Light ruby in color, this Pinot Noir presents with very funky aromas that flash off rather quickly to reveal more appealing scents of olive tapenade, apple skins and seawater. On the palate, the wine is surprisingly round, almost fat. The flavor profile is a juicy strawberry with red raspberry and other bramble fruits. The acidity is appropriate to balance the sweetness, the tannins are soft, and the fruit lasts into an extended finish. This wine would pair well with lighter seafood or poultry dishes. Very good.

USA, California, Central Coast: The 2017 Vintage in Santa Barbara County Very pale cherry-pink in color, the 2018 Rosé of Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard features fresh strawberries, raspberry leaves, watermelon, crushed stone and garrigue scents. The light-bodied palate offers restrained, bright fruits with refreshing acidity on the finish.

This wine’s tart notes of green apple and tangy orange carry a leesy complexity that recalls shellfish broth. It’s warm and heady with alcohol, needing a firm chill to serve with prawns in garlic. Best Buy.

Avant typically sees less oak than Kendall-Jackson’s other chardonnay bottlings; in 2017 at least half the wine is fermented and aged in stainless-steel tanks. It’s bright and clean, with juicy apple and nougat flavors and a hint of salinity. Best Buy.

A snappy red, with licorice accents to the cherry and raspberry preserve flavors. Flint and spice notes show on the fresh finish. Drink now through 2022.

This ruby colored entry level Cabernet Sauvignon from Kendall Jackson is a nice everyday offering. It opens with fragrant cranberry and red currant bouquet. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, balanced, round and pleasant. The flavor profile is an oak influenced black cherry with hints of craisin and red raspberry. The finish is dry and subtly fades away. While this Cab is not complex, it is quite friendly and would pair well with many foods off the grill. I would pair it with a bacon burger. Very good.

I found this to be a nice value offering from Kendall Jackson. This light straw-colored unoaked Chardonnay is a very good summer sipper. It opens with an inviting tropical fruit bouquet that includes coconut, butter and light herb. The wine is nicely balanced with a slightly sweet mildly tart palate that is smooth. The flavor profile includes lemon and light lime with hints of pineapple, coconut and peach. This is an easy drinking Chardonnay with balanced acidity and minerality. The finish is pleasurable and fades away nicely. I reviewed this Chard at room temperature but would recommend serving it slightly chilled. If not sipping this on the patio, I would recommend serving with pesto and pasta. Very good.

Moderate garnet color in the glass. Aromas of blackberry, cassis, and oak-driven spice and toast lead to a full-bodied experience sporting waves of oak-kissed, almost syrupy, black cherry and blackberry fruit flavors. Very ripe fruited with toasty oak suppressing the Russian River Valley footprint.

Crisp and focused, with vibrant cherry and raspberry flavors. Pretty floral notes show midpalate, featuring a fruity finish that lingers with hints of cardamom. Drink now through 2021.

Snappy, with red currant and cherry pie flavors that feature smoky and steeped tea notes. Crisp finish. Drink now.

Crushed cherry and macerated red plum flavors are fresh and crisp. The lightly minerally finish offers underbrush hints. Drink now.

Opulent aromas of butter cream, orange rind and lime balm show on the nose of this widely available and ever-popular bottling. Roasted apples, clove and more baking-spice flavors arise on the smoothed-out palate.

Natalie MacLean's Wines of the Week - Feb. 24, 2020 This is the half-bottle (375 ml) size of this wine and the full-size 750 ml is also available. A full-bodied and rich wine blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon with the balance in Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Merlot. Look for ripe dark cherry, red berry, dried sweet tobacco leak and smoky vanilla flavours on this well-balanced California Cab. Enjoy now and for the next three years. Pair with a meat-lover's pizza.

One of the bigger and happier surprises in our latest look at new Pinot Gris offerings, Kendall-Jackson’s is a medium-full version that is a fruitier effort than the bulk of its tighter, more minerally inflected kin and intimates a bit of juicy succulence that sets it apart. It does not, however, bog down in extraneous sweetness, and it is quite well-balanced with just the right degree of acidity keeping it lively and slightly crisp at the finish. Its slight percentage of Roussanne, Viognier, Muscat, Albariño and other aromatic white varieties might well explain its singular style, but whatever the reason, it is thoroughly tasty stuff that is well worth the price. Good value.

USA, California: All Along the Central Coast – The 2017 Vintage in Paso Robles and Beyond This is a new vineyard for Siduri. Medium ruby in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir Lemoravo Vineyard has a broody nose of black cherries and blackberries with notes of black tea leaves, forest floor and earth. Light to medium-bodied with a good concentration of black fruits in the mouth, it has a soft frame of tannins and juicy acidity on the finish.

This is a tasty, fruity, effusive wine that smells grapey, tastes jammy and almost sweet. It's the kind of wine that a beginning wine drinker would appreciate and a jaded wine reviewer would be happy to sip.

Fresh tasting and well balanced, this medium-bodied wine is pleasant and enjoyable for its mulled cherry and strawberry notes, rounded mouthfeel and a nip of tannin to firm up the texture.

A slightly cooler nose reflects notes of pure and perfumed essence of red pinot fruit that is trimmed in pretty spice nuances. The equally well-delineated flavors possess a sophisticated mouthfeel and good vibrancy, all wrapped in a dusty and, in contrast to the mid-palate, slightly less refined finish that isn’t exactly raspy but neither is it sleek.

This is fruity and forward, with easily likable fruit-driven flavors. It falls off slightly in the midpalate, then resumes its black raspberry-black cherry march into a finish with cocoa and coffee highlights. Some 30% was aged in new French oak, the rest in neutral barrels.

Focused, with pure-tasting Fuji apple and Asian pear flavors that are supported by fresh acidity. Lemongrass notes show on the juicy finish. Drink now through 2022.

Smelling of fresh, fully ripe white melons with sweetening accents of Meyer lemons and showing a nicely measured complement of the variety’s tell-tale grassiness that always plays support to fruit, this slightly rounded, medium-full-bodied effort is a bit fuller and richer than most, and, as such, it is a Sauvignon Blanc that will find particularly fine affinity to meaty fish and chicken recipes that themselves are a little more flavorful and richer in character. GOOD VALUE

At first taste, this certified sustainable chardonnay suggests it has had some oak ageing, but it is not the case. Its creamy custardy palate is all part of the Monterey site it comes off. The nose is a mix of intense fresh peach and sweet lime that spills onto the palate. Butter and baked pear and lime mark the finish along with a refreshing hit of acidity that is all Monterey. It is California, no doubt, but fun to sip and friendly enough to work with chicken tacos. Fun and well worth the money for California chardonnay fans, new and old.

A streamlined style, with cassis and black cherry puree notes, laced with light graphite and vanilla-accented toast hints. Drink now through 2022.

Seared marshmallow and peachextract aromas are ripe on the nose of this bottling. There’s a zing of acidity on the palate, giving some depth to the hazelnut, peach and sweet butter flavors.

Broad-shouldered, with zesty blackberry, roasted sage and white pepper flavors that finish with medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2025.