Its ripeness and slightly candied Maraschino cherry sweetness set the early pace here, but there is also an underlying racy quality that comes on strong and finishes with a rush that brings things back into balance. Along the route, flesh and suppleness keep up with one another while confident tannins wait in reserve.

With 88 percent French oak and 33 percent of that new, the GR Merlot is evolving into a pretty serious red wine. It's still true to the GR style, glossy but with some subtleties creeping in the mid-palate and back end. Look for a ripe fruit nose flecked with cedar and dried herbs. The flavours are a spicy mix of plums, coffee and tobacco, with a dusting of minerality and floral notes. A rich, glossy style, with some tannin yet to shed.

The Grand Reserve is now mostly a Sonoma blend and it remains a big, glossy, sexy version of this classic California. Look for ripe, toasted black fruits and blueberry, with soft round mid-palate textures more like the '04 and a mocha cedar finish. After all is said and done, the GR cab is made from only 1.5 percent of all KJ cab lots. The '06 contains 95 percent plus cabernet aged in 90 percent French oak, of which about one-third is new. Classic, generous New World-style red. Good value at this price point.

Always hedonistic and unabashedly Californian, the GR is a delicious chardonnay that starts in the vineyard. The fruit split is mostly 50/50 between Monterey (rich and thick from Hacienda and more florals from Clark) and Santa Barbara (full-blown tropical) yet the GR only represents a miniscule 3 percent of all the chardonnay that comes off the Jackson estates. Rich, open, nutty leesy nose, with ripe pear, mango, floral overtones. The styling is sexy and full-blown, with fairly fat, oily, tropical fruit with firm underlying acidity and florality. A rich California chardonnay flecked with bits of mineral and red apple skin. Very appealing in a new world way.

Now firmly a tri-county blend of mountain, hillside and bench fruit from Sonoma (61), Napa (23) and Mendocino (16) counties. Wow! How delicious is this edition? Expect dark fruit colours and flavours streaked with plums, cedar, cherry and spice, with a smooth chassis. Structurally correct and full, with a smoky, black fruit finish and rounded, fine-grained tannins. This should settle the Sideways merlot issue for good. Well done.

Amazingly, this 2.3-million case brand is 100 percent estate grown. The '07 is 92 percent barrel-fermented and the integration of the oak and the creamy textures are the best yet for winemaker Randy Ullom, who likes the vintage and feels the minerality is coming to the forefront thanks to going 100 percent estate and effectively eliminating any dodgy lots. Lots of tropical fruit and green apple, with honey, cream and minerality flecked with orange. Love the creamy textures from the vanillin in the French and American oak. Elegant, modern California chardonnay sourced from 100 percent coastal fruit from Santa Barbara (46), Monterey (39) and Mendocino (9) counties.

Similar to the previous version, this 52/32/16 blend of Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino fruit is dry and reserved, with flecks of spice resin and olives. Again tighter and drier than the merlot, with lean peppery, blackcurrant fruit. Solid.

The 2005 Grand Reserve Meritage is lush and layered, and has such purity of fruit.

The K-J Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay -- it's iconic in its price category.

Price is always a factor in choosing wine. ...some good and widely available values are made. Try Kendall-Jackson's 2007 Vintner's Reserve.

If never less than aggressively ripe in character and always on the verge of being a little too hot, this mouthfilling Zin is charged with plenty of well-defined fruit and is surprisingly well-balanced for the very big wine that it is. It is firmed by lots of fruity acidity and stays bright and lively even as its alcohol flares just a bit at the finish. It will need pairing with appropriately rich foods, and its overall structure suggests that it will improve for several years.

Cambria winemaker, Denise Shurtleff has certainly done an admirable job with her wine. It's bright and spicy, with cherry and rhubarb, firm structure, a subtle herbal note and good concentration.

This Chard is California distilled. It's big, oak-laced and tropical, and finishes buttery. It's baked apple, mango, melon and honeysuckle on the nose - notes that are all mirrored on the palate and finish. This wine is not for newbies. It takes a palate that can appreciate the legacy of these vines and accept the French oak and malolactic fermentation. It's sensational for fans of this style. Pair it with something powerful: Try it as a foil to rich shellfish, juicy pork, or wild game.

The fruit of the 2007 La Crema Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is cherries jubilee, propped up by alcohol and smooth, creamy tannins.

The 2007 La Crema Anderson Valley Pinot Noir is indeed pretty and feminine, and has tannins like silk.

The chardonnay is baked apple, baked pear, a little shortbread. Not flabby.

That's my favorite chardonnay --it's driven by lemon zest, minerality and a stony, minerally finish. It's my favorite Chard of the bunch, too--you want to think Burgundy, though you know it's California fruit in the heart of that river of midpalate flavors. The 2007 is La Crema's first Los Carneros Chardonnay.

Think lime zest, fresh green apples and honeysuckle with the 2007 La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

Bright ruby-red. High-pitched, vibrant aromas of cassis, flowers and licorice. The palate offers terrific sappy cut and intensity, with powerful, mouthcoating flavors of cassis, violet, lavender, minerals, spices and crushed rock. This very young wine is most impressive of all today on the booster rocket of a finish, which stains the palate with flavor. This wonderfully deep and concentrated wine has fruit of steel and seems destined for a glorious evolution in bottle. As good as Napa's best cult wines at a fraction the price.

Saturated bright ruby-red. Cassis, blueberry and exotic tropical chocolate on the nose. Dense, sweet and extremely primary, with outstanding depth to the dark fruit, mineral and chocolate flavors. Wonderfully silky for such a young and fresh wine. The resounding, perfumed finish features perfectly distributed tannins and superb length. I'd love to show this merlot-based blend to some producers in Pomerol.

Bright ruby-red. Black fruits, licorice and cedar on the nose. Broad and round but backward, with a distinctly medicinal reserve to the flavors of black fruits, menthol and smoke. The middle palate is currently dominated by the wine's spine and yet the very long finish is lush and sweet. The least obviously minerally of these three 2006s today, but offers great potential.

It's been a pleasure to taste through Byron's 2006 Pinots, because they show that this winery hasn't lost the magic tough after all these years. This bottling, a barrel select from their best vineyards, is magnificent. Fully drinkable now for its lush berry-cherry and cedar flavors, it has rich Santa Maria spicy tannins that enable it to age effortlessly for up to a decade.

Full, saturated ruby. Superripe, almost liqueur-like aromas and flavors of black fruits, violet and dark chocolate. Wonderfully lush and dense, combining the firmness of its 44% cabernet franc component, with the broad, violety thickness of its 44% merlot. Spreads out to saturate the palate on the very ripe, classically dry back end, where the tannins melt into the wine. This has the highest pH of these 2007s but is still a moderate 3.71.

Voluptuous, with a buttercreamy texture housing ripe fruit flavors of pineapples, Meyer lemon pie filling, ripe kiwis and pears, enriched with the caramel, custard and smoke of new oak and lees. Cool coastal acidity provides a clean, tart balance. This is a delicious, upscale Chardonnay.