The '02 Stature is a 70/28/2 cabernet/merlot/petit verdot blend that is beginning to awaken. Stature is always the best-of-the-best fruit, meaning it is a vintage dependent, block-by-block pick. Love the coffee, leather, tobacco notes as they mix with the spicy, blackberry jam, clove and cedar aspects. On the palate, the wine is rich, round, supple and concentrated. It has fine density to the corners, with smoky, vanilla, coffee, peppery, blackberry jam, black cherry, clove, olive, cardamom flavours, with a warm, long finish. It's beginning to shape up, but with its finesse and length, it has fine potential to age through 2015. Well done.

This is the first releases from the vineyard, Jackson Family Farms planted on several ridges in Annapolis, just inland from Peay. Fine oak (all French, 60 percent of it new) contributes to the grand cru beauty of the wine, enhancing the power of the fruit - tart cherry and pomegranate that start our transparent and grow more vibrant and lush as the flavors expand into the finish. It's a wine of considerable ripeness and intensity that's focused on harmony and grace. For crisp roast duck.

2004 Toscana Arcanum I Arceno is Jess Jackson's estate in Chianti Classico, just north of Siena. Pierre Seillan blends several wines from the property; Arcanum I, which is focused on cabernet franc (59 %), with cabernet sauvignon and merlot, is consistently the best. This wine glows in the glass, its aroma pure black currant, sweet and fresh. It has the class of finely grown cabernet franc, with tannins that speaks more of Tuscan earth than fruit. Robust in weight, yet silky smooth, this combines the best of the old and New worlds in a supple, luscious red wine. Probably best around ten years from the vintage. Serve with grilled baby lamb chops.

Stackhouse makes this wine from an estate vineyard just outside Navarro and another, near Philo, under long-term contract. There's laserlike focus in the foresty, wild fruit, a dark flavor that brings huckleberries to mind. The depth in the aroma continues on through the finish, where a hint of seaweed and tangerine-like acidity point up the freshness in this mouthwatering red. For bone-in pork chops roasted with hedgehog mushrooms.

Alisos is cool-climate syrah that is 100 percent grown at Los Alamos in Santa Barbara County. Look for an intense red wine, with smoky, floral, peppery red fruit aromas and flavours. On the palate, the wine is meaty, with black raspberry, cherry cola flavours. The attack is round, the textures dense, almost beefy, with super ripe fruit. Alisos is becoming consistently good, year in and year out.

Hawkeye Mountain is the spectacular signature KJ property on Alexander Mountain...The 2005 is easily the best yet, bathed in spicy black cherry, and tobacco scented fruit flecked with green olive, licorice and cassis. Clone 4 and 7 cabernets, grown on steep hillsides and terraces, provide a firm structure for this red wine to live a long life. Impressive and savoury, made from small clusters of small berries, sitting well above the valley floor at 900-2,200 feet elevation. Buy and cellar for 5 to 7 years and beyond.

Block M is 100 percent clone 4 chardonnay and it delivers on all levels. Sophisticated, rich, elegant and packed full of floral, pineapple, citrus, buttery fruit, with flecks of orange and spice. Fresh toasted bread mixes with a creamy mid-palate and a long smouldering finish. Excellent finesse and length in a 100 percent barrel-fermented (French) oak that is 3-quarters new. Kendall-Jackson is buying and aging its oak before barrel assembly and it shows in the quality of the wine.

The latest Seco Highlands pinot is another jump up in finesse and elegance. There is also more black cherry fruit this year, and a little less of the spicy, carrot top and rhubarb flavours. Fine mid-palate weight, with smoky black fruit in the finish. Refined textures. It is aged 10 months in 100 percent French oak and 50 percent of that is new. Impressive.

When the pinot geeks trashed merlot in the movie Sideways, it wasn't the Taylor Peaks of the world they had in mind. This 100 percent Bennett Valley red is as good as Sonoma Mountain merlot gets. The powerful, mouth-filling red spends 13 months in 46 percent new French oak. The result is a sophisticated mix of cool blueberry fruit flavours flecked with licorice, tobacco and exotic bits of orange peel. Impressive Right Bank Bordeaux-styling, with plenty of fine-grained tannins to take it the distance. Cellar through 2015.

This has become a mostly Sonoma blend (87) with a dash of fruit from Mendocino (8) and Napa (5). Big, boisterous and flavourful, this is full on California cabernet. Somewhat reminiscent of the 1997, with its spicy, earthy blackberry fruit and beautiful mid-palate textures Dense, round and showing well now, this should only get better with time. Chosen from only 1.5 percent of all the KJ cab lots.

More and more French oak (now 85 percent but only 23 percent new) has really helped to shape the new style of this wine that, while ripe and full-flavoured, is eminently more suited to food. Look for a bright core of plummy, black cherry fruit and mocha notes, with warm cedar, violet and tobacco undercurrents. Highly polished fruit from some impressive sites in Sonoma (85) and Napa (15). Well done.

Floral rose scents give an impression of delicacy to the light, firm structure of this wine. The tannins have the character of green tea, broadening with air. The transparent cherry flavor will meld with salmon and wild mushrooms.

The latest GR chardonnay is delicious. The fruit split is mostly settled in at 55/45 between Monterey and Santa Barbara, but still only represents a miniscule 3 percent of total chardonnay that comes off all Jackson estates. Rich open, leesy nose, with fresh red apple fruit drizzled with honey. Sumptuous styling, with plenty of tropical fruit flavours including peach, mango pineapple and more. The finish is rich without clinging, finishing with bits of mineral and fine acidity. Very impressive effort.

Tobacco and pipe resin scents meld with the vinous cherry flavors of this pinot. It's generous and richly oaked; built for roast duck with cherries.

The '06 has the slightest whiff of lees on the nose that serves to lift the VR out of the realm of the ordinary. Clearly cool fruit, with a tropical bent, 90 percent of the blend is barrel-fermented for 5 months and 61 percent of that ferment occurs in French oak. A treat to sip and packed with honey, melon, pineapple and mineral fruit, and just a hint of butterscotch in the finish - it doesn't get much better than this for $20. Elegant, stylish, modern California chardonnay sourced from 100 percent coastal fruit from Santa Barbara (42), Monterey (38) and Mendocino (8) counties.

The nose is pinot, with an appealing smoky, black cherry aroma and bits of steeped tea. The mid-palate is rich and round, with more smoky black fruit and fine structure. Winemaker Randy Ullom adds a dash of syrah to the blend to bolster the mid-palate and add some complexity, and it seems to work just fine. Much like the previous version, this is well-managed, cool style pinot sourced from Monterey, Santa Barbara, Mendocino, Sonoma and Napa counties. Impressive for the price.

Well done in '05, with that appealing KJ styling sitting over a ripe, smoky, peppery syrah, with just a hint of meaty, gamey notes. The palate is round and supple, with tasty vanilla, black cherry, licorice root and coffee flavours. Impressive dry, black fruit flavours run through the finish. It's 92 percent syrah with bits of carignane, grenache and petite sirah. With 72 percent French oak and climbing, and all-estate fruit, it is well on the way to stardom.

Winemaster Randy Ullom continues to shape the VR sauvignon into a more food-friendly, fresh-style sauvignon, and the '06 is the best yet. Now 99 percent sauvignon, the aromatics are bright and lifted with a cool, super clean nose of citrus, lime rind and tropical fruit aromas. On the palate, the flavours vacillate between tropical and cool nectarine skin. The fruit is predominately Lake County (82 percent), with bits of fruit from San Luis Obispo (7), Sonoma (7) and Mendocino (3). Revamped and ready to go.

The first release in Canada of the Meritage comes with bits of olive, Band-Aid, spicy, earthy, tobacco, cassis and a slightly leafy, resin nose. Round, dry, slightly tight and hollow, with light tannins and some alcohol. Smoky, spicy, cassis, peppery, chocolate, resin, black olive flavours, with a bit of tobacco and coriander on the finish...

A true North Coast cabernet, with a rich spicy nose mixing cassis and vanilla aromas with flecks of leather, olive and spice. Dry, round, lean on entry, with more peppery, black olive, black currant fruit and vanilla flavours...

Moderate notes of cassis with lesser glimmers oaky spice and dried brush make the early going in the full-bodied bottling. It is supple and reasonably in balance at the front of the palate before drifting into slightly coarse tannins at the back. It would be enjoyable now with beef steaks and roasts and can age a bit as well.

...here are my favorites...the fruity, firm and finely balanced Kendall-Jackson 2006 Vintner's Reserve California Riesling...

Deep into the tasting, we finally had a second wine that rated Very Good. Fresh, clean and crisp, with good balance, good acidity, ample fruit and earth. This turned out to be Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve 2005.

Best of tasting. Dark and earthy, quite ripe yet restrained with blackberry fruit. Good structure, with mouthcoating chocolate and cinnamon and a nicely dry finish. Could age. We like the 2005 just as much.

Intense aromas of pear, grapefruit, peach and lots of citrus, such as tangerine, lemon and grapefruit. It is fun and refreshing with a note of hazelnut.