Always one of the most unique in the lineup, the 2014 Syrah Bionic Frog is phenomenal stuff any way you look at it. Cold fireplace, charred meat, tapenade, shiitake and loads of dark, earthy fruit all emerge from this full-bodied, tight, backward and beautifully concentrated Syrah that readers just need to taste. Incredibly long, elegant, building and heavenly juicy, don't miss a chance to get some of this! It needs 3-5 years of cellaring and is going to blow you away over the following two decades.

Deep fruit presence from the outset. Dark plums and purple cherries with abundant slate and graphite, dark chocolate and orange zest. The palate has impressive power and detail, superb purity and clarity. The palate glides effortlessly. A sexy finish. Drink or hold.

Baron’s most famous wine is, he says, a tribute to the Cornas made by his friend Noel Verset. Since 2009 he’s aged each vintage in a 1,200-litre foudre and in 600-litre puncheons, about 15% new, and from 2006, he’s fermented the wine in concrete. The layered aromas offer up hints of olive tapenade, charred meat, dark earth and fruit, while the flavours are savoury, leathery and spicy, with explosive richness but also a long ripe finish. It’s more complex than the 2008.

Aromatically brooding notes of herb, mineral, black olive tapenade, stem, flower, soot and plum lead to vibrant, concentrated fruit and umami flavors. It's an intense wine that brings a great sense of tension, along with abundant minerality. Give it time to open up. SEAN P. SULLIVAN