2018 Wine from USA

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: Editors’ Choice. This is such an outstanding wine at any price, but here we’re talking about outstanding value as well. Notes of iron and crushed rock lead to a lengthy balance of juicy red fruit and clove. With small...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 96 points: The 2018 Vin Perdu is a blend of 38% Syrah, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Petit Verdot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 6% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it comes skipping out of the glass with bright, cheery notes of baked...

jebdunnuck.com, 95 points: Another St. Helena release, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Ceanda checks in as 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot and Merlot, all brought up in French oak. Black fruits, chocolaty herbs...

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: This is a muscular wine with a velvety backdrop—classic for the vintage and appellation. Silky tannins glide across a foundation of turned earth, crushed rock, clove and tobacco. The wine is hugely structured and grand...

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: An incredible showcase for the appellation, this combines grapes from the producer's estate Westside Farms with Dutton, Woolsey Road and Rochioli Allen, among others. Together it is broadly floral, earthy and richly...

jebdunnuck.com, 97 points: Lots of cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as classic Mount Veeder notes of lavender, violets, bouquet garni, and rocky, mineral-like notes emerge from the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon. A deep, full-bodied mountain...

jamessuckling.com, 99 points: This is beautifully polished with firm, dusty tannins to the blue fruit, as well as chocolate and cedar character. Some much earthier character, too, from mushrooms to bark. Forest flowers. Perfumed. It’s full-bodied with...

jamessuckling.com, 97 points: Gorgeous aromas of plums and currants with some wet earth, mushroom, bark and incense undertones. Woody. Medium-to full-bodied with such beautiful depth and length. So subtle and long. Fabulous harmony. One of the best I...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 93 points: The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville is a lovely wine from winemaker Julien Fayard. It offers the darker fruits and mineral tones of the best Coombsville Cabernets. Deep ruby-purple, the nose blossoms to pure cassis...

jamessuckling.com, 98 points: There’s real purity of fruit to this with blackberry, blueberry and dark chocolate, as well as crushed-stone undertones. It’s full and focused with structure and purity. Transparent energy to this. Needs a couple of...

jebdunnuck.com, 100 points: The 2018 Estate Cuvee checks 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot brought up in 90% new French oak. Tasting like the straight Cab, yet with more sex appeal, it offers a huge nose of crème de cassis, white...

jebdunnuck.com, 93 points: Moving to the reds, the appellation 2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast was just about completely destemmed (2% stems) and spent 10 months in 18% new French oak. Lots of spice box, earthy forest floor, cherries, and redcurrant...

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: This red is earthy in tones of barnyard, sage and crushed rock, with underlying plush fruit. With 15% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc included, it boasts rich red fruit that broadens and lengthens the midpalate. It shows an...

Wine Enthusiast, 93 points: Tightly woven aromas of lime pith, acacia and crushed chalk make for an enticing nose in this single-block expression. There's a great sizzle on the sip, where vibrant flavors of yuzu, sea salt and lemon juice meet with...

jamessuckling.com, 99 points: Blackberry and black chocolate with mint, conifer and clove. Sweet tobacco, violets and flowers, too. Some graphite. Cool and complex. Full-bodied with ultra fine, dusty tannins and a wonderful, extremely long finish...

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: Marrying 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine is focused, soft and rounded in feel, with an underlying structure that should lend well to aging. It shows integrated notes of cedar, dried herb and slate that...

jebdunnuck.com, 94 points: Starting with the 2018 Pinot Noir Estate Sta. Rita Hills, which comes from vines around the estate and saw 40% stems, it reveals a medium ruby hue as well as a great bouquet of ripe cherry and raspberry fruits intermixed...

jamessuckling.com, 97 points: Intense aromas of black fruit, cocoa powder, black olives, dried violets, tar and cigar box. Some black peppercorn, too. It’s full-bodied with firm, chalky tannins. Incredible intensity and purity of fruit with gorgeous...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 96 points: (94 - 96 points) The 2018 Relevant is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot from younger vines and blocks on the property, and it is still aging in barrel. Deep ruby, if offers classic...

Vinous, 96 points: The 2018 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard Block 43 shows the more floral, lifted side of Bien Nacido, especially to the Block 8. Red berry fruit, chalk, mint, rose petal and white pepper give the Block 43 a distinctive...

jebdunnuck.com, 99 points: The 2018 Chardonnay Ma Douce (which is named after winemaker Luc Morlet's wife) shows a more racy, focused style compared to the Coup de Coeur and has gorgeous notes of caramelized lemon, orange blossom, white flowers...

jebdunnuck.com, 97 points: (97+ points) The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain Estate is much more dense, tannic, backward wine compared to the Walla Walla Estate release. Its deep purple/plum color is followed by a masculine bouquet of crushed...

jebdunnuck.com, 95 points: The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Cuvée, which includes a splash of Merlot (3%), shines for its beautiful elegance and purity, with lots of blue fruits, violets, orange blossom, and lead pencil aromas and flavors...

jebdunnuck.com, 97 points: I was blown away by the 2018 Bryn, only the second vintage I’ve been able to taste. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, it’s a more plush, sexy wine, especially in the vintage, with full-bodied aromas and flavors of...

jamessuckling.com, 99 points: Blackberry, dried-blueberry, bitter-chocolate and some volcanic-ash and burnt-orange aromas. Crushed stone and subtle vanilla notes, too. It’s full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins framing a deep core of dark fruit. Dense...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 points: The 2018 Chardonnay Freestone Vineyard, aged 13 months in 41% new French oak, takes its time on the nose, slowly opening to notes of saline, crushed nuts, lemon peel and quince. The palate is medium-bodied, juicy and very...

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: From a site in the heart of the appellation farmed by the Martinelli family, from cuttings that can be traced back to Hyde Vineyard, this white dazzles in salty sea air, oyster shell and hay, with subdued richness and...

Wine Spectator, 92 points: Supple and expressive, with elegantly structured raspberry and cherry flavors that gather appealing layers of clove and spice tea. Drink now through 2028. 7,647 cases made. — TF

The Tasting Panel Magazine, 97 points: Intense dark chocolate covered cherry and roasted coffee glide in on a sleek mouthfeel with seductive notes of blackberry and licorice. In its youth, this broadshouldered yet balanced red is cloaked in dark violet flowers...