Features flavors centered on white flower, white peach, spice, honeysuckle and spice. Easy to enjoy.

Smoke, butter, pastry and tropical fruit meld together in the 2012 Chardonnay Vintner's Reserve, a tasty, budget-friendly wine to drink over the next few years. Every time I look at the production numbers of the Vintner's Reserve I am stunned. Kendall-Jackson makes 2.23 million cases of this wine. In case you are wondering, when the lees are stirred here, it means 4,400 barrels are touched every day.

Graced with a light touch of sweet oak and mildly suggestive of fresh butter with a constant complement of fairly juicy, ever-so-slightly-candied apples as its major motif, this one may not vie with its more serious cousins in terms of depth or complexity, yet it tastes and feels like real Chardonnay. It is both bright and balanced with welcome acidity diminishing the effects of its very slight residual sugar, and it is tasty and affable right to the end. GOOD VALUE

Smooth, fresh and juicy with ripe flavors and clean, lively fruit; balanced and simple with charm and style.

The 2011 Chardonnay Avant is another tasty, accessible, entry-level white. Lemon, pastry and white flowers all take shape in the glass. The Avant is aged 60% in steel, which is meant to differentiate it from the flagship Vintner's Reserve in this part of the price range, but I don't see quite the distinctiveness this wine showed last year. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2016.

The 2010 Chardonnay Vintner's Reserve wraps around the palate with layers of expressive fruit. Butterscotch, spices, flowers and hazelnuts add complexity. This is another fabulous value. The entire 2,000,000 case production is made from estate-owned vineyards, which is simply mind-boggling to contemplate. Frequent lees-stirring and aging in French oak barrels impart a level of textural richness that is uncommon for a wine in this price range. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2014.

This marriage of Central Coast fruit adds up to a rounded, amicable and impeccably clean wine that goes right to the varietal point with its ripe-apple aromas and like-minded flavors. It is never an especially complex wine, and it reveals little in the way of real layering, but it is an open and easy-to-taste one that hangs on to its fruit to the end.

Vintner's Reserve is the K-J signature Chardonnay, loaded with ripe tropical flavors and hints of sweet fruit and vanilla. Barrel fermented and aged on the lees, the wine has ample toasted oak, simple ripe pineapple flavors, modest 13.5% alcohol and a rounded fruity finish. Vintner's Reserve is the more overt style of the duo of K-J value Chardonnays.

Made in the familiar style that is K-J Vintner's Reserve, this Chardonnay shows pineapple, lemondrop, mineral and spice flavors balanced with crisp coastal acidity.

While we very much like the sweet mix of apples, honey and oak found in this very ripe and outgoing effort, we are also cognizant of the heat and edgy acidity that conspire to coarsen its finish. All the same, the wine gets full commendation for its fundamental richness, and it will live up to its promise if allowed a chance to more fully knit with a year or two in the bottle.

This likeable wine wins recommendation by virtue of balance and clearly defined fruit, and, while it may not be the biggest or most complex Chardonnay to be had, its very clean lines and juicy nature make it a versatile choice for broiled fish or simply grilled chicken.

The 2002 Grand Reserve Chardonnay exhibits a better balance between its fruit and oak. It offers notes of tropical fruits and orange marmalade along with medium body as well as good purity and ripeness.

Scents of sweet apples and toasted oak barrels feature in this bottling's medium-intensity aromas, and its rounded, slightly viscous feel on the palate provides a comfortable platform for the somewhat beamy flavors that follow. It is ready now.

The delicious 200 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay exhibits copious quantities of tropical fruits, subtle wood, medium body, underlying crisp acidity, and admirable purity. It is one of the two finest Chardonnay values in the marketplace

Delicious...exhibits copious quantities of tropical fruits, subtle wood, medium body, underlying crisp acidity, and admirable purity. It is one of the two finest Chardonnay values in the marketplace.

Serves up lots of ripe, juicy pear, apple and melon flavors with a nice citrus accent. Smooth. The flavors glide across the palate, ending with a complex aftertaste that echoes the flavors. Drink now.

Bright pale gold. Aromas of toasted grain and apricot nectar. Supple, ripe and sweet, with apricot, peach and spice flavors leavened by decent acidity. ..Finishes with lemon peel, banana and toffee.

The underlying flavors are of tart green apples, with a bite of acidity. Despite barrel fermentation, oak stays in the background of this very dry wine.

Moving up a few dollars in price is the 2001 Grand Reserve Chardonnay, which is produced from Jess Jackson's vineyards on Santa Barbara, Monterey, and Sonoma. It possesses plenty of ripe tropical fruit, medium body, more oak but less charm than the Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, largely because of the wood component.

Bright, nicely oaked, ripe-apple fruit is the shining star of this juicy, slightly frontal and eminently likeable Chardonnay, and the wine's minor flirtations with sweetness are countered by a finely fit measure on lively acidity. Wholly enjoyable now, the wine nevertheless has the careful balance for further keeping and may well improve in bottle for another year or two.

Lime, orange, tangerine and butter on the nose, along with a lightly lactic quality. Round, sweet and full, with soft citrus flavors firmed by slightly edgy acids. Shows slightly sugary fruit flavors on the finish.

Aromas of pear, tropical fruits and truffle, with exotic hints of curry and saffron. Dry and juicy but supple, with notes of pepper and watercress. Nicely restrained chardonnay with good depth. Finishes slightly warm.

Aromas of pear, tropical fruits and truffle, with exotic hints of curry and saffron. Dry and juicy but supple, with notes of pepper and watercress. Nicely restrained chardonnay with good depth.

Full-blown aromas of apricot, truffle, clove and buttery, charry oak, with some leesy low tones of butterscotch. Sweet and thick but manages to hold its shape. Rather one-dimensional but rich flavor of apricot nectar.

The 2000 exhibits surprisingly good tropical fruit characteristics along with a subtle whiff of spice. Light to medium-bodied and refreshing, with admirable flavor intensity as well as texture...