California Red Wine ()

2009 Jensen possesses a deep, rich garnet hue. Luscious aromas of cranberry, violets, granite, turmeric and raspberry torte mix with an alluring bouquet of peppery nutmeg and black cherry. This fascinating wine offers flavors of baking spice, ripe strawberries, rhubarb pie, chalky minerality and sweet berry wrapped around a juicy, elegant core of fine grained tannins, then trails off to a long, pleasurable finish.

This vineyard bottling is very vintage driven. The cool 2009 harvest has made it ripe and tart in cherry pie flavors, but also rather tannic. It's aloof, revealing little of its soul, beyond the primary fruit and oak. Needs time in the cellar. Could really be interesting over the next decade.

This 2009 Selleck Vineyard Pinot Noir is fascinating and simply stunning. It begins with evocative flowing aromas of gardenia, red currant, cranberry, flinty minerality, pine and faint black licorice. Flavors are concentrated, intense and velvety; lingonberry, dark cherry, a whisper of cinnamon and citrus rind, and seamlessly encompass the palate with a texture that is graceful, broad and beautifully balanced, then lingers slowly on into a juicy, almost ethereal, mouthwatering finish.

Introducing the latest installment in the immensely popular CWS Cabernet Sauvignon series, the 2008 CWS Reserve Lot 31 Napa Valley. A worthy successor to last year's highly successful Sonoma County release, which sold out almost immediately, this release offers deep Cabernet Sauvignon notes of fresh cedar, mint and blackberry, layered over a classic Napa Valley structure.