Light, bright gold. Intense pit fruit and honey aromas are lifted by white flowers and ginger. Sweet, silky and intensely flavored, offering bright peach and pear nectar flavors and a silky, seamless texture. The sappy finish features clinging sweetness and impressive persistence.

For nearly 40 years, Arrowood has been California’s undisputed master of auslese, beerenauslese, and trockenbeerenauslese-styled sweet Rieslings. He has been on target with these wines since he first began making them at Chateau St. Jean 30 years ago. The auslese-styled 2007 Special Select Late Harvest Riesling Saralee’s Vineyard contains 21.7 grams of residual sugar as well as terrific acidity, and gorgeous aromas of lychee nuts, apricots, peaches, and apple butter. This sweet white should drink easily for another 5-6 years.

Made in a bigger, more structured style, the 2011 Chardonnay Reserve Speciale is 100% barrel-fermented, sees 100% malolactic fermentation, and is aged nine months in a combination of new and neutral French oak. It is then cellared for an additional six months in 100% one-year-old French oak. The wine exhibits lots of white peach, orange marmalade, honeysuckle and lychee aromas. This deep, full-bodied, richly fruity white reveals good delineation and intensity. A super-strong effort in 2011, it should age well for 4-5 years.

2004 ARROWOOD CHARDONNAY ALARY RANCH The Burgundian-styled 2004 Chardonnay Alary Vineyards (100% barrel fermented, put through malolactic fermentation, and aged for 10 months in French wood) exhibits aromas and flavors of pineapple, hazelnut, brioche, and orange skins. This complex white possesses great fruit and acidity as well as a full-bodied power with the oak kept well in the background.

2004 CHARDONNAY RESERVE SPECIALE Arrowood's top Chardonnay, the 2004 Reserve Speciale, is a 357-case offering that represents a selection from three separate vineyards, and receives the same treatment as the Alary vineyards cuvee. Copious quantities of orange blossom, pineapple, and other tropical fruits are accompanied by good definition, refreshing acidity, and a full-bodied, concentrated mouthfeel.

Get Ready: The Super Italians Are Coming Big and rich wine with lots of fruit and tannins. Plenty of wood, too. Full body. Needs two or three years to soften.

Aromas of blueberries with blanched almonds follow through to a medium body, firm tannins and a fresh finish. Better in 2018 but already delicious. A blend of merlot cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot.

A round version, featuring rich cherry fruit mingling with an earthy element. Turns firm and dry on the finish, with gumcoating tannins, yet this remains persistent and long, revealing a tobacco accent. Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Best from 2017 through 2026.

A soft and velvety red with chocolate, cedar, dark berry, currant and new wood aromas and flavors. Full body and a fruity finish. Bordeaux blend with plenty of panache. Drink or hold.

A red with dark berry and tar aromas and flavors. Full body, chewy tannins and a long finish. Needs time to soften. A blend of mostly merlot with cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot. Better in 2017.

Beautiful balance sets the stage for the cherry, black currant and spice flavors. Rich, dense and lively in structure, capped by ripe, fine-grained tannins. The aftertaste evokes dark fruit and spice. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2020.

Beautiful balance sets the stage for the cherry, black currant and spice flavors. Rich, dense and lively in structure, capped by ripe, fine-grained tannins. The aftertaste evokes dark fruit and spice. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2020. 799 cases made.

A rich and velvety red that's open and delicious now showing ripe and savory fruit. Full to medium body. Plenty of dark chocolate, blackberry and cherry character. Some currants too. A blend of 60% cabernet franc, 25% merlot and 15% cabernet sauvignon. Drink and enjoy.

Bright and lively, with mineral, violet, black currant and cedar aromas and flavors. Still firmly structured, this will require more time to find equilibrium. Long finish. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2016 through 2025. 1,380 cases made.

Anakota's 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana has turned out beautifully. Dark, sumptuous and beautifully resonant in the glass, the 2014 exudes richness. Red cherry jam, raspberry, mint and licorice abound. Flamboyant and opulent, with soft contours and good structure, the 2014 hits all the right notes.

The 2013 vintage of this robust Californian Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana features mocha, black fruit and smoke on the nose and palate. Pair with steak.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard has turned out beautifully. Mocha, dark cherries, plums, spices, new leather and tobacco meld together in a large-scaled, voluptuous wine built on intensity, texture and volume. This is one of the more overt Knights Valley Cabernets readers will come across. The vintage has softened some of the contours, which simply adds to the wine's considerable up-front appeal. A sweet, layered finish rounds things out in style. My sense is that the 2012 will be even better once some of the baby fat drops off, but the wine is undeniably delicious today.

Bright medium ruby. Brooding aromas of black raspberry, dark chocolate and spices. Sweet, ripe and compellingly rich, offering terrific depth to the lush black raspberry and chocolate flavors. This very ripe cabernet will need time in bottle to absorb a bit of its alcohol.

Spicy nose; smooth and deep with black raspberry, plum and spice; notes of toasty oak, mocha and chocolate; long and balanced with excellent structure.

This dark, dense Cabernet Sauvignon is extraordinarily concentrated, with blackberry and black currant fruit, and super ripe suggestions of raisins. It’s very dry and tannic, but should achieve elegance and balance with 6–8 years in the cellar

The estate's 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard wraps around the palate with serious depth in its purple fruit, grilled savory herbs, licorice, mint and white flowers. A rich, powerful wine, the 2008 impresses for its totally expressive, layered personality. At the same time, firm mountain tannins support the finish and add compelling vibrancy. This dark, brooding beauty is a bit of a brute today, but there is plenty of intensity and more than enough balance to make me think the wine will be delicious in another few years. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2020.

Red-ruby. Plum, spicecake, violet and flinty minerality on the nose, plus an exotic suggestion of white fruits. Concentrated, dense, ripe and dry, with a smooth texture given definition by rocky minerality. Not at all a sweet style, but broad, smoky and impressively long, finishing with fine-grained tannins.

Good full ruby. Vibrant nose offers cassis, black cherry and violet. Densely packed, rich and sweet, but more brooding, even medicinal, and showing less early definition than the Helena Dakota. Perhaps best today on the hugely tannic but very long and subtly rising finish. This big boy is stuffed with cassis and soil flavors.

(14.8% alcohol; from red gravel and clay soil): Full red-ruby color. Some superripe fruitcake, caramel and spice aromas along with crushed herbs, tobacco and iron on the nose. A bit more pliant and open-knit on entry than the Helena Montana, conveying an impression of higher pH, but still with a restrained sweetness to its deep flavors of black cherry, spices, menthol and earth. In comparison to the Helena Montana, this wine's tannins are a bit chewier, and its fuller-bodied currant, cherry and mocha flavors a bit more expressive today. These are seriously structured, ageworthy mountain Cabernets.

The deep purple-colored 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana reveals aromas of crushed rocks, flowers, black currants, and spicy oak. Powerful, tannic, medium to full-bodied flavors coat the mouth, but this cuvee clearly needs time in the bottle. Although it possesses beautiful purity, structure, and intensity, it will benefit from 2-3 years of cellaring, and should keep for 15-20.