Coming from the Russian River Valley and an estate vineyard that was purchased in 2012, the rich, gorgeously layered and textured 2014 Pinot Noir Keefer Ranch Vineyard offers an exotic fruit profile, with notions of cassis, passion fruit, spice and dried flowers all emerging from the glass. Full-bodied, layered and rich, yet with the purity and precision that´s present in all of these 2014s, drink bottles anytime over the coming decade, and I certainly wouldn´t be surprised to see it keep for longer.

This was another rock star lineup from Kosta Browne and it’s certainly one of the most impressive lineups I tasted all year. And while I generally consider 2013 to be a better vintage than 2014, these 2014s are a step up over last year’s releases, which were no slouches either. The estate continues to use moderate amounts of whole clusters for their reds, and aging occurs in varying amounts of French oak (and recently, some concrete). While these are big, rich wines, they’re in no way over the top and the vast majority have classic, structured and age-worthy profiles. Other producers at this level are few and far between.

Score: 96 Jeb Dunnuck (JD), JebDunnuck.com (JD), September 2016