Pale gold.  Ripe, oak-spiced aromas and flavors of poached pear, peach and fig, with buttered toast and honey nuances adding complexity.  Fleshy and expansive chardonnay, finishing with strong punch and a lingering note of bitter pear skin.  Manages to be both rich and lively, and has the depth of fruit to work with strongly seasoned foods.

A bigger and richer wine than the Katherine's, the 2010 Chardonnay Bench Break nevertheless retains much of the vibrancy that makes that wine so appealing. The aromas and flavors are beautifully layered through to the rich, creamy finish. The higher percentage of new oak (50%) and more frequent lees stirring gives the Bench Break much of its personality. This is another absolutely delicious wine from Cambria.

Bright gold. Intensely spicy scents of melon, pear, lemongrass and anise, plus a hint of white pepper. Nervy citrus and orchard fruit flavors deliver refreshingly bitter cut, with a pleasant bite of white pepper perking up the lush back end. Blends ripeness and vivacity smoothly, finishing with excellent clarity and smoky persistence.

The outstanding 2008 Chardonnay Bench Break has delicate yet substantial fruit flavors, a light green hue to its straw color, terrific minerality, floral notes, honeyed citrus, and tropical fruits. It is rich and full-bodied, but a Chardonnay of finesse as well as power. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.

Vivid yellow. Aromas of lemon pith, nectarine, honeysuckle and salty minerals. At once dry and fleshy, offering powerful citrus and orchard fruit flavors and firming minerality. Rich but fat-free, in a very grown-up style; the finish is gripping, focused and long.

One of the most alluring things about this wine is a balanced richness that bursts onto the midpalate. Many California Chardonnays are surprisingly difficult to pair with food (they are often too fruity, too oaky, too buttery, too alcoholic-or all of the above), but this one has just the right equilibrium to pair well with a variety of foods, especially something along the lines of cream-based pastas or soups (I had it recently with a grilled sandwich of Morbier cheese and sliced pear-a terrific partnering).

This is a big, fat, unctuous Chardonnay marked by exceptional ripeness and smoky oak. Yet it never loses sight of balance. It's powerful in candied or pie-filling pineapple jam, Mandarin orange zest, apricot brûée and vanilla custard flavors that are completely dry and accented with crisp acidity. This is an amazing price for a wine of this quality. Sommeliers, buy this beauty by the case.

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir John Sebastiano has an herbal and earth-laced nose, offering up black and red cherries with subtle cloves plus a waft of cedar. Medium-bodied, chewy and with a good core of earthy fruit, it has a long, earthy finish.

Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2015 Pinot Noir la Encantada Vineyard is very purely fruited with baked cherries and raspberries plus a tar and earth undercurrent with a waft of cedar. Light to medium-bodied, finely crafted and with a pleasantly chewy texture, it gives a good amount of fruit and a quiet intensity on the finish.

Here is a Pinot that is very much driven by concentrated, black cherry fruit, yet it is long on complexity with elements of tea, a touch of clean earth and complementary oak making for a fairly full and expressive presentation. It is a touch plump in feel and, if sufficiently rounded as to be accessible now, it is balanced to keep with integral acidity and temperate tannins pointing the way to better with additional age, and its quiet impressions of layering should become more evident with three or four more years of cellaring. 1 star.

A lighter side expression from this vineyard, with strawberry, rhubarb and a mix of damp and dry earth aromas. It’s bright in the mouth, with good translation of the nose elements, lively acidity and a long finish where a sweet oak spice note joins in. Stock up for Thanksgiving dinner.

Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard is scented of red currants, red plums, mulberries and earth with hints of tar, pepper and tobacco. Medium-bodied, with a good concentration of earthy/savory flavors, it has a broody, chewy character and an herbal lift to the finish.

Moderate garnet color in the glass. Heady aromas of purple berries and supportive oak. Silken in the mouth, featuring a discreetly concentrated core of cherry fruit and spice. This wine also leans on oak. Easy drinking with gentle tannins and an adequate finish.

This red offers length and concentration to the dried cherry, berry and plum flavors, flanked by plenty of savory notes. Hot stone accents show on the finish.

Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard gives notes of mulberries, black raspberries, charcoal and dusty soil with a hint of bay leaves. It’s just a little attenuated in the mouth with grippy tannins and an herbal finish.

Black cherries, ground herbs and hints of oak flow from the translucent ruby colored 2014 Pinot Noir John Sebastiano. Medium-bodied, lively and textured on the palate, with nicely integrated acidity, it comes from a vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills and Pommard clones that were planted in the 1970s. Fermented with one-third whole clusters (with one-third fermented in barrel) and aged 16 months in 40% new French oak, it's a classy, outstanding Pinot to drink over the coming 5-6 years.

Leading off the reds and coming from a terrific site located on the southern end of the appellation, the 2014 Pinot Noir La Encantada Vineyard sports a deeper ruby color to go with fresh, fruit-driven notes of black cherries, leather, cedary spice and dried herbs. There's a hint of mint that comes through with air, and it's a fresh, lively Pinot Noir that has light tannin and a good finish. This cuvée was completely destemmed and spent 16 months in 41% new French oak. Originally founded in 1984, Byron is now owned by Jackson Family Wines with the wines made by Jonathan Nagy. The oak treatment sticks out slightly in a number of these wines, but as I hope the scores show, there’s tons to love here. These are ripe, classic Santa Barbara wines.

The 2014 Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard is dark, racy and voluptuous. Plum, blueberry, mint, hard candy and sweet spices give the 2014 its extroverted, flamboyant personality, while silky, creamy tannins add to the wine's considerable up-front appeal. This is one of the darker wines in the range.

Winemaker Jonathan Nagy’s new program includes sourcing from iconic sites around Santa Barbara County, like this vineyard high above the Santa Ynez River. The wine’s deep mulberry aromas meet with hickory smoke and miso-like umami notes on the nose. Cranberry fruit shows on the palate, with nori and roasted pork accents.

In contrast to the Nielson here the expressive nose of pure cherry and essence of raspberry trimmed in subtle spice elements is really quite pretty plus it’s attractively fresh. The freshness displayed by the nose also transfers to the agreeably textured medium-bodied flavors that possess both good depth and persistence on the slightly dusty finale. In this case though the dustiness is very mild and sufficiently so that it does not materially affect the balance.

Moderate reddish purple color in the glass. Boisterous aromas of dark red cherry and berry with a compliment of oak. Mid weight plus core of black cherry and boysenberry fruit flavors in a rather simple but pleasurable style. The mid palate has noticeable intent, the tannins are nicely balanced, there is an noticeable oak thread plying the background, and the finish shows some vigor.

The 2014 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard comes from a sandy, limestone site in the Santa Maria Valley, from a mix of clones (667, 114, Pommard and Swan), and was completely destemmed and aged in 41% new French oak. It’s more red fruit driven, with lots of spice, kirsch, forest floor and dusty/loamy/earthy notes in its medium-bodied, supple, charming, beautifully textured style. Like the other releases here, it has light, yet present tannin, sweet fruit, and a good finish. Originally founded in 1984, Byron is now owned by Jackson Family Wines with the wines made by Jonathan Nagy. The oak treatment sticks out slightly in a number of these wines, but as I hope the scores show, there’s tons to love here. These are ripe, classic Santa Barbara wines.

Moderately light reddish purple color in the glass. Aromas of black cherry, ripe strawberry and sous bois lead off. Easy to like, with silky tannins, a suave texture, nicely integrated oak, and a generous amount of dark red and black cherry and berry flavors that linger on the finish. Still solid the following day from a previously opened and re-corked bottle.

Lush, ripe and juicy with raspberry, cherry and spice; deep, dense and rounded; earthy, complex and long.

This darkly fruited, earthy pinot from the renowned Sierra Madre Vineyard exhibits richness and flavor without having to flex its muscles. On the palate the wine is layered with aromas of strawberry and cola and firm tannins. The finish is seductive and lingering, showing a hint of fall spice.