Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Syrah Garys' Vineyard has a tar and earth-laced nose over notes of crushed blackberries and black plums plus a peppered salami note. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with expressive pepper and savory flavors that are structured by chewy tannins and a lively backbone, finishing long.

Powerhouse of a wine: bold, brash and full-on with dense, inky dried fruit. The palate has notes of almonds with a bit of oiliness and great weight and length.

Chocolate, black raspberry and black cherry notes jump from the glass of the 2014 Journey Proprietary Red, which is a blend of 90% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Tipping the scales at 15% natural alcohol, the wine displays a touch of barrique and some mocha and coffee bean, but the dark raspberry and black cherry fruits dominate. This medium to full-bodied, luscious wine has an enticing texture and sweet, fine-grained tannins. Drink it over the next 20+ years.

The 2012 Proprietary Red is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot and the rest a tiny percentage of Malbec, from relatively high elevation vineyards planted between 800-2,000 feet on Alexander Mountain Estate. It has an opaque ruby/purple color, a nose of toasty oak, lead pencil shavings, blackcurrants, and hints of underbrush and vanilla. It’s medium to full-bodied, tightly coiled, with some promise and potential, but needs another one or two years of bottle age.

Another winner, but more backward, is the 2012 Pinot Noir Hawkster, from Clone 2A. This was aged in 63% new French oak for 14 months. Showing notes of baking spices, blackcurrants and cherries with loamy soil undertones, this medium to full-bodied wine has sweet tannin and, again, excellent purity and craftsmanship. It should drink nicely for up to a decade.

The 2007 Highland Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Raptor Peak (an Alexander Valley vineyard) is more feminine, elegant, and restrained, not as powerful and complex as the Trace Ridge, but more of a Margaux-like style of Cabernet Sauvignon, whereas the Trace Ridge more closely resembles a Pauillac/St.-Estephe style.

The 2004 Highland Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Trace Ridge Estate, from a high elevation Knight's Valley vineyard, is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 21 months in French oak. Notes of blueberries, cassis, graphite, and crushed rocks are found in this medium to full-bodied elegant, pure, well-structured effort. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2020+.

The largest production cuvee of this quartet of impressive Cabernet Sauvignons is the 2004 Highland Estates Hawkeye Mountain. Just over 1,200 cases were made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in all French oak. This comes from various elevations of 400 to 2,200 feet. The wine has a dense ruby color, plenty of minerality with an almost chalky stoniness to the flavor profile. Rich black currant fruit, a hint of white chocolate, espresso, and full-bodied powerful flavors with moderate tannin give this wine a vigorous, almost youthful character. It can be approached now, but seems on the upswing and should evolve for at least another 15-20 years.

Five bottles to serve on your holiday table This latest vintage is a brilliant expression of oaked Chardonnay. It exudes evocative aromas of toasted nut, vanilla cream and citrus peel before slipping across the palate with a silky-swift attack. Mouthcoasting flavours of crisp apple heavily imbued with warm hazelnut, crème brûlée and buttered toast erupt then linger on the finish. This full-bodied white is dry but not bone dry making it an excellent partner for ham with a honey, maple or brown-sugar based glaze.

Great wines that could sell for twice the price I've recommended this bottle before in this column but it's worth another mention because, tasted against its direct competition, it shines. And it's wildly popular for good reason. Expect evocative aromas of toasted nut, vanilla cream and pithy citrus peel leading to a silky-swift entry that tastes lifted and dignified rather than too fruity or overoaked. Mouth-coating flavours of crisp apple are interwoven with warm hazelnut, crème brûlée and buttered toast with a balanced, seamless structure. Long. Works very well with poultry but also pairs marvelously with classic cheese fondue.

Whether someone special stops by, you got a sudden promotion or you just need a boost mid-week, having this showstopper white on hand lets you hit the pause button and elevate the moment. From the very first whiff, you know it’s something special. Evocative aromas of toasted nut, vanilla cream and citrus peel lead to mouth-coating flavours of crisp apple heavily imbued with warm hazelnut, crème brûlée and buttered toast. It’s a captivating wooded Chardonnay that is stylish, graceful and versatile. Try it with gourmet macaroni and cheese or white pizza.

An outstanding effort, as well as a curiosity, is the 1999 Pinot Noir Marin Vineyard. Most Marin County real estate is stratospherically priced, as this county has more than its share of multi-million dollar homes as well as some of the wealthiest residents of the San Francisco Bay area. Made from a 14-year old vineyard planted with the Mt. Eden clone, cropped at a meager one ton of fruit per acre, and bottled with no filtration, this earthy, dark ruby-colored Pinot reveals abundant qualities of sweet black fruits, dry tannin, good structure, and notions of melted fudge intermixed with black cherries, plums and raspberries. Dense, deep, youthful, and unevolved, it will age nicely for a decade. Don Hartford's winemaker, Mike Sullivan, told me that, like all their Pinot Noirs, it enjoyed a six-day cold soak prior to fermentation. About 70% new French oak was utilized.

The 2015 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard is the most powerful and tightly wound of the Pinots in this range. Compact and a touch austere, the 2015 offers plenty of persistence, but with less generosity than is typical of the year. Chalk, slate, mint, white pepper and red berry character are nicely layered. It will be interesting to see if the 2015 fleshes out a bit with time in bottle.

The only 2012 Pinot Noir I tasted was the outstanding 2012 Pinot Noir Lands Edge Vineyard, a Sonoma Coast site situated only five miles from the Pacific Ocean. Bottled early, this wine, which only spent 10 months in barrel, exhibits lots of black fruits along with hints of forest floor, composty, fresh mushroom-like notes intermixed with spring flowers. This rich, complex Pinot Noir should drink well for 4-5 years.

The intense 2001 Pinot Noir Marin Vineyard offers aromas of rose petals intermixed with smoke, pomegranate, and cherries in a medium-bodied, mocha-infused personality. There is excellent richness, good underlying acidity, and a firm, moderately tannic finish. Drink it over the next 5-8 years. Given real estate prices in Marin County, I suspect this may be one of the most expensive vineyard sites in that chic San Francisco suburb.

The 2010 Zinfandel Jolene's Vineyard bursts onto the palate with waves of dark fruit. The Jolene's shows massive richness, power and concentration. It needs at least another year in bottle for the tannins to soften. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Latro from Knight's Valley exhibits a more opaque purple color as well as more meaty characteristics intermixed with blackberry and cassis fruit. This unfined and unfiltered 100% Cabernet Sauvignon spent 19 months in 50% new French oak. Coffee bean, lead pencil shavings, chocolate, forest floor, underbrush and blackcurrant notes emerge from this medium to full-bodied, plump, supple Cabernet. Consume it now and over the next 10-15 years.

American consumers have had a love/hate relationship with Merlot for decades, but how can you not fall for this little number? It has layers of blackberry and plum with some spice and vanilla oak. Rich on the palate yet fresh, it displays nice black fruit concentration with a smooth and velvety texture. A very classy Merlot.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford is a 2,218-case cuvée made from a blend of 78.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.7% Petit Verdot, and the rest Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Aged in 28% new French oak, this is another relatively tannic, backward wine, but it is 2013, which are now starting to close down ever so slightly. It is built for the long haul, with loads of cassis, black cherry fruit, a touch of allspice, and sweet, toasty oak. This is a big, chewy, dense, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon to drink between 2020 and 2035.

Deep ruby. Savory, reticent aromas of cherry, dark chocolate and spices show more lift than the 2009. Firmly built and rather backward, with flavors of plum and black raspberry joined on the back by a hint of leather. Quite tannic.

Deep ruby. Intensely perfumed nose offers redcurrant, cherry and tobacco, with a suave floral quality adding complexity. Deep, chewy red and dark berry flavors are framed by velvety tannins and pick up a sweet tobacco note on the back end. Youthfully tangy on the finish, with the cherry and tobacco notes repeating. This needs some cellar time.

Bright, deep ruby. Reticent aromas of blueberry, licorice and crushed herbs. Less sweet in the mouth than the 2011 Helena Montana, with strong spice and floral notes dominating the dark berry flavors. Tannins are a bit youthfully tough today.

The soil here is rich in white volcanic ash. Good full ruby. Black fruits and a hint of game on the nose. Silky on entry, then more complex and less oaky in the middle palate than the Helena Dakota bottling, offering an attractive combination of ripeness and verve. But not at all overly sweet. Finishes with substantial but ripe tannins and a juicy quality that suggests this will age gracefully. According to Barbara Banke, co-owner of Jackson Wine Estates with her husband Jess Jackson, this winery used two sorting tables beginning with the 2004 harvest, and also introduced a Mistral machine that blows away damaged and dried-out grapes and bits of stalks.

Medium ruby. Cool, somewhat medicinal aromas of blackcurrant, bitter chocolate, licorice, minerals, and fresh herbs. Bright and dense but quite closed and tannic today; very much in the style of a Northern Medoc wine. Distinctly tough now and in need of at least five or six years of patience. This was far silkier from barrel a year ago, but my early early sample contained a much higher percentage of Merlot.

Medium ruby. Cool, somewhat medicinal aromas of blackcurrant, bitter chocolate, licorice, minerals and fresh herbs. Bright and dense but quite closed and tannic today; very much in the style of a Northern Medoc wine. Distinctly tough now and in need of at least five or six years of patience,. This was far silkier from barrel a year ago, but my early sample contained a much higher percentage of merlot.