A superripe style, with crushed plum and boysenberry puree flavors coursing through, along with a hefty dose of warm ganache and melted black licorice. A graphite hint keeps this going on the finish. Shows more oomph than purity. For fans of the style only.

The 2012 Meritage Red Wine Grand Reserve is terrific. Impeccable in its balance, the 2012 is racy and expressive from start to finish. New leather, smoke, menthol and grilled herbs wrap around a core of generous dark fruit in a wine that offers plenty of up-front appeal.

Shows good, deep, classic blackberry and cassis flavors, richly oaked, as well as some hard tannins.

You'll be hard pressed to find a better wine at this price. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel, sourced only from coastal counties, it's totally dry, full bodied, firm in tannins and drinkable now for its wealth of blackberry, currant, black cherry and oak flavors.

The 2005 Proprietary Red Stature, which is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and the rest Malbec, comes largely from Atlas Peak, followed by Mt. Veeder, Alexander Mountain Estate and Bennett Valley. Much less evolved than its sibling, this wine has classic cedar wood, fruitcake, licorice and underbrush notes in the nose, along with black and red currants. The slightly compact attack then expands, with a savory, medium to full-bodied, deep authoritative wine that is close to full maturity, but should easily last for another 10-15 years.

The most expensive offering in this portfolio is the 2004 Stature Meritage, a 281-case blend of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and small quantities of Petit Verdot, Malbec, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Minty vanillin, black currant, sweet cherry, smoke, earth, and spice characteristics emerge from this backward, brooding effort. Give it 2-3 years of bottle age and consume it over the following two decades.

This Bordeaux blend is certainly an oaky wine. It's made in a fruit-forward style, and seems lusher, softer and more accessible than K-J's other new release, Highland Estates Cabernets from Sonoma County. Of course, it's also more than four years old now. It's a really good wine, with a flashy opulence that makes it appealing.

The Great Estates offerings are impressive...the exceptional 1999 Great Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Napa...This opaque purple-colored Cabernet...No shy wine at 14.5% alcohol, it exhibits aromas of vanilla, black currants, cedar, and loamy soil in addition to loads of concentrated fruit. Full-bodied and impeccably-balanced...

This lovely Cabernet is rich and polished, with firm tannins supporting a sleek core of sweet, juicy currant and blackberry fruit. Shows a touch of fresh leather, plum and lavender, hints of cedar and spice and a firm backbone. Excellent balance.

Saturated bright medium ruby. Vibrant aromas of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, violet, bitter chocolate and mint. Sweet, suave and superripe, with creamy flavors of plum, cassis and licorice. Neither green nor over the top. Very well balanced, generous cabernet, finishing with substantial chewy tannins and noteworthy length and class.

The 1999 Stature Cabernet Sauvignon Napa...It offers pure creme de cassis aromas fixed with vanilla in a multi-layered, young, unevolved style. Deep, powerful, and dense...

Darker than the Alexander Valley bottling, and richer in fruit, with powerful black-currants blasting from the glass. The structure is better, too, with beautiful Napa tannins that have the deceptive simplicity of the Bauhaus. A notable success for the vintage.

"...exhibits copious quantities of pure black currant fruit intermixed with cedar, smoke, and spice box. It is full-bodied, opulent, rich...

With abundant amounts of Asian spices, minerals, black cherries, and cassis as well as admirable structure, this fruit-dominated, full-bodied, large-scaled, opulent wine should drink well...

Big mountain fruit here throws powerful aromas of ripe plum, thyme and bacon, while full-scale oaking yields maple aromas, vanilla flavors, and coffee on the finish. The wood element is a little weighty at this point, but there's solid fruit to support it.

This beautifully crafted red has a fine depth of color and a ripe black currant aroma. The clean scent of fruit grows more sophisticated with an overlay of dark green herbs, leather and a glimmer of burnished oak. Youthfully tannic for now, it's already well suited to a steak, but should prove more complex and satisfying with several years of age.

Lots of upfront spicy and plummy flavors, turning elegant and refined. Finishes with a spicy richness and firm, supple tannins.

…is destined to last for two decades. The wine boasts an opaque purple color, and rich nose of minerals, black currants, and spicy oak. A dense, full-bodied powerhouse, with nicely integrated wood, acidity, and tannin, this firm Cabernet is loaded with extract and richness.

A complex, well structured, intensely flavored wine, with layer of currant, plum, black cherry and wild berry. Finishes with ripe, well-integrated tannins.

Generally speaking, when you see Alexander Valley on a bottle of cabernet, you think soft, fruity and easy to drink. Instead, this '95 has some real mountain fruit extract and flavor that demands aging. Ripe flavors of licorice and plum are framed by oak and very firm tannins. This Buckeye could use two to three years to soften into a lithe and supple wine, then pull out a bottle for a holiday dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

The new-look 1991 exhibits a deep ruby/purple color, and a moderately intense bouquet of toast, black-cherries, and cassis. Flamboyantly rich, full-bodied, with fabulously juicy, succulent fruit, this hedonistic Cabernet should drink well for at least another decade. The Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is more typically Californian in proportions as it is a bigger, more blockbuster-styled wine.

Delicious, rich cassis and black currant. Proportional oak and integrated tannins. Perfectly balanced.

Vanilla and earth notes mingle with ripe plum and currants. Full-bodied and straight forward with flavor to spare.

This is a thick, chewy and full-bodied red that will appeal to a wide range of palates and budgets. Bright underlying red fruit enlivens the firm tannic structure and integrated oak, finishing soft and smooth on the palate.