Salute military veterans this Memorial Day

Purple Heart Wines — a Napa Valley partnership that honors and supports America’s veterans — is back with its second vintage.

It’s a truly worthy honor.

The newly released 2014 Purple Heart Napa Valley Red Wine ($20) is a blend of Merlot (80 percent), Cabernet Sauvignon (15 percent), Petite Syrah (4 percent) and Petit Verdot (1 percent) — a list that includes three of the five Noble Grapes of Bordeaux.

C. Mondavi & Family Wines vintner John Moynier, a military veteran who served on Guam, has this year produced a wine as bold as the men and women it honors.

Expect a nose of cinnamon and plum as the wine pours rich and full into the glass. A palate marked by balanced tannins and silky texture offers blackberry and currant highlights and a long, pleasing finish.

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Purple Heart Wines — which financially supports the Purple Heart Foundation’s mission of meeting the unmet needs of military personnel and their families — has contributed $30,000 to the foundation this year from the sale of past Purple Heart vintages. Another $10,000 contribution based on this year’s sales is planned for Memorial Day.

Enjoying the wine on the upcoming holiday honors and supports America’s service families. It’s also a great match for your holiday weekend festivities.

Purple Heart is just one of a crop of newly released California wines of note.

Here are a few more to help you celebrate the spring season.

Different facets of estate influence

Minding the terroir and what it adds to the wine has always been part of J. Lohr Wines. This spring the winemakers have tapped individual Monterey County vineyards to produce two Chardonnays and two Pinot Noirs that illustrate different facets of their wines’ characters.

Both the 2015 J. Lohr Arroyo Vista and October Night Chardonnays ($25 each) share similar characteristics, including a brightness, acidity and distinct textural quality, but they’re very different wines, says Kristen Barnhisel, J. Lohr’s white winemaker.

“With its lovely, lees-y quality and orchard fruit notes of apple, peach and citrus, the Arroyo Vista is our ode to Burgundy,” Barnhisel says. “October Night benefits from Burgundian techniques, but its lush, alluring personality makes it very Californian.”

The winery’s 2014 J. Lohr Fog’s Reach and Highlands Bench Pinot Noirs ($35 each) follow a similar distinctions as estate-grown wines, according to Steve Peck, J. Lohr’s red winemaker.

“Fog’s Reach is an Arroyo Seco Pinot Noir and, as a result, is an earthy, umami-driven wine with a lovely cool-climate depth and character,” Peck says. “Highlands Bench has radiant strawberry and cherry notes that are signatures of the Santa Lucia Highlands.”

The possibilities for pairing any of the J. Lohr wines with food are almost endless, the winemakers say.

Bright shining flavors

Sterling Vineyards would like to draw your attention to the rich silver labels it has recently introduced for its varietal line, a change that presumably creates a more unified marketing image for retail buyers. But it’s really the bright shining flavors found inside of the Napa Valley winery’s new releases that should stimulate your senses.

Winemaker Harry Hansen has sampled the fruit of numerous vineyards to create his 2015 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($18). The wine pours bright and golden, with a nose of pear, grapefruit and lemon. Its palate of peach and citrus is backed by good acidity and a rounded presence, signaling the winemaker’s wise choices.

The 2015 Chardonnay “Vintner’s Collection” ($12.99) also weighs in nicely. Largely barrel-aged in French and American Oak, the wine has a subtle nose of pear, pineapple and toasted vanilla leading to a richly viscous, well-rounded palate of citrus and fruit.

The 2015 Napa Valley Chardonnay ($18) samples similar vineyards, producing a more complex wine with greater depth. The apple-citrus-hazelnut nose — subtle as the light golden color the wine pours — leads to a well-balanced palate of stone fruit and honey with a similar creamy roundness.

Hansen’s two Cabernet Sauvignons bring a fine finish to Sterling’s new releases.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon “Vintner’s Collection” ($15.99) sourced its grapes from a variety of northern California and Central Coast vineyards with distinctly different terroir influences. The spiced blackberry aroma leads to a supple, balanced wine of cherry and mocha, with delicate chocolate-y tannins that carry the wine to a long, luxurious finish.

The 2014 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($25) — sourced entirely from Napa Valley-grown grapes and aged entirely in oak — pours a deep garnet into the glass with an aroma of jammy blackberry and plum. The dense wine offers rich cherry and caramel notes with what the winemaker describes as a seamless, pleasing “umami character.”

Like the Purple Heart and J. Lohr selections, the Sterling collection is perfect for toasting military veterans this Memorial Day and beyond.