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.

Matanzas Creek Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 has a nose of cracked black pepper and loads of black cherry and cassis. It’s medium bodied and ready to be enjoyed now or cellared for a few years.

Its well-oaked, lightly leesy, ripe-melon aromas indicate a wine of size and substance, and such is precisely the case with this big, mouthfilling Sauvignon. For all of its very obvious extract, however, it has a harder, slightly citric toughness in the latter (quote not complete)

Spectacular, aromatic, balances lush fruit with taut structure. 3 stars, superb

Wines of the Week Winemaker Marcia Torres Forno expanded the scope of Sauvignon Blanc production at Matanzas Creek when she arrived in 2010. She blended in a dab of Semillon and used various styles of fermenters, including the concrete eggs mentioned above. Look for floral and herbaceous aromas with hints of citrus. The palate offers grapefruit, Asian pear and fig flavors.

Sauvignon Blanc ideal in the summer heat A number of good everyday values cost $20 and less. These tend to be lighter with the focus on varietal fruit. Choose among: ...2016 Matanzas Creek Sonoma County delightfully fresh, aromatic; ... and 2016 Matanzas Creek Alexander Valley wonderfully aromatic, flavorful.

Matanzas Creek in Santa Rosa has been making wine on what was once a dairy farm since 1997 (now under the Jackson Family group), and since 2010 winemaker Marcia Torres Forno has transformed the estate’s production of Sauvignon Blanc through new plantings and harvesting. They now make five different bottlings from the varietal—highly unusual for a California winery—and the result is a creamier, more refreshing example without the cloying punch-like flavors of so many others. I love this with grilled chicken and seafood during the summer, and it’s excellent paired with cheeses.

My Favorite Wines of 2018 Include Plenty That Are Remarkable Bargains Matanzas Creek in Santa Rosa has been making wine on what was once a dairy farm since 1997 (now under the Jackson Family group), and since 2010 winemaker Marcia Torres Forno has transformed the estate’s production of Sauvignon Blanc through new plantings and harvesting techniques. They now make five different bottlings from the varietal—highly unusual for a California winery—and the result is wines that are creamier and more refreshing without the cloying punch-like flavors of so many others. I love this with grilled chicken or seafood during the summer, and it’s excellent paired with cheeses.