Aroma
Vanilla
16 bottles with this note
Train this aroma
Wine Aroma Kit
Develop your palate with the canonical reference for vanilla and related notes.
López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Reserva 2011
R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia S.A.
Viña Tondonia Reserva is the ultimate slow-reveal wine — a bottle that spent six years in barrel and still isn't done evolving when you pour it.
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2020
Leeuwin Estate
The Art Series Chardonnay is Australia's most compelling argument that great Chardonnay needs nothing but time and patience. The 2020 vintage received 98 points from Wine Advocate and 97 from Halliday, James Suckling, and Wine Front.
Kumeu River Maté’s Vineyard Chardonnay 2021
Kumeu River Wines (Brajkovich family)
Kumeu River Maté’s Vineyard is the definitive proof that great Chardonnay can migrate from Burgundy to the Southern Hemisphere without losing its soul.
Bodega Norton Reserva Malbec 2021
Bodega Norton (Swarovski family)
Bodega Norton Reserva Malbec is the taste of a grape that found its true home six thousand miles from where it started.
Austin Hope Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2022
Hope Family Wines
Paso Robles is a region forged by fire — and not just metaphorically. Daytime temperatures that soar past 100°F followed by dramatic nighttime drops create a thermal intensity that forces the vines to concentrate their sugars and develop deep, complex flavors.
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
Marchesi Antinori
Artemis is the more approachable sibling of the legendary CASK 23, but don't mistake accessibility for simplicity. The winemaking architecture is rigorous: fruit sourced from across Napa Valley with a heavy lean toward the Stags Leap District's volcanic soils, then aged in a calibrated mix of French and American oak that adds complexity without overwhelming the fruit. The name references the Greek goddess of the hunt — and there is something purposeful about this wine, a sense that every element has been placed with intention. The tannins are fine-grained and structural, the fruit is concentrated but not overblown, and the oak integration suggests design, not accident.
Château Léoville-Las Cases Grand Cru Classé 2018
Domaines des Grands Crus de la Famille Delon
Château Léoville-Las Cases is frequently described as the finest of the Super Seconds — Second Growth estates that rival the First Growths in quality — and the 2018 vintage makes a compelling case.
Bodegas Muga Reserva Rioja 2019
Bodegas Muga S.L.
When the rest of Rioja rushed to modernize in the 1990s — switching to French oak, adopting international varieties, chasing Parker points — Muga went the other way. They built their own cooperage and committed to traditional methods.
The Prisoner Red Blend 2022
The Prisoner Wine Company (Constellation Brands)
The Prisoner began as a rebellious experiment. Each varietal brings a different voice; over 100 growers provide the blending palette.
Joseph Phelps Insignia 2020
Joseph Phelps Vineyards (LVMH Moët Hennessy)
Insignia is one of America's great wines — not merely because it is prestigious or expensive, but because it consistently delivers what the greatest Bordeaux delivers: extraordinary complexity that evolves across decades. The 2020 vintage was grown in a challenging year that produced remarkably concentrated, structured fruit.
Far Niente Chardonnay Napa Valley 2022
Far Niente Winery
Far Niente Chardonnay is a Napa Valley institution — a wine that has set the standard for California Chardonnay since the estate's revival in 1979. Nicole Marchesi's winemaking philosophy is clear: every decision, from vineyard selection to barrel fermentation to malolactic aging, is made in service of balance rather than power.
Opus One 2019
Opus One Winery (est. 1979)
The 2019 Opus One is a vintage for the ages.
Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2022
Wagner Family of Wine (Caymus Vineyards, est. 1972)
Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon is what happens when five decades of patience in the vineyard meet an unwavering commitment to a single vision. Chuck Wagner's approach is simple in concept and demanding in execution: wait for the fruit to reach perfect ripeness, blend across multiple Napa sub-appellations for complexity, and give the wine enough oak to frame the fruit without overwhelming it. Critics have debated the Caymus style for years — some find it too ripe, too rich, too crowd-pleasing — but the marketplace has settled the argument: this is one of the most consistently sought-after California Cabernets in existence. The 2022 vintage continues the tradition — dark, plush, generous, and built for the table rather than the cellar. Wagner's genius is making a wine that feels effortless, but that effortlessness comes from 50 years of learning what patience in the vineyard actually means.
Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay Napa Valley 2022
Cakebread Cellars (est. 1973)
Cakebread Chardonnay has been a Napa Valley staple for over 50 years, and its longevity is a testament to the patience of doing something well and resisting the urge to change it. While Chardonnay trends have swung wildly — from heavily oaked and buttery in the '90s to severely unoaked in the 2010s — Cakebread has held a steady middle course: enough barrel influence for texture and complexity, enough acidity for freshness and food-friendliness. The partial malolactic fermentation is key — it gives the wine a creamy quality without tipping into butterball territory. Seven months of sur lie aging adds richness from the lees without dominating the fruit. The result is a Chardonnay that works equally well as an aperitif, a dinner companion, or a quiet glass at the end of the day. In a world of extremes, Cakebread's patience with its own identity is its greatest virtue.
Marqués de Riscal Reserva 2019
Herederos del Marqués de Riscal (est. 1858)
Marqués de Riscal went against the grain before “going against the grain” was even a concept in Spanish wine. When Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga founded the winery in 1858, he did something heretical: he brought a French cellar master from Château Lanessan in the Médoc to teach Rioja producers Bordeaux techniques. He imported French grape varieties alongside the native Tempranillo. The result was Spain’s first modern winery, and in 1895, Marqués de Riscal became the first non-French wine to receive an Honorific Diploma at the International Wine Exposition of Bordeaux. The 2019 Reserva — 94% Tempranillo, 21 months in American oak — is a masterclass in Rioja’s unique marriage of Spanish soul and Bordelais discipline. At $20–$25, it’s one of the great values in European wine.
Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2021
Treasury Wine Estates (Penfolds, est. 1844)
Bin 389 is known as “Baby Grange” for a reason: the wine is matured in the same American oak hogsheads that previously held Penfolds Grange, Australia’s most celebrated wine. That secondhand Grange influence — a ghost of Shiraz complexity — adds depth you can’t get any other way. Max Schubert created the first Bin 389 in 1960, and it’s been in continuous production ever since, blending Cabernet’s structure with Shiraz’s generosity. At $40–55, it delivers a taste of the Penfolds house style at a fraction of Grange’s price. This is arguably Australia’s greatest value red.