Offering up a sweet bouquet of red berries, loamy soil, tea leaf and cocoa, the 2016 Pinot Noir from Carmel Road is a medium-bodied, open-knit wine with a delicate core of fruit and melting tannins. Bottled under screw cap, it's a pretty but uncomplicated Pinot Noir to enjoy in the near term.

Moderately light garnet color in the glass. The nose leads with aromas of forest, cherry and strawberry. Heavily infused with oak in a mid weight style, featuring a nucleus of cherry fruit encased in gentle tannins and finishing with a red cherry flourish and a trail of toasty, vanillin oak.

11 Lip-Smacking California Pinot Noirs Oak and savory herb notes give this flavor dimension, adding to a modest mix of wild berry and spice elements. 87 points.

Pale to medium ruby colored, the 2014 Pinot Noir Panorama Vineyard has dusty earth and kirsch notes with hints of cinnamon stick and potpourri. Medium-bodied, with a nice texture of fine-grained tannins and plenty of freshness, it has a good core of uncomplicated berry flavors and decent length.

The 2013 Carmel Road is another in the growing lineup of inexpensive California Pinot Noirs that deliver flavor and satisfaction without putting a strain on the wallet. Well balanced and flavorful, this delicate, light-bodied Pinot is perfect from summer picnics, grilling or served with light appetizers. It offers notes of cherry and spice, with a hint of cola and an ever-so-slightly grippy finish.

Nicely fruited, constant in focus and sporting a fair measure of oaky richness, the latest effort from Carmel Road is a moderately full-bodied Pinot whose depth and definition make it a standout at the price. It is fleshy and firm with a bit of youthful coarseness yet to lose, and, if it promises to gain in polish with a bit of age, service with food will smooth its way in the short term. GOOD VALUE.

Offers a modest, pleasing core of ripe blueberry, creamy oak, spice and sassafras notes, maintaining focus and ending with a clean, flinty finish. Drink now through 2020.

Medium-deep ruby color; spicy, herbal cherry aromas; forward, juicy cherry flavors with herbal notes; good structure and balance; long finish. Simple, forward Pinot that will work with a wide range of foods.

Bright red. Pungent aromas of cherry skin and red currant, with a subtle herbal quality. Fleshy and gently sweet on the palate, offering vivid raspberry and bitter cherry flavors that turn a bit hard with air. Dusty tannins and support and carry through the sharply focused, spicy finish.

Better is the 2007 Pinot Noir Arroyo Seco. Obviously a cool-climate wine, with elegant strawberry and raspberry as well as hints of blueberry and underbrush notes, this Pinot is attractive, medium-bodied, and slightly lean in the finish. Carmel Road has also produced two other super Pinot Noirs.

Made in an off-dry, almost sweet style, this polished Riesling is marked first and foremost by ripe fruit. Green apples, tangerines, Key lime pie and golden mangoes flood the mouth, made bright and clean with citrusy acidity. The alcohol is refreshingly low 13%.

Pale gold. Fresh lemon and peach aromas are pleasantly straightforward and complemented by subtle spice and floral qualities. Light-bodied, fresh citrus and pit fruit flavors deliver good punch and are given depth by hints of melon and peach. Juicy, gently sweet and easy to drink if on the simple side, with good finishing cling. This would work well with spicy Asian foods.

Wisps of peach and honeysuckle give a nice if slightly quiet start to this slightly sweet effort, and if it is not the lightest on its feet, so too is not as heavy as its 13% alcohol might suggest. Rather, the wine impresses as sufficiently fruity to serve as a light-hearted accompaniment to sunny-day luncheons yet has the stuffing to stand up to somewhat spicy or creamy Indian fare.

Light in the glass, this bottling offers aromas of green-apple flesh, key lime and an earthy, somewhat metallic minerality. The palate is crisp with key lime and pear-flesh flavors, dusted with sandy undertones.

Bright nose of peaches, green melon, lemon, white flowers and honeysuckle. Fresh and bright on the palate, this is pleasantly vibrant on a medium-bodied frame. Lemon, white peach and apricot fruit, accented with flowers, honey and chalk notes. A lively and bright style of Chardonnay at a good price. All stainless steel, 13.5% alcohol.

Pure, clean fruit offers ripe peach, pear and spice flavors, with no oak evident.

This is a massively fruity Chardonnay. Few wines on earth offer this concentration of pineapples, oranges, mangoes, apricots and limes, not to mention honey and vanilla. Would be over the top except for bright acidity and a stony minerality.

Here is a well-scrubbed, moderately fruity look at the grape that affords easy drinking in the immediate term. It is balanced ever slightly to softness, but its direct, mildly oaked, apple and pear flavors show reasonable length all the same. It is assuredly not one to bury in the back of the cellar, but it is a tasty and wholly accessible effort that succeeds at the price.

It is not that we have anything against unoaked Chardonnay, it is just there are too few that are particularly well-made, but every so often a bright and zesty version comes along to make a good case for the genre. This is just such a wine. Nicely fruited and hinting at half-candied citrus with a strong streak of green apples giving varietal direction, it is a refreshing change of pace from the too-serious set, and it is priced quite enticingly.

This is a good, sound, everyday Chardonnay. It's very dry and crisp in Central Coast acidity, with mineral-laded flavors of lemons, limes, apples and pineapples, touched with vanilla and buttered toast.

Slightly more honeyed and Loire Valley in style is the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Les Pionniers, which has more honeysuckle and melony fruit. This is also 100% Sauvignon Blanc and treated essentially the same as the Tradition, but different clonal material has given it more of a Loire Valley style, where the Tradition tends to go more the direction of the so-called Bordeaux style of Sauvignon.

Good full deep red. Musky dark berries, licorice and mint on the nose. Denser than the Clone 115, with a firmer structure; less pliant and sweet but fresher in the middle. A sturdy, solid pinot with modest complexity.

Intense and concentrated, with rich, lively layers of spice, black cherry, blackberry and creamy, toasty oak. Shows a firmness from tannins on the finish. Drink now through 2006.

…rustic tannin, abundant quantities of earthy notes, crisp, tangy acidity, and medium body.

A tough young wine that shows some aging possibilities. Currently, it is drinkable for its silky, easy tannins and gentle mouthfeel. But the flavors are stubornly herbal. Seems a victim of the vintage, but could soften and develop in a few years.