When the Kendall-Jackson wine team puts their eyes and palates on the best lots of wine off the best single estate vineyards, the end result always rocks. These Jackson Estate new releases are limited-production wines. They are special. Creamy, intense, infused with spicy, smoky oak, bursting with red berries: AWESOME. I seldom use a word that strong to describe a wine, but for the price and the quality, this wine sings. It's like a plush carpet of flavors in the mouth: cassis, cherry, plum and dark chocolate, with soft, silky tannins. Hawkeye Vineyard is in the Mayacamas Mountains above Alexander Valley - the elevation helps explain the intensity of the flavor and structure, the mineral tones and soft, chewy tannins.

When the Kendall-Jackson wine team puts their eyes and palates on the best lots of wine off the best single estate vineyards, the end result always rocks. These Jackson Estate new releases are limited-production wines. They are special. This bright gold gem is intense, complex, packed to the brim with spicy, oak-infused fruit - apple, pineapple, mango and papaya. You can pick up cinnamon from the oak in the aromas. On the palate, it's rich and concentrated, like an essence of Chardonnay; it's lush with that creamy, smoky, vanilla crème brulee character to it. It's full-bodied braced with firm acidity. The grapes are off the hillside above the Santa Maria Bench in Santa Barbara - the premium blocks that Jackson Family Wines calls the Camelot Highlands Vineyard. The vines are 42 years old, so the berries are small and concentrated.

A full-bodied, well-rounded, buttery wine with lovely balancing acidity and citrus fruit notes. Ideal for roast chicken or seafood with cream sauces, as well as lobster in butter. Part of the Jackson Wines Estates Group. Some toffee and freshly baked bread on the finish of this classic Californian Chardonnay. Chardonnay food pairings: lobster in butter sauce, beef bourguignon, cheese, poultry, toasted ravioli served with Alfredo sauce.

Total production of 132 cases from 9 year old vines. What a great future this vineyard has! A more brooding expression of Mataro here; dark in colour and temperament. Earth, some reductive stink on opening, pepper and spices, black fruit, subtle underlying floral perfume. Chocolate. Full bodied, dense and well packed, plenty of grainy firm tannin, flickers of red fruit - no shortage of bass notes here - but still fresh and pretty long. Rolling licks of tannin and dried herb on the finish. Should cellar a treat too.

This is the second vintage of the Jackson family's Anderson Valley pinot noir project, from a high-elevation property that Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke purchased in 1999 and began planting in 2006. The vineyard sits above the town of Booneville at elevations approaching 2,000 feet, benefiting from plenty of sunlight as well as cooling ocean breezes coming over the hills to the west. The vineyard's sandstone-based soils grew a concentrated, mineral pinot noir in 2011, a wine that feels both ample and focused, glowing with rich dark cherry tones and loaded with earthy scents of cedar bark and forest mushrooms, layered and complex. It's beautiful now, and its structure has room to grow with time in the cellar.

Some of my favorite zinfandels are in the $15-$20 range. They taste like zinfandel rather than super-ripe berry syrup...The 2011 Edmeades Mendocino Zinfandel ($20) is bright and spicy with a hint of white pepper.

Syrah's plunge in popularity has been well-documented. It's a pity, because the grape is so versatile. And you can find good, inexpensive versions, like the 2011 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Syrah ($17), which is bright and smoky, with ripe berry, white pepper, a hint of roasted meat and fine tannins.

A briary zinfandel with tangy fruit and a good dose of spice. Rich and full-bodied. Striking.

So much prettiness and power at once for so little money; gorgeous ripe fruit, teasingly soft texture, haunting persistence of flavor; perfect Aussie shiraz.

Deep purple/red colour. Very raw cherry pip aroma, banana esters are still evident; very fresh and raw, possiby unoaked, the tannins a touch young but agreeable, the wine basically a bit unformed. Fruit juicy. It has drinkability. (Preservative free; biodynamic certified)

This is one of the most dramatic Chardonnays of the vintage, which was a difficult one owing to the coldest summer in many years. Somehow, Hartford Court’s viticulturalists pulled it off. There’s no trace of the greenness or unripeness that mark some other ’11 Chards. Instead, you’ll find waves of awesomely ripe apricots, tangerines and pears, enriched with smoky oak and brightened with brisk acidity. Terrific now and over the next 4–5 years.

One of a number of clone-specific bottlings from winemaker Denise Shurtleff, this isn’t a shy pinot noir by any stretch. There’s plenty of new oak, along with warmth from alcohol, but the fruit remains light and bright, tinted toward strawberries and acidity with the ping of pomegranate seeds. It has a sunny persistence that’s appealing and it could use more time in bottle to settle into itself—its beguiling fragrance seems to unfurl as it takes on air.

Smooth and juicy with suave plum, blackberry, vanilla oak and minerals; rich and deep with big flavors and lovely texture; ripe, balanced and vivid style; a great wine from this magnificent property.

The vineyard is near Occidental, in the cooler southwestern part of the valley. Although daytime highs can be considerable, the nights cool off rapidly, preserving the vital acidity that’s so noticeable. The flavors show the pure, long hangtime ripeness of all Hartford Court’s 2011s: raspberries, cherries and blood oranges, with deeper notes of dark chocolate and anise liqueur. This wine will have no trouble aging until 2024.

This is the biggest and most alcoholic of the winery’s 2011 Pinots. Strong flavors of raspberry and cherry pie filling, white chocolate and macaroons make it almost sweet, but it’s not. The richness is in the middle palate, while the finish is clean and dry. Lots of people will drink it too soon, but try giving it until 2018–2019 in the cellar.

The structure on this Pinot Noir is superb. It’s brisk and mouthwatering in acidity and firm in tannins, giving the wine an architecture for the fabulous ripe raspberries, cherries, pomegranates and orange zest. Drink after 2019.

Raspberry and cherry fruit flavors, with exotic hints of ripe Christmas persimmons and plum sauce, are upfront and appealing. Beyond the fruit is the most wonderful acidity, courtesy of the chilly vintage. Credit has to go to the grapegrowers who so successfully managed the vintage’s cool challenges.

The vineyard is in the far northwestern, mountainous part of the county, on the true Sonoma Coast. You can taste the cold, foggy nights in the mouthwatering acidity, and the warm, sunny days in the ripe oranges, tropical fruits and limes. As always, this Hartford Court Chardonnay brims with balanced elegance. It’s ready to drink now.

This is a huge, gigantic Chardonnay. It’s an atomic blast of tropical fruits, apricots, peaches, pears, oranges and zesty limes, along with plenty of toasty, caramelized oak. This massive richness is fortunately balanced by wonderful acidity and even a streak of minerality, like a lick of chalk and granite.

Crack the lobster and crab, sauté the scallops, bring on the wild mushroom risotto. This glamorous Chard will rise to the occasion with the best foods. It’s got it all: crisp acidity, a fine minerality, rich oaky influence and above all massive tropical fruit, pear and Meyer lemon flavors, with a crunchy minerality. Grows more fascinating as it warms in the glass.

Fine aromatics. Lovely, seductively opulent cassis fruit, tinged with incense and mint. Delicious palate, integrated and absorbed tannins that support sweet fruit. Top-class McLaren Vale Shiraz. Seamless and long.

This Pinot is a full percentage point lower in alcohol by volume than the winery’s Russian River bottlings, and that shows in the delicacy of mouthfeel and crisp acidity. There’s nothing shy about the flavors, though, which range from ripe raspberries and cherries through red currants and red licorice to savory notes of bacon and tobacco. Drink now–2020.

Grown in the cooler Sebastopol Hills part of the southern valley, this Pinot is a great success for the vintage. It’s refreshingly keen in acidity, with some firm tannins framing ripe, savory raspberry and cherry fruit flavors, edged with smoky oak. Delicious now, but give it until 2019–2020 in the cellar.

There’s a great depth of ripe, bright red raspberry and cherry pie fruit flavors in this Pinot, to which oak adds complicating notes of caramel and vanilla bean. It has plenty of upfront appeal, but should get better until 2020–2021 as the primary flavors recede, allowing drier, mushroomy bouquet to emerge.

If you’re tired of Zinfandels that are unbalanced and inelegant, try this one. Yes, the alcohol is high, but it folds perfectly into everything else. The vineyard is in the Olivet Road part of the valley, which in many ways represents the ideal terroir of the Russian River. You’ll find brisk acidity and firm tannins in this wine, but also ripely appealing blackberry, cherry, cola and briary wild chamomile flavors. This seriously good wine will age until 2022.