The back label states it rather bluntly. 'It was in the 1900s when fierce winds and brutal temperatures got the best of the land, preventing anything from growing and eventually earning the name, Dead Canyon Ranch.' Well, given the events of February, 2021 right here in beautiful downtown Austin, Texas, we know a bit about extreme harsh winter weather conditions and arborial carnage. It appears we've lost all of the wood on all of our trees in our little garden here surrounding the parking lot: 2 olives, a Meyer lemon, a once proud and strong fig, 6 pomegranates and a bay laurel. It remains to be seen whether the suckers will make for good wood. Tellingly, though, all 7 of our grapevines have survived …

Produce of 50% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 8% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Mourvèdre from the Horse Heaven Hills viticultural area. This is bonafide structured claret (if seriously Hermitagée) style wine; ruby purple in color with aromatics that suggest graphite, plum, spice; ample on the tongue, medium in body with a velvety palate feel and ripe rounded tannins that give voice to juicy savory flavors that well-reprise the solid slate of aromatics. This is just silly good value.

Bright, saturated ruby. Pungent scents of cassis, black cherry, blackberry, blueberry, licorice and minerals, plus hints of pepper, mint and menthol; wonderfully complex, vinous and high-pitched. Plush, concentrated and deep, conveying a sexy sweetness to its generous flavors of black fruits, violet and dark chocolate lifted by flowers. This sappy, pliant wine spreads out to saturate the entire palate, finishing with broad, fine-grained tannins and lovely lingering sweetness. Serious wine but even today the tannins are suave. Drink 2021-2029. Rated 93. - Stephen Tanzer, vinous.com December, 2019. Regularly $70.00 the bottle, on sale now at:

D2 takes its name from the grand route du vin that winds through the Médoc and passes by the great chateaux in Bordeaux. And D2 in this 2017 vintage is a blend of four of the fab five Bordeaux varietals of 66% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot from 15 different Columbia Valley vineyards including Red Willow, Harrison Hill, Ciel du Cheval, Klipsun, Boushey, duBrul, Upchurch and Grand Ciel; deep ruby red in color with just a whole panoply of alluring aromas suggestive of fleshy blackberry, blueberry, cherry, currant, pomegranate (we remind ourselves, it is made from grapes), shaved dark chocolate, pencil shavings, dusty vineyard floor and more; slippery smooth on entry with a cool sophistication and gently building tannins that hold it all together long and warm to the finish. D2-licious!

Produce of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 1% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot fruit from sustainably farmed vines on the estate vineyards of Pepper Bridge, Summit View, Octave, Goff, Seven Hills and Les Collines in the Walla Walla Valley. We've been following this wine for some half dozen vintages or so now and are only growing more fond — oh, we'll get to the tasting note, but geez, one whiff and one can almost smell plump juicy colored-up berries hanging on the vine, giddily awaiting their transformation into even happier stuff; medium deep ruby in color with aromas redolent of fresh pulpy ripe berry fruit; fresh and vibrant on the tongue, too, with a kind of sense of urgency (drink me already ya' silly) with gentle but vivid tannins carrying bags of juicy berry flavor; then warming and mouthwatering to the finish. Really, really good stuff from Walla Walla, Washington.

Produce of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec fruit from the Southwind, Dionysus and Stone Tree vineyards in Columbia Valley. Deep ruby in color with discreet claret-like aromas suggesting, among other things, cassis, spiced plum, pencil shavings and a good winegrowing earth; cool on entry, firm yet pliant in texture, holding its shape well with a discreet burst and intensity of flavor carried long and fresh and deep by vivid fine-grained jittery tannins.