Deep brilliant red. Suave, mineral-tinged black raspberry and cherry scents, along with building floral and star anise nuances. Sweet and spherical on the palate, offering intense red and dark berry liqueur and spicecake flavors that firm up slowly on the back half. Closes sappy and impressively long, delivering a whiplash of juicy dark fruit, supple tannins and lingering florality.

Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2015 Pinot Noir Dropstone reveals fragrant raspberry leaves, rose hip tea and dusty earth notes over a core of cranberries and pomegranate with a touch of forest floor. Medium-bodied and delicately crafted on the palate, it gives a quiet intensity of red berry, herbal and earth layers, finishing long with some mineral suggestions.

The deeply seductive nose entices with forest floor, fennel, red cherry preserves and teaberry aromatics. The palate shows wonderful weight, tension and minerality. The mouth-watering acidity brings you back to the glass for more. Elegant, yet showing the warmth of the vintage, this is a simply outstanding wine that will cellar well for the next ten to fifteen years.

This great Yamhill-Carlton wine begins with rather intoxicating bright aromatics reminiscent of black truffle, forest floor, cigar box, red cherry and red currant. The mouthfeel is gorgeous here as the wine displays red cherry pie, red raspberry preserves, white truffle oil and suggestions of blood orange rind flavors. Hugely complex and inviting right now, this gorgeous Pinot Noir wine will drink well for a decade or more.

The 2013 Estate Reserve comes from the 35-acre Solena Winery vineyard that Eugenia told me tends to provide very small berries. This vintage was matured in 40% new oak, nearly everything destemmed. It has an expressive bouquet laden with dark cherries, briary and wilted violet aromas that unfurl in the glass while maintaining great delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very well-judged acidity, silky smooth in texture dovetailing into a plush and elegant, caressing finish. This was one of the picks from the vintage.

Oregon Displays Collective Greatness: 400-Plus Wines Rated Grilled lemons and white peaches with a supple array of stone fruit on the palate. There’s a lovely sense of layering here and a very freshly focused, lemon and yellow-grapefruit finish.

Finally came the white. The 2015 Gran Moraine Yamhill-Carlton chardonnay is benchmark Oregon chardonnay in my book and the twinkle in the Gran Moraine eye. Priced in the mid $40s, it’s not cheap, but routinely out performs many of the State’s more expensive chardonnays. This vintage is a stellar one. The nose gives off sweet oak, dried mango, honeysuckle, vanilla custard and a smidge of Earl Grey tea. It’s a plush medium weight on the palate with a bit of a glycerin sensation that I just love. The barrel influence is restrained but present in the structure and flavors as well as the nose, it’s managed just right for this profile. There’s oak vanillin, Meyer lemon, sweet cream, Thai basil, persimmon and dried apricot. 93 points, value A.

USA, Northern California, Napa Valley: 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages One-hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Latro Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon gives up notions of crushed red and black currants, warm plums and baked cherries with touches of garrigue, dusty soil and bay leaves. The palate is medium to full-bodied, firm and grainy with lovely freshness and great intensity in the mouth, leading to a long, purely fruited finish.

Deep purple-black colored, the 2015 Latro Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon offers up warm blueberry and plum notions with hints of black soil, stewed tea, menthol and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied, the fruits flavors completely fill the mouth, with blue fruit preserves and a lovely perfumed nature, featuring plush tannins and plenty of freshness defining the long finish.

The 2014 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon called Pleinair is a blend of 95.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest tiny quantities of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It is aged 20 months in 58% new French oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. This wine has a similarity to a top-flight St.-Julien from Bordeaux. Loads of Christmas fruitcake, cedar wood, tobacco leaf, black currants and spice box all jump from the glass and from the flavors of this round, juicy, medium to full-bodied wine with silky tannins. Drink it over the next 15 or so years.

Mortar and a taste of black-olive tapenade ride softly layered waves of leathery tannin and peppery clove in this richly balanced wine that features tension between notes of cedar and cured meat. Focused and full bodied, it’ll do well in the cellar; drink now through 2023. Cellar Selection.

A reduction of tar and meaty leather at first overrides elusive fruit in this 100% varietal wine. It’s alluring nonetheless, for its soft tannins and toasted hits of oak. Currant, clove and tobacco give a savory, compelling and complex edge to the full-bodied frame.

Quiet and aromatically floral, this is a wine given time in both stainless steel and concrete, as well as a sizable percentage of neu¬tral French oak. Lemon zest and grapefruit adorn a robust body of stony minerality and touches of spicy lemongrass.

A monster red, the 2010 Petite Sirah comes from the Wood Ranch Vineyard. Its inky/purple color is accompanied by aromas of incense, charcoal, pepper, graphite, blueberries and blackberries. Aged 27 months in a combination of French and American oak, this wine possesses full-bodied power, enormous weight and richness in the mouth, and 30+ years of longevity.

The Surprise of 2015 in Napa and Other California Wine Reviewed A soft and pretty red now with chocolate, berry and currant character. Full body, round tannins and a delicious finish. Layered and rich style. Delicious. Drink now.

Fleshy yet subtle, full-bodied yet balanced Californian red wine. Loaded with ripe black plum notes on the nose. Lots of layers of pleasure. This wine is made mostly from Merlot grapes with some Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Syrah. Specifically, there's 81% Merlot, along with 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot in the blend sources from vineyards such as Stage Coach, Keyes, Red Barn Ranch and Bosche. Long, satisfying pleasant finish. Decant for an hour for maximum pleasure. This reputable California producer is no slouch when it comes to balanced and delicious Merlot. Lots of dark fruit and toasty oak. Pair with grilled pork chops.

The 2012 Merlot Bosché Vineyard is a blend of 98% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon from a famous vineyard in Rutherford. It exhibits a deep purple color along with sweet coffee bean, black cherry, blackcurrant, plum and loamy soil notes, and medium to full body. Drink this ripe, tasty beauty over the next decade.

Napa 2016 Vintage: 5 Consecutive Years of Fantastic Wines Curious aromas of blackcurrants, smoked meat and tar follow through to a full body, round tannins, and a juicy finish. Shows balance and freshness. Everything in the right place now. Just starting to take on some herb and mushroom character.

Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc, kicks off with a beautiful red and purple flower perfume over a core of red and black currants and tilled loam, plus a touch of tapenade. Medium to full-bodied and firmly structured, it has a great concentration of perfumed black fruit, supported by chewy tannins and just enough freshness.

Extremely aromatic with blackberry, lavender and oyster shell. Full body, silky tannins and a flavorful finish. Very fine and focused. The lovely firm tannins line through the center of this wine.

Blackberry, blueberry and walnut aromas. Flowers too. Full body, integrated tannins with layers of fruit and flavor.

This shows hot stones, ash, undertones of citrus, slate and oyster shell. Lots of blue fruit on the palate with licorice character to define the full body, tight yet grippy tannins and fruity yet minerally finish.

The 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain was aged 26 months in French oak and displays a dense purple color and much more suppleness than the Mt. Veeder or Rutherford offerings. The wine has loads of blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with white flowers, cocoa and a hint of underbrush. It is dense, full-bodied, chewy and very well-made. Drink it over the next 25 years.

Aromas of blackberries, wet earth and fresh mushrooms follow through to a full body, a dense palate with chewy yet polished tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Hints of tree bark. Solid wine. Drink in 2019.

Dark, deep and concentrated with ripe plum, cassis and spice; lush and long, balanced and rich.