Tight, with spicy strawberry, cherry, cola and tea flavors, finishing with light grainy tannins.

Plums, minerals, cherries, dried fruit. Mouth-filling.

A smooth, supple, elegant Pinot, with herb, cola and spicy cherry flavors that turn silky, picking up buttery oak on the finish. Well balanced and ready to drink now through 1997.

It is amazing that the 2014 Pinot Noir Vintner’s Reserve (99.9% Pinot Noir, sourced 68% from Monterey, 29% Santa Barbara and 3% Mendocino) is so good for the price. Soft, sweet cherry and pomegranate notes jump from the glass along with some sassafras and loamy soil undertones. It is medium-bodied, fruity, round and seductive. Drink it over the next several years.

Judge's Choice at International Value Wine Awards.

There is a sense in this wine and in the winery's Chardonnay, that something is afoot at Kendall-Jackson as regards the quality of their entry level wines. Even in Pinot Noir, the single most ornery of the highbrow grapes, the winery has captured solidly varietal aromas and flavors of middling depth and easy accessibility. It is all one could ask of a wine that is so broadly available.

Medium-deep ruby color; spicy, stewed fruit and pepper aromas; rich and ripe with stewed cherry and plum flavors, notes of pepper and some oak; good structure, lingering finish. A ripe and tasty Pinot with good balance and a nice middle of the road style for the table.

Fairly deep aromas of ripe black cherries, chocolate and caramel are followed on the palate by direct, ripe and rich flavors. ...relatively supple, open and only moderately tannic effort for near-term enjoyment. Its inviting price adds substantially to its charms.

The 2002 Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir is a blend of equal parts fruit from Monterey, Santa Barbara, and the North Coast. It offers pleasant currant, plum, and dried herb characteristics in addition to a pleasant, open-knit style, good fruit, and medium body. Drink it over the next 1-2 years.

Soft and supple, with an elegant structure balanced by juicy and easygoing raspberry, fresh herb and vanilla aromas and flavors. Drink now.

It exhibits chocolate, blackberry, and pepper-like aromas, medium body, and abundant fruit in its soft personality.

…was the finest of all the 1997 Vintner's Reserve reds.

...displays the same characteristics as the Vintner's Reserve, but with more fat, succulence, and ripe fruit.

Dark purple color, limpid and brilliant to the rim. Mild black cherry and bitter-chocolate flavors. Mild wood tones. Firm entry, medium-bodied, with balance and acidity. Moderately drying tannins. Sweet fruit, chocolate and wood notes work well through the finish. Can improve with more age.

Medium cherry red color, limpid with a slight fade. Subtle, pleasant berry fruit, cedar flavors. Hint of wood tones. Smooth entry, medium-bodied. Moderate drying tannins. Fleshy black-fruit flavors make for an attractive style. Subtle finish. Spicy, oak-accented style.

Some sexy black plum and cassis fruit are present in both the aromatics and flavors of this flashy wine.

Pleasantly fruity, with spicy cherry and wild berry flavor.

The 2015 Syrah Vintner's Reserve is a tasty, forward wine. Black cherry, lavender, mint, violet and black pepper add aromatic nuance, but this is a bold, fruit-driven style.

The 2014 Syrah Vintner’s Reserve (all from Santa Barbara) is an excellent value in Syrah. It is 97% Syrah and the rest Grenache and Mourvèdre, aged in very little new oak, but a combination of French and American cooperage. It offers notes of fruitcake, pepper, blackberry and a kiss of camphor and tar. This medium-bodied, fruit-driven wine should drink nicely for 2-3 years.

Tilts toward the rustic side, showing a drying edge to the brick and crushed rock notes, with dried berry and savory herb details.

The 2010 Syrah Vintner's Reserve is laced with blue/black fruit, smoke, tar, licorice and asphalt. I very much like the energy here, although a hint of sweetness on the finish is a bit distracting. The 2010 isn't especially varietal, but it does have excellent balance and plenty of near-term appeal. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2016.

Intense, well-defined and well-ripened blackberry fruit stays one step ahead of the pushy oak sweetness that appears everywhere here, and, if never an especially spicy wine, it is laced with just enough pepper to say Syrah. It starts out juicy and plush on the palate before firming up...we like the wine and recommend it as one to cellar for a couple of years...

This softly appealing Syrah has pie-filling flavors of cherries and blackberries, with cinnamon spice, brown sugar and baked crust overtones. It's a dry, interesting wine that belies its everyday price.

Full credit to the winery for coming up with a solid, widely distributed, fresh and nicely ripened Syrah. It is slightly fleshy in feel and has more grip than one might expect at the price, but this is Syrah and there is nothing wrong with an intimation of the grape's power potential within an entirely drinkable and priceworthy version.