Deep red. Ripe aromas of spicy dark berries, cherry liqueur and licorice. Supple, sweet and pretty powerful, with gentle minerality giving the bitter cherry and black raspberry flavors lift and precision. Finishes long, chewy and gripping. I'd give this a couple years to loosen up.

Opaque purple. Smoky dark berries, cherry and tar on the nose. A rich fruit bomb of a cabernet, offering sweet cassis and blackberry preserve flavors and a round, supple texture. Delivers real flavor impact and picks up chewy tannins on a long, gently spicy finish.

Here is a big, rich, impressively stuffed Zinfandel that keys keenly on juicy, blackberry-like fruit, and, if hinting at chocolate, it does so without crossing the line into late-harvest ripeness. It is full, fleshy and just a touch firm in structure, and while tasty now, it has room for improvement with age. It is no simple gulper and wants drinking up with richly seasoned pork roasts and stews.

Dense and tightly structured at first, with big plum and white pepper aromas. Gradually opens to complex wild berry, licorice and brown spice flavors that finish with ripe but firm tannins. Needs time. Best from 2012 through 2016.

Good red-ruby color. Sweet aromas of plum, currant and fruitcake. The ripest and most generous by a wide margin of this winery's 2007 reds, with a supple texture and a light leesy nuance to the red currant, tobacco and mocha flavors. Finishes with a sweet dusting of tannins and good length.

Deep ruby. Complex aromas of dark berries, cherry, smoke, dark chocolate and licorice. Suave and sweet but showing a hard edge that softens somewhat with aeration. Offers an array of dark fruit flavors complicated by olive and candied violet. The emphasis is on the syrah today. Finishes with a gentle grip and an echo of licorice.

Deep ruby. High-pitched aromas of red currant, cherry and rose, and pungent pepper and tobacco qualities gaining strength with aeration. Spicy red berry flavors gain flesh and herbal character with air, picking up a smoky quality and some dusty tannins on the back half. Finishes juicy, with berry skin and herbal nuances.

Limpid gold. Pungent melon and citrus aromas are complemented by gentle spice and mineral nuances. A juicy midweight with good depth to its tangy nectarine and honeydew flavors. Finishes with good length and lingering citrus fruit notes. Drink this now for its energetic fruit.

Good medium ruby. Ripe aromas of currant, cedar and nutty oak, along with a smoky, peaty element of torrefaction. Moderately dense and a bit rustic, with hints of game and iron along with an herbal element. The wine's fairly substantial tannins turned a bit drier with aeration.

Saturated red. Black raspberry and cherry on the nose, with complicating notes of black tea, rose and smoky minerals. Very fresh pinot with gripping, slightly dry dark berry and bitter cherry flavors and a sneaky note of cracked pepper. Finishes with good nervy cut and an echo of peppery spices.

Light gold. Powerful ripe aromas of white peach, underripe pineapple and melon lifted by white flowers and peppery spice. Then rich, sweet and supple on the palate, with juicy, deceptively open-knit pit fruit flavors perked up by a continuing spicy element. Firms up nicely on the back, finishing with a distinct juiciness. In a ripe style but energetic too.

A sound, clean, dry Merlot from various parts of Sonoma County. Elegant and classy, with firm tannins framing rich flavors of red and black cherries, red currants, tobacco, cola and sweet, smoky sandalwood. Quite impressive at this price.

Inky ruby. Brooding, pungent aromas of blackcurrant, cherry and cola lifted by a minty topnote. Initially tangy in the mouth, with a slow-building sweetness to the flavors of black fruits, cherry, licorice and mint. Dusty tannins spread out to coat the palate on a finish that displays a youthfully nervy quality and a lingering cherry note. This needs time to unwind.

Pale yellow. Musky pit fruits on the nose, brightened by subtle citrus and floral scents. Chewy, faintly bitter orange pith and anise flavors are broad and deep but could use a bit more vibrancy. Finishes with good breadth and a lingering note of bitter peach pit. This needs full-flavored food.

A fine everyday Pinot Noir with some extra features that boost the score. With hints of mint, white pepper and chamomile tea, the wine shows racy flavors of cherries, cola, raspberries and sandalwood.

Rich and soft and fruit, with red raspberry flavors.

Earthy pinot noir with black cherry and currant flavors along with a touch of sweet vanillin oak.

Black cherry scents are joined in the aromas by background hints of currants, loam and briar all in good depth and proportion, and the wine, while not being pushy, delivers medium-depth, nicely balanced flavors that repeat its attractive varietal themes. A bit dry and tannic as it finishes, this one can grow with age.

If you want to experience what California can do for pinot noir at a reasonable price, try this beauty. Spicy lead pencil nose and spicy, black cherry and cedar flavors in the mouth. Great length. Pleasing now, but should evolve well over the next two to three years.

Anytime you are in a tasting room, look for late harvest or ice wine bottles. Of course, you won't find ice wines out west. But tasting rooms harbor specialty wines you don't see very often in the rest of the country. I have to write about wine, whether you can find it or not. The winery, Cambria, is first class, in Santa Barbara County (California), and so is the vineyard where these grapes are sourced, Tepesquet. It's intense floral, orange and tropical on the nose. On the palate, it is thick and viscous, and the sweetness paints the whole mouth. Buried deep in the flavors are minerality and spice that trail through to the finish. And there is still enough acidity for structure. It's magnificent.

Dense, opulent, exotic, wild blackberry fruit and Asian spice. Layered streaks of black chocolate, minerals and tobacco. Grippy tannins and brisk acidity. Will age well. From 2012.

Stonestreet shows how richly complex mountain-grown fruit can be. This is a singular place to taste the truth as it applies to cabernet and chardonnay, and can be an interesting destination for sauvignon blanc as well. The 2008 is an inaugural vintage, grown at about 850 feet elevation and made with a roundness of texture and deep structure. Very little of it exists, so try it if you can, under the lovely umbrage of Black Mountain.

An enigma of a Chardonnay. The wine is young but its deep color, the integrated and subdued nature of its flavors and the rich honey and smoky notes on the nose and palate all suggest development. The Alexander Valley appellation would suggest a ripe, warm-climate style and the wines is in fact full-bodied and rich, with 14.5 percent alcohol. But the wine comes from grapes grown at 1500 feet altitude, and its acidity is fresh and enlivening. It's a California Chardonnay, but it has the understatement of the Old World. Soft, rich, long, caressing--a wonderful Chardonnay.

Ranked Number 13

A tasty zin with aromas and flavors of raspberry, dried cherry, vanilla and spice. Approachable. Balanced.