Bright yellow-gold. Pineapple, nectarine and orange zest on the nose, with notes of honey and sweet butter adding depth. Fleshy, palate-coating tropical and pit fruit flavors are firmed by juicy acidity, with a smoky nuance emerging with aeration. Shows a slightly hard edge on the finish, the orange and smoke notes repeating.

Opaque ruby. Spice-accented cherry and blueberry aromas are given depth by licorice and a tarry nuance. Energetic and precise but somewhat pinched in the mid-palate, offering bitter cherry and dark berry flavors and a touch of succulent herbs. A smoky note builds on a finish firmed by dusty tannins.

Opaque ruby. Spice- and tobacco-accented dark berry and cherry compote aromas show very good clarity, with complicating hints of fresh rose and vanilla. Fleshy, sweet and broad on entry, then more tangy in the mid-palate, offering bitter cherry and berry skin flavors and a touch of black pepper. Closes with good energy, subtle sweetness and dusty tannins that provide structure and grip.

Kendall-Jackson’s Avant line of fresh, inexpensive, fruit-driven wines delivers great value. Who cares that there are no bells or whistles with this frisky Sauvignon Blanc, because at $13 (I’ve seen it advertised for as little as $9), it delivers crisp, juicy honeydew melon, lemon-lime and green apple flavors with hints of fennel bulb and lemongrass. I can think of a dozen foods this refreshing wine will complement, chief among them oysters, crab, grilled fish, salads and even tricky asparagus and artichokes. Case purchases recommended.

Light yellow-gold. Displays scents of ripe melon and peach, with a touch of mango and subtle spiciness. Fleshy, palate-coating tropical fruit and honeydew flavors are kept in check by juicy acidity, which adds back-end bite. Finishes with good clarity, energy and length, leaving a peachy note behind.

This easy-drinking, well-made red is a blend of Merlot, Syrah and Malbec. It has all the hallmarks of a dry red without hammering the dryness. It’s off-dry, but the tannins and acidity hold the package together for those who prefer dry. Flavors: Think strawberry, raspberry, ripe plum and dark chocolate. This is an introductory dry red that far surpasses what many other brands are doing.

The Sauvignon Blanc is true to form, with upfront fruit to make it approachable for all levels of wine consumers. Flavors are citrus-based — lime, lemon, grapefruit but not austere. This one finishes dry with a trace of minerality. The grapes are from Sonoma, Lake County and Mendocino. This one has a screw cap, a first for the Avant line. It’s the midpalate and finish, for me, that nails this wine — I love the crisp, tart, minerally tones.

Avant Chardonnay has been on my radar since its inception in 2009. It has a consistent style and appeal. The idea is to ferment most of the wine in stainless steel to keep the freshness of the fruit and the rest in neutral oak barrels to broaden the mouth feel, increase the complexity. This one is lively and fresh. It starts out with a subtle creaminess in the mouth and finishes tart and dry. The fruit is green apple, pear and lemon with a subtle infusion of spicy oak.

Soft and sweet, with aromas and flavors of black cherries and black coffee).

This is one of the richer Sauvignon Blancs out there. Aged in neutral oak which brings a touch of buttery toastiness, it also was stirred regularly on the lees. That adds a creaminess that’s integral to your enjoyment of the lemongrass, peach, kumquat and gooseberry flavors. The acidity is refreshing, making this a distinctive, delicious white wine.

Blended from vineyards ranging from Pope Valley to St. Helena, the wine was aged in neutral oak. It shows classic varietal notes of citrus fruits, gooseberries and lemongrass, with riper suggestions of white peaches. Low alcohol and brisk acidity results in a clean, savory wine.

Bright and juicy with citrus, stone fruit and tropical notes; lush and ripe, creamy and long, balanced and rich.

Bright red. Zesty red berry and Asian spice scents are complemented by deeper-pitched notes of licorice and mocha. Shows vibrancy and tension on the palate, offering bitter cherry and redcurrant flavors and a touch of earthiness. Closes tangy and long, with slow-building tannins lending shape.

Ripe and broad, with pineapple and pear notes at the core, layered with exotic spice details as the finish lingers. Drink now

This is a good value for such a creamy, well-made wine, bright in citrus and tropical fruit. Textured and linear, with a clear beginning and end, it’ll go nicely with oysters or goat cheese. The 7% Sémillon blended in adds floral highlights.

The two La Crema offerings are anything but two peas in a pod for while its stiff and indeterminate companion is candied and cute, this one is deeper in fruit and considerably richer overall. It leads with ample aromas of apples, caramel and fresh butter, and its flavors follow suit. It is fuller in feel with a bit of varietal “oiliness”, and, if just a touch coarse on the back-palate, it will be much helped by brief aging and/or service with moderately rich foods.

Knocking on the door of perfection is the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder from the Veeder Peak Vineyard. The volcanic rock and sandy soils seem to always provide something that winemaker Chris Carpenter crafts into a compelling Cabernet Sauvignon. With an opaque, bluish/purple color as well as blackberry, blueberry, licorice, incense and floral notes, this is a multidimensional, blockbuster Cabernet Sauvignon, with sweet tannin, adequate acidity and staggering depth and power. It can be drunk now as well as over the next two decades. Bravo!

Another prodigious effort is the black/purple-colored 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain, which comes from the Keyes Vineyard owned by the Jackson family. It is another small production cuvee of only 382 cases, versus 400 of the Diamond Mountain and 571 of the Mount Veeder. This wine shows the classic mulberry, graphite-laced, floral and chalky notes of Howell Mountain, with tremendous intensity and skyscraper-like texture. It is full-bodied and powerful with sweet tannin and loads of minerality and floral notes. Again, the tannins are so sweet and succulent this wine can be drunk now or cellared for another 15-20 years.

Winemaker Chris Carpenter has turned out a brilliant wine that's a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot, from the To-Kalon, Taylor, Veeder Peak and Keyes vineyards, so this is definitely a cross-Napa Valley offering. This wine has an opaque purple color, a big sweet kiss of licorice, incense, lead pencil shavings and a boatload of creme de cassis and blueberry liqueur. Tannins are present, but ripe, and the wine is voluptuously textured and full-bodied, with stunning purity and stature on the palate. This is one serious, yet approachable, proprietary red that can be drunk now, or cellared for another 10-15+ years.

A prodigious effort, is Kendall-Jackson's 2004 Stature, a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon mostly from Atlas Peak, with 5% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec, 2% Merlot and 1 % Cabernet Franc. A real stunner of a wine showing how brilliant the more limited cuvees of Kendall-Jackson can be - and should never be ignored. It is a tribute to both the late Jess Jackson, and the winemaker for all the Kendall-Jackson wines, Randy Ullom. Plum/purple to the rim with sweet cassis, cherry, plum, Asian spice, vanilla and espresso, this voluptuous, full-bodied wine could last another 20 or more years. But it has already shown an enormous richness, with stunning fruit purity, a multi-layered, skyscraper-like texture and fabulous finish of close to a minute. This is a rather amazing wine that is beginning to enter adolescence, where it will stay for several decades.

The 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard is absolutely spectacular. Some of the older Cabernet vines in Northern California are at this high-elevation site famous for its red soils. The wine was harvested in September over a two-week period and aged 24 months in a combination of French and American oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered this wine is loaded. Full-bodied and dense ruby/purple with notes of cedarwood, the wine is almost Pauillac-like with classic creme de cassis and unsmoked high-quality cigar tobacco, as well as licorice and a touch of subtle oak. It is fully mature, but not going to fall off the edge any time soon. This cuvee of 475 cases should be drunk now and over the next decade. This is an absolute beauty!

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain, which comes from the Wallis vineyard, shows terrific fruit intensity, oodles of creme de cassis, incense, a touch of white chocolate and coffee bean, cinnamon and clove-like spices, sensational blackberry and black currant fruit with some licorice and subtle background smoky oak. This beauty has wonderfully integrated sweet tannin and its opulence and lushness suggest drinking over the next 10-15 years.

The 2004 Cabernet Bosche Vineyard, which sits on alluvial, gravelly soils in Rutherford and is one of Napa's most famous vineyards, is absolutely brilliant. The blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot spent 24 months in French oak. This one is still young for a 2004. Its dense purple color, big sweet kiss of cola, vanilla, cedarwood, oodles of black currants and dark cherries, a hint of licorice and unsmoked cigar tobacco, make for a classic almost Pauillac-like style of wine. This is youthful, full-bodied, promising and should hit its peak in another 4-5 years and last at least another two decades.

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota, which comes from a 750-foot elevation, is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 14 months in all French oak. It shows lots of white chocolate, dense opaque purple color, a hint of red and black currants, floral notes and some crushed rock/wet stones. It is very dense, powerful, rich and full-bodied and still shows considerable tannin. Forget this wine for another 4-5 years and drink it over the following 20-plus years. This and its sibling are somewhat atypical of 2004 in requiring more cellaring.

Kudos to winemaker Ted Edwards. Lastly, the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyard, which is just to the south of Bosche, is 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, from the gravelly, clay and loamy soils of this area. It, too, was aged 24 months in French oak and seems dense, full-bodied, powerful and backward as well. Most of the 2004s are far more open than this cuvee and the Bosche, but there is plenty of ripe fruit, moderate tannin and a deep black currant, blackberry, smoky sweetness, with a full, voluminous mouth texture. Give this one another 2-3 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 15-20.