Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s From a site in Monterey County, the 2017 Riesling Jensen Vineyard sports a light gold color as well as solid, attractive notes of crushed limes, lychee, and hints of petrol. It's well-made, with plenty of classic Riesling character, notable purity, and a good finish.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Classic Anderson Valley notes of ripe black fruits, dried earth, scorched earth, and graphite emerge from the 2017 Pinot Noir Jackson Estate Outland Ridge. Ripe, medium-bodied, and opulent on the palate, it has the classic savory, mineral quality of this appellation paired with plenty of ripe fruit.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Toasty stone fruits, melon, and spice notes emerge from the 2017 Chardonnay Vintners Reserve, and it's a medium to full-bodied, sweetly fruited, pleasure-bent effort ideal for near-term drinking.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s Exotic flowers, lemon blossom, honeyed green herbs, and other spicy notes emerge from the 2017 Chardonnay Seco Highland, which has good depth of fruit, medium body, and a clean finish. It certainly doesn't taste like a Chardonnay, but it‘s enjoyable.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s The 2017 Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County is another value release from this estate that's well worth drinking. Lots of spiced red and black fruits, forest floor, and some reductive, earthy notes all flow to a medium-bodied, rounded, nicely textured effort that has plenty of fruit and charm. Drink it over the coming couple of years.

Central Coast: The 2017s and 2018s A solid value, the 2017 Chardonnay Santa Barbara County comes from a handful of sites (Nielson, Bien Nacido, Sierra Madre, and Cambria) and saw partial malolactic fermentation and 11 months in a mix of stainless steel tanks and neutral oak. It offers plenty of apple and orchard fruit notes as well as some brioche and spice. Medium-bodied, rounded, and nicely textured, this charming, well-made wine would be a solid house white.

Relatively firm reduction suppresses the fruit and I would counsel giving this a thorough aeration first as it definitely helped. There is reasonably good volume to the rounded, supple and quite forward flavors that possess a velvety texture before concluding in an acceptably complex and persistent finish that flashes a hint of acid tang. This is already drinking well though it could be held for a year or two first.

Shows a rustic graphite edge to the ripe plum fruit and crushed rock notes. Chewy throughout, yet complete and persistent.

Shows plenty of Cabernet character in the blackberry and black currant flavors, enhanced with oak, and the firm tannins. A good wine...

Made in a forward, drink-me-now style, this Bordeaux blend contains 1% of Petite Sirah. The jammy flavors of blackberries and cherry are joined with vanilla, smoky cedar and spices. Drink this direct wine before 2012.

Very much on point with regard to fruity definition and helped along by the judicious presence of mildly creamy oak, Freemark Abbey’s Howell Mountain Chardonnay gets the job done without great fanfare or drama. It tightens up noticeably and gets a touch hard at the end in direct contrast to its slightly oily beginnings, but enough fruit remains in place to justify the extra year or two of age for which it asks.

Youth proves both an asset and a slight liability here for, while fresh and alive, the wine is also a bit cramped and a little coarse at the end. It marries moderately deep, ripe-apple fruit with a well-measured complement of gentle oak, and, if just a touch too chalky to really charm at the moment, it will be helped by service with food and should be much improved by a brief stay in the bottle.

Every bit as lively and bright as its vintage might suggest, this fruity, well-filled, medium-full bodied wine is principally keyed on squeaky clean, slightly candied young fruit.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is a tasty, forward wine to drink over the next year or two. Mocha, cherry jam, herbs and leather are front and center in this supple, open-knit Cabernet from Fortress.

Well-structured, with a frame of firm tannins and cedary oak overshadowing the modest core of graphite-laced dark berry.

...pleasant array of floral , raspberry and dried cherry…

It exhibits a medium ruby/garnet color, followed by a moderately intense nose of plums, black cherries, earth, and spice. Soft, round, and well-made, this open-knit Pinot Noir can be enjoyed over the next several years.

Complex and flavorful, with a range of black cherry, cola, earth and mushroom flavors, I lacks focus and finish with slightly muddled tannins. Aging into 1999 may do the trick; give more finesse and grace.

...The 1995 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley, one of the hot beds for promising Pinot Noir in northern California (along with the Sonoma Coast and Russian River), is a tasty, soft, delicious, dark ruby-colored Pinot Noir with copious amounts of strawberry and cherry fruit, a nice dollop of spicy oak, and a round, medium-bodied, silky texture.

Well focused with attractive plum and black cherry-laced Pinot Noir fruit flavors.

Pinot Noir World Series

Once in the mouth, it's fruity and delicate, with cherry-berry flavors enhanced by mocha, vanilla and cinnamon. Feels silky on the palate, with a very crisp streak of acidity.

The soft, round, surprisingly civilized 1999 Petite Sirah Eaglepoint Vineyard offers sweet tannin, medium body, and plenty of primary, peppery, blackberry fruit with hints of licorice and earth.

Opaque blackish-red. Full-bodied. Highly extracted. Quite tannic. Extremely chewy texture shows the massive extract of this wine. Monolithic and tough, with a mild cooked-fruit character.

The simple, medium-bodied 2000 Syrah Eaglepoint Vineyard reveals straightforward, earthy and loamy soil notes intermixed with black fruits and tar. Well-made, clean, and ripe, but not complex...