The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve explodes from the glass with black fruit, grilled herbs, licorice, smoke and tar. The Grand Reserve reveals tons of energy and exceptional overall balance. In 2009 the blend is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, all from the Alexander Mountain Estate Vineyard. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016.

Brisk acidity and lovely ripe black raspberry and juicy cherry; supple and zesty with nerve and good grip.

Fresh cherry flavors fill this wine with ample fruit, soft and plush in the middle, juicy in the end. It's a finely made cabernet with a gentle structure holding all the elements in place. For flank steak.

Smoky, peppery, cedar, chocolate, tobacco, roasted meat, licorice root, earthy, cassis, and menthol aromas. Ripe, round, supple, elegant palate with light, dry tannins. Cassis, chocolate, vanilla, peppery, black olive, green bean, meat, tobacco, mineral, licorice, earthy, tea flavours. Somewhat tight, austere finish that should soften over the next few years.

Plenty of blackcurrant, with hints of roasted coffee beans and dark chocolate. It offers lushness on the mid-palate, opulent texture and elegantly balanced tannins.

A firmly structured, dry Cabernet whose thick mountain tannins frame classic Cabernet flavors of blackberries and cassis, elaborated with smoky new oak.

The Grand Reserve is now mostly a Sonoma blend and it remains a big, glossy, sexy version of this classic California. Look for ripe, toasted black fruits and blueberry, with soft round mid-palate textures more like the '04 and a mocha cedar finish. After all is said and done, the GR cab is made from only 1.5 percent of all KJ cab lots. The '06 contains 95 percent plus cabernet aged in 90 percent French oak, of which about one-third is new. Classic, generous New World-style red. Good value at this price point.

In some ways, this is the richest of the Highland Estates triplets because it comes wrapped in generous layers of rich and creamy oak, and while it displays plenty of fruit in its lavishly sweet and concentrated aromas, it is also unremittingly tannic in its texture and dry and tough as it finishes. Because its ripeness is controlled and its fruit and acid are balanced and youthfully energetic, it is entirely possible that the wine will hold up for the decade and more required for it to open.

Cabernet yields powerful tannic extract in this mountain vineyard, here worked into a soft, luxurious texture. The cherrylike fruit is merely a backdrop for the tannic complexity. An accessible mountain red to serve with prime rib.

Not to be taken for less than exciting is this ripe and somewhat rugged bottling from the very top of the eastside mountains above the Alexander Valley. Like its cellarmate from Napa, it is deep and tasty and in need of cellaring. It is perhaps a bit less polished in feel and exhibits a bit of a dried leaf overlay, but its depth and sheer mass will make it a fan favorite for those whose palates prefer Cabernets in need of bottle age.

Blends fruit from Napa and Sonoma and most of that off top benchland. Look for a rich black fruit nose with spicy, cassis notes. On the palate it's rich ripe and round with coffee, vanilla, peppery blackberry fruit flavours and a long smooth finish with substantial but soft tannins.

Sleek and smoky, this wine has a rich velvet feel that draws out the sweetness of the tannins. A classic California style based on clean, ripe fruit, this is built for a New York steakhouse.

The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Highland Estates Hawkeye Mountain comes from a much higher elevation (1,800 to 2,200 feet) and is also 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It possesses more rocky minerality and a masculine, rigid style. Lots of structure, tannin and a distinctive earthiness are intermingled with plum, anise and red and black currant fruit. Drink it over the next decade.

This sleek cabernet has a soft texture and a green peppercorn flavor has a soft texture and a green peppercorn flavor that feels hard edged at first, needing air to meld into the wine. When it does it makes the wine feel rounder, still edgy enough for pepper steak.

Black and tannic, this wine is dominated by its oak for now, providing a range of exotic spices over the fruit. Underneath, there's a red cherry and black pepper flavor that should absorb those spicy wood tannins as the wine ages. The wine has plenty of energy to go the distance.

Jess Jackson continues his quest for the perfect blended wine. This combination of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino is quite hefty in astringent tannins. Beneath that is a rich core of sweet black cherry fruit. It seems designed for the cellar. Best after 2007.

Delivers a ripe, complex, supple core of blackberry and cherry flavors, dashes of spice and sage and adds subtle earth notes. Turns elegant and complex on the finish, where the tannins are soft and fleshy. Ready now through 2000.

With its sturdy blackberry and raspberry flavors backed up by subtle spice and a good, dry finish, this is an altogether engaging Zinfandel. While its upfront fruit marks this wine as unmistakably Zinfandel, there is nothing overheated or unpleasantly sweet going on here -- on the contrary, its well balanced boldness is what makes this a terrific partner for chili con carne and other similarly bold foods.

Winemaster Randy Ullom tells me the grapes come from Mendocino County and the dry grown vines are around 50, 75 and 100 years of age. Currently available at Dan Murphy's. Raspberry, pepper, cinnamon, iron filings, lick of coconut and vanilla, though oak is discreet. Medium bodied, light chalky open weave tannin, even acidity, not sweet - kind of more to Primitivo in style than some Zinfandels - fresh and crunchy on the finish. Floral mouth perfume. Very good. Not trying too hard.

The Great Estates offerings are impressive...The outstanding 2000 Great Estates Zinfandel emerges primarily from Mendocino. It boasts a dense ruby/purple color as well as a sweet perfume of briery, berry fruit intermixed with mineral and pepper scents. Spicy, nicely layered, and full-bodied, this delicious Zin...

Deep golden hue. Moderately full-bodied. Balanced acidity. Moderately extracted. Heavily oaked. Brown spice, tropical fruit, brown butter. Virtually [in]distinguishable from a Chardonnay but well made nonetheless. Pleasant attractive oak derived complexity. Rich and buttery finish $25.

The 2010 Viognier Alisos Hills is beautiful, round and impeccably balanced. This is a fairly restrained style for Viognier in the bouquet. It is the wine's texture, depth and polished finish that stand out most. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016.

Vanilla scents of oak round the sweet ripeness of pear, while the wine remains clean and oriented toward that pear fruitiness. The oak seems to bring a savory bitterness, a supple, waxy base for the lemon and pear flavors to linger on, substantial and satisfying with roast veal.

Notes of herbs, apricots and mint. Nice creamy texture with great balance. Best Buy.