A Fresh Glimpse of California’s Coastal Wines, Plus a Landmark Viña Cobos: Weekly Tasting Report

The JamesSuckling.com tasting team rated 945 wines over the past week, with many of the highest scorers coming from Coastal California, where the 2023 and 2024 vintages have been outstanding for wineries seeking freshness and terroir distinction from marginal climates.

Among the standouts are offerings from Wayfarer Vineyard, Amici, Brick & Mortar, Marimar and Arnot-Roberts. Generally, their 2023 wines are structured and refined, if a bit austere in their youth, while their 2024s are generous and more approachable in their youth.

Legendary chardonnay vineyards like Heintz and Hyde produced some of the best wines we tasted, showcasing the natural acidity, balanced richness and complexity of these old vines.

James noted that the Amici Chardonnay Sonoma County Russian River Valley Charles Heintz Vineyard 2024 (98 points) shows aromas of citrus, seaweed and umami, while the stunning Amici Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2024 (97) is almost in direct contrast, with terrific aromas of candy apples, pears, caramel and meringue, as well as hints of almonds and intense flavors of pie crust and vanilla bean.

The Wayfarer Pinot Noir Sonoma County Fort Ross-Seaview The Traveler 2024 (99) is the top-rated pinot noir in this report, driven by floral aromas and a velvety texture. Remarkably balanced, it showcases the potential for fruit and power in vintages that allow for long, slow ripening.

From two renowned sites in Mendocino County with historically marginal climates came the terrific Brick & Mortar Chardonnay Anderson Valley Ferrington Vineyard 2023 (97) and Brick & Mortar Pinot Noir Mendocino Ridge Manchester Ridge Vineyard (96) – both from the 2023 vintage, which was one of the best over the last 10 years for these sites, thanks to a long, moderate growing season that allowed grapes to ripen well into October.

The wines are fresh and structured with incredible longevity. “For the wines we want to make, it was a perfect vintage,” said Matt Iaconis, the winemaker and owner of Brick and Mortar.

Marimar Estate wines are also showing well. Under the guidance of second-generation vigneron Cristina Torres, their organically farmed estate pinot noir wines from the Don Miguel vineyard showcase deep and savory notes with incredible structure.

Intriguingly, it wasn’t just chardonnay and pinot noir that stood out. Cabernet sauvignon and syrah wines from Arnot-Roberts are showing beautifully, highlighting all the savory and floral tones they are known for along with tension and structure. The intensity of the fruit and structure at such moderate alcohol levels (around 13 percent) is especially impressive.

The Arnot-Roberts Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County Chalk Hill Clajeux Vineyard 2023 (97) delivers an old-school cabernet vibes with graphite, wild herbs, fine tannins and juicy acidity.

Finally, Arnot-Roberts' Que Syrah 2024 (97) from West Sonoma Coast is downright electric. In case you've lost your faith in syrah, this will certainly restore it.

A Landmark Viña Cobos

The JamesSuckling.com team has also started its tastings of Argentina wines as Senior Editor Zekun Shuai gathers material for a report on the country, which we will post next month. Zekun is currently in Mendoza, where he has so far visited a few dozen producers and tasted 350 wines, but it was James who kicked off our Argentina tastings when he met with Paul Hobbs in Hobb’s Sonoma office earlier this month and tasted the 25th-anniversary bottling of the Viña Cobos Malbec Mendoza Cobos.

Hobbs started Viña Cobos in 1998 in Lujan de Cuyo, and the project focuses on making premium wines from both Lujan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley. Hobbs has made a name for himself in Argentina with these opulent and polished malbecs and cabernet sauvignons, but the newest iteration of the Malbec Mendoza Cobos is a much more floral expression with a less-is-more feel that marries freshness and tension. "A gorgeous red with aromas of flowers, rose stems, black fruit and pencil shavings that turn to violets and lavender," James said of it. "A super rendition of this wine."

Zekun followed up on James’ tasting with Hobbs by meeting with Viña Cobos winemaker Diana Fornasero just a few days ago in Mendoza to conduct a small vertical tasting of the Malbec Mendoza Cobos and see how the wine has evolved over the years. Today, the wines generally see less new wood, while the harvest occurs much earlier than 10 years ago – sometimes as much as a month earlier.

This flagship malbec cuvee is made from a selection of vines from the top sites of Viña Cobos’ own vineyards in the Uco Valley and Lujan. In the 2023 vintage, 56 percent of the grapes used in the wine came from a select portion of their Chañares vineyard in Los Arboles in the Uco Valley; 40 percent came from the Hobbs Estate in Lujan de Cuyo and 4 percent came from their almost century-old malbec vines in the Zingaretti vineyard in Villa Bastias.

The harvest started Feb. 25 and lasted until March 11, and the wine was aged for 18 months in barrels, including 54 percent new oak. The result is a wine that shows riper but more refined primary fruit and freshness, and the tannins remain super fine and polished, showing lots of silkiness and depth at the same time.

Zekun tasted a number of Argentine wines before he set off on his trip, including a few bottles rated 95 points from La Finca de los Viñedos Impossibles, Sin Reglas and Sophenia. Many of these are malbecs, but check out the notes below for some equally compelling Argentine cabernet sauvignons, cabernet franc, petit verdots and more.

– Courtney Humiston and Zekun Shuai contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

Note: You can sort the wines below by score, country, vintage and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.