Blended with cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot, this interesting merlot has plum and blackberry flavors and coffee, chocolate aromas.

Filled with black and red berries and stone fruits that have a smoky, grilled edge, this dramatic Cabernet based Bordeaux blend hails from several great vineyards, mainly Stagecoach, which is up on Atlas Peak. It drinks well now at the age of four-plus years, showing lush fruit that's just beginning to dry out and achieve bottle bouquet. Feels sweet and soft in the mouth. A compelling, complex and nuanced wine of great elegance and allure.

Superb, opulent, just wonderful. Hard to exaggerate the beauty of this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fantastically ripe and rich in black cherries, currants, sandalwood and spices, with a grounding streak of herbs. Beyond the flavors is the near-perfect structure, marked by smooth, complex tannins. Finishes sweet but completely dry, the paradox of a great wine.

Drier and earthier than many Napa cabs these days, this wine has subtle sage and sweet licorice that grounds its fruitier flavors of blackberries, cherries and raspberries. Very beautiful are the tannins, which are rich and pure, suggesting perfect ripeness. The small Bosche bottling has been a premier one for the winery for many years, and this '05 in one of the best in memory. Should age effortlessly for at least a dozen years.

Very spicy, floral, incense, chocolate, cherry, coffee, prune, briary, light barnyard aromas. Round, rich, elegant, supple, dry palate with good acidity and intensity. Chocolate, vanilla, black cherry, wild strawberry jam, spicy, celery salt, cooked carrot, mineral, briar flavours. Great intensity and fruit with food finesse for current drinking. Fine effort.

From the steep Sonoma slopes of Mount St. Helena comes this tannic, concentrated young 100% Cabernet. Dramatic in structure and flavor, with massively packed blackberries, dark chocolate and pain grillé. the wine was aged in 49% new oak, which adds smoky, spice overtones.

Beautifully soft and limpid. So pretty and polished now, with ultrafine tannins framing ripe, dry flavors of black and red cherries, currants, chocolate, herbs and smoky sandalwood. Dramatic and opulent, this 100% Cab was aged in 40% new French oak.

Marked by strong, dry tannins now, which lock it down and make it astringent through the finish. Yet beneath the toughness is plenty of ripe fruit, with waves of blackberries and black currants. Oak shows up as toast, and also contributes to the tannins. Nowhere near ready, this wine should begin to come into its own after 2011.

Cherry jam, barnyard, spicy, soy, celery, vanilla, cardamom, prune plum aromas. Ripe, round, rich, supple palate with good acidity balance. Smoky, spicy, savoury, celery salt, carrot, orange, cherry jam, plum and vanilla flavours with some tea leaf notes. A bit warm but there is delicious fruit and textures for current drinking. The biggest change here is the finesse and elegance this wine is developing as the vines age. The nose is ripe with bits of celery salt and soya and red fruit aromas mixed with dried herbs. The mid-palate is silky smooth and soft with delicious earthy, strawberry, spicy fruit flavours. It's still aged 10 months in 100 percent French oak but the new oak in the '07 edition is down to 43 percent that seems to be helping this pinot show better richness and complexity.

Doesn't have quite the sheer ravishing power of the winery's Trace Ridge Cabernet, but this Cab-based Bordeaux blend is nuanced and possibly more complex and Bordeaux-like. The flavors are of currants, blackberries, cherries, anise and cedar, aged in 78% new French oak.

Very savoury, celery salt, spicy, incense, plum, black cherry, great tea aromas. Rich, ripe, round, supple but very full palate, almost sweet. Tea leaf, spicy, celery salt, vanilla, raspberry, black cherry, light coffee, tobacco leaf and dried herb flavours.

Serious Cabernet, rich and complex and full bodied, made from Knights Valley and Alexander Valley fruit, with a few grapes from Atlas Peak and Mount Veeder. Dense and tannic now, but high toned, with waves of black currants, black cherries and oak. A good price for a Cabernet of this quality.

This wine's elegance is apparent when it's first poured, though the earthy fruit flavors remain elusive. A day of air brings its black currant brightness to the foreground, juicy and firm. Suited to a few years of age, this will smooth any grizzled edges off a grilled butterflied leg of lamb.

Smooth and spicy, a generous mouthful of pear, floral and lychee flavors wrapped in a polished frame. Drink now.

Clear to platinum in color, this wine has the scent of green-apple skin, a tight jacket surrounding plump fruit flavors. The fruit has the weight and gravity of a peach ready to fall from the tree - fully ripe rather than superripe. The acidity in the finish will wrap around grilled sea scallops.

A great representative of Australian Grenache, with flavors of black fruit, road tar and raspberry liqueur fading to a palate of brambly fruit, all of which is couched in mocha and vanilla tones from toasty French oak. There's a bit of raspberry jam and a faint grip on the medium finish. Drink now.

Bright and lush with racy acidity and ripe blackberry fruit and clean; tangy finish; long, dense and charming.

Medium ruby color, spicy red cherry aromas with some berry notes; rich, ripe berry and red cherry flavors, some oak and earthy notes; some tannin; good structure and balance; long finish. Earthy Pinot that's medium bodied and a good match for a dish featuring mushrooms.

A juicy, fruity Merlot, packed with fresh flavors of blackberries, cherries, red currants, licorice and cedar, and totally dry on the finish. The tannins are very fine. Shows lots of lush complexity for the price.

To be sure, this bottling is a worthy member in the K-J array with its aromas and flavors of ripe apple fruit and its buttered toast character.

Supple and peppery, with a spicy feel to the soft cherry and plum flavors, lingering easily. Drink now through 2013.

A solid Cabernet, dry and full bodied, that shows the structure and flavors of more expensive bottlings. Rich in blackberries, currants and cedar, with hints of coffee and toffee and a touch of new oak.

A Meritage-style blend based mainly on Cabernet and Merlot, grown in Mendocino, Sonoma and Napa counties. Slightly rustic in tannic structure, it has sleek flavors of berries, currants, charred oak and spices. A pretty good value for this sweetly charming wine.

Chocolate, red and black fruits and black olives with a floral lift – lavender and flowering basil perhaps. It’s firm and savoury, rather than sweet, with excellent shape and a lovely dry finish. Drinks beautifully and has a drier, more Euro food friendly feel than many locals. Impressed.

Not many producers are making pinot blanc because of its similarity to chardonnay, but done well it is a delightful grape variety for spring and summer consumption. This one is done well: lots of citrus and peach notes with crisp acidity.