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.

Big, juicy, jammy red's full potential will be realized with rustic foods. Our wine of the week, Murphy-Goode 2007 Liar's Dice Zinfandel is big, juicy and jammy, with a warm sweetness buoyed by the heat and fat of nearly 15 percent alcohol. The wine's all black fruit and topsoil, with veins of black licorice and tannins that are broad and smooth in the middle and just a tad rough on the outermost edges of the palate. The wine's full potential will be reached with rustic foods, from a classic hamburger, meatloaf and spaghetti with meatballs to grilled pizzas and all manner of sausage, provided there is no chicken involved.

Nose of ripe strawberry and a bit of spice. Very smooth and harmonious in the mouth with no hard edges, just ripe fruit and a mouth-filing strawberry experience with a mineral note. A wonderful wine to drink by itself or with salmon and pork dishes. This was a favorite of several diners during a dinner.

Concentrated and muscular, with cassis, plum, graphite and chocolate notes. Firm tannins need time, yet it's fresh and focused.

The Jackson and Hartford families established this vineyard on the far Sonoma Coast in hopes of crafting Pinot Noir at the limits of its ability to ripen. The magnificent 2007 vintage has resulted in a wine of unusual tension. It's very ripe in black and red cherry pie filing and sweet oak flavors, but retains the acidity of it's cool-climate origins, and even offers a feral taste of bloody meat. Drink this impressive, complex wine now and through 2015.

A brilliant wine, massively sculpted and monumental, that shows how great this vineyard is. The wine shows densely concentrated flavors of blackberries and licorice, with the loveliest accent of sweet worn leather and rhubarb, flourished with the dusty spices that always characterize a fine Santa Maria Pinot Noir. Best now - 2013.

It's impossible to imagine this wine could have existed even five years ago, even though it hails from the extraordinary Nielson Vineyard that for many years has yielded Byron's best Pinot Noirs, as well as Chardonnays. The ripeness level is something only modern techniques could achieve, and the 2007 vintage was great. Ultra-rich in blackberries, cherries and dark chocolate, the wine retains a silky texture and is imposingly full-bodied. Drink now - 2013.

The vineyard is near Occidental, in the cooler southwestern part of the valley, and you can taste the fog and the sea and crisp nights in the acidity like biting into a Gravenstein apple. Yet this perfect vintage has resulted in perfect fruit. It's hard to imagine richer blackberry, cherry and licorice flavors. Impeccable and impressive, but young. Best in the narrow window of 2011-2013.

There's a sweet fruit and pasty quality to this wine that's reminiscent of a cherry tart, with its vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon and smoky buttery pie crust flavors. It's very delicious but also brilliantly structured as a wine, with fine tannins and a sunburst of citrusy acids. One of the best Carneros Pinots of the vintage. It will provide pleasurable drinking now-2013 at the least.

Planted to the Martini clone in the late 1980's, Arrendell sits in a cold spot in Green Valley, where restricted yields produce fruit with a wild berry character and foresty spice. This 2007 is rich and complete, the texture making it satisfying all the way through. Even so, the brightness of the fruit cuts through the wine's darker tones and leaves a mouthwatering impression. It's a boysenberry-cherry-earth combination that would be delicious with roast duck.

Cambria released a range of pinot noirs made from individual clones, some Dijon, some heritage clones from California. Clone 4, also known as the Pommard clone, is the original planting at Julia's Vineyard, with vines dating back to 1970. The plants have used that time to acclimate themselves to the cool benchlands of Santa Maria, producing a bright, spicy pinot noir with refreshing length of flavor. It's lovely and complete, a combination of red raspberry, bright strawberry and darker, savory hints of plum. Decant a bottle for duck rillettes.

Shows everything great about its vintage and terroir. It's a strong, young Pinot Noir, rich in tannins and dense in almost jammy blackberries, cherries and chocolaty cola that are delicious in and of themselves. As good as it is, this is a wine that wants some time to integrate and mellow. Give it until 2011, if you can.

Fat, fleshy and ripe, showing masses of blackberry nectar, smoky-sweet new oak, vanilla, cocoa and Asian spices that are delivered with pinpoint focus and depth. Crisp acidity gives it a fresh, clean feel. Flamboyant and impressive now for its sheer opulence, but Howell Mountain tannins give it the room to gain bottle complexity through at least 2018.

Shows the acidity and firm tannins of this fine vineyard, and also the incredibility ripe fruit of the 2007 vintage. The combination of the two makes for a wine to cellar. It's dry and full-bodied, with masses of blackberries, black cherries, cola, licorice and sandalwood. Good now, with decanting, with roast lamb, but should begin to develop bottle complexity after 2012.

Shows the ripe, California character of a fine Pinot Noir, with masses of black cherries, red currants and cola, and also the dusty spices of Santa Maria Valley. Tastes a bit direct and primary now, but elegant and dry. Nice with a perfectly grilled steak.