Sonnet Wine Cellars 2017 Pinot Noir, Muns Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains, USA

A beautiful wine from a beautiful vintage. That said, I find the Pinots from Santa Cruz Mountains to need a little TLC before they will share their best stuff, and by that I mean decant, decant, decant! If you have an aerator, this is the time to use it. If you have a decanter, even better! And if you have a cellar and enough patience to wait a few more years, you're the luckiest of all - I expect this wine to peak between 10 and 12 years from its vintage date.

Look for black cherry fruit balanced by the great natural acidity Pinot is known for, particularly when grown in a cool region like the Santa Cruz Mountains' Muns vineyard. Incredible value, I advise fans of this wine to stock up and store it for the ages - drink now through 2030.

I get it. It doesn't seem fair that one person succeeds as an actor and then turns to another, equally challenging career, and succeeds at THAT as well. But wait, there's more - his partner is the talented, world-renowned choral conductor, Elena Sharkova. Some people lead a charmed life!

Such is the life of Anthony Craig, who left England to pursue acting in Los Angeles before taking a breather in bucolic Santa Cruz Mountains to work for a spell at the famed David Bruce Winery. It was there he caught the wine bug, burnished his winemaking chops, and eventually became the head winemaker. He worked there for years before forming Sonnet in 2002.