A well-known Merlot producer, this long-standing Sonoma County winery also bottles this peppery, mouthwatering Sauvignon Blanc. It's well worth hunting for.

Deep crimson-purple; a powerful wine, skillfully made to allow the red berry fruit of the mourvedre full expression while keeping the tannins under control; has very good length and balance.

Lovely orange peel and blossom nose; silky and crisp with purity and great acid structure; juicy peach and lush texture; long and bright.

Smooth and dense with black cherry, earth and a balanced, round finish; ripe, lush and charming.

Named a favorite at a tasting attended by a group of stellar Sonoma County winemakers, who meet regularly to blind-taste various wines and rank them.

Crisp and lively, with a hint of oak aroma and lemon, lime and mineral flavors.

Light and lively, with crisp green apple and pear flavors.

Grapes for Carmel Road wines come from the benchland and hillside vineyards that lie within the Salinas Valley of Monterey County. The alluvial plain stretches southeast from Monterey Bay through the rain shadow of the Santa Lucia mountains to the Arroyo Seco Canyon. This area produces superb Chardonnays including this bottling from Carmel Road. Look for aromas and flavors of tropical citrus, pear and vanilla with notes of mineral on the finish.

The flagship pinot noir offering from the winery has a smoky nose of red cherry, plum and cranberry with hints of cola, nutmeg, rose petal and sassafras. Initially, the flavors are taut and tightly wound but you can sense the intensity and complexity just under the surface. With some time in the glass, the flavors of cherry, rhubarb and strawberry become accessible along with hints of vanilla, cinnamon and toffee. But there's obviously more to come and time in the bottle will bring it to the forefront. If you must drink this pinot now, decant it for an hour or two before dinner. After an airing, I paired it up with an applewood-smoked brat slathered with mustard on a bun as well as a mustard-based potato salad. The wine really started singing to me then.

The good extracted color of this pinot suggests aroma and flavor intensity will follow. On the nose, red fruit, beet root, cherry cola and tree bark are apparent; it just smells juicy. Red cherry, strawberry, rhubarb, red raspberry, vanilla, sandalwood and brown baking spices are full blown on the palate. Deeper fruit flavors, like myrtle berry, also show their face in the mix. This pinot has a rich tapestry of aromas and flavors that are unique to Santa Maria Valley. It's very satisfying to all the senses and ready to drink now, though it could easily age a few more years.

An even deeper extracted color on this wine means the gambit is set for some tasty stuff. First, though, dark fruit, like plum and blackberry, also promise pleasure. The flavors of cassis, red plum, cocoa powder, cinnamon and black pepper, as well as a touch of lavender, play together well on the palate. Intense and well-focused, it definitely makes a concentrated flavor impression that is sustained all the way to the upbeat finish. It's a meaty and delicious syrah that's so easy to drink now.

Quite striking in the glass, this chard looks like liquid sunlight, if there could be such a thing. It comes on strong with aromatics of mango, peach, pineapple and citrus, fine-tuned with vanilla and brown baking spices. Perfectly true to form for this vineyard, the mango and pineapple flavors form first, then orange marmalade (muscat-like?), citrus, and vanilla custard/creme brulee join in the mix. All the flavors are tempered by the appropriate acidity, and the very complete and rich finish is buffered by integrated barrel spices and an interesting minerality.

Pineapple, tropical fruit, citrus and nutmeg come through clearly and distinctly on the nose. Flavors follow aromas with more pineapple, orange marmalade, ginger, nutmeg, talcum powder and slate. With time in the bottle, this chard has become textured on midpalate as well as buttery and creamy. In a good place now, it's deliciously rich without any aggressive alcohol backbeat. Though quite big and full-bodied, its exquisite balance makes it almost elegant. The slow fade on the finish echoes over and over.

Yangarra’s Small Pot Shiraz is whole bunch pressed – though how much, I couldn’t say. The words Whole Bunch are prominent on the front label. Substantial wine. Glossy and a little jammy too. Rubbery, meaty, gluey aromas lead to a smooth, plummy palate showing only faint streaks of sap and twigs. Reckon the whole bunches worked pretty damn well, by the taste of this. Aromatically it won’t be for everyone but it’s a gorgeous to have in your mouth.

Made from vines planted in 1946 on, according to the back label, a sandy dune in McLaren Vale – overlying the North Maslin Sands. If grenache isn’t your thing then this won’t win you over – despite its quality. It’s not thick or dense, it is warm with alcohol, its main flavour is sweet raspberry and there’s not much oak to speak of. If you do like grenache though, these facets are a good part of why it’s so good. It’s fresh, jubey, alive and uncluttered. It speaks of beautiful grenache grapes, ripe and delicious. Not too heavy, not too light; just right. Best consumed young – and often

The Yangarra reds are so fresh and juicy; they’re answers, not questions. Ready to go. Alive with flavour and scent. Fresh leather, dark berries, hints of citrus peel and fresh-cut fennel. Enough tannin to tether it all together but not enough to get in the way. A touch more oomph than the grenache of the same vintage, though not quite the delicacy. I would not be saying no to a glass of this.

Ripe yellow fruit aromas and tastes, hinting at minerals and vanilla bean, with tangy acidity at the close.

Deep red/purple; good colour. Banana skin, almost 'green walnut' aromas. Lean and a trifle under-fleshed. Rather stern tannins and tight structure, straightforward and unevolved. Not offering much at this stage. Certainly has a future.

A quality producer in the Russian River Valley, Hartford Court uses traditional methods for its chardonnays, including barrel fermentation and extended contact between the wine and spent yeast cells known as lees. You can taste the rich, tangy lees effect here. Full-bodied, it's imbued with peach, tropical fruit, vanilla and a whiff of smokiness.

The Santa Maria Valley produces some of the best pinot noirs in California. This is a good representative of the terroir. The grapes (are) from the region's oldest commercial vineyard. The profile is dark cherry and plum flavors with doses of spice and dried herbs.

Though Kendall-Jackson's iconic Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay remains immensely popular, longtime winemaker Randy Ullom tweaks his successful model-quite effectively with the first vintage of this bottling. The wine is made solely in stainless steel tanks and older barrels (which impart no oak flavors), keeping its lemon-citrus flavors lively and crisp.

K-J is a California icon and deserves much of the credit for weaning American consumers away from overly sweet whites and introducing them to the pleasures of good, dry chardonnay. Winemaster Randy Ullom calls this creamy, sensitively oaked chard “the winemaker’s cut.” It comes from the top three per cent of specially designated fruit from along the coastal ridges of Santa Barbara and Monterey counties. Pair its fresh tropical fruit flavours with roast chicken or pork, scallops and prawns or chanterelle, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms.

Shows ripe, grapey raspberry and cherry jam flavors, with a bite of citrusy acidity. A good Pinot Noir for drinking with roast salmon or a juicy hamburger.

Nothing but fruit in this cleverly named, unoaked Chardonnay. The wine shows intense, long hangtime flavors of limes, oranges and exotic tropical fruits, heightened by crisp acidity and a strong minerality that accentuates and delineates the flavors.

It’s all about ripe fruit and jaunty acidity in this dry, savory Pinot Noir. Raspberries, cherries and cola are the flavors that finish sweetly dry and spicy.