A blend of 58% Syrah, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Optimus has a deep ruby color and a deep core of red and black cherries, chargrill, thyme, charcuterie and desiccated violet. The full-bodied...

A blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Estate Cuvée is another outstanding wine from L'Aventure in the challenging 2020 vintage, offering singular concentration and elegance. Deep...

As with almost all of the Syrahs here, the 2020 Syrah The Deal was not destemmed, saw an extended maceration, and spent 18 months in 40% new French puncheons. Deep ruby/purple-hued, it has an incredibly floral perfume of...

The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon opens with a lush, silky, rich, round nose with fresh and ripe notes that seduce and delight. Full-bodied, fresh and yet still tight, the wine offers a balanced structure and lifting tannins...

The 2020 Côte a Côte is a beautiful blend of 45% Grenache, 30% Syrah and 25% Mourvèdre and one of the most successful wines I tasted from the challenging 2020 vintage. Deep ruby-purple, it offers pure aromas of...

Perfumed aromas of red and black cherries, red licorice, cooking spice and rose water. Medium-to full-bodied with steady acidity that helps to articulate the dark-fruit and tobacco flavors, but retains freshness...

A very lovely and fresh, bright expression of 100% Napa Cabernet with nicely delineated dark fruit, liquorice, and tobacco notes. A wonderfully textured, medium-to-full-bodied wine with tremendous concentration on the...

This inviting, chocolaty wine is super-soft in mouthfeel at first, due to a full body and resolved tannins. But the tannins firm up on the finish to reveal a structure that can help it age well. Milk chocolate...

Lastly, the 2020 Syrah The Contender checks in as an interesting mix of 98% Syrah and 2% Marsanne. This full-bodied, deep, layered rock star of a Syrah has smoky, meaty, game aromatics, a dense, textured mid-palate...

The 2020 Syrah In The Rocks sees slightly more Viognier and is a co-fermented blend of 94% Syrah and 6% Viognier. Its ruby/plum color is followed by a more mineral-laced, masculine Syrah offering ample red and black...

(96+ points) The 2020 Syrah Foothills Reserve wafts up with a darkly alluring blend of salt-cured meat with black olive, white pepper and grilled sage. This opens with a pretty inner sweetness, quickly contrasted by a...

This has a well-defined violet note out front, followed quickly by dark currant plum reduction flavors lined with graphite and backed by sweet tobacco. Shows solid grip too, with a lingering twang of iron. Very solid for...

(95+ points) The 2020 Pinot Noir Anna's Block is also brilliant, with crunchy black cherry and mulberry fruit as well as notes of iron, loamy earth, and darker herbs. This is a broader, more powerful, medium-bodied Pinot...

Black olives with some fresh basil and lemongrass aromas that follow through to a medium body with a juicy center palate. Savory and delicious. A little simple this year but well done for the vintage. Drink now.

Fragrant and so scented on the nose, inviting and cool. The classic blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc is smooth and supple on the palate, crisp and crunchy yet smooth and silky and also slightly chewy...

Pouring an opaque red, the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Au Paradis is lush and refined with aromas of cassis, espresso, violets, and sweet tobacco. Full-bodied, this refined profile continues on the palate, with a ripe...

(92-94 points) The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Altagracia was tasted as a finished blend barrel sample. Deep purple-black in color, it has a fragrant nose of potpourri and Indian spices over a core of kirsch, warm cassis and...

Incorporating 5% Merlot and brought in before the Glass fire, the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Cuvée is an outstanding effort that certainly appears to be smoke-free. Cassis, ripe plums, graphite, and tobacco define the...

This classic-style, elegant wine is well structured for further aging and so expressive of the Napa Cabernet tradition. Aromas of blackberries, black olives and bay leaves lead to black cherries, dark chocolate and...

The Turnbull Wine Cellars Oakville Reserve is an explosively aromatic wine with heady blackberry and black cherry notes, kirsch, and toasty oak spices. A full-bodied and opulent style of Oakville Cabernet, extremely...

This tempting, concentrated yet well-structured wine packs abundant black cherries, black olives, rosemary and dark chocolate flavors into a velvety, strong frame of tannins and subtle acidity that holds it rather...

Black olive, currant, dark earth and bark aromas follow through to a medium to full body with medium chewy tannins and a savory and crunchy finish. Juicy. Some asphalt with dark fruits. From cabernet planted in 1972...

Aromas of blackcurrants, black cherries, hints of graphite, wet earth, and lavender. Sandalwood. Full-bodied with an impressive and refined structure that runs deep and vertical in the wine. Chewy. Hints of chocolate and...

(96-98 points) The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon was tasted as a finished blend barrel sample. Deep purple-black in color, it delivers fantastically pure blackcurrants and fresh blackberries scents, with wafts of crushed rocks...

So much blackberry and lead-pencil shavings. Hints of tar, too. Full-to medium-bodied with extremely well-crafted tannins that run the length of the wine. Hints of oak at the end, but this will come together nicely with...

(98-100 points) Tasted blind, in a lineup that included vintages back to 2010, a barrel sample of Spottswoode's 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon stood out as being one of the most exciting efforts. Full-bodied, ripe and rich...

A light-colored, lively red with apricot and watermelon. Lemon rind, too. It’s light-bodied and really lively with hints of volatile acidity at the end. Low sulphur. Such fun and so drinkable now.

Made from 100% whole-cluster grapes, the 2020 Gratitude Olsen Brothers Vineyard offers seductive red fruit tones with notions of potpourri and dusty cherry blossoms. The wine is medium to full-bodied on the palate, with...