Big licorice, tobacco, spicy, peppery, orange, saddle leather, meaty, coffee, savoury, chocolate, mineral aromas. Round, dry, rich and supple but has some youthful, tight tannins. Black olive, licorice, coffee, vanilla, carrot, orange, plum, black cherry and resin flavours with a peppery, clove finish. Good acidity, length and potential, needs 5-7 years.

A beautiful cool-climate Pinot Noir made from Dijon clones 667, 777 and 115, this wine was aged nine months in 30% new French oak. The wine, from a high-elevation vineyard and one of the estate vineyards of the Jackson family, offers up notes of raspberry, strawberry, and a subtle hint of blueberry fruit. Lovely soil notes are intermixed in this decidedly cool-climate, fresh, lively, mid-weight Pinot Noir to drink over the next 3-4 years.

Bright ruby. A highly perfumed bouquet evokes sappy red berries, Asian spices, herbs and potpourri, with a smoky mineral nuance emerging with aeration. Offers intense red berry and bitter cherry flavors that become sweeter with air and pick up a rose pastille note. Clinging raspberry and vanilla qualities sweeten the finish, firmed by tangy acidity and dusty tannins.

Only a single wine, the 2012 Pinot Noir (5,548 cases) emerges from this Kendall-Jackson-owned estate vineyard near the town of Booneville. Planted at 1,400- to 1,800-foot elevation with Dijon clones 667, 777 and 115, this wine spent nine months in 32% new French oak prior to being bottled. The soil layers are alluvial, uplifted seabed, stuffed with natural sea shells embedded in many of the fractured rocks. It’s also above the fog line in this area. The resultant wine from these soils is lush, with raspberry and blueberry fruit, a seductive, flowery bouquet, medium body, sweet velvety tannins and a layered finish, which seems to build incrementally on the palate. This is an impressive Pinot Noir that sells at a realistic price. Drink it over the next 5-7 years.

Generous, juicy and inviting Californian Pinot Noir, with fleshy red cherry aromas and flavours. Full-bodied and satin smooth. Pair with planked salmon.

Hélène Seillan, the daughter of Verité’s Bordeaux-trained winemaker Pierre Seillan, works alongside her father; but she also has a new label of her own: Cenyth. This crisp and refreshing rosé, made from Cabernet Franc, nods to Bourgueil with its notes of rose hip, white cherries and chalky soil. A delicious bottling from a name to watch.

The 2013 Red Wine (Sonoma County) is powerful and incisive, with plenty of Cabernet Franc top notes that add lift to the dense fruit. Linear and pulsating with energy, the 2013 is super-expressive today, but will be even better in another few years. Sweet red berry, pomegranate, spice and mint are all nicely delineated on the vibrant, saline finish.

The 2012 Proprietary Red (3,847 cases) is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot that was aged in 30% new oak. It is a delicious, fruit-forward, delicate, Bordeaux-styled red revealing notes of blackcurrants, blueberries, licorice and earth. Medium to full-bodied, round and easygoing, it is best consumed over the next 7-8 years.

The 2009 Red Wine Sonoma County is dark, rich and enveloping. Black fruit, mocha, cloves, licorice, menthol and new leather explode from the glass in a huge, mouthfilling red. This dark, sumptuous Cabernet Sauvignon-based red is still incredibly primary. The 2009 can be enjoyed today for its intense fruit, while more tertiary notes are just beginning to develop. The 2009 is 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 8% Petit Verdot, 7% Malbec.

Cenyth's 2016 Sauvignon Blanc is bright, crisp and full of varietal character, with plenty of citrus, mineral and floral notes. The Sauvignon emerges from two parcels; one in the Chalk Hill District and the Jackson family's Alexander Mountain Estate. The 2016 was fermented mostly in steel, with a touch of new oak.

The 2015 Pinot Noir Panorama Vineyard First Row offers up aromas of wild berries, sweet soil and cocoa powder. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, velvety and layered, delicate and understated in style but attractively balanced and nicely concentrated. I'd expect this to improve with a year or two in bottle.

A solid performance, the firm, yet lively 2015 Carmel Road Pinot Noir delivers beautifully ripened black fruit aromas and flavors on the palate. The wine's smooth and rich finish makes it a natural with grilled hamburgers.

This vintage of a widely available bottling is a solid everyday sipper for the price, with aromas of star anise, fresh red cherry and snappy hibiscus punch. The palate is fresh and vibrant with raspberry fruit, thyme and white pepper dust, with a warm baking-spice note on the finish.

California Pinot Noir Light ruby color. Smells of tart strawberries, red cherries, McIntosh apple peel, along with rhubarb, cola and roasted coffee. Refreshing acidity on the palate, full-bodied with a chewy texture, and plenty of tangy cherries, raspberries, rich back cherries. Flavors of cola, rhubarb, rose hips, sweet tobacco, along with coffee, chestnut and vanilla. Packed with flavor but stays fresh. Aged 13 months in 20% new French oak.

There’s great amount of minerality on the nose of this bottling, with crushed slate and muddy soil aromas overcoming the mint herb and red-fruit scents. There’s minty lift right away on the sip, with bay leaf, fennel pollen and dusty leather flavors decorating the boysenberry fruit.

California Pinot Noir Medium ruby color. Nose of crisp raspberries, strawberries, juicy red cherries, along with rhubarb, roses, some sweet cola and light roast coffee. Zesty acidity on the palate, some nice but to the tannins, but also plenty of rich cranberry, raspberry and strawberry fruit. Notes of rhubarb, rose hips, along with coffee and dark chocolate. Delicious but complex. Aged 13 months in 20% new French oak.

Moderately light reddish purple color in the glass. This wine aims to please with ebullient aromas of cherry, spice and sandalwood and light to mid weight flavors centered on spiced cherry fruit. Easygoing, with cashmere tannins, a hint of oak seasoning, and a lingering, congenial finish. A great value.

Hints of earthiness and peat support the wine’s bright strawberry and cherry flavors. Lightly spiked with oak and vanilla, this Pinot Noir has just the right amount of acidity as well as a good glossy texture and generous finish.

An attractively fresh and cool nose features notes of various red berries that are liberally laced with plum, violet and discreet spice nuances. There is excellent richness to the suave, round and delicious medium-bodied flavors that possess very good mid-palate concentration, all wrapped in a long, balanced and nicely complex finale. This is quite generously proportioned yet the supporting acidity manages to keep everything in harmony. Note that while this should reward a few years of bottle age the lush mouth feel will allow it to be enjoyed young if desired.

This single-vineyard pinot from Carmel Road offers a nuance of earthy forest floor followed by notes of cherry and spice. Still showing the bite of youth on the finish, it should be ready to rock after another year or two in the bottle.

This meaty Pinot from Monterey's Arroyo Seco zone shows an earthy nose with hints of black cherry and plum. On the palate the fruit aromas are deep and complex, and the tension between ripeness and structure is well balanced. At $35 it represents exceptional value in top-notch Pinot Noir.

Bright red. A highly perfumed bouquet displays red berry preserves, potpourri and spice cake. Juicy, sharply focused red fruit flavors become tangier with air and pick up a more serious cherry pit quality in the mid-palate. Precise and incisive on the long, spicy finish. I like this wine's balance and clarity.

A big Pinot packed with berry flavor, robust, smoky. It's as rich as a flour-less chocolate cake with a thin layer of raspberry jam in the middle. Built for a steakhouse and rare filet mignon.

The 2001 Pinot Noir Monterey is a limited cuvee of 226 cases... it possesses a Morey-St.-Denis like bouquet of forest floor, strawberry, cherry, plum, and fig aromas. This medium-bodied, elegant, subtle but intensely flavorful Pinot Noir will drink well for 5-7 years. There are no hard edges to this youthful 2001.