The dark ruby-colored 2005 Zinfandel Ciapusci Vineyard has nice briery, mountain berry fruit with some pepper and herbs. It is elegant, medium-bodied, and best drunk over the next two years.

Richard Arrowood still produces wines at Arrowood Vineyards and Winery in spite of the sale of Arrowood first to Robert Mondavi, then to Constellation, and then to Jess Jackson. He, and most importantly his boss, seems to have changed little, and that’s good news for wine consumers.

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in a combination of French and American oak for 24 months before being bottled unfiltered, has a dark ruby/purple-color and a dense nose of black currants, white chocolate, some toast, and vanillin. This medium to full-bodied wine has excellent purity and loads of character. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.

The 2005 Chardonnay Reserve Speciale is an elegant, almost Chablisian style of Chardonnay that has backed off some of the power and richness of other vintages. The wine displays lemon blossom, nectarine, and guava notes intermixed with some subtle wood and fresh acidity in a medium to full-bodied finish.

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Terra a Lago is a richly fruity, deep ruby, chunky style of Cabernet that is satisfying, but lacks the complexity to merit an outstanding score. It is well-made, medium to full-bodied, and pleasant.

Fresh black cherry flavors runs through this simple, well-made cabernet. The juicy red fruit trumps earthy tannins. A good match for steaks off the grill.

Nicely concentrated, rich in fruit and filled out with a full measure of creamy oak, this ripe and showy wine admittedly abandons any claim of finesse in its pursuit of richness, but its richness is real and stays the course even as a touch of heat comes on at the finish. To be sure, it is not one to pour as an accompaniment to delicate foods, but it will turn the trick nicely with appropriately flavorful dishes such as baby quail stuffed with wild rice.

The red wines include a raspberry and chocolatey-scented and flavored, medium-bodied 2004 Malbec that is elegant, with fine tannins, medium body, and a nice, finesse-styled personality. Drink it over the next 5-6 years. Chocolate, cocoa, mocha, and some underbrush dominate the 2004 Merlot. This is a nice, fleshy style of Merlot that could use more complexity, but it cheats no one in terms of flesh, texture, and richness. Drink it over the next 4-5 years.

While we very much like the sweet mix of apples, honey and oak found in this very ripe and outgoing effort, we are also cognizant of the heat and edgy acidity that conspire to coarsen its finish. All the same, the wine gets full commendation for its fundamental richness, and it will live up to its promise if allowed a chance to more fully knit with a year or two in the bottle.

Gewurztraminer has never done really well in California, but the 2006 Gewurztraminer from Saralee’s Vineyard is elegant, displaying a hint of rose water in a medium-bodied, dry style. Much better, in my opinion, is Dick Arrowood’s mastery of Viognier.

If there's a wine lover on your holiday gift list...there's Grand old world/new world red blends that includes the 2003 Lassegue Saint Emilion (Parker 89)....

This estate in the town of Glen Ellen has been producing delicious reds and whites from the Alexander, Russian River, and Dry Creek valleys since 1986, when it was founded by Richard Arrowood and his wife Alis. Although the winery has changed hands twice, Richard remains its winemaster.

In 1997, French winemaker Pierre Seillan was recruited by Kendall Jackson owner Jess Jackson to create a Bordeaux-style wine from vineyards in Sonoma's Alexander Valley. From the first vintage, 1998-a difficult one in California-the wine created a stir, displaying pronounced structure, refined texture, and elegant fruit. There are three blends in the portfolio: La Joie, which emphasizes Cabernet Sauvignon; La Muse, which is blended in a Pomerol style; and Le Desir, a Cabernet Franc-based wine in the Saint Emilion style.

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.

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.

Founded in 1995 by Barbara Banke and Jess Jackson, owners of Kendall-Jackson, Lokoya was conceived as a boutique winery that would focus on producing pure Cabernet Sauvignon wines from single-mountain vineyards. In Lokoya's short lifespan, its three winemakers - originally Greg Upton, then Marco DiGiulio, and now Chris Carpenter - have delivered superb wines of enormous power. Diamond Mountain tends to be slightly lighter in body with very round fruit; Howell Mountain is a powerful wine with dark fruit and firm tannins and Mount Veeder, a blockbuster with huge tannins and intense minerality, is built for aging.

Inky dark with rich, soft fruit and mineral flavors.

Not bad, a little sharp and tannic, but it gets the basic Bordeaux job done. With blackberry and tobacco flavors, it's a five-county coastal blend.

This exceptional small-production winery, owned by Jennifer and Don Hartford, makes outstanding Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

49% Merlot; 47% Cabernet Franc; 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. In its strong focus on ripe black cherries and sweet currants with a twist of dried raspberry, this blended wine finds a higher level of range than is typical of the directly fruity Sonoma style. That the wine is full-bodied and broadly tannic at this point accounts for the absence of California-style juiciness in its flavors, but their convincing depth and the need for a fair measure of cellar aging intimate that this wine has the structure and potential typical of a top-notch Bordelais red more than anything else. A rich layer of milk chocolate brings it back home. OBA$150.00

This is from the winery's Annapolis vineyard. It's a very fine and interesting Pinot, showing the acidic, elegant structure of true coast Pinot, and exotic flavors of wild raspberries, red cherries, licorice, sweet leather, tea and Asian spices. All this, in a lightly silky, eminently drinkable texture.

From the southern part of the valley, near Sebastopol, comes this young, juicy, crisp Pinot. It's marked by fruit. The freshly crushed flavors of ripe raspberries and cherries are enormously attractive, accented with toasty oak and Asian spices. But the wine has a youthful, acidic tightness that suggests aging. Best now, with decanting, and for six years.

86% Merlot; 8% Cabernet Franc; 4% Cabernet Sauvignon; 2% Malbec. There is no question that this is a very exciting bottle of wine, but its charms are rather more obvious and less deceptive than its companion above, and while it is a very good Merlot, it is also the most expensive California Merlot we have evaluated. Price is never a consideration in our ratings, but it does come into play when we buy wine, and this one, despite its deep and rich fruit, is expensive. OBI$150.00

While some of its cousins make a large splash by way of ripeness and sweet oak, this well-constructed young opus displays plenty of both while setting its sights primarily on fruit. With elements of ripe plums and red berries leading the way, it is a balanced, medium-full-bodied Syrah with a sense of polish that its tannins and finishing stiffness do not negate. We like its impressions of potency and well-defined fruit, and five years of steady improvement seems a forgone conclusion.

Bright yellow. Ripe pear and peach aromas and complicated by toasty lees and sweet butter, with suave floral qualities building with air. Fleshy pit fruit flavors are given grip by zesty acidity, finishing chewy, deep and long, with a lightly smoky character.