Plum jam, spicy, licorice, savoury, meaty, saddle leather, peppery, vanilla, black olive aromas. Round, supple, full, long palate with good acidity and some gritty, youthful tannins. Coffee, chocolate, spicy, clove, Christmas cake, orange, black cherry, plum, carrot and licorice flavours with a touch of green olive and tobacco leaf on the finish. Great concentration and ripeness with length if abit warm. Needs 3-7 years to fully integrate but very fine.

Spicy, peppery, cassis, black berry, sappy, leather, tobacco, smoky, plum, barnyard, coffee aromas. Dry, full, round, warm palate with grainy tannins but good finesse. Chocolate, tobacco, cassis, peppery, vanilla, leather, plum, resin, green bean, black olive flavours. Long, tight, warm palate with some tannins to shed. Needs 5+ years to come around.

Coffee, chocolate, spicy, meaty, saddle leather, vanilla, black cherry, plum, tobacco, floral and licorice aromas. Rich, round, full palate with fresh acidity, some youthful, grainy tannin but good finesse. Orange, black cherry, licorice, vanilla, plum, chocolate, spicy, clove flavours. Good length but tight with great acidity and fresh fruit characters. Needs 5-7 years but will drink well before with its fruit intensity.

Very spicy, licorice, plum jam, coriander, black olive, orange, floral, vanilla, savoury, peppery, cherry aromas. Rich, round, full, vibrant palate with good acidity and concentration and grainy but supple tannins. Vanilla, chocolate, orange, black olive, peppery, licorice, clove, spicy, meaty, savoury flavours with bright plum and cherry fruit. Long, full and intense, has very good aging potential, keep for 7-15 years.

Peppery, meaty, saddle leather, floral, black pepper, licorice, black cherry jam, plum and tobacco aromas. Ripe, round, supple and grainy with good concentration and acidity. Black cherry, plum, meaty, tobacco, licorice, black pepper, black olive, vanilla and carrot top flavours. A bit astringent and youthful but has good vibrancy. Needs 3-5 years for best showing.

Big licorice, tobacco, spicy, peppery, orange, saddle leather, meaty, coffee, savoury, chocolate, mineral aromas. Round, dry, rich and supple but has some youthful, tight tannins. Black olive, licorice, coffee, vanilla, carrot, orange, plum, black cherry and resin flavours with a peppery, clove finish. Good acidity, length and potential, needs 5-7 years.

Arcanum I is cabernet franc based (75 per cent) with 25 per cent merlot. Look for a smoky, rooty, tobacco, black olive, black cherry nose with flecks of vanilla and cranberries. The entry is round and elegant but the palate is rich and full. Chocolate, coffee, black olive, tobacco leaf, peppery, cranberry, cherry, mineral, vanilla flavours with a savoury, roast beef note. It has fine acidity that will allow it to age a further three to five years to you can drink it now with roasted meats.

Spicy, floral, vanilla, tobacco leaf, black olive, peppery, cherry, cranberry aromas. Round, supple, dry, smooth palate with good concentration. Very spicy, clove, licorice, vanilla, meaty, tobacco, cranberry, cherry jam, carrot top, black olive flavours with a touch of orange peel on the finish. Good finesse and acidity, needs 3-5 years to fully integrate. Solid value from St. Émilion.

Open spicy, black pepper, leather, meaty, floral, smoky, tobacco, black olive aromas. Round, ripe, supple, grainy tannins with good mineral acidity. Spicy, black cherry, plum, peppery, leather, licorice root, smoky, meaty, black olive flavours. Good fruit with bright sangiovese expression and length, will age well for 3-7 years. Well done.

Winemaker Pierre Seillan uses the term PrimaVoce, as in the leading voice in an opera company, to describe this mini-super-Tuscan blend that mixes 85 per cent merlot with 15 per cent cabernet sauvignon. Look for a meaty, saddle leather, smoky, tobacco, cherry, earthy, black olive nose. A supple, full palate with good acidity and slightly chewy tannins. The flavours mix dried cherries, prunes and plums with spicy, floral, tobacco, smoky, mineral, leather and chocolate flavours. The finish is a bit on the earthy side but with finesse. Drink now or over the next 2-3 years.

Shows off distinct pepper, nutmeg and blackberry flavors that are full-blown, with hints of espresso and blueberry on the finish. This has firm, integrated tannins. Drink now through 2013.

Red wines $20 and over. Recommended and tasted, but no tasting note given.

This is one of the stunning array of vineyard designated Pinot Noir from the Santa Maria Valley that Byron made in 2006. The vineyard, planted in 1974, contains a healthy proportion of mature vines that contribute to this wine's complexity and depth. Ripe black fruit flavors and succulent, not overdone, and complemented by savory, herbal notes. Despite the 14.6% stated alcohol, it's not heavy or overdone, showing you cannot judge wine solely by the numbers. Its wonderful balance and complexity persists into the long finish because of uplifting black cherry-like acidity. Not a Burgundy wannabe, it's a great Pinot Noir from California.

This is the best Pinot Noir at this price on the market. Easily. It's picture-perfect cool climate, absolutely dry and silky, with complex flavors of cherries, Mandarin orange, cola, pomegranates, licorice and cinnamon spice, made even richer by smoky oak. Just lovely, and gets even better as it breathes in the glass.

Old vines really do matter. This wine was made from fruit grown on the original 14 rows of the Nielson vineyard that were planted in 1964 (the remainder of the vineyard was planted later). It shows an incredible complexity-nuances of flavor that pour over the palate-that only old vine fruit delivers. It has a lush creaminess intertwined with hints of apple and pear-like notes. Tasted side-by-side with Byron's regular Nielson Chardonnay-a very good wine in its own right-the Historic vines bottling is not bigger, it just has an extra dimension with great length and vibrancy. An excellent buy.

Bring on the grilled salmon, ahi tuna, pork chops and smoked country ham. This gorgeous Pinot will let them shine in a supportive way, not overwhelm them. Dry, crisp and elegantly silky, it shows complex flavors of cherries, cola, rhubarb, licorice and beef jerky that finish in a swirl of dusty spice. Best now and through 2010.

Delivers lots of bang for the buck. Built like a fine French Burgundy, it's rich and intricate in smoky-oak infused tropical fruit, fig and Asian spice flavors that have an undercurent of stony minerals. Really impressive for this price.

The Nielson Vineyard, Santa Barbara's first commercial vineyard, is an excellent locale for Pinot Noir. This Pinot Noir has unusual complexity-old vines speaking-with both sweet, ripe cherry-like fruit notes and savory elements, even a hint of black pepper. Good acidity means it's vibrant, not heavy. A touch of heat-no doubt from the 14.4% stated alcohol-in the finish detracts from an otherwise outstanding Pinot Noir,

Matanzas has created a California Sauvignon Blanc with personality and class. French-born winemaker Francois Cordesse blended 21% of the juice in fine-grained French oak barrels and the remainder in stainless steel tanks then aged the final blend for three months in French oak. The result is a perfumed nose showing slightly muted signs of citrus zest, mineral and underlying spicy muscat. The complex flavors reflect the aromatics, with added pepper and toasted oak. Smooth and rounded, this tasteful wine finishes with class and plenty of fruit and no heat despite the 13.5% alcohol.

This is an unusually appealing California Pinot, which has atypical finesse and elegance for a Golden State Pinot. Winemaker Ivan Giotenov attributes this in part to the unique vineyard site, which he describes as 'A paradise for growing grapes' (the grapes for this Pinot came from a rocky 4-acre patch in the heart of the 1100 acre vineyard). The wine is relatively full-bodied and complex, with distinct red plum and blackberry flavors, and smooth, velvety tannins on the finish.

This zin ripened to lush blackberry and fig flavors. It's enriched by oak, smooth and supple, delicious sweet. Catch it as a young wine with roast squab or other game birds.

This may be the first time I've ever thought of a wine in terms of ballet, but as I tasted this Chardonnay I began to think that both need certain things to achieve success. Balance is vital, of course, to the wine and dance (we don't want the ballerina toppling off her toes, or the wine thrown off kilter by oak and/or alcohol). Complexity is likewise important (whether in choreography or flavor profile) and, ideally, passion will be showing through as well as basic skill. The Carmel Road Chardonnay succeeds on all counts: luscious fruit is well balanced between oak and the minerality that often characterizes this region's Chardonnay; the alcohol is well integrated into the body of the wine; the texture is full and lush without being heavy (weighty wines often appeal for a short time, but eventually fatigue the palate). All in all, I'd say this wine deserves a standing ovation.

'Tepusquet' is based on an old Chumash Indian name that means (roughly) 'copper coins' a reference to the copperish colored stones on the vineyard site. Curiously, the wine does have a slightly stony/minerally nuance underlying its charming floral notes. After crush, the juice was barrel fermented in one-and-two-year-old French oak, but happily the wine's brush will wood does not seem to have taken anything away from that bright, freshness one hopes for with Viognier.

One of the most alluring things about this wine is a balanced richness that bursts onto the midpalate. Many California Chardonnays are surprisingly difficult to pair with food (they are often too fruity, too oaky, too buttery, too alcoholic-or all of the above), but this one has just the right equilibrium to pair well with a variety of foods, especially something along the lines of cream-based pastas or soups (I had it recently with a grilled sandwich of Morbier cheese and sliced pear-a terrific partnering).

A beautiful Chardonnay, with a chalky minerality that anchors and braces ripe fruit flavors of Bosc pears and pineapples, subtlely accented with a new smoky oak. Bone dry, this polished wine shows lots of finesse and complexity.