This baby has aromas of just-picked ripe plums, boysenberries, and a peppery-chocolatey note that shows up on the palate. It's dry, clean and sharp, and it's a lot of fun.

Dried cherry and licorice aromas with a touch of toffee and mocha. Sweet and supple with ripe berry, mocha and lingering creamy notes. Some tannin is present on the finish. Good structure and length. Decent value.

The deep ruby/purple-colored 2001 Shiraz offers straightforward, sweet blackberry aromas with a whiff of spice in the background, considerable flavor, a surprisingly rich texture, and admirable suppleness. It is a big, fruity, round, delicious Shiraz to consume over the next two years.

Deep red. Dark berries and candied cherry on the nose, with slow-building oak spice and mocha character. Fleshy red fruit flavors are a touch candied but offer good straightforward appeal. Finishes with good length and an echo of jammy berry fruit.

Lithe and silky, with toasty oak notes weaving through the modest nectarine and citrus flavors. Drink now through 2010.

Has subtlety and elegance. It's on the light side, but is generous with its peach and ripe apple fruit, with hints of spice and citrus on the finish.

The winery in McLaren Vale has produced a light to medium-bodied 2001 Chardonnay revealing plenty of tropical fruit with a hint of oak. Stylistically, it reminds me of the popular, well-made Lindeman's Bin 65 Chardonnay. Enjoy over the next year.

This wine from Kendall-Jackson's Australian outpost offers aromas of butter, clove and tropical and citrus fruits. Dried spice flavors accent soft peach and vanilla, finishing with a touch of tangerine.

Aged 14 months on the lees with frequent stirring in French oak barrels, 28% new. · Moderate golden yellow color and clear in the glass. The nose offers aromas of apple core, nori, lemon, yeast and gardenia. Soft on the palate with integrated, sound acidity, offering flavors of lemon-lime and briny apple. Lacks the lusciousness we have come to expect from Russian River Valley Chardonnay, seemingly even a bit faded as the wine is now four years old.

This opens with earthy aromas of scorched earth, tobacco leaf and black plum. The dense palate puts espresso, vanilla, clove and a hint of black cherry alongside taut tannins.

Sweet tobacco and light berry aromas follow through to a medium to full bodied palate, with fine tannins and a fresh finish. Sangiovese. Best after 2007. 1160 cases made. -JS

Light violets, berries and flowers. Medium-bodied, with some fruit and tannins, but slightly hollow midpalate. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Best after 2007. 1160 cases made. -JS

Musky aromas of lemon, melon, flowers and stones. Rick and fat but dry and uncompromising. I'd like to have seen a bit more flavor. Finishes slightly warm. This needs to be served with food.

This is a great example of varietal correctness shows aromas of black cherries, mocha and herbs, followed by earthier flavors of tobacco and black cherries. It's the kind of Merlot you wish you saw on more restaurant lists - easy to recognize and easy to like.

Reveals abundant quantities of chocolate, mocha, sweet toast, and straightforward black cherry fruit notes. Medium bodied with sweet tannin, and a lush heady finish. Similar to the 2000. Best consumed during their first 5-7 years of life.

Deep, dense, and solidly filled in the nose with lots of curranty fruit tied to rich oak and elements of dark chocolate, this rugged youngster is a little less inviting on the palate just now, and its ample flavors of concentrated fruit are beset by slightly outsized tannins. It finishes on the dry and austere side and needs some patience to make its way to beauty.

Reveals some of the vintage's austere tannin along with meduim body, and a nice entry displaying notions of cassis, fudge, tobacco, and smoke. The meduim-bodied finish is slightly pinched. Drink this very good effort over the next decade.

…is an aggressively wooded, cassis, black cherry, and smoky-scented and flavored wine with outstanding ripeness, lush cherry flavors and a heady finish.

Complex, earthy edge to the ripe plum and cherry flavors. A toasty oak and tannic finish.

Sweet, rich, supple-textured fruit, a lovely bouquet of berry, earth, and spice, and a silky smooth, seductive finish.

Deep red. Inviting aromas of dark chocolate, tobacco and smoky, toasty oak. Stylish and accessible but lacks real sweetness and depth. Shows good vinosity and subtle length, though.

Supple, with polished cherry, currant, anise, tar and toasty oak, folding together nicely on the finish.

This chocolatey, smoky, lavishly wooded Merlot is a flamboyantly-styled wine. The color is a healty dark plum. The nose offers up plenty of vanillin, smoke, and spice. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, with noticeable wood tannin and spice. It needs another 1-2 years of cellaring, but should drink well for a decade. Those readers without the patienece to wait several years a advised to decant this Merlot 45 minutes before drinking.

9500 cases, has an opaque purple color as well as a powerful constitution. There is no herbaceousness to the flavors of this surprisingly big & flavorful effort. Look for it to round into shape in 2-3 years & last for up to 15.

Ruby. Medium-bodied. Balanced acidity. Moderately extracted and oaked. Earth, black fruits, dried herbs. Unusual rustic nuances billow from the glass, but settle down with breathing time. Shows lively acidity and reasonable extraction of fruit. The finish is balanced and fairly firm.