The 2016 El Desafio de Jonata is made up of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc, aged in 85% new French oak. It has a deep ruby-black color and classic nose of cedar, pencil shavings, chocolate box and tobacco with cassis, wild blackberries, plum and damp earth. Full-bodied, it gives up luscious fruits in the mouth with savory and minerally accents, framed by firm, pleasantly chewy tannins and good freshness to lift, finishing long. 575 cases will be released this fall.

A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, the 2015 El Desafio de Jonata has a deep garnet-purple color and nose of cassis, blueberry compote and warm plums with hints of cigar box, dusty earth, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. The rich, medium to full-bodied palate gives layers of plums, earth notions and spices, with firm, grainy tannins to frame and a long, layered finish.

Matt Dees observed that the 2014 El Desafio de Jonata has really begun to open up from its rather surly state six months ago, and he opened a bottle to prove his point. While the wine is certainly still quite tightly coiled, it unfurls in the glass with an attractively complex bouquet of cassis, smoky herbs, charcoal, burning embers and espresso roast, its new oak already nicely integrated. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, with a rich chassis of structuring tannins, nice concentration and depth and a crunchy core of fruit underpinned by succulent acids. I'd be inclined to wait another year or two and then drink this over the following 6 years.

Another wine that needs to be forgotten for at least 4-6 years is the 2013 El Desafio de Jonata. Made from mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with 5% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot and a splash of Merlot, this full-bodied, inky colored wine offers beautiful aromatics of ripe black fruits, lead pencil, tobacco leaf and smoked herbs. Possessing a great mid-palate, ripe tannin and a great finish, it should be at its best from 2020-2040.

Probably the longest-lived wine in the vintage from Santa Barbara, Jonata's 630-case 2012 El Desafio de Jonata checks in as a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, 15% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot that saw 80% new French oak. It reveals a masculine, meaty, structured personality as well as rockin' notes of blackcurrants, wood smoke, lead pencil shavings and crushed rock. Full-bodied, balanced and with building tannic grip, it still shows the suppleness of the vintage, but needs 2-3 years to even start to be drinkable. It will have 2-3 decades of longevity.