This is a great expression of what winemaker Randy Ullom calls the Santa Maria Bench. Full malolactic fermentation has softened the wine, while barrel fermentation adds to the honeyed, creamy texture. Yet there's enough acidity to balance the lush tropical fruit-pie filling, kumquat, pineapple, apricot, vanilla custard and buttered toast richness.

Saturated ruby. Super rich aromas of blackberry, flowers and toasty oak, along with some almost porty black cherry and chocolate notes. Fat, chewy, and very deep, but with excellent vinosity framing the black cherry and spicy oak flavors. Finishes very sweet and long, with noble, dusty, fine-grained tannins. I love the sugar/acid balance here.

A beautifully crisp Pinot, dry and silky and loaded with ripe cherry, raspberry, cola and Asian spice flavors. Tastes so opulent in fruit, yet has a subtle complexity leading to a long, spicy finish. This Pinot, from one of Monterey County's top growing areas, is a sommelier's dream.

Deep, bright ruby. Crushed blackberry, violet and bitter chocolate on the nose. Suave on entry, then lush, broad, dry and light on its feet. With its very fine-grained texture this is more elegant than the richer 2005. Finishes with big, building tannins and excellent snap.

Starts off with vanilla and black cherry scents, with just a sprinkling of dried herbs. This blend of 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc is creamy and supple through the mocha-tinged midpalate, then finishes crisper than expected, with some dusty tannins. Drink 2008-2015.

Black from start to finish, this shows more oak influence in its flavor (coffee and chocolate) than any direct fruit character. Mostly about texture-soft, round, full and rich-it's easy to enjoy.

With a little Merlot and Petit Verdot, this is a softly lush, opulent Cab. It shows the intensity of the fruit that comes from mountain viticulture, with concentrated cherry, blackberry and mocha-cola flavors, layered with one-third new French oak. The tannins are rich and refined.

A rewarding Merlot; polished, supple and dry, that floods the mouth with cherry, blackberry and black raspberry flavors, and a coating of toasty oak. This is really a finely balanced, elegant wine.

Big, rich and opulent, filled with tropical fruit, lemon mousse, vanilla cream and buttered toast flavors. Really viscous, a soft, honeyed wine of power and charm. Firm acidity balances the richness.

Saturated ruby. Aromas of blackberry, cassis, licorice, graphite, bitter chocolate and smoky oak. Juicy minerality and firmly built, with lively acids leavening its sweetness. But this has excellent flavor intensity, and the dusty tannins avoid dryness.

Costs a buck or two more than it used to, but the quality of VR has risen, as the winery's grape sources are entirely from estate coastal grapes. This Cab is very ripe and soft, with lavish cherry, cassis and chocolate flavors. The finish is dry and clean.

Deep medium ruby. Deep aromas of black fruits, game and smoke. In a rounder style than the Lassegue, with musky black raspberry and game flavors showing good intensity but less flesh and density than the estate's flagship cuvee. But this offers good mouth coverage, even if the broad tannins are a bit less successfully buffered. This should offer earlier drinkability even if it comes off as a bit muscular today. Seillan ferments this in stainless steel, giving it a gentler vinification, with less post-fermentation maceration to respect the fruit.

Dark and soft, this Syrah has an enormous depth of fruit. The cherry liqueur and pie filling, mocha, cola, plum and gingerbread flavors finish dry...

This 60-40 blend is oddly perfumed, almost like a hand lotion or petroleum jelly, but its bouquet also features likeable hints of melon and citrus. It's truly dry and more Provençal in style than most Australian rosés, finishing with some chalky minerality

An appealing syrah with good balance. Complex, with notes of toast, leather and black pepper. Nice Oak.

The 2004 Merlot is, as expected, softer but still full-flavored.

The inaugural 2003 Meritage, which blends cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc, is surprisingly complex.

The 2006 Sauvignon Blanc is racy with grapefruit, lime and melon.

This is an inexpensive, easy way to find out why people go nuts over Zinfandel. K-J's 05 Zin is an exotic perfume of cherries, raspberries, chocolate and white pepper, followed by ripe, fruity, spicy flavors and dusty tannins, and a finish that coats the throat.

The name primavoce refers to the leading voice in opera. There is a lot of power packed into this very reasonably priced wine. A red table wine from Tuscany that is a somewhat nontraditional blend of 57 percent merlot, 22 percent cabernet sauvignon, 13 percent sangiovese and 8 percent syrah. Vinified from fully ripe fruit that tastes of bold cassis and cherry flavors, and aged for 10 months in French oak. A pleasure to drink, this wine will pair well with heavier styled winter fare such as stews and meat/game dishes.

(50% merlot, 47% cabernet franc and 3% cabernet sauvignon) Deep, bright ruby-red. Complex, spicy nose melds currant, black cherry, licorice, iron and flinty minerality. Suave, sharply delineated and deep, with a terrific core of spice to the classy, perfumed fruit. This boasts stunning inner-mouth aromatic character and a wonderfully subtle sweetness. The noble, fine-grained tannins complement the wine's slow-mounting, extremely long finishing flavors. This should be spectacular with four or five years of bottle aging.