Broadside, Merlot Santa Margarita Ranch, 2022

Since it premiered two decades ago, the film Sideways has had a monumental effect on the perception of the grape Merlot. Its ancestral homeland is Bordeaux's Right Bank, but it's found its way all over the globe, where it's used to make plush, plummy, slightly herbal wines (including some of the world's most expensive and rare bottles!). Broadside's version is dialed in and delicious, with notes of black cherry, Christmas spice, cacao nibs and sweet tobacco leaf.