USA, Oregon: 2016 Vintage – Part Two The 2016 Pinot Noir Kiana is pale ruby in color with a nose of blackberry pie, black cherries, dried red berries and lots of classy new oak—vanilla, cardamom and cinnamon stick—with nuances of potpourri and dried leaves. It's light-bodied and red fruited in the mouth with spicy layers, firm, grainy tannins and good freshness to lift the spicy finish. Give this time in bottle to soak up all that new oak.

Pronounced and youthful nose with floral notes and classic Sangiovese characteristics of tomato and earth. Palate is concentrated and firm with carefully bound fruit, tannins and acid. Serious stuff and strong with loads of fruit on the finish.

Saturated ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of cassis, graphite and toasty oak. Spicy, intensely flavored and tight on the palate; currently dominated by its firm acid/tannin stricture. But quite ling on the back end. Wears its 14.3% alcohol gracefully.

It possesses a Bordeaux-like profile (although it is fuller-bodied than most Bordeaux) with notes of cocoa, chocolate, black cherries, cassis, and liquid minerals. Smoky, rich, and sweet on the attack, with firm tannin in the finish, this still young, unevolved red required 3-4 more years o cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2018.

Bright full medium ruby. Slightly medicinal but ripe aromas of kirsch, licorice and herbs. Dense and sweet but also bright and nicely focused, with concentrated, somewhat herbal flavors. The tannins hit the palate late. Beginning with 2000, this property will be the sole source of Cabernet Sauvignon for Stonestreet.

Purple-colored, exhibits tremendous density, muscle, and power along with sweet black currant fruit, smoke, licorice, and earthy characteristics as well as great fruit on the attack. This deep, powerful, long 1999 will be at its finest between 2006-2018.

The one wine that appears to have outstanding potential is the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Black Cougar Ridge, which comes from blocks high on the Alexander Mountain Estate. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, it is extremely tannic, powerful, broodingly backward, and meant for 30-40 years of aging. While tasting the wine, I equivocated whether the tannins were just too ragged and astringent, but there is a lot of concentration in this Cabernet as well as plenty of black fruits, a vivid minerality and a big, forceful, masculine style with plenty of wood. Forget it for another 5-6 years, keep your fingers crossed and hopefully it will turn out to be as outstanding as my rating indicates.

USA, California: Sonoma 2017 Vintage Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2017 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley has a pretty, broody nose of warm black and red cherries, spiced blueberry pie, forest floor and dried leaves with amaro hints. Light to medium-bodied, it's very soft and silky in the mouth with a good interplay of warm fruits and earth and great juicy acidity on the finish.

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton has black cherry and mulberry notes with notions of violets, chocolate box and cloves. Medium-bodied, it delivers a great intensity of firmly-textured red and black fruit, finishing long with a fruity burst.

From a site originally planted in the 1950s that requires plenty of hang time to ripen, the 2015 Pinot Noir Van der Kamp Vineyard is aged in 60% new oak, which is one of the higher percentages in the lineup. It has a darker fruited, wild strawberry, earthy style, plenty of fruit, and a good, albeit, shorter finish. There's plenty of tannin here as well, and I suspect it will be better this time next year. I was able to taste Adam Lee’s full-lineup for this report, including his Russian River Valley, Sonoma and Oregon releases. It’s a big lineup, but there’s some gorgeous Pinot Noirs here. I’ve listed the wines in the order tasted, starting with Oregon, followed by Sonoma, Russian River Valley, Santa Lucia Highlands and Sta. Rita Hills.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Syrah Sierra Mar Vineyard is scented of black plums and black cherries with a pepper and spice undercurrent and a waft of dried Provence herbs. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with expressive black fruits and rounded tannins, finishing long and peppery.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Syrah Garys' Vineyard has a tar and earth-laced nose over notes of crushed blackberries and black plums plus a peppered salami note. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with expressive pepper and savory flavors that are structured by chewy tannins and a lively backbone, finishing long.

Powerhouse of a wine: bold, brash and full-on with dense, inky dried fruit. The palate has notes of almonds with a bit of oiliness and great weight and length.

Chocolate, black raspberry and black cherry notes jump from the glass of the 2014 Journey Proprietary Red, which is a blend of 90% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Tipping the scales at 15% natural alcohol, the wine displays a touch of barrique and some mocha and coffee bean, but the dark raspberry and black cherry fruits dominate. This medium to full-bodied, luscious wine has an enticing texture and sweet, fine-grained tannins. Drink it over the next 20+ years.

The 2012 Proprietary Red is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot and the rest a tiny percentage of Malbec, from relatively high elevation vineyards planted between 800-2,000 feet on Alexander Mountain Estate. It has an opaque ruby/purple color, a nose of toasty oak, lead pencil shavings, blackcurrants, and hints of underbrush and vanilla. It’s medium to full-bodied, tightly coiled, with some promise and potential, but needs another one or two years of bottle age.

Another winner, but more backward, is the 2012 Pinot Noir Hawkster, from Clone 2A. This was aged in 63% new French oak for 14 months. Showing notes of baking spices, blackcurrants and cherries with loamy soil undertones, this medium to full-bodied wine has sweet tannin and, again, excellent purity and craftsmanship. It should drink nicely for up to a decade.

The 2007 Highland Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Raptor Peak (an Alexander Valley vineyard) is more feminine, elegant, and restrained, not as powerful and complex as the Trace Ridge, but more of a Margaux-like style of Cabernet Sauvignon, whereas the Trace Ridge more closely resembles a Pauillac/St.-Estephe style.

The 2004 Highland Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Trace Ridge Estate, from a high elevation Knight's Valley vineyard, is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 21 months in French oak. Notes of blueberries, cassis, graphite, and crushed rocks are found in this medium to full-bodied elegant, pure, well-structured effort. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2020+.

The largest production cuvee of this quartet of impressive Cabernet Sauvignons is the 2004 Highland Estates Hawkeye Mountain. Just over 1,200 cases were made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in all French oak. This comes from various elevations of 400 to 2,200 feet. The wine has a dense ruby color, plenty of minerality with an almost chalky stoniness to the flavor profile. Rich black currant fruit, a hint of white chocolate, espresso, and full-bodied powerful flavors with moderate tannin give this wine a vigorous, almost youthful character. It can be approached now, but seems on the upswing and should evolve for at least another 15-20 years.

Five bottles to serve on your holiday table This latest vintage is a brilliant expression of oaked Chardonnay. It exudes evocative aromas of toasted nut, vanilla cream and citrus peel before slipping across the palate with a silky-swift attack. Mouthcoasting flavours of crisp apple heavily imbued with warm hazelnut, crème brûlée and buttered toast erupt then linger on the finish. This full-bodied white is dry but not bone dry making it an excellent partner for ham with a honey, maple or brown-sugar based glaze.

Great wines that could sell for twice the price I've recommended this bottle before in this column but it's worth another mention because, tasted against its direct competition, it shines. And it's wildly popular for good reason. Expect evocative aromas of toasted nut, vanilla cream and pithy citrus peel leading to a silky-swift entry that tastes lifted and dignified rather than too fruity or overoaked. Mouth-coating flavours of crisp apple are interwoven with warm hazelnut, crème brûlée and buttered toast with a balanced, seamless structure. Long. Works very well with poultry but also pairs marvelously with classic cheese fondue.

Whether someone special stops by, you got a sudden promotion or you just need a boost mid-week, having this showstopper white on hand lets you hit the pause button and elevate the moment. From the very first whiff, you know it’s something special. Evocative aromas of toasted nut, vanilla cream and citrus peel lead to mouth-coating flavours of crisp apple heavily imbued with warm hazelnut, crème brûlée and buttered toast. It’s a captivating wooded Chardonnay that is stylish, graceful and versatile. Try it with gourmet macaroni and cheese or white pizza.

An outstanding effort, as well as a curiosity, is the 1999 Pinot Noir Marin Vineyard. Most Marin County real estate is stratospherically priced, as this county has more than its share of multi-million dollar homes as well as some of the wealthiest residents of the San Francisco Bay area. Made from a 14-year old vineyard planted with the Mt. Eden clone, cropped at a meager one ton of fruit per acre, and bottled with no filtration, this earthy, dark ruby-colored Pinot reveals abundant qualities of sweet black fruits, dry tannin, good structure, and notions of melted fudge intermixed with black cherries, plums and raspberries. Dense, deep, youthful, and unevolved, it will age nicely for a decade. Don Hartford's winemaker, Mike Sullivan, told me that, like all their Pinot Noirs, it enjoyed a six-day cold soak prior to fermentation. About 70% new French oak was utilized.

The 2015 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard is the most powerful and tightly wound of the Pinots in this range. Compact and a touch austere, the 2015 offers plenty of persistence, but with less generosity than is typical of the year. Chalk, slate, mint, white pepper and red berry character are nicely layered. It will be interesting to see if the 2015 fleshes out a bit with time in bottle.

The only 2012 Pinot Noir I tasted was the outstanding 2012 Pinot Noir Lands Edge Vineyard, a Sonoma Coast site situated only five miles from the Pacific Ocean. Bottled early, this wine, which only spent 10 months in barrel, exhibits lots of black fruits along with hints of forest floor, composty, fresh mushroom-like notes intermixed with spring flowers. This rich, complex Pinot Noir should drink well for 4-5 years.