Spicy, peppery, black cherry, light coffee, tobacco, black olive, vanilla, barnyard aromas with a touch of plum, orange and carrot top. Round, dry, supple, fresh palate with light tannins. Cherry, tart plum, chocolate, peppery, cedar, tobacco, orange, meaty, licorice root flavours. Good finesse and fruit but with a bit of a tart note on the finish.

Spicy, melon, floral, butter, vanilla, mango, guava, light lychee aromas. Round, soft, off dry palate with somewhat juicy acidity. Buttery, spicy lees, melon, honey, lychee, mango and vanilla flavours with a creamy finish. Riper, tropical style that offers good intensity and balance with some finesse.

Muddy, tobacco leaf, prune, blackberry, riparian, black olive, cedar, leather and five spice aromas. Dry, fresh, elegant but slightly tannic palate. Cedar, earthy, tobacco, black olive, green bean, cassis, spicy, coffee, dried herb and leather flavours. Solid, slightly rustic style to go with grilled meats.

Peppery, spicy, prune, tobacco, cherry jam, cedar bark, chocolate, black olive aromas. Round, dry, somewhat tart, light palate. Herbal, tobacco, cedar bark, cherry, resin, leather flavours with a prune note.

Small amounts of merlot, cab franc, malbec, petit verdot and petite sirah are in the blend, which adds complexity. The ripe fruit grabs you first, but there are other flavors lurking in the background - vanilla, cedar and mint - and the tannins are well-integrated.

There's a tangy fragrance to this white from California's Napa Valley. The flavor offers crisp pear and green apple flavors balanced by a slight buttery quality. Serve with fried cod, shrimp salad, pork tenderloin with apple sauce.

The moment I read the first sentence of Edmeades' winery philosophy, I knew I would like this Zinfandel. Mendocino is more than a geographical location, it's a state of mind. On a photography field trip from Berkeley in the summer of '71, I discovered the Mendocino state of mind...but I digress. Aromas of cherry pie, toasty crust and scents of wild herbs wafting into the dining room. Flavors of ripe cherry, smoky plum, with earthy and vanilla notes. Unfiltered, unfined, indigenous yeast fermentation. Where's my Volkswagen van, I gotta visit this place again!

Lovely. Smoky with notes of blueberry, plum and clove. Tannic edge. Silky texture. Long finish.

From head-trained vines off Yangarra's estate, with indigenous fermentation mostly in older French wood. Big and slightly meaty, with birch bark and cinnamon, and more roasted plum aromas but a bright blackberry whack. Dense and chewy, with great firm tannins - perhaps from aging in older oak - and vibrancy. A more rough-hewn, sinewy style, but gratifying.

These are wines that don't sacrifice quality for affordability.

These are wines that don't sacrifice quality for affordability.

Grapefruit and citrus notes with soft texture. Fermented and aged in French oak and blended with sauvignon musque for a rounder texture.

The 2008 Pinot Noir Monument (a blend of their very best barrels) is extraordinary. A super Pinot Noir, with full-bodied, opulent black cherry and black currant flavors touched by a nice, subtle smokiness and a hint of charcoal, this wine has great fruit, purity, and depth, without being heavy or over the top. This beauty should drink well for 7-8 years.

Chardonnay over the years has had success in the Alexander Valley, but it was of a fashion that reflected the warmth of the location. They were generally fat and oily, and there was certainly a market for that. But Alexander Valley is Cabernet country and Chardonnay will likely always play second fiddle. That said, there are exceptions and Stonestreet's Broken Road Vineyard Chardonnay is a good example. It's an Alexander Valley Chardonnay that behaves a bit like a cool-climate Chardonnay, from its firm acid backbone to the hint of minerality that is unusual for this region. At the core is a beautiful beam of lemony fruit, what I call lemon creme or lemon oil, and it's the marker for seriously good Chardonnay. The oak expresses itself with a lovely spice note on the nose that carries through the finish. It's elegant but not lean, exhibiting an alluring, creamy texture. You might not guess it was from Sonoma Coast or the Russian River, but you'd likely never think Alexander Valley, either. The cool-climate attributes are no doubt due to the elevation of the vineyard -- 1800 feet up Alexander Mountain. Whatever the reason, you are unlikely to find a much better Chard in these parts.

Powerful and compelling, this is the sort of wine designed for contemplation rather than being tossed back mindlessly the way we all often do. It delivers layer upon layer of expressive ripe fruit, of minerality, and of fresh, citrusy acidity. It's as creamy and voluptuous as a white satin bridal gown, and it exudes a mesmerizing perfume. It costs a pretty penny, no doubt about it, but that's all the more reason to be grateful for the immense pleasure it can convey to the mindful drinker.

This wine has a lovely floral aroma, with accents of peach, lime and honeysuckle. This being an oaked Viognier, the wine has some richness, but it's nicely integrated. It has well-balanced flavors of ripe peaches and lime, with a nice bit of acidity.

Here's a lovely Chardonnay with aromas of ripe peaches and vanilla and flavors of peaches, lime and candied pineapple. It's nicely balanced and undeniably delicious, with some crispness to balance out the ripe fruit character.

The outstanding 2008 Chardonnay Bench Break has delicate yet substantial fruit flavors, a light green hue to its straw color, terrific minerality, floral notes, honeyed citrus, and tropical fruits. It is rich and full-bodied, but a Chardonnay of finesse as well as power. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.

The 2008 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard, which is produced from Burgundian Dijon clones as well as the old Joseph Swan clone, exhibits plenty of raspberries, black cherries, cola, and roasted herbs in a full-bodied, round, generously endowed style. This is an impressive Pinot Noir to drink now and over the next 3-5 years.

The generic and least expensive Pinot Noir, the 2008 Santa Maria, is a user-friendly, yet seriously endowed Pinot Noir with loads of fruitcake, roasted herbs, black cherry, and plum notes. The wine has a dark plum color, deep, lush flavors, and succulence and fleshiness that are totally seductive. Drink it over the next 2-3 years.

The only Chardonnay I tasted from Byron was also outstanding. The 2008 Chardonnay Santa Maria exhibits crisp apple and tropical fruit with loads of background wood, spice, and earth. The wine is medium to full-bodied, pure, and a strong effort. Drink it over the next 1-2 years.

Intense, deeply scented with lots of rich oak and woody spice piled atop its ample compliment of dark fruit, this potent and sturdy young Cabernet walks a fine line between being rich and slightly austere. It is bound up in stern tannins, and it tends to gritty, back-palate astringency just now, but it hangs on to a fair measure of nicely concentrated cassis-like fruit and the finish and promises better with age. This is a keeper very much meant for the long haul, and it may not show its true colors until upwards of a decade has passed.

Deep colour; savoury Provençal herbs mingle with dark cherry and raspberry fruit; the palate is firm and full of luscious sweet fruit, with the oak just detracting a little on the finish.

Juicy, with cherry and sweet cola flavors, this wine almost tastes of warm California sunshine. Its fun-loving personality makes it enjoyable to drink now, but odds are good that it will taste even better (on account of being more nuanced) with a couple of years in the cellar.

Juicy and fresh with racy citrus and lively minerals; vibrant and showing exotic fruit and lovely floral notes.