Fresh red and black fruit backed up by a crushed stone character. This is a full-bodied wine but with smooth tannins. It exhibits good balance and tension, with multiple layers. Ends with a long, savory finish. This is a wine not to be missed. Try after 2026.

The nose of orange peel and lemon zest gives way to a creamy texture with very fine bubbles. Outstanding length and focus. This is serious sparkling wine with a dry and delicious finish. Mostly stainless steel and some neutral barrels. Dosage of 3 grams per liter. Disgorged August 2023. 191 cases made. Drink or hold.

As its name suggests, this wine is deep, dark and steep, full of powerful black fruit backed by firm but fine-grained tannins. Dense and saturated, with hints of graphite, cocoa and oak char that layer between the velvety tannins. Made from certified sustainable grapes. Tempting to drink soon with a grilled steak, but best from 2028.

Barbara Banke, like her late husband, Jess Jackson, left law to focus on building their vast vineyard estate, with a side-hustle in thoroughbred race horses. Maggy Hawk was one of those horses, as well as a property Banke purchased in 1994 with the last legal fees she collected before retiring from the profession. The Jackson Family team planted the site in 2000, 58 acres of vines in the far northwestern corner of the Anderson Valley. Sarah Wuethrich has made the wines since 2017, after seven years as assistant winemaker to Well Guthrie at Copain. Afleet is one of four selections from the property, a delicate wild-mountain-strawberry essence in the scent, fat and fleshy in the finish as its darker cherry scents deepen and lengthen out. There’s beautiful earthiness integrated into the fruit, leaving a sense of refinement. What pinot should be. The wine feels healthy and ready to cellar. (150 cases)

A superb vintage for this, the the finest iteration of Ovitelli Blanc thus far. Aromas of freshly made lemonade, herbal tea, salted quince and raw almonds, with a bitter kick of quinine at the finish. Full-bodied with just the right amount of pucker and a salty lick at the end. A brilliant expression that should age very well indeed. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Fragrant and vital, with crushed rose petals, dried thyme, strawberries and lavender. The tannins are long, lithe and detailed. Full-bodied yet floral. The feel is ethereal and the texture diaphanous until the ferrous, somewhat rustic tannins show in the finish. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.

A classy, polished, consummately detailed, full-bodied shiraz. Not an ounce of flab or extraneous sweetness on its refined structural bones. Anise, blue fruit, grilled meats and mace on the finish. Tension across its classy oak and grape tannins. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.

The 2021 Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard is pale to medium ruby-purple in color. Crushed stones and iron overtones on the nose give way to an underlying core of blackberries and black cherries with a hint of wild thyme. The full-bodied palate is laden with crunchy black fruit layers supported by grainy tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing long and savory.

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2021 Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard slowly unfurls to reveal graceful notes of red roses, forest floor, and fertile loam leading to a core of kirsch and pomegranate with a waft of rhubarb. The medium to full-bodied palate is tightly wound and energetic, with a refreshing line and fine-grained tannins, finishing long and perfumed.

A broodier bottling than the more gregarious 2020, this vintage still offers oodles of concentrated dark fruit, a slightly charred veg note, toasty spice and a frame of fine, cola-like oak influence. Constructed for the long haul, with intensity and focus, a lift of acidity and muscular, chiseled tannins woven between the supple fruit and spice, this should continue to evolve until 2038, at least. Majestic Imports. Cellar Selection.

Plush and compelling, with elegantly layered flavors of raspberry and tart cherry that take on black tea and rose petal accents as this builds richness and tension toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2033. From Oregon.—T.F.

Sourced from a special block (Flowers) of mostly 95 and 96 clones within the estate’s Fijnbosch vineyard at almost 600m altitude, only 100 cases were made in this vintage. The wine is refined, creamy and and sensuous. It reveals minerals with understated fruit and a broad, full mouth feel. While it sees a little more new oak (40-45%) than the regular bottling, it’s completely integrated with the fruit.

Vibrant ruby and bright purple tones shine in the glass. Raspberry, dried clay and anise spice aromatics. Palate sings with red fruits, Turkish Delight and a mélange of North African spices. Tannins are fine and sandy but have great persistence and power so the whole palate is carried to a prodigiously long finish. There’s so much to discover here that you’ll want to sit in quiet introspection when drinking it.

Intense and deep ruby with a rich purple rim. Mulberry, black pepper and nori aromatics. Weighty and powerful with intense blue fruits wrapped by fine gravel tannins that accentuate dark minerality and black spice notes. Very long and focused right to the end, a hint of acidity lifts and fans out the finish. Serious gear this.

Juicy and in a really great spot, offering freshness and a slight brambly accent to the damson plum, red licorice and black cherry fruit. Not as dark as the ’12 but clearly its younger sibling in profile. After coaxing in the glass, the finish really opens up, with a long, bright, mouthwatering minerality that cuts a wider swath than in most of the other vintages in the flight. This dials both the fruit and minerality up a notch. Drink now.

Taut and coiled, with plenty of energy in reserve, this still seems to be holding back. There’s a vibrant, bristling core of rooibos, bitter cherry and damson plum, plus a splash of licorice root, but this hasn’t unwound yet. A touch of pleasant rusticity holds sway on the savory and stem-accented finish. Perhaps the slowest-evolving vintage in the flight. Drink now through 2030.

Throws off some gorgeous aromas and flavors of cherry and kirsch, giving this a very youthful and overt persona. Subtle hints of anise, apple wood, savory and warm earth fill in slowly on the finish. Offers the polished and racy combination that marks this wine, with a black tea note that lingers prettily on the finish. Shows plenty of latent energy. Drink now through 2035.

Juicy, expressive and brimming with maraschino cherry, plum and licorice notes that are plumper and a touch more powerful, but the frame of this wine is consistent, with racy notes of tea, savory and ocean breeze minerality buried deeply on the finish, which glistens with purity. Drink now through 2036.

Super juicy, youthfully bright and very expressive, with waves of blood orange, mulberry, griotte cherry and damson plum fruit almost pouring through, harnessed gently by rooibos tea and ocean breeze minerality. Ripe and full in feel, this gorgeous young wine doesn't sacrifice its racy edge thanks to a beautifully subtle tug of savory through the very long finish. Drink now through 2037.

Luxurious, balanced, supple tannins running through damson, black cherry and pomegranate fruits, wrapped up in curls of cigar box, gunsmoke, liqurorice root and grilled coffee bean. As it opens up, brighter notes of star anise, fennel and turmeric appear, this is beautifully complex and arresting 100% French oak, 81% new. Christopher Carpenter winemaker, bottled unfiltered and unfined. Sourced from 12 vineyards, with Spring and Diamond Mountains dominant. This was the first vintage on the Place ode Bordeaux.

Intense, spicy and concentrated, this was a low yielding year, and even at 9 years old feels just at the start of its life. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy it already though, as the tannins are supple, with blackberry and brambled autumnal fruits wrapped in cigar box, cocoa and fragrant sage showcasing the mix of loud and quiet notes that Cardinale does so well. 100% French oak. 84% new. Christopher Carpenter winemaker, bottled unfiltered and unfined, with grapes selected from 12 different vineyard sites, the dominant being Veeder Peak.

The 2021 Siduri ‘Van der Kamp Vineyard’ Pinot Noir comes from a site that was planted roughly in 1960. These are some of the oldest vines in Sonoma County. This wine comes from newer plantings, as the 25 acre site is set on volcanic loamy soils. This was given less new French oak than other Siduri cru wines (10%). Lovely volcanic soil profile greets you on the palate with an ebullient core of pomegranate seed, red raspberry and cranberry flavors alongside salty and stony accents. Soft and juicy, with a bright core of underlying freshness, enjoy now and over the next fifteen years to come. Drink 2024-2039.

The 2021 Siduri ‘Barbieri Vineyard’ Pinot Noir comes from a 20 acre site on Olivet Road. Damp earth and bright red fruits mark the nose alongside garrigue and shades of milk chocolate. The palate is soft and inviting with great tension and a great core of red and dark fruits. Bright and rich, this is drinking beautifully right now. Drink 2024-2040.

The Parsons Vineyard is farmed by Tom and Kelly Parsons. Siduri has been sourcing from this site since 2007 and the wine has been a vineyard designate since 2009. Made from clones 777, Pommard and 115, this 2021 Pinot Noir offers good richness with damp loamy soils alongside wild blackberry, and sage accents. This is dense and delicious Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. Only 250 cases made. Drink 2024-2040.

Formerly known as Keefer Ranch Vineyard, the Dutton-Perry Ranch is farmed by the Dutton family. This site is set on Goldridge sandy loam soils. Mostly Dijon clone 114 and given roughly 15% whole cluster fermentation, the 2021 Pinot Noir opens with freshly tilled soils alongside boysenberry fruit aromatics with hints of cardamom. The palate is soft and refined with a silky texture. Cran-cola and orange rind flavors combine with beautiful richness and black rose petal water on the palate. Drink 2024-2040.