Put aside any preconceptions you may have about the Kendall-Jackson style, the wine that struck gold with a touch of residual sweetness, and taste this new release made by Randy Ullom. You'll recognize the Jackson touch in the wine's size and ripeness: It's big and full, with sweet peach scents. But it doesn't finish sweet, and it goes far beyond anything you might have tasted before from this producer: This is a complex, winey chardonnay, built on a robust layering of flavors that last in a gentle, unhurried way. In fact, you could sip and study it over the course of hours, trying to unravel the layers of smoked meat, apple mash and applewood smoke, pear and dry peach. The promise of ripeness is there in the initial aroma and carries through...

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2017 Chardonnay Stature is a very pretty and expressive wine. Tangerine peel, spice, vanillin and butter notes are all laced together. Supple and racy in the glass, with attractive exotic overtones, the Stature is impeccably balanced in this vintage.

The 2017s From Sonoma From the cooler Petaluma Gap region, the 2017 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Cloud Landing offers more minerality, smoke, charcoal, and stone fruit notes as well as a big, medium to full-bodied, concentrated style on the palate. It opens up nicely with time in the glass and will benefit from 6-12 months of bottle age.

The most expensive Chardonnay in the lineup from K-J is the 2016 Chardonnay Stature. This cuvée comes from the Camelot and Neeley Vineyards (Santa Barbara and Monterey) and was brought up in 45% new French oak. It offers a rocking bouquet of sautéed apples, pears, white flowers, and beautiful minerality. It’s fresh and vibrant as well as rich and textured on the palate, has vibrant acidity, and a big finish. It’s a terrific Chardonnay that will keep for 4-6 years.

Other Chardonnays include the more mineral, Meursault-like 2013 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Camelot Highlands from Santa Maria. This shows notes of hazelnuts, caramelized citrus fruit, a hint of match sticks and wet rocks. It is a complex, Burgundian style of Chardonnay that is completely different than the other wines from Kendall-Jackson.

The grapes for this Californian Chardonnay are grown in a cool climate and gravel soils, with excellent drainage. The 2013 vintage of the Chardonnay Jackson Estate Camelot Highlands is sourced from 40-year-old, ungrafted vines. The wine is then barrel-fermented and matured for 8 months in 50% new French oak barrels. Extremely concentrated and full-bodied Californian Chardonnay: toasted almond and butterscotch from generous oak aging. Aromas and flavours of pear, peach and apple. Pair with roasted chicken or turkey.

The 2012 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Piner Hills offers lots of apple butter, tropical fruit, pineapple and honeysuckle notes. This cuvee sees 24% new French oak and spends 12 months in barrel prior to being bottled unfiltered. Another hugely successful wine, it displays the fruit-forward and luscious extravagance the Russian River can provide, especially in Chardonnay. Drink it over the next several years.

As bright as the sun on sand, this is a beautifully layered wine. There are floral scents of jasmine and narcissus, savory notes of ginger and subtle hints of butterscotch to balance the finish toward sweetness. The wine has powerful length, extending its fresh fruit into lime pith and lime zest flavors. the musculature in the structure will allow for several years' development in the cellar.

Absolutely brilliant, but very limited in production...the 2007 Highland Estates Chardonnay Piner Hills.

Here's a big, sumptuous, fat, oily Chardonnay, massive in tropical fruits, spices, minerals and smoky buttered toast. The creamy texture makes it feel especially rich. Aged in 57% new oak, it's truly decadent - but balanced - Chardonnay.

The 2007 Highland Estates Chardonnay Camelot Vineyard exhibits abundant amounts of pineapple, honeysuckle, and peach along with hints of brioche and caramel. It's full-bodied, luscious finish exhibits a subtle note of oak.

Just might be the best $25 Chard out there. Gorgeous, dramatic and opulent, with a creamy texture and ripe tropical fruit, smoky oak and vanilla flavors. There's a long, honeyed, buttercreamy finish.

Block M is 100 percent clone 4 chardonnay and it delivers on all levels. Sophisticated, rich, elegant and packed full of floral, pineapple, citrus, buttery fruit, with flecks of orange and spice. Fresh toasted bread mixes with a creamy mid-palate and a long smouldering finish. Excellent finesse and length in a 100 percent barrel-fermented (French) oak that is 3-quarters new. Kendall-Jackson is buying and aging its oak before barrel assembly and it shows in the quality of the wine.

Even better is the super-complex 2005 Highland Estates Chardonnay Seco form estate vineyards in Monterey. Made from both the Dijon and Rued Chardonnay clones, it offers up exotic aromas of tropical fruits, spring flowers, and a hint of litchi. Full-bodied with admirable fruit purity and presence as well as a striking minerality, this cuvee saw 35% new oak in its upbringing. However, the oak component in all of these Chardonnays is minimal.

Even better, the 2000 Stature Chardonnay Santa Maria boasts phenomenally intense aromas and flavors of tropical fruits in addition to higher glycerin levels and a rare viscosity. Its pure tropical fruit essence is nicely infused with smoky, toasty oak. These are both sexy, exotic Chardonnays.

Biggest Australian Wine Tasting Ever: 2,700+ Ratings Dark plums and spice with toasty oak on offer, leading to a plush, fluid and rich texture, as well as a very fleshy and fresh, compact feel at the finish. Dark berries and cherries and a sleek, assertive tannin edge complete the picture. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Australia: Catching Up From vines planted in 1962 with a southeastern (cool) exposure, the herb-tinged 2016 Elder Hill Grenache (roughly 15% was fermented as whole clusters) features elegant strawberry and raspberry fruit on the nose. It's medium to full-bodied and silky in texture on the palate, picking up hints of roses and mocha on the long finish. It shows ample body but also the sense of weightlessness that often marks great Grenache. It should drink well for another 4-5 years, at least, and probably many more.

Precise, firm and focused, featuring a rich milk chocolate dimension that mingles with concentrated raspberry puree and blueberry flavors, showing dashes of dried rosemary and black tea. The finish is spectacular, revealing accents of sandalwood and spice. Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

Fragrant and expressive, offering mocha-laced maraschino cherry, framboise and raspberry flavors, with details of dried sage and tobacco on a plush, velvety frame. Delivers wonderful presence and harmony on the finish, where the tannins provide appealing traction.

Australia: Catching Up One of the best Merlots I've tasted from Australia, Hickinbotham's 2016 The Revivalist Merlot does hint at cherry tomatoes, cedar and vanilla on the nose, but it nails the mouthfeel. It's medium to full-bodied, with a rich, velvety texture and layers of cherry and mocha flavors that linger onto the long, plush finish.

Australia: Catching Up Overtones of vanilla and cedar mark the nose of the 2016 Brooks Road Shiraz, which aged in 20%-30% new French oak. Herbal notes and hints of green peppercorns add nuance to the ripe cherry flavors of this full-bodied red. The tannins are supple, making this wine approachable now, but they also linger softly on the finish, suggesting up to a decade of additional ageability.

There’s a sense of coolness to this wine, from the deep, rosy black-cherry color to the foresty fruit— black plum and blackberry with an evergreen edge. That freshness includes a gingery spice and the scent of asphalt after a rain. This is a balanced, medium-weight cabernet, delicious with duck, or with meaty roast eggplant.

Vibrant and juicy, with blueberry and raspberry flavors that sing out amid a chorus of espresso, green tea, white pepper and sage details. Spice notes linger on the long, expressive finish.

This blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon and 44% Shiraz offers notes of dark red fruit, black raspberry and currant, and toasty oak on the nose. It has a finely honed palate. Shows good freshness and concentration with firm tannic grip and rich extract on a very long finish, Will need 5-7 years to show its best.

Medium ruby. Ripe plum with earth notes and a smoky nose that carries over to the palate. Soft on the attack with a silky texture, concentrated flavors with lots of spice and forest floor notes. Good depth, firm tannins and a lingering finish.