The 2010 White Wine Blend Vintner's Reserve Summation is a blend of mostly Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier and Roussanne. The aromatic varieties provide the bouquet while the Chardonnay gives mid-palate presence to the fruit. This is a pretty, harmonious wine in its price range. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2014.

The 2010 Chardonnay Avant is a plump, juicy offering with lovely up-front richness and a fresh, vibrant personality meant to be enjoyed over the next 1-2 years. It is a delicious wine for the money. The Avant is made in a fresher, more vibrant style than the Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2014.

I was partial to the 2010 Russian River Pinot Noir with its clean red and dark berry flavors and nuanced spice, earth and mineral qualities. Lots of aromas of dark berry fruit with scents of cola nut and a subtle smokiness. Bold, bright flavors of raspberry, blackberry laced with minerals, cinnamon, clove and a dusty earth quality.

All 115, for its dark purple-garnet hue, dark berry and blueberry aromas and flavors, stiff tannin and snap-to acidity and black pepper finish; have with eggplant lasagna or similar dish.

A tasty chardonnay with complex flavors. Notes of pear, melon, toast, herbs and spice. Creamy texture. Lovely.

A perennial favourite with Vintages customer's, K-J's Vintner's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon seems to get better with every vintage. This Cabernet is round, ripe and fruit-driven (look for plump cherry, cassis and cocoa aromas and flavours), and is an excellent choice for when you need something you can rely on at the last minute. So stock up!

I love chardonnays and pinots from this winery year after year. This classic chardonnay has lovely aromas of green apple vibrant wrapped in toasty oak.

This yellow colored Roussanne opens with a honeyed pear bouquet. On the palate, this wine is full bodied, round and slightly sweet. The flavor profile is an apricot and ripe pear with notes of gentle oak. The finish is semi-dry and its flavors are nicely prolonged. This wine would pair well with five fruit chicken.

Cedar, vanilla and spice aromas. Full-bodied cassis, pepper, herb and spicy black cherry notes on the palate with grainy, tight tannins on the finish. Well made.

Two new (one star) standouts earn an enthusiastic thumbs-up vote for value as well, and both the zesty, unoaked Carmel Road Liberated Monterey 2010...

Enriched with a big dose of sweet oak and leaning to ripeness as its principal theme, this wine shows a bit of tactile fat on the palate and a bit of heat later on...

Black fruit, custard, spice, mocha and cinnamon aromas. Upfront style with sweet black fruit, bright acidity and grippy tannins. Has a spice, herb and pepper finish.

Another lovely Julia's Pinot from Cambria, at a fair price. With its light tannins and transparency, it's definitely Pinot Noir, and the acidity testifies to a cool climate. You might even pick out the Santa Maria Valley from the crushed Indian spices. Subtle but intriguing cherry, cola and plum flavors round out the picture.

They packed a lot of flavor into this rich Chardonnay for the price. It's toasty buttery and popcorny from winemaker treatment, with ripe fruit notes of pineapple and exotic tropical fruits. A brisk streak of minerals and acidity provides clean balance.

Its ferocious tannins still need some resolution, and the wine is definitely what the French call a “vin de garde,” needing probably 8-10 years of cellaring. It is certainly concentrated, dense purple in color, with notes of iron, crushed rocks, black currants, kirsch and toasty oak. This is a chancy wine given the history that tannins always outlast the fruit, but there is a lot here and I wouldn’t want to dismiss it, considering all the good stuff it appears to possess.

Nicely ripened and abundantly fruity and never in any danger of succumbing to candied cuteness, this exceptional effort is a complete package that rises to the upper levels of its class on the strength of its focus, its balance and its all-around tastiness. Hopefully, it will encourage others in the area to have a go with variety.

The 2010 Chardonnay Grand Reserve emerges from the glass with lemon, minerals, white flowers and subtle French oak. The Grand Reserve impresses for its length and textural elegance, both of which are remarkable for a wine made on this scale. Estate owned vineyards in Santa Barbara and Monterey are the sources for the fruit. The Grand Reserve is aged in 100% French oak barrels, with 100% malolactic fermentation. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016.

Like the final statement in a trial, wine master Randy Ullom says this wine is the study and final blending of red varietals. It's dark, rich and smooth, with flavors of blackberries and mocha.

It's hard not to enjoy the plush, luxurious texture of this juicy Bordeaux-like blend of cabernet sauvignon (80 percent), merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec. The black cherry and plum fruit is sweet on the palate and is accompanied by vanilla and spice notes.

Generous cherry aromas abound in this zinfandel from Northern California. Brambly dark berry fruit and easy tannins. Blended with petite sirah and syrah.

Concentrated flavors of black cherries and cassis with pleasant additions of chocolate and black pepper. Round mouthfeel and fruit-forward style make it a delicious wine.

Medium-bodied and fleshy for a sauvignon blanc, this excellent white oozes ripe peach, orange marmalade and melon flavours on a smooth texture, with a hint of smoke on the long finish.

Opens with black cherries, raspberries and smoky berries. There are hints of violets and cigar box that make this full-bodied wine ultra-seductive with its polished tannins and soft texture. Extremely cherry-berry in flavour.

Dark, rich nose of minerals, smoke, oak and savoury notes. Opulent, in-your-face caramel and toffee cake with some grip on the back palate. Quite interesting.

Moderate reddish-purple hue in the glass. Exotic and intriguing nose featuring aromas of black cherries, dark berries, Moroccan spices and a hint of coffee broadening over time to even deeper autumnal notes. Beautifully complex array of dark red Pinot fruits robed in mild dusty tannins, ever-expanding in the mouth, and finishing with amazing persistence and length. The fruit really sings in this seamless and classy wine. Still great the next day from a previously opened and re-corked bottle.