, a winery that sued him after he left alleging he stole the trade secret of making white pinot noir. See supra regarding Champagne to get a sense of the absurdity of the lawsuit. Tony has consulted for Zena Crown, also in Oregon, which is one of Good Vitis’ favorite Willamette Valley wineries. And, he is the owner and winemaker of Tendril Cellars where he makes a white pinot noir as well. I’ve had what I believe to be all of Tony’s white pinot noirs, and they are my favorite wines he produces.Perhaps counterintuitively, what makes white pinot noir fun is what can make any skin contact white wine fun: a grape you know presented completely differently from what you know. The 2018 Maggy Hawk does exactly that in a very appealing package. Tasting note:The nose offers plush fruit-forward aromas of cherry juice, guava, passion fruit, slate, orange zest and white pepper. Full bodied with round, juicy acid that creates significant structure and weight, it offers flavors of cherry, pineapple, mango, sea mist and loads of sweet tangerine juice and donut peach. This unusual and high quality wine is very enjoyable and almost too easy to drink; drink too quickly and you’ll miss some of its depth. Value: A.

Black olive, cedar, pencil shavings and sage define and accent this beautifully made wine, made from high-elevation vines. Stony mineral components make for a chalky, dusty texture of integrated tannin and mannered oak, the wine undeniably earthy and complex.

Made entirely varietal from a vineyard scaling from 400 to 2,400-feetelevation, this red is balanced and elegant in style. Peppercorn, cedar and celery seed accent a mineraldriven intensity nuanced in black olive, currant and clove.

This delightfully bright, balanced wine tastes of freshly squeezed Meyer lemon and mango, with a breadth of texture and weight on the palate. Well made, it has ample acidity to keep it moving through a complex corridor of oak and supple tannin.

The nose is a delicate blueberry, herb and pulverized stones with underlying black cherry. The palate entry is fairly massive with graphite, plum and savory herbs in the core finishing with silky weight. Drink 2020 - 2027.

The nose is a dough-like blackberry and spice box overlaid with mineral. The palate entry is dry, clean and focused with bright tangy red berry in the core leading to a sleek, mouth-coating finish. Drink 2020 - 2026.

The nose is lean, freshly ground herb, sawn underbrush and bread dough with sweet blueberry. The palate offers a massively structured entry of black fruit with sweet, supple dark berries in the core with a grippy sappiness on the finish. A youthful wine that needs another year. Drink 2020 -2027.

The nose is blueberry and mint with underlying sweet essences of marshmallow. The palate entry is narrowly-focused black tea and carbon leading to a sleek mineral and pie-spice finish. Drink 2020 -2025.

The nose is sandalwood, blueberry and floral perfume. The palate entry is a full, saturated blackberry and plum with silky textured mint on the finish. Drink 2020 -2026.

The crisp light/pale gold no oak Diatom Bar-M Chardonnay by Greg Brewer is beautifully detailed and is a totally unique expression with fresh and vivid white peach and mixed citrus fruits leading the way along with delicate spring blossoms, clove spice, quince paste, wet chalk and sea shore elements. Brewer continues his obsession in Chardonnay purity with his Diatom label, a very singular journey or vision quest, more like a Jules Verne novel and Captain Nemo rather than Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab! There is a zen like quiet to these wines, as all the outside world is hushed, again like being on the Nautilus where all the madness of the world and noise are silenced and the wine reveals itself in the grapes truest form and nature. Brewer, founding winemaker at the legendary Brewer-Clifton and known for Burgundy style Pinot Noir and Chardonnays from cru sites in the Sta. Rita Hills, is one of Santa Barbara’s most respected and influential winemakers, he also crafted the acclaimed wines at Melville and over the years has produced some fabulous stuff. These Diatom wines are no compromise and ultra precise Chardonnays, they are intellectually challenging that try to dig down to the core essence of the varietal and the individual vineyard site, but they are also wines of quality and a pleasure to experience, in particular with raw foods and highly focused ingredients, like hyper fresh sushi and masterfully executed, they deserve that perfection to show themselves at their best. People want to compare these wines to terroir particular wines like Chablis, which I can understand, but you can’t explain them that way, they wines that unto themselves. Each year brings a new revelation and understanding of terroir and of Chardonnay self with these Diatom wines, they are fun and thrilling examples of what is possible.

USA, Oregon: Searching for Hidden Gems from Willamette Valley's 2017 VintageThe pale to medium ruby-purple colored 2016 Block 6 Pinot Noir is scented of prosciutto, warm blackberries and crushed black cherries with accents of tar, loamy earth, bitter citrus peel, amaro and nori. The palate is light to medium-bodied with a lacy frame and tangy opposing acidity, finishing long and bitters-laced.

USA, Oregon: Searching for Hidden Gems from Willamette Valley's 2017 VintageMedium ruby-purple, the 2016 Pinot Noir Conifer has a layered, perfumed nose of dried hollyhocks, lilac and lavender with accents of fir, bay leaf, forest floor, blood orange peel, tea leaf and woodsmoke over a core of crushed blackberries and black cherries. The medium-bodied palate is silky, intense and very fresh with a grainy frame and long, floral finish.

USA, Oregon: Searching for Hidden Gems from Willamette Valley's 2017 VintagePale ruby-purple, the 2016 Pinot Noir Block 14 has a lovely nose of crushed stone, sliced blueberries, boysenberries, red currant and savory cranberry with accents of bergamot, lilac and dusty earth. The light to medium-bodied palate is elegantly styled with perfumed fruits, silky and fresh with a long finish.