Bright ruby. Vibrant, mineral-accented red currant and cherry aromas, with a gentle licorice tone. Darker on the palate, with cassis and bitter cherry flavors, dusty tannins and firm grip. This has old-school texture and restraint.

Inky ruby. Energetic, minerally raspberry and cherry nose, with a subtle licorice accent. Bright red berry flavors are firmed by fine-grained tannins, with the finish showing a refreshing mineral lift. An elegant, understated style that should work well with food.

Ruby-red. Very Old World on the nose, showing bright redcurrant and cherry qualities complemented by a gentle cedar tone. The bright red fruit flavors have firm structural support, although the tannins remain gentle. Good energy on the finish.

Light straw. Intensely perfumed nose offers energetic citrus, floral and spice scents underscored by zesty minerality. Brisk, focused grapefruit and lime flavors carry through a pleasingly bitter finish. One of the better examples of this bottling I've drunk in recent years.

Light gold. Dense and ripe on the nose, offering powerful pear skin, yellow plum and blonde tobacco aromas. An intriguing cherry pit quality emerges with air, adding a sense of depth. Intensely flavored but light in weight, with precise orchard fruit flavors, a gentle acid lift and a note of woodsmoke. Finishes with bright minerality and good length.

Ruby-red. Subdued, reticent aromas of cassis, licorice, minerals and musky dark chocolate. Broad, large-scaled and dry but less filled in than the Dakota and showing less personality today. There's good material here but today the wine's substantial tannins cut off the fruit. And this wine was slightly de-acidified, noted co-owner Barbara Banke.

Ruby-red. Ripe, smoky scents of deep blackberry and plum complemented by suave oak spice. Weighty and round, the dark fruit flavors lifted by soft acidity and firmed by gentle tannins. Finishes sweet, with good length.

Pale straw. Restrained, mineral-accented citrus aromas are fresh and focused. I'd have called this riesling, such is its elegance and understatement. Precise lemon and pear flavors show the slightest hint of rose. Finishes gently spicy and persistent.

Light gold. Fresh melon and peach scents accented by bright minerality. Lush and expansive, with ripe honeydew and nectarine flavors, chewy texture and a hint of baking spices. Clean citrus and melon tones linger on the finish.

Pale yellow. Spicy and buttery on the nose, with a light hint of brioche deepening fresh citrus and apple aromas. Clean and brisk, with bright green apple and salty mineral flavors. Finishes with rather taut, nicely focused citrus tones and a hint of toasty oak. This is refreshing enough to serve by itself.

Clean, fairly direct in fruit and showing scattered hints of honey throughout, this medium-sweet wine is rounded in feel and easy on the palate, and it is kept alive by just enough balancing acidity. It will make for fine quaffing as the weather warms, and the price is right.

Here's a nice alternative to Cabernet in a full-bodied red wine at this price range. It's completely friendly, from the first taste of cherries and chocolate to the softly gentle texture and all the way through the pleasingly spicy finish.

Our wine of the week, Kendall-Jackson 2005 Vintner's Reserve Syrah, is a somewhat subtle example of the direction of this varietal in California, and the New World in general. It does not have as much immediate forward fruit as Jess Jackson, founder of the behemoth brand, usually advocates. Instead, flavors begin to unfold midpalate, with a general sense of dark fruit swaddled in violet and lavender. A profoundly silky texture resolves in just a bit of roughness around the edges, where the wine's earthier qualities linger.

A rich, meaty syrah. Aromas and flavors of lavender, violet, dark plum, blackberry and caramel. Nice jammy fruit. Medium complexity. Soft texture.

Sometimes, bigger is better. Kendall-Jackson's 2005 California Vintner's Reserve Zinfandel is a real surprise. It has just enough Zin - 76% - to be legally called Zin. The rest is made up from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. Those additional grapes add up to a delicious bottle of wine with a great deal more complexity than is usual at the price.

A 2004 Syrah was firm and spicy, with dark fruits and a rustic feel. It reminded me of Cotes-du-Rhone.

A great match with lamb. Complex and toasty with jammy cherry fruit flavors. Exotic, with notes of rose petal, cola, toast and spice.

Floral coffee notes, then bright mulberry fruit, with fine-grained, firm tannins, a hint of mocha and a tangy finish. I wrote in my notes that it has the delicate strength of glass and wire. Not sure exactly what I meant, but somehow it seems right anyway.

Hartford's been making this vineyard-designate since the winery's first vintage and has (justifiably, I think) gotten a fair amount of praise for the wine. The site is cold-they get frost from August now and then-with a lot of older vines, and the wine it produced in '05 has lifted boysenberry aromas with fruit that follows suit; the fine acidity keeps it all together, as herb notes rise in the finish. Delicious Pinot.

Hartford notes that you can see the ocean from this far Sonoma Coast vineyard; it's adjacent to Williams-Selyems' Coastlands vineyard, and is so cold that they only got 1/4 of a ton of fruit per acre this (admittedly, it was a cold year). The nose is less overt than Stone Cote's, with a scent that recalls orange oil. As you'd expect from that chilly a property, this is a taut, structured Chardonnay, with lemony acidity and a fresh lime-zest and mineral flavor that's very appealing.

From a single block within the Durrell Vineyard, this has a nose of smoky less and resinous notes that is truly evocative; Don Hartford said that to him it has a little of that hazelnut smoke that reminds me of white Burgundy, and that sounds about right, too. The fruit is all pears and stone fruits, with a citrusy finish. Four months in fifty percent new French oak.

From vines planted in 1907. Mighty darn good old-vine Zin, dark and jammy, with some smoky barrel and dark chocolate aromas. Then it's big, deep, rich stuff, full of peppercorn, anise, mouthfilling black fruit-really just an intense pleasure to drink. No idea what you'd pair it with-whole roast moose?-so probably the answer is just to pull the cork and enjoy it on its own.

87–89 Château Vignot. St-Emilion Grand Cru. One of the two wines produced by Jess Jackson in his St.-Emilion property. This is light, fresh, full of blackcurrants, packed with attractive vibrant fruit. —R.V.

The Best Affordable Wines to Snap Up and Drink Now The cooling influences of the pacific is evident throughout this smooth, silky wine. Pronounced fruit aromas entwine with a touch of creaminess on the nose while bright strawberry and other red fruit flavours from the backbone of a delicately balanced palate. Up to 2 years.

At La Crema, winemaker Melissa Stackhouse makes a range of subtly expressive Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Her Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, one of La Crema's most widely available bottlings is also one of her best: round and rich with ripe pear and caramel-vanilla flavors.