Robert Parker 99 Points: “A blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Estate Cuvée is another outstanding wine from L’Aventure in the challenging 2020 vintage, offering singular concentration and elegance. Deep ruby-purple, it has a pure core of cassis and slowly unfolding accents of licorice, cured meats, tobacco leaves, cedar and truffle. Full-bodied, juicy and alluring, it floods the mouth with layers of blue fruit, floral perfume and spice. It is supported by powdery tannins and boasts a tremendously long, detailed finish.”

Jeb Dunnuck 97 Points: “I loved the 2021 Pinot Noir Radian Vineyard, which has a vivid, perfumed, exotic bouquet of black raspberries, spring flowers, violets, graphite, and chalky minerality. I love its purity, and it’s medium-bodied, with an incredible sense of refinement and class and a great finish. Coming from a rocky hillside vineyard on the southern side of the Sta. Rita Hills, this incredible Pinot Noir will benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and cruise in cold cellars over the following decade or more.”

Vinous 97 Points: “A bright, nervy wine, the 2021 Pinot Noir Radian captures all the natural intensity of this site on the far edge of the Sta. Rita Hills. Bright acids and veins of minerality infuse the 2021 with tremendous character. Dark red/purplish fruit, lavender, crushed rocks, graphite, and dried herbs are some of the many notes that race across the palate. This just sizzles with energy. It’s a great example from the western edge of the appellation.”

Vinous 98 Points: “The 2020 La Sangre de Jonata, the estate’s Syrah, is another profoundly beautiful, mesmerizing wine. Over the years, the Sangre has gained tremendously in precision, a combination of the vines getting older and also moving towards picking earlier and generally pushing the wine less. The result is Syrah that sizzles with saline energy, power, and vertical intensity. Ripe, red fruit, pomegranate, blood orange, and incense all soar out of the glass. I wouldn’t dream of touching a bottle any time soon, as the 2020 is very primary, and undeveloped. Its stature, however, is impossible to miss.

FMW 97 Points: The 2021 Hudson Estate Chardonnay is a lush, deep, and concentrated youngster that wows you from the start. The wine’s bold aromas jump out of the glass. On the palate, you’ll encounter lush viscosity and tantalizing richness. The wine is loaded with bold flavors of lemon confit, marzipan, fresh-cut flowers, chamomile, and almonds.  This  Chardonnay is very statuesque and over-delivers from start to finish.

Jeb Dunnuck 99 Points: “Another masterpiece from the talents of Celia Welch, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain comes from a site on Howell Mountain and spent 20 months in new French oak. It’s a full-bodied, concentrated, powerful Mountain Cabernet revealing ample smoked black fruits, notes of graphite, tobacco, spicy wood, and bouquet garni, a dense, layered mid-palate, building tannins, and a gorgeous overall profile that will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age. It will unquestionably have two decades or more of prime drinking.”

James Suckling 95 Points: “A wine with a lot of back end, with dark fruits of blackberry and cherry. Ripe strawberry. Hints of toasted oak and smoke. It’s full and layered with very firm and polished tannins. Very serious and real, and shows the structure of the vintage. Some chocolate. Strawberry pie, too. Drinkable but two to three years of age will help it”

TWI 96 Points: “The 2022 Kanzler Vineyard Pinot Noir sports a medium to deep ruby-purple color and flashy scents of fresh raspberries, Bing cherries, and strawberry and rhubarb pie, leading to hints of underbrush, wet slate, and dried thyme. Medium to full-bodied, the palate shimmers with energetic red berry flavors, supported by fine-grained tannins and a refreshing ling, finishing on a lingering earthy note.”

Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points: “The 2019 Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard comes from a great vineyard outside Santa Maria and is all Syrah that’s still sitting in 50% new barrels. Its dense purple color is followed by a classic Bien Nacido nose of red and blue fruits, cracked pepper, smoke game, and liquid violets. Rich and medium to full-bodied, it has both integrated acidity and gorgeous tannins as well as notable balance and a great finish. Yes, please.”