A little brittle in texture and transparent in flavor, with cherry, cola, herb tea and spice. Fine and clean, but tends toward lightness. Call it elegant, and enjoy with roast salmon, grilled lamp chops.

This silky, plush Cab, which contains some Mendocino and Napa fruit, is ready to drink now. Dry and tannic, it has chicory and sage herb notes framing riper flavors of blackberries and cherries.

Longtime favorite. Pleasant and easy to drink. Quite mouthwatering, with tastes of real fruit, especially ripe tropical fruits.

Rich and full to smell with plum, chocolate, earth and spice leading on to an equally rich and full bodied palate with the same plum, chocolate and pepper/spice flavours. It’s warmish and quite sweet but pulls it off with aplomb (and possibly a plum). Good texture, a hearty drinkability and a surprisingly dry finish round off an excellent wine.

Merlot plus an almost equal portion of Cabernet Franc with a little Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec in this blend. show generous concentrated dark fruit, spice, coffee/caramel/mocha undertones with hints of damp earth and tar. It has a warm dusty plum, cassis and spice palate, and very fine-grained but big, defined tannins that will be even more approachable with time.

Named for proprietor Barbara Banke's eldest daughter, Cambria Katherine's Vineyard is both vineyard designated and estate-grown on the famed Santa Maria Bench, in Northern Santa Barbara County. The nose is an attractive mix of honey and baked apple fruits with a steak of lees and bits of spice melon and cinnamon. The entry is rich, but with good acidity and crisp pear fruit, and a creamy lees finish. Very sophisticated California chardonnay, with a touch of butter and alcohol in the finish. Drink or hold a year or 2. Great with spaghetti alie vongole.

The peachy 2006 Cambria Katherine's Vineyard is a great choice.

At the ripe age of 34, Peter Fraser has made wine in Spain, France, the United States, and Australia. His current project happens to be in this latter country, where he has been making wine for Yangarra since the inaugural harvest in 2000. At Yangarra, he focuses on Rhône varietals, which seem to thrive in the cooler part of McLaren Vale - and which already have made the young winery an icon in the region. The Yangarra Estate Vineyard 2005 High Sands Grenache, McLaren Vale is an extraordinary wine. Silky and rich with racy, jammy, spicy blackberry and blueberry fruit, it delivers pure, intense acidity and elegant flavors.

Plummy and juicy with dense tannins and rich structure; complex and lifted, built to age for decades; 90% Merlot, 5% cabernet sauvignon, 5% cabernet franc.

From the beginning of their careers as vintners, Jess Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke, understood that great wines are all about place. Having made the momentous decision in the early 1980s to give up their San Francisco law practices to pursue their dream of making wine, the couple searched the length of California for the very best Chardonnay vineyards they could find, and blended the resulting wines to create the award-winning Kendall-Jackson 1982 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay. In the course of acquiring and developing properties, Banke and Jackson identified several small mountainside vineyards, whose exceptional and distinctive fruit furnished the inspiration for an exclusive label, Lokoya, which produces only 100-percent mountain-grown, single-vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons. In the Lokoya 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder, winemaker Chris Carpenter has crafted one of the vintage's true treasures: a balanced, luxurious, stunningly textured composition of succulent blackberry, fragrant violets, roasted coffee, and cool, earthy minerality.

(50% cabernet franc, 39% merlot, 9% cabernet sauvignon and 2% malbec) Good medium ruby. Cherry, minerals and caramelized meat on the nose. Wonderfully lush, suave and fine-grained, with captivating flavors of dark berries, black cherry, gravel and lilac. Finishes with extremely fine tannins, superb grip and outstanding subtle persistence. This reminded me of a ripe vintage of Cheval Blanc.

Good medium ruby. Cherry, minerals and caramelized meat on the nose. Wonderfully lush, suave and fine-grained, with captivating flavors of dark berries, black cherry, gravel and lilac. Finishes with extremely fine tannins, superb grip and outstanding subtle persistence. This reminded me of a ripe vintage of Cheval Blanc.

From up on Mount Veeder comes this lush, dramatically complex Cabernet Sauvignon. It's really fine, with ripe, intricately layered tannins that give the wine a texture of dramatic importance, and luscious Cabernet flavors that change from sip to sip. Blackberries, currants, cherries, cedar, it's all there in this 100% varietal wine, a very great expression of Napa mountain Cab, and an ager as well.

(67% cabernet sauvignon, 12% merlot, 12% cabernet franc, 7% petit verdot and 2% malbec) Good bright ruby. Black cherry, minerals, musky Cuban tobacco and leather on the nose and palate, lifted by a minty nuance. Lush on entry, then concentrated, sweet and penetrating, with superb focus and sap to the middle palate. Wonderfully expressive even if still youthfully unevolved. Finishes with full but ripe tannins and a compelling combination of sweetness and energy.

Good bright ruby. Black cherry, minerals, musky Cuban tobacco and leather on the nose and palate, lifted by a minty nuance. Lush on entry, then concentrated, sweet and penetrating, with superb focus and sap to the middle palate. Wonderfully expressive even if still youthfully unevolved. Finishes with full but ripe tannins and a compelling combination of sweetness and energy.

Stature is K-J's top Cabernet-based Bordeaux blend, and can come from any of the winery's vineyards. The '03 hails from Atlas Peak, Mount Veeder and Knights Valley. The wine is immaculate and impeccable, with impressive black currant, cedar, pencil lead and smoky vanilla aromas and flavors that finish with a great deal of complexity and interest. So balanced, so lush, it just dazzles.

Good full ruby. Medicinal cassis, licorice, minerals and graphite on the nose; I would have placed this in St. Julien or Pauillac. Then large-scaled and sweet but with terrific grip and sappiness for a wine so plush. A real fruit bomb today, with outstanding depth and concentration of black cherry and dark berry flavors. Finishes with noble tannins and terrific peppery lift. As I tasted this wine, it crossed my mind once again that Pierre Seillan's top efforts under the Verite label are as good as just about any of California's cult wines-at about half the price.

Bright ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of cherry, coffee, red licorice and minerals. Suave and vibrant, with lovely lift and musky complexity to the juicy red fruit and mineral flavors. Powerful and deep but with superb elegance. Finishes youthfully tight and very long. A baby today. These 2005s were bottled in November of 2007.

(87.5% merlot, 10% cabernet franc and 2.5% malbec) Bright ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of cherry, coffee, red licorice and minerals. Suave and vibrant, with lovely lift and musky complexity to the juicy red fruit and mineral flavors. Powerful and deep but with superb elegance. Finishes youthfully tight and very long. A baby today. These 2005s were bottled in November of 2007.

An extraordinarily rich, complex and satisfying Syrah. It's massive in blackberry, pepper, cola, spice and smoky oak flavors. Yet for all the size, it never loses its sense of balance and elegance. This low production wine comes from the Los Alamos region of Santa Barbara, a likely future appellation in its own right.

Good full ruby. Black fruit aromas lifted by violet, pepper and fresh herbs. At once thick and weightless, with a high-toned quality and pungent minerality to the impressively concentrated medicinal blackberry and licorice flavors. This wonderfully silky blend finishes with tactile, broad tannins, compelling sweetness, and superb lingering black fruit perfume. This one will do some major damage in a tasting of top St. Emilion wines a decade hence.

Bright red. Strongly perfumed nose offers a sexy set of red and dark berry aromas, along with cinnamon, mace and dried rose. Juicy, sharply focused raspberry and blackberry flavors display impressive depth and vivacity. Silky tannins add support to the long, sappy finish. A drop-dead gorgeous pinot that's drinking wonderfully right now.

Bright, full ruby. Pungent, slightly raw aromas of black cherry, minerals, menthol, licorice and nutty oak. Then fat and sweet but closed; unusually backward for young merlot. Best today on the sweet, perfumed back end, which features building, tooth-dusting tannins.

Good full ruby-red. Musky aromas of dark cherry, coffee, tobacco and loam. Sweet, lush and fine-grained, with lovely elegance and life to the flavors of cherry and coffee. Harmonious acidity really extends and lifts the fruit on the back end, which features very suave tannins and outstanding persistence. This goes a step beyond the very good 2004. Jess Jackson notes that this site, on volcanic ash soil, ripens a full two weeks earlier than the Helena Dakota, which is planted on soil rich in iron and clay.

Good medium ruby. High-pitched aromas and flavors of black cherry, licorice and chocolate mint. Generous and tactile, with noteworthy energy and minerality and a restrained sweetness in the middle palate. This is uncommonly suave for a wine from mountain fruit. Finishes broad and long, with substantial fine, well-integrated tannins and excellent life and lift.