This wine shows the presence of excellent fruit, which is expressed on the tropical side with herbal notes, and with excellent acidity. It's immensely pleasant to drink at a fair price, and that's what makes K-J so successful.

Medium straw color. Medium-bodied. Balanced acidity. Highly extracted. Figs, tart tropical fruit, grapefruit. Fully extracted flavors with firm backbone and mildly astringent long finish. This has the weight and strength of flavors to partner richer foods. Full, assertive style.

The 1994 Sauvignon Blanc Grand Reserve is a beautifully made, honeyed, ripe, melony, medium-bodied wine with wonderful freshness and vitality, and a long finish touched gently by spicy wood. It is an attractive, rich, dry white for drinking over the next year.

This almost clear colored Sauvignon Blanc from Kendall-Jackson opens with a mild yellow grapefruit bouquet with a hint of lime zest. On the palate, this wine is light to medium bodied, pleasantly acidic and juicy. The flavor profile is a nice citrus blend of gentle lemon, yellow grapefruit and lime. The finish is dry and refreshing. This Sauvignon Blanc is food friendly and would pair nicely with swordfish kabobs. Very good.

Smooth and bright with juicy, tangy citrus and hints of lemongrass and minerals; lush and balanced, long and fresh.

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.

Bright and ripe with juicy peach and citrus; round, fresh and lively with a long, bracing finish.

This is a good Sauvignon Blanc whose touch of oak adds smoky cream and vanilla. The underlying wine shows Lake County balance, with citrus, lemongrass, peach and green apple flavors accented by crisp acidity, and finished with honey.

Clean and crisp, with classic flavors of lemons, limes and gooseberries, softened with a touch of buttercream and vanilla. The finish is fine and has a touch of sweet honeysuckle. A good value.

Winemaster Randy Ullom continues to shape the VR sauvignon into a more food-friendly, fresh-style sauvignon, and the '06 is the best yet. Now 99 percent sauvignon, the aromatics are bright and lifted with a cool, super clean nose of citrus, lime rind and tropical fruit aromas. On the palate, the flavours vacillate between tropical and cool nectarine skin. The fruit is predominately Lake County (82 percent), with bits of fruit from San Luis Obispo (7), Sonoma (7) and Mendocino (3). Revamped and ready to go.

The blending of six per cent Semillion and four per cent Viognier, plus aging of eight per cent of the wine in new oak illustrate how K-J is sculpting the style of Sauvignon, trying to retain core herbaceousness and zest while adding complexity. It works well. The nose shows some vanilla and butterscotch sweetness, atop green fig fruit. The palate is warm yet fresh, with a sweet note on the finish, as well as grapefruit and spice.

Pale color. Leesy aromas of fig, honey, lemon, minerals and earth. Nicely delineated but slightly hard-edged lemon and grapefruit flavors. A somewhat ungiving sauvignon that could use another six months in the bottle.

Nicely proportioned, with rich, intense, smoky, toasty oak built around the core of pear, fig and citrus flavors. Gains complexity and nuance.

The VR Chardonnay is mostly barrel fermented and aged for seven months in small oak - half French/half American. Look for leesy, mineral, melon aromas and toasted lees, vanilla, butter citrus and apple flavours. Delicious Monterey and Santa Barbara fruit that is well integrated with oak.

Aromas of pit fruits, yellow plum and spicy oak. Sweet and lush in the middle, with good density and an attractively pliant texture. Then a bit hard on the back end.

...a remarkable wine for the price. Notes of lemon custard, tropical fruits, honeysuckle, and citrus combine in this fruit-driven medium-bodied cleanly made effort. The wood influence is kept in the background for fear of compromising the wine's delicious fruit characteristics.

Rich and refreshing, with pretty oak shading the fig, vanilla, citrus, mocha and tangerine flavors.

Ripe and polished, with creamy pear and hints of apple and spice, turning to citrus and spicy, anise-tinged oak.

…exhibits a creamy, honeysuckle, ripe tropical fruit-scented nose with smoky oak in the background. It is a medium to full-bodied, ripe, lush, pure Chardonnay with a succulent, fat texture.

"A touch earthy, it works its way into more mainstream fruit flavors, with ripe pear, apricot and toasty oak. Finishes with complex oak and more fruit." also appeared in the 7/98 & 12/15/98 issue

"Bright medium-gold in color, the '96 Grand reserve holds to its style of ripe fruit character and toasty oak structure. The grapes used are sourced from Santa Barbara, Monterey, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, giving it a melange of tropical, stone and citrus fruit flavors and aromas. Fermentation in French oak barrels adds notes of nutmeg, butter and toast, rounding out a very stylish wine. It's medium-bodied rather than dense or powerfully concentrated, and it will pair will with big foods such as lobster tempura, as there is enough acidity to cut the richness.

Pale straw with bright green highlights. Medium-bodied. Balanced acidity. Moderate extract, mild oak. Orchard fruit, brown spice. Spicy apple aromas lead into lively hints of oak spice on the crisp finish.

Citrus zest, earth, nuts. Moderately balanced with fruit that turns soft as it develops.

The fuller, richer, more oak-influenced 1992 Chardonnay Camelot Vineyard is full-bodied, rich, and layered, with crisp acidity. It should be drunk over the next year.

There's lovely fruit here, the opulent sort which suggests the tropics, and admirable balance and length.