The chill of fall always makes me need a glass of something with more substance than a summer wine – something that suits an evening of indulgence or a night of reflection in front of a fire.
Good thing we have autumn releases from some of the West Coast’s top names in wine: Appassionata, Inglenook, L’Aventure, Pym-Rae Tesseron Estate, Quintessa and Vérité.
It can be hard to pin down ‘official’ release dates for US wines, as they differ between the states, the UK and elsewhere in the world, not to mention between mailing-list members and the general public.
But each of the wines below was introduced at La Place de Bordeaux’s fall 2026 ‘hors Bordeaux’ campaign for notable wines from outside the region.
Though American, many of these wines do have a connection to Bordeaux or other parts of France, either through their founder, winemaker or source of inspiration.
Some of our experts’ new reviews below provide a sneak peek of wines still to come, while other wines are available right now. (We did not include the 2023 Napa Cabernets that we reviewed earlier in our vintage report.)
Either way, these picks are worth tracking down on winery websites or at your favourite merchant carrying high-end California and Oregon wines.
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White Wines from Napa Valley
Quintessa’s biodynamically farmed estate in Rutherford provides some of the grapes for Illumination.
(Image credit: Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Here’s an early head’s up on the latest vintage of Illumination, a complex, layered Napa Valley white that is one of my favourite Sauvignon Blancs of all time.
Quintessa winemaker Rebecca Wineburg (yes, her career was seemingly preordained) crafts this blend – Sauvignon Blanc from the Huneuus family’s biodynamic estate in eastern Rutherford, Sémillion (the Bordeaux influence) and the Sauvignon Musqué clone – with an extraordinary attention to detail.
The most fascinating thing about Wineburg’s approach is the variety of fermentation vessels – French oak (new and neutral), acacia and stainless-steel barrels, plus egg-shaped concrete – that she uses to coax out depths of textural, aromatic and flavour complexity rarely seen in California Sauvignon Blanc.
Inglenook’s Blancaneux is a bit of a rarity in Napa’s Rutherford appellation, prime real estate for Cabernet Sauvignon and its companion blending varieties.
The winery is best known for its flagship Rubicon, a classic Left Bank Bordeaux-style blend, but has made this signature white since 1999.
Blancaneux looks to the Rhône Valley for inspiration, bringing together three white varieties – Viognier, Marsanne and Roussane – from estate vineyard blocks that get morning sun but afternoon shade to preserve acidity in the grapes.
The vineyard blocks, blend percentages and amount of new oak versus neutral fermentation and aging vessels changes from vintage to vintage, but Bordeaux-trained director of winemaking Philippe Bascaules and his team deliver a consistently high-quality California interpretation of a Rhône white.
The 2024 vintage has reached Europe, but the 2025 is now available in the US.
Napa Cabernet with a French accent
(Image credit: Getty Images/Medioimages/Photodisc)
Pym-Rae is Château Pontet-Canet by way of Napa’s Mount Veeder AVA: Bordeaux varieties, mature vines, biodynamically farmed, but on steep slopes at cool, high elevations of 500 to 600 meters.
Bordeaux’s Tesseron family – Alfred, Justine and Noé – acquired the late actor Robin Williams’s former estate, kept the vineyard name and moulded it in their vision.
Famed consultant Michel Rolland, who died in March 2026, was brought on to help shape the Pym-Rae wines.
Now estate manager Jérôme Ledit carefully tends to the property, overseeing the detailed work, such as hand harvesting, manual destemming and the use of 40 small concrete fermentation vats.
These allow for close study of each plot, so the team can fine-tune the farming and winemaking practices, as well as make more nuanced selections for the always-distinctive final blend.
Bordeaux blends from a Sonoma viewpoint
Pierre and Hélène Seillan of Vérité
(Image credit: Vérité)
French winemaker Pierre Seillan has honed decades of experience in Gascony, the Loire and Bordeaux into his approach at Verité, an elite Sonoma project he created with the late Jess Jackson of Jackson Family Wines. (The two also partnered on Château Lassègue in St. Emilion.)
Seillan’s daughter, Hélène, has since joined him as assistant winemaker.
The five Bordeaux grape varieties they use in the Verité blends are sourced from 50 micro-sites across four appellations: Bennett Valley, Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Knights Valley.
Each site is harvested and fermented separately in oak barrels with toast levels customized to the lots.
The 2023 growing season in Sonoma County was long and cool, allowing for slow, even ripening, and the portfolio’s three reds – the Merlot-dominant La Muse, the Cabernet Sauvignon-based La Joie and the Cabernet Franc–led Le Désir – show freshness and balance.
Regularly earning scores of 95 and up, these are stunning in 2023.
A Paso twist on Syrah and Grenache
L’Aventure winery, Paso Robles
(Image credit: Chris Leschinsky)
South of Napa and Sonoma, in Paso Robles AVA, Stephan Asseo crafts remarkable Rhône-style reds.
Though he initially started off by creating a wine estate in Bordeaux, he became frustrated with the restrictions there and longed for more freedom.
After much exploration, he landed on Paso’s hilly west side and started L’Aventure, whose name speaks for itself. His daughter Chloe has since joined the family business and is now general manager.
With more than 51 hectares of rolling hills, Asseo has a lot of blocks to play with for different varieties and expressions.
His Syrah–based reds are exciting and seductive: The flagship Estate Reserve and Optimus both mix Syrah with Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, showing the creativity that led him to this region.
In a more typical Rhône expression, the Côte à Côte is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre with a California spin.
A Rare Pinot Noir from Oregon
Ernie Loosen at home in the Mosel
(Image credit: drloosen.com)
It’s unusual enough to have a German winemaker working with Pinot Noir in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, but Ernst Loosen’s Appassionata project is all the more unique for not releasing its wines until they have some extra years of maturity.
Named after Beethoven’s piano sonata, Appassionata encompasses three ‘movements’ of Pinot Noir, with Fortissimo the last to be released, after 10 years in barrel and bottle.
Loosen first started this project in 2005 as a limited-edition bottling with J Christopher Wines.
Later, he acquired a property in the Chehalem Mountains and planted it from 2010 to 2014 with nearly seven hectares of Pinot Noir and 1.2 hectares of white varieties.
The 2016 vintage is considered exceptional in the Willamette Valley, early and warm, but not hot, so the Fortissimo provides an excellent opportunity to see how well the wines have aged.
