Wines

96 Points! The fifth vintage release of Timeless from the Duncan family of Silver Oak continues to showcase its hallmark style—where elegance meets Napa mountain muscle. This Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant proprietary blend is crafted by winemaker Nate Weis using grapes from the Duncan family's Soda Canyon Ranch Vineyard, an estate spanning 45.7 hectares in the benchlands of the Vaca Mountains just north of Napa. Unlike Silver Oak, which is aged in American oak, Timeless is aged entirely in French oak. The 2021 vintage exudes alluring blackberry and black cherry fruit, lifted by toasty cedarwood, rose petals, and dried apricots. Ripe and powerful tannins frame the wine, which displays remarkable concentration and depth, with a darker fruit profile than previous releases. Those tannins build through the full-bodied finish, making 2021 the most powerful and structured vintage yet while still retaining a thread of freshness and vibrancy. The blend includes 5.6% Petit Verdot. - Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter

92 Points! Based on 81% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Malbec, the 2021 Cabernet Franc sports a vivid purple hue to go with impressive aromatics of cassis, black raspberries, spring flowers, and chocolaty oak. It's medium-bodied and has a supple, elegant mouthfeel, fine tannins, and a great finish. A beautiful wine, it might even be better in another year or two as it integrates its oak. Regardless, it's a terrific value that I'd happily drink any time over the coming 8-10 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

92 Points! A rich and fruity cabernet franc with creamy berries, vanilla and sweet oak spices on the nose. Medium body with plush tannins. Creamy berries and mocha on the palate with dried herbs and cedar in the finish. Try after 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! The appellation 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon checks in as 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, and smaller portions of Malbec, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. It's another fabulous wine from this estate, offering pure cr me de cassis, classy oak, new leather, and graphite-driven aromas and flavors. With medium to full-bodied richness, plush, integrated tannin, and the vintage's fresher, focused style, it tastes like it costs three times the price. Drink bottles over the coming decades. Bravo. - Jeb Dunnuck

93 Points! Aromas of ripe blackcurrants, dried raspberries, spices, cedar and bark. Full-bodied with a mellow, fruit-forward character and creamy texture to the tannins. Delicious and smooth with a velvety finish. - JamesSuckling.com

From the winery:

The 2022 Bald Mountain Zinfandel is the second release of our single vineyard Zinfandel and is comprised of 100% fruit from the Bald Mountain Vineyard. This old vine Zinfandel is grown in the mountain vineyard off of Wall Rd and is one of the most stunning vineyards in the North Coast. The old vines produce a concentrated and ripe Zinfandel that will age for years.The fruit was picked on September 23rd, 2022 and arrived at the winery early in the morning before being destemmed to tank. The wine was then macerated for 14 days until the completion of alcoholic fermentation.  After draining it was racked to 30% new American Oak barrels where is aged for one year before being bottled in August.

96 Points! This seductive wine rolls up all the velvety appeal of Oakville Cabernet in a bottle that's comparatively affordable for what many consider Napa's best AVA for Cab. Plump dark plums, black currants, dark chocolate and cinnamon come to mind while savoring this full-bodied but gentle wine. Tannins are profuse but silky, so the wine is enjoyable already. - Wine Enthusiast

95 Points! A very firm and polished red with currants, chocolate and salted almonds. Terra-cotta. Medium body. Juicy and flavorful with extremely polished tannins. Very creamy textured. Give it two or three years to come around. Drink after 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! Checking in as 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot, all from Oakville, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville sports a dense purple hue to go with straight-up textbook Oakville notes of darker fruits, iron, black olives, and tobacco, with just a kiss of background spring flowers. It's medium to full-bodied, round, textured, beautifully balanced, and has tons of classic varietal character. It's a brilliant value to enjoy any time over the coming 15 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

94 Points! A combination of Wente and Calera clones, the 2022 Chardonnay Cuvée Susan Hyde Vineyard features scents of crushed stone, struck flint and a hint of pencil shavings, in addition to fruity notes of melon, pear and pineapple. It's medium to full-bodied in the mouth, plump and even a bit custardy-oily, then finishes long and creamy. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

The Toybox Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2024 was fermented entirely in three year old French oak barriques, no new oak was used. Now, that’s not to say this wine doesn’t have ‘oak’ in the flavor profile mind you, it just isn’t the dominant theme. The hints of wood are there as a complexity, not the overriding theme. The fruit was sourced from the Hall Road Vineyard. This vineyard parcel, in western Sebastopol is right next door to one of our favorite producers on the planet, Walter Hansel, and is planted to the Wente heritage clone, originally brought from Burgundy in 1912 and recognized for its unique fruit and floral characteristics. The Chardonnay was barrel fermented in those aforementioned older oak barrels, underwent partial malolactic fermentation and was bottled unfiltered. A whopping 95 cases (four barrels) were produced!

93 Points! The 2022 Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains) is gorgeous. Bright, vibrant and bristling with energy, the 2022 is an absolute delight. Dark red cherry, orange peel, spice and dried herbs lend notable aromatic presence. Pretty floral overtones appear on the finish, adding expansive breath. Stems range from 33% to 67% depending on each of the various lots that go into the blend. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

91 Points! Good, underlying crisp-apple acidity gives a refreshing quality to this tasty, buttery wine as it balances tanginess with good, ripe golden apple and Bartlett pear flavors. Will pair well with all sorts of salads, seafood and entrees. - Wine Enthusiast

From the winery: 44% Petite Sirah, 27% Zinfandel, 19% Carignan, 10% Mataro. This bold, complex, and distinctive red blend is produced from vinesplanted in the 1880’s to the dry farmed and windswept vineyard of Sandy Lane. Rooted to sandy soil in the town of Oakley, this extraordinary sitehas been farmed by the Gonsalves family since the 1930’s, and produces vibrant wines with tremendous complexity and stunning purity of fruit. This is a gorgeous red blend that is brimming with ripe berry fruit, savory complexity, silky texture, and refreshing acidity. It displays the unique characteristics of this sun-soaked old vine vineyard and is utterly delicious.

93 Points! Precise and polished, this red is elegantly complex, opening to raspberry and bright cherry flavors highlighted by orange peel and black tea. Glides on the sleek finish. Drink now through 2031. - Wine Spectator

Bright red fruit, cranberry, pink peppercorn, and rose hip. Savory herbs and a long finish of bright, tart fruit.

Hand-harvested grapes were immediately pressed whole cluster, and tank settled overnight. Fermented with native yeast and native malolactic fermentation in barrels, aged nine months in 40% new French oak and 60% neutral.

Unfined and unfiltered.

94+ Points! The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Turley Estate Vineyard is expressive and light on its feet, opening with classic and alluring scents of charred cedar, pipe tobacco, tomato leaf, violet, dried bay leaves and turned earth floating above a core of pure black and red fruits. The palate is suave, generous and full-bodied, with no shortage of finely grained tannins and bright, vibrant acidity. The finish is long and laced with delicate spice and earth-driven tones, gaining additional structure and sturdiness with time and becoming more detailed and expressive as it spends time in the glass. - Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com

93 Points! The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Turley Estate turned out beautifully. Readers will find a soft, plush Cabernet Sauvignon that is already quite approachable. Crushed flowers, ripe red-fleshed fruit, spice and new leather are nicely pushed forward. The Turley Estate Cabernet is all charm. It's the most open and accessible of the 2023 Cabernets in the range. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

91 Points! The 2024 Zinfandel Juvenile is a very pretty entry-level offering from Turley. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit, spice and mint give this mid-weight, perfumed red tons of character. The 2024 is an especially delicate, gracious Zinfandel. What a beauty. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

From the winery:

Though the vast majority of our wines are single vineyard designates, Juvenile is actually composed of a variety of young vines that have been replanted in several of our best old vine sites. We tag the younger vines then pick them separately and make a distinct wine. Juvenile vines range in age from about 6-25 years, and we pull from a selection of our best vineyards across California.

99 Points! The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label flirts with perfection, with gorgeous graphite, blueberry and blackberry fruit and a full-bodied mouthfeel. The wine is light on its feet for such massive extraction. With not a hard edge to be found, this is truly brilliant winemaking from a great terroir. This is long, rich powerful and certainly seems to have 30 years of upside. Forget it for five years and drink it over the following 30+ years. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

92 Points! Tobacco, cedar, turned earth and leather aromas lead to a full body packing spiced plum, red cherry and savory bay flavors over chunky tannins. Grown in the hilly Sage Canyon area of Napa, the wine offers all the savory notes of merlot blended with 9% cabernet franc and 8.7% petit verdot, with most of the tannin coming from the latter two. -JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! Twomey’s first vintage in the Deep End of Anderson Valley was made entirely with estate-grown fruit from their Bearman Bend property and Monument Tree. It has very pretty deep forest notes with red berry fruit dusted with brown baking spices and cedarwood. Compote-rich boysenberry fruit on the palate layers in a soft palate that feels livened by orange peel citrus. Silky tannins glide to a crushed stone mineral finish with more flamed orange peel, clove, and earth. - Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter Magazine