Moderately dark reddish purple color in the glass. Very shy aromas of dark cherry and berry with a hint of marzipan and spice. Well-endowed with luscious cherry and berry fruits with a noticeable oak overlay that compliments rather than intrudes. The tannins are modest and supportive, and the finish has a generous richness.

Ruby-red. Intense, spice-laced dark berry and cherry aromas, along with a touch of potpourri. The most exotic of this set of pinots, offering juicy red fruit liqueur and rose pastille flavors and a touch of vanillin oak spice. Finishes tangy and long, with resonating spiciness and gently gripping tannins.

Moderately light reddish purple color in the glass. Uplifting aromas of cherry, strawberry, spice and underbrush. Delicious and full in the mouth, with a good attack of dark cherry fruit accented with anise, dark chocolate and toasty oak. Impressive harmony and elegance with complimentary integration of oak. The finish is polished and pleasant.

Deep ruby. The deepest and darkest in fruit profile of this set of pinots, displaying intense cherry and blackberry scents and flavors. Broad and fleshy on entry and then more lively in the mid-palate, with impressive power and clarity on the long, smoky finish.

Bright ruby-red. Pungent aromas of red and dark berries, violet and woodsmoke, with a spicy overtone. Sappy and refreshingly bitter on the palate, offering bright cherry and black raspberry flavors that become spicier with air. Finishes tangy and very long, with lingering florality and a hint of bitter chocolate.

A fine wine, dry and bright in zesty acidity, and an excellent example of a tight, young Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. This shows flavors of sour cherry candy, persimmon and spice flavors, grounded with minerals. Drink now, with decanting, or age it for up to six years.

Smooth and lush with velvety texture and tangy cherry and berry fruit; good acid structure and complexity with depth, balance and elegance.

Dense, bold and extracted with intense blackberry and cherry fruit; dusty, deep and voluptuous with minerals and ripe fruit; lush and long.

…intense, battened-down giant, exuding hints of violets and black tar and earth, still a baby given its potential longevity.

Extracted to a black and concentrated density, this wine grips the palate with smoky, warm fruit and vast stretches of tannin. The dark plum and sharper cranberry flavors hit up against the tannin and crash into savory waves.

Lokoya specializes in specific-appellation Cabernets, mostly from mountain peaks. The current Cabernet lineup from the '97 vintage includes:

Dense, tannic and earthy, with spicy herb, pepper and wild berry flavors. The tannins are industrial strength, bu tpolished enough to drink in a year or two. Best from 2002 through 2012.

Super-rpeness lends this wine a complex scent of leather and fresh prunes. It's tight , yet it carries the Port-like richness of an old-style Napa red, rich as the feel of the leather seats in an old Mercedes convertible. The complexity lasts through the finish, evolving as it takes on air in the glass to reveal soft layers of mety fruit and herbs. This should age gracefully.

Good full red. Briary aromas of cassis, bitter cherry, smoke, shoe polish and lather. Dense and penetrating, with strong dark berry flavors that offer enticing subtle sweetness. Comes across as less broad but more fulled in than the Diamond Mountain bottling. Tannins are substantial but softer than those of the above sample.

Oak aromatics fill the wine with brown spices, compressing the powerful black fruit, seeming to add to the pungent dry spice in the mouth. This is strong stuff, the extract is intense, and yet it brings food to mind as a big, tough nebbiolo might.

Dark, tannic and rich with lots of smoke, spice and tangy plum fruit; rich and long.

…reveals an opaque purple color, and a sumptuous, Medoc-like nose of lead pencil, minerals, black currants, and smoky oak. It is extremely full-bodied and massive in the mouth, with sweet tannin, a layered, plushly-textured mid-palate, and a firm, exceptionally long, pure finish.

Lokoya's 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain offers good immediacy, which makes it the most accessible of these 2014s. Medium in body, the 2014 is a bit light in structure and overall intensity. It will be interesting to see if the 2014 gains a bit more volume and body in its aging. Today, it is decidedly compact. Graphite, game, smoke and incense infuse the expressive finish. In 2014, the fruit for this wine came from what was formerly Wallis.

Dense mountain minerality, tar and briary black fruit flavours on a full-bodied frame. This is a wine with great vibrancy and brisk acidity, suggesting a long life.

Dark red. Expressive aromas of plum, red currant, tobacco and minerals, with a strong black cherry quality emerging with air. Ripe and pliant but firm, with intense dark berry and licorice flavors framed by harmonious acidity. Offers lovely sweetness with restraint. Very suave and fine-grained on the horizontal finish.

Bright red-ruby. Vinous, claret-like aromas of redcurrant, tobacco and menthol. Sweet, juicy and aromatic in the mouth, with a pliant texture for Diamond Mountain cabernet and lovely floral lift. In a rather round style, and offering considerable early appeal. Finishes with supple, building tannins and very good lingering sweetness of fruit.

Good deep ruby-red. Cassis, plum, licorice and spices on the nose. Supple, broad and sweet, with a fine-grained texture and good density to the cassis, raspberry and dark chocolate flavors. Lush and surprisingly silky-the softest of these three 2004 bottlings-but with no shortage of inner-mouth energy. Finishes with substantial dusty tannins.

Good full ruby. Brooding aromas of dark cherry, currant, minerals and mint, plus a whiff of pungent cassis leaf. Supple and densely packed, with dark fruit flavors complemented by a mineral suggestion of gunflint. Very ripe but not at all over the top. This builds nicely on the back end, with the tannins arriving late and allowing the fruit to linger. A worthy follow-up to the excellent 2003 release.

Napa Valley’s Extraordinary 2016 Cabernets - Part 1 The 2016 Merlot W.S. Keyes is very polished in this vintage, with a bit less tannin than has often been the case. That silkiness allows the fruit to shine through, even in the early going. Inky blue and purplish fruit, spice and vanillin all run through this flavorful, juicy Merlot, which, in reality, includes 23% Cabernet Sauvignon. Perhaps it is the high percentage of Cabernet that makes the Keyes not quite as distinctive as it can be.

Here is a Merlot that at first impresses as being of two minds for, while it leads with deep and relatively open aromas of ripe cherries, berries, cocoa and sweet oak, it proves to be far less forthcoming once in the mouth. It is a big-boned wine with the very firm structure of one that wants to age for at least a half-dozen years, but, as youthfully tight and tannic as it may be right now, there is simply no questioning its fruity depth or its future. Hide it away with full confidence that waiting will pay big dividends. Two stars.