This venerable wine producer can be counted on to make a consistently solid merlot, which is not something many California winemakers can declare. The producer's Jackson Park Vineyard merlot ($60) shows the depth and character the producer can get from this grape, but the Sonoma County merlot is more affordable. Classic cherry and plum flavors with a dash of chocolate.

Merlot is often vegetal and pruney for our tastes, but this terrific version from Sonoma County reminds you of how good merlot can be. Loaded with rich fresh cherry and plum flavors, it has good character and balance. Very aromatic with black cherry and herbal notes. For what you get, it's a good price.

What makes the Journey a standout is this blend’s striking red raspberry note coupled with its supple texture. It’s weighted to red fruit, with a high-toned note of cranberry. Balanced. This is absolutely worth the price for those with the disposable income. 4½ stars.

Matanzas Creek Journey 2012 is dominated by dark chocolate flavors. It's framed nicely in the background by dark fruit flavors with tannins that grab on the finish.

Review of Matanzas Journey Red Blend & Chardonnay This is a rich and decadent red Bordeaux blend with a majority of Merlot. Flavors are intense with blackberry, black currant, and spice. It offers exotic aromas of black fig, black cherry, and chocolate. Incredible structure and a long length of finish. The wine has velvet tannin and high acidity, as well as complexity and a long length of finish. Even at nine years of age the wine is fresh and vibrant.

Matanzas Creek Knight’s Valley Merlot 2012 is bigger, riper and fuller bodied than the Jackson Park. Just 20 miles separates the two vineyards, but Knight’s valley has more red fruit than blue. It’s got chewy tannins and will get more impressive over the next 10 years.

This Merlot holds estate fruit as well as sourced grapes from several sites, creating a well-blended wine with tiny percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Aged in both French and American oak, the wine is balanced in cranberry and blackberry, with an herbaceous underbelly.

A seamless merlot with a great melding of flavors. Notes of black cherry fruit, herbs and spice. Bright acid. Nice length. Solid.

2010 Matanzas Creek Winery Merlot, Sonoma County: aromas and flavors of black cherries and dark chocolate, firm tannins; $28.

A plush red wine with well-integrated tannins. It has a seamless texture and deep, rich notes of cherry, black cherry, herbs and pepper. Worth the splurge.

This proprietary red wine is brought to you by the Matanzas Creek Winery and is made up of 88.6 percent cabernet sauvignon with the balance made up of merlot, malbec, and a dash of petite verdot. This big-bodied wine was aged in 63 percent new French oak for about a year and a half before release, and exhibits a complex nose and flavors of red and black currants, some herbal notes and a hint of licorice. This wine, although expensive, shows the care of the winemaker and is very full and pleasing.

This full-bodied merlot has a seamless texture and layered flavors. Notes of blackberry, herbs and pepper. Lingering finish.

2007 Matanzas Creek Winery Merlot, Bennett Valley: soft, ripe and lush, with aromas and flavors of black plums, anise and cinnamon.

This is one of the best premium merlots we have tasted in a long time. It is aromatic and generous in complex, rich flavors: thyme, cloves and licorice in the nose with blackberry, cassis and pepper notes on the palate. We love the mushroom, forest-floor character and the pure fruit flavors.

Matanzas Creek Winery uses 86 percent merlot and 14 percent cabernet sauvignon for, of course, its muscle.

A merlot with a deep core of blackberry, black plum, anise and pepper. Long finish.

Cherry with a mature oak nose. Lively cherry expression in the mouth with a long finish. A terrific wine that seems to add up to more than the sum of its parts.

The venerable Sonoma County producer continues to make outstanding merlot and this one won't let you down. The aromas range from thyme to clove and the concentrated flavors include blackberry, cherry and quince. Soft and approachable, it's a good wine for stews and wild game.

Cool breezes and coastal fog along with basalt soils (an ancient floor rock) are factors in Sonoma's Bennett Valley, home to Matanzas Creek Winery's 2004 Merlot. Herbes de Provence, a bit of smoke and dark black fruit permeate this full-bodied red.

Long on optimally ripened black-cherries and filled out with lots of creamy oak spice, this generous, very well-stuffed Merlot hits the varietal mark smartly both in terms of its fruity definition and its supple, slightly fleshy feel. It is firmed by a nice bit of integral tannin with nary a hint of toughness, and, while it requires little in the way of aging, it has the structure to keep for more than a few years.

Expect tannins of this youngster to round out with time in the bottle. For the impatient, it offers juicy pomegranate, black cherry and blackberry fruit, plus hints of pine, toast and tobacco. The lingering finish has refreshing acidity.

Very much in tune with its younger mate insofar as very rich oak and precise, black cherry fruit are concerned, this gutsy effort is neither as polished nor as easy on the palate despite its extra two years of age. It is still a bit austere at the finish, and its undisguised tannins could take a half-decade to resolve.

It looks and even tastes dark, with hints of tobacco and coffee and a kind of leathery toughness. Classy wine.