Appropriately enough, Sir Peter Michael, an Englishman who made his name in electronics, established his vineyard in Sonoma County's Knights Valley. From the moment he purchased the property in 1982, Sir Michael has insisted upon an Old-World approach to New World wine. Terroir is paramount here, along with elegance in favor of overstatement. This philosophy has translated seamlessly to the wines, which have been among the New World's finest for years. Chardonnays from the steep slopes of Mount Saint Helena feature wonderfully deep, layered flavors and outstanding clarity and verve. We've personally mistaken them for top white Burgundies in blind tastings. Further down the mountain, the Les Pavots Vineyard produces Bordeaux varietals for the eponymous blend, and to the west, a recently purchased Sonoma Coast property is the site of high quality Pinot Noir

Sonoma Valley is nestled between the Sonoma Mountain Range on the west and the Mayacamas Mountains on the East. North Coast winemaking began here back in 1825 when the missionary fathers established Mission Sonoma. By the 1850s, Sonoma had evolved into California's wine making center, a distinction it gradually ceded to Napa over the next fifty years. In the 1970s, however, Sonoma wines had begun to reclaim the international renown they enjoy today. With more than 7,000 acres planted to Sonoma Valley wine grapes, the Valley stretches for 40 miles north from the San Pablo Bay to just below Santa Rosa. Although summertime fog enters the valley from both the north and south, Sonoma's cooler regions by far are located in the southern part of the valley, primarily in the Carneros district. In contrast, the climate along the valley floor in the middle of the region can be quite warm. Though compact, Sonoma Valley hosts a very wide array of vineyard soil types, topographies, and elevations. That said, there are a few rules of thumb: In the southern Valley (between Carneros and the town of Sonoma), the best Sonoma wines come from early-maturing varieties like Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, and, from some producers, Merlot. On the hillsides and along the hilltops, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel fare the best so long as the elevation is above the frost line. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the two most widely cultivated varieties in Sonoma, perform best along the benchlands between Sonoma and Kenwood.

It is remarkable that an industry essentially less than a half-century old could capture the attention of the American wine-buying public to the degree that California has. Powerful consumer interest in California wine is driven by two major factors. The more obvious reason is that California's best wines, which come from grapes grown in a benign climate featuring endless sunshine, very warm summer days, and generally dry harvests, and wonderfully fruity, full, and satisfying, and rarely too austere or tannic to be enjoyed from day one.

California is blessed with an extraordinary range of soils and microclimates, allowing for the successful cultivation of many varieties. In at least three out of four years, the best sites produce healthy, ripe fruits that are the envy of European producers in more marginal climates. The other reason Americans buy so much California wine is that California is the home team. Clearly, a high percentage of domestic wine drinkers are more comfortable buying American wines (and not just wines of California) than imports. Then, too, foreign bottles are generally identified by place name, rather than by the more familiar varieties that American wine drinkers have come to know and enjoy.

Moreover, in much of North America, outside the top 15 or 20 largest metropolitan markets, consumers have limited access to imported wines even if they wanted to buy them.

For many, Napa Valley is California wine, and Cabernet is king in Napa Valley. Meanwhile, the Burgundy varieties Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have gravitated to cooler areas, generally closer to the Pacific, such as the western stretches of Sonoma County, the Anderson Valley in Mendocino County, and the Santa Maria and Santa Ynez valleys within Santa Barbara County. Syrah vines have yielded interesting wines in a range of styles all over the state, in regions as disparate as Mendocino County, the Sonoma coast, Carneros, Paso Robles, and Santa Maria Valley. Very good Zinfandel similarly comes from multiple growing areas, although to date the age-of-vines variable has been almost as important as geography. Zinfandel, though its roots are in Europe, is a true California original and the only California wine imitated abroad. It's also a variety of which there are still significant plantings of very old vines, in some cases dating back to the end of the 19th century.

Adored by critics, prized by collectors, Pinot Noir is one of most tantalizing yet temperamental varietals in the world. For many wine enthusiasts, this is part of the appeal of Pinot -- it doesn't reveal its charms easily.

Pinot Noir's virtue also stems from the unique characteristics of the grape. The skins are especially delicate, which accounts for the lighter color and body of the finished wine. But, despite the delicacy, the best wines have excellent backbone and length, providing aromatic intensity unlike any other grape.

As a general category, California Pinot Noir has been on fire since the movie Sideways. In fact, California's Pinot Noirs are increasingly divergent. The state offers Pinots for virtually every taste, running the style gamut from pungent, cool, minerally, and Burgundian to soft, superripe, and chocolaty-sweet. The latter style of wine, often made from grapes harvested at very high sugar levels, is popular among those who prefer extremely ripe, lush wines with strong fruit character and little apparent acidity or tannin. Many of today's new generation of wine drinkers -- especially those who did not cut their teeth on European wines -- gravitate toward this style. On the other hand, most veteran wine drinkers, especially those whose model for Pinot Noir is red Burgundy, typically find these new-style wines too roasted and high in alcohol, lacking subtlety and refinement. But today even the drinker with the most extreme Old World leanings can find California examples of Pinot Noir that will give pleasure. Never before have consumers had so many good California Pinot Noirs to choose from.

Moving north, Oregon's Pinot Noirs typically feature exuberant cherry-berry aromas and flavors; varying degrees of spicy oak; medium body; and reasonable tannin levels. Oregon Pinot Noirs generally carry moderate alcohol in the 12.5 to 14 percent range, lower than those of today's typical Pinot Noirs from California, although very warm years can bring wines with higher alcohol and more roasted flavors. Rarely austere or tough on release, the best Oregon Pinot Noirs gain complexity with three to five years of bottle aging, and top wines from the most successful vintages can improve in bottle for a decade or more. "Tender" might be an apt description of the best Oregon Pinot Noirs.

After a couple of challenging growing seasons, the 2002, 2003, and 2004 vintages brought a return to mostly favorable weather conditions. The 2002 vintage yielded many bright, harmonious Pinot Noirs from Oregon that promise to repay cellaring. Even some of Oregon's old-timers, who have bene on the scene for 30 years, consider that year to be their most successful vintage to date. Periods of extreme heat in the summer of 2003 and shortly before the harvest yielded the ripest grapes in Oregon's history. While many wines taste distinctly pruney, overripe, or roasted, the best wines from this vintage are wonderfully dense, sweet, and unusually mouth-filling, with the sheer stuffing to stand up to alcohol levels reaching as high as 15 percent. Vintage 2004 was another excellent years for the Willamette Valley, having produced fresh, tangy, classically balanced Pinot Noirs that lead with their red berry fruit and floral characteristics.

Pinot Noir has emphatically found a home in New Zealand's temperate climate, where the variety benefits tremendously from an extended growing season. The soil-inflected Pinot Noirs of Martinborough, on New Zealand's North Island, where the harvest can last well into May (the Southern Hemisphere equivalent of November), have proven their quality and ageability over the past 20 years. Much more recently, Central Otago, a spectacular inland region of lakes, alpine meadows, and steep mountains and valleys (this is where Lord of the Rings was filmed) located in the middle of the South Island, has exploded onto the world wine scene in the past decade with some stunning wines. With their rich dark fruit aromas and flavors, intriguing floral and mineral nuances, and ripe harmonious acidity -- not to mention their often considerable heft (typically 13 to 14 percent alcohol) -- these Pinot Noirs may be better suited to today's wine drinkers than the earthier Pinots of Martinborough, which, despite their often greater complexity, can come off as dry and lean in comparison. Incidentally, beginning with the 2003 vintage, most of the best Central Otago Pinot Noirs are bottled under screw cap, which further emphasizes the fresh, clean fruit of these wines.

2012 had 16 regions scored 95 or above. Oregon got the highest score, with a 97.

Other regions that scored 95 points or higher were Anderson Valley (California), Barossa / McLaren Vale, Brunello di Montalcino (Tuscany), Columbia Valley, Napa, Chablis, Champagne, Coonwarra, Côte de Beaune, Côte de Nuits, Germany, Graves, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, and Washington.