Wine Region: California

(2026) In 2022, Quintessa say it was the maturity of their vines that helped weather extreme heat late in the season, plus vineyard practices honed over previous years. The 2022 is composed of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, plus one percent each of Carmenere, Petit Verdot and Merlot. It spent 22 months in French oak (60% new), with just 1% made in terracotta amphora. The colour is a vivid magenta, deep at the core, with dark and meaty aromas rising from the glass. There's an immediate sense of savoury concentration, black fruit for sure, but cedar and game folded around. On the palate the sheer sweetness and ripe, supple lusciousness of the blackcurrant and juicy plum takes you by surprise: so much dark cocoa richness and fleshy, dark fruit that the aromas only hinted at. Tannins are taut and grippy suggesting this needs time, but already the balance and the intensity makes for an impressive glass of wine. Balance and length are exemplary, in a terrific Napa Cabernet. I have quoted the equivalent duty-paid bottle price at time of review, as retailers are offering for around £1,150 per six in bond (i.e Duty and VAT still to be added).

(2025) What a lovely Pinot from the cool and foggy Sanata Maria Valley with its fossil-rich shale and limestone soils. It is pale coloured and aromatic, floral with cherry and strawberry, exotic potpourri spices, rose petal and clove. Inm the mouth the stemmy, hessian-like character gives a dry freshness, with cranberry fruit, a subtle undertow of vanilla and a really quite vivacious finish as crisp tannins and acids extend the finish. A lovely Pinot.

(2025) As a huge lover of Pinot Noir and admirer of many Californian examples, I couldn't get behind this wine. I want my Pinot to be pale and on the softer side, but although this had an inviting colour, the wine itself was a slightly unhappy marriage of green stemmy and stalky notes and overly sweet berry fruit, that dies almost instantly on the finish apart from sugar. Not for me.

(2025) Everything - everything - about this wine is massive, from the price, to the 15.2% alcohol, to one of the heaviest bottles I've ever encountered. None of those are plus points for me, and yet there is no denying what an exemplary wine this is of its hedonistic, plush, sumptuous style. Do not come here for subtlety or restraint, but if a symphony of glossy fruit, mocha coffee oak, and 'gobs of everything' is your bag, this is a quite some example. The Lebanese Daou family left everything behind after a rocket struck their family home in the 1973 civil war. Brothers Georges and Daniel were children at the time, and both were badly injured in the incident. The family fled Lebanon, relocating to Bordeaux, were the brothers eventually made their fortune as engineers. The dream to make wine then took them to California, and the rugged mountains of Paso Robles, where the land that is the Daou estate was purchased in 2007. This top wine, Soul of a Lion, is named in honour of their father who gave up a successful life in Lebanon to protect his family. The 2022 comes from their limestone hillside, and is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, along with 15% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. It spent 22 Months in 100% new French oak.

(2025) From the dry-farmed Alta Vista vineyard, planted in 1972. Far Mountain say the natural contours of this hillside planting give many different expositions, and that such old, bush vines may well have created some mutations, or perhaps there is some Cabernet Franc co-planted. This was matured in French oak, 27% new barrels. It has a deep and saturated crimson/violet colour, and classic cassis and deep plummy aromas fringed by cedar and tobacco. There's a little glimpse of black olive too. Classic stuff on the palate, that juicy black fruit but a firm Sandalwood and spice background. Tannins are really quite grippy, which work with firm acidity to give the finish structure.

(2025) The bulk of the fruit comes from a dry-farmed vineyard at the highest point on Bald Mountain, planted on volcanic soil. The wine was aged in French oak. Lightly candied but clear on the nose, the fruit dominates, but a subtle stone fruit and citrus character rather than anything tropical. There's a little ozoney hint of saltiness. In the mouth it is juicy, fleet-footed style. Only 30% goes through malolactic fermentation.The fruit is racy and tart, the creamy almond oak just fills out toward the finish, but this has some phenolic heft too, giving it some grip into a nicely balanced, clear and acid-driven finish.

(2025) Wow. This is is fabulous. The nose is pure seduction: an unctuous, deep, glossy pool of pure and ripe black berries, underpinned by a bottomless depth of cedary pencil-shavings, cocoa, clove spice and yet a meaty, savoury edge too. The palate has similar gloss and velvet richness, but it is a profound wine, so plush and intense, softly caressing in the elegance and ripeness of the fruit. Everything is polished to precision, including the super-fine tannins and ripe cherry acidity. Its spicy, chocolaty finish is near endless. A majestic effort this. It will be released in September 2025, and afterwards will be available from Mann Fine Wine, Bon Coeur Fine Wines, Farr Vintners, Honest grapes and Noble Rot Fine Wine Ltd.

(2025) Viognier is a variety that is naturally high in sugar and low in acidity, so some examples can weigh in with 14.5% or 15% alcohol, sweetness, but without the necessary acid to balance. Because of that many producers now pick the grapes early and make a drier, lighter, lower-alcohol style with more acidity. Unfortunately for me that's sometimes at the expense of true Viognier character - what made it so appealing in the first place. Cline are bucking that trend with a hedonistic, 14.5% blockbuster that overflows with honeysuckle, apricot and spice in a luscious aromatic. On the palate it has richness, a little sweetness, but great fruit density and texture. A big mouthful for sure but, crucially, it is balanced. Maybe not for everyone, but I really enjoyed this example of unabashed Viognier at its most unapologetic. Watch the video for more information.

(2025) From the Doña Margarita vineyard, six miles from the Pacific Ocean. The wine was aged in French oak barrels, 33% new, and fermented with indigenous yeasts. Full, rich, with bramble and blackcurrant aromas, it's a bold style. The barrel adds smoky, chocolaty spice, and the bottle age of this 2018 has added a subtle earth and undergrowth touch. In the mouth it is textured and supple, plenty of oak showing still but the fleshy density of the fruit carries the wine into a spicy finish, freshened by cherry pit, dry acidity.

(2025) Feom the Don Miguel vineyard, this is whole-cluster pressed and barrel fermented wirh indigenous yeast. The wine was aged on its lees in French oak barrels, 33% new, for nine months. What an attractive nose: Caramac, nut husks and wheat add interesting nuances to nutty apple. On the palate, nutty, rich, with a succulent core of ripe fruit, honeyed, with delicate lemon blossom acidity and fine texture and length.