The 2021 Jonata Todos Vineyard Red Blend delivers a smooth and inviting drinking experience, brimming with enticing aromas and flavours of pomegranate, cherry, red liquorice, vanilla, grilled herbs, and lilacs. Medium to...

Inky plum colour, medium to full intensity. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot dominant for the first 10 minutes in the glass, with sleek silky tannins, bilberry, blackcurrant, cocoa bean, espresso, fennel, then as it...

95+Minty herbs come together with hints of mocha, then dried violets, stone dust and finally wild blueberries as the kaleidoscopic 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Patrimony reaches up from the glass. Cool and collected, this is a...

Deep ruby-purple, the 2017 True Believer Reserve features pure scents of red and black currants, potpourri, aniseed and exotic spices. The palate offers generous, graphite-laced fruits supported by abundant, pixelated...

Bold aromas of black cherry, dark plum and woody herb show on the nose of this block-designated bottling. The palate pops with acidic energy that bisects the dark fruit and rich woodspice flavors. MATT KETTMANN

The 2021 Pinot Noir Block M is scented of raspberry and blackberry preserves, blood orange, aniseed, tobacco and wildflowers with amaro-like undertones. The medium-bodied palate has a concentrated core of fragrant fruit...

A beguiling blend of dusty violets, crushed stone, musky black currants and grilled herbs makes the 2020 Estate Cuvée impossible to ignore. Racy yet supple, this soothes with its ripe red and black fruits while also...

Based on 100% Syrah fermented with 100% whole clusters and brought up in neutral oak, the 2022 Syrah Donna's Block is slightly deeper ruby/plum in hue and offers up blackberries, pepper, bouquet garni, orange blossom, and...

The 2022 Pinot Noir Soberanes Vineyard sees more whole clusters and less new oak than the other wines in the Pisoni range, a combination that affords it noticeably more clarity and balance. The nose opens with dehydrated...

The 2019 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is an attractive, ethereal wine. Sweet dried cherry, mint, tobacco and sage are some of the aromas and flavors that open in the glass. I would give this a few years in bottle to soften...

Leave it to this pioneering Central Coast producer to craft an appellation cuvée that tastes exactly like this region smells. Aromas of sagebrush, pepper, iron and red plum lead into a palate of juniper, bay leaf and...

Melville's Estate Pinot Noir combines 17 different Pinot Noir clones from its Sta. Rita Hills AVA estate. Nearly half of the fruit was fermented as whole clusters, with just over half de-stemmed into small open-top...

(94 + points) The pale ruby-purple colored 2021 Pinot Noir Seabiscuit Zotovich Vineyard features alluring red currant jelly, lavender oil, and spearmint scents, leading to hints of red cherries and raspberry leaves, with...

For fans of bigger and more powerful Pinot Noir, the 2010 Bernardus Pinot Noir from their Sierra Mar Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands hits all the right notes. Visually opaque with a deep brick red hue, this wine is...

Leading off the reds, the 2022 Pinot Noir Presqu'Ile Vineyard comes from a cool-climate site just outside of Santa Maria and was completely destemmed and brought up in barrel. Bright cherry, mulberries, forest floor, and...

The Pesenti Vineyard boasts 100-year-old, dry-farmed, head-trained Zinfandel vines. The nose is classic Zinfandel: baked red fruits, high-toned spice and dried orange peel. The palate leads with acidity, moderate tannins...

The 2019 Mourvèdre is dark and earthy in the glass, with masses of crushed black raspberry, wild herbs and ashen stone. It's silky in texture, engulfing the palate with depths of briary berry fruits and mineral tones...

The 2022 Estate Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is again centered around Radian, which forms just over half the blend, followed by almost equal parts of Bentrock and Sanford & Benedict. It opens with a darker-fruited profile...

Aromas of forest berries with some subtle cloves. Fresh thyme and sage. Full to medium body. Very fine tannins. Crushed stone and herbs. Hints of spicy dark chocolate. Drink or hold.

(94+ points) The 2021 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict was vinified with 75% whole clusters and matured in 100% new French oak. It has complex aromatics defined by botanical undertones that complement pomegranate and...

So supple, plush yet structured, this finely balanced wine from Marie-Laure Ammons offers amazing, vivid fruit flavors that are seamlessly integrated with fine-grained tannins and lifting acidity. It feels linear and...

From the Soberanes Vineyard, the 2022 Syrah The Initiation was matured for 15 months in 75% new French oak. It has savory, sanguine aromas of bacon fat, woodsmoke and iron over pure blackcurrant fruit. The full-bodied...

The 2022 Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard is the most bracing and tensile of the Roar Pinot Noirs, opening with focused aromas of ripe red fruits, crushed stones, dried herbs and orange peels. The palate is opulent and...

Love the garrigue herbs on the nose, this captures the exuberance of Paso in its seductive vibrancy and easy pleasure, balancing it with freshly cut herbs, fennel and white pepper, liquorice, bilberry and raspberry...

The fruity strawberry, cherry and raspberry notes are firm and inviting, gaining depth and persistence. Ends with gripping tannins and a stemmy note. Drink now through 2022. – JL

Aromatics of ripe berries and lively dried spices leap out of the glass from this wine a selection of four blocks across the Bien Nacido site. White and green peppercorn, dessert scrub and wild strawberries mark the...

The 2024 Pinot Noir Peter Martin Ray Vineyard is the most delicate of the three Arnot-Roberts Pinots. Haunting aromatics open first. Soft, beautifully perfumed and sensual, with impeccable balance, the Peter Martin Ray is...

The 2024 Pinot Noir Fox Creek Vineyard is a seriously beautiful wine. It emerges from a site in Carmel Valley planted on granitic soils at 1,100 feet in elevation. Dark, layered and resonant, the Fox Creek Pinot is...