Strong red-purple; sweet, luscious, juicy berry grenache varietal character; soft tannins and subtle oak.

This mild and rather minimalist wine is drawn along slightly smaller lines in most respects, but it is clean, flirts with a bit of green apples and is reasonably crisp in basic balance.

Really good for 'buttery' people, with spice, nutmeg, tangerine and a little bite at the end.

This is a very toasty style with a hint of new shoe leather on the nose, yet the ripe black cherry and raspberry fruit shines through, with hints of spice and tar. It finishes with coating tannins and racy acidity.

Fairly showy, although on the tart side. Black fruit flavors, with notes of herbs and licorice.

Expect tannins of this youngster to round out with time in the bottle. For the impatient, it offers juicy pomegranate, black cherry and blackberry fruit, plus hints of pine, toast and tobacco. The lingering finish has refreshing acidity.

The medium-bodied, crisp 2004 Sauvignon Blanc possesses pleasant lemon zest, honey, fig, melon, and stone fruit notes. Drink it over the next year.

Rich and elegant. A big, juicy pinot. Aromas and flavors of cherry, chocolate and coffee. A toasty finish.

Brambly berry character, pepper and spice that first attracted me to zinfandel.

Good intensity. Medium-bodied. Aromas and flavors of blackberry and black currant. Nice mouth-feel. Balanced.

This chardonnay feels gentle and sure. The flavors follow an elegant line, nothing overstated. It's cool and generously long, the fruit and acidity incorporated in a flavor of lemon and kumquat, the oak reading as light spice, cinnamon and caraway. Suited to age, or to grilled bluenose bass,

This single-vineyard beauty is made in the full-bodied, oaky-leesy style that California wines labeled Gris usually are. With time, it has mellowed into something marvelous, a totally dry, acidic wine of unusual finesse and balance

This fragrant young grenache has sweet berry flavors that end light and brisk. A touch of gaminess in the aroma gives it some extra weight. For grilled burgers.

Clean flavors of lychee nut balance a fresh, mineral acidity, placing this wine with Sole Veronique

...ripe melon fruitiness leading the way.

Even better is the super-complex 2005 Highland Estates Chardonnay Seco form estate vineyards in Monterey. Made from both the Dijon and Rued Chardonnay clones, it offers up exotic aromas of tropical fruits, spring flowers, and a hint of litchi. Full-bodied with admirable fruit purity and presence as well as a striking minerality, this cuvee saw 35% new oak in its upbringing. However, the oak component in all of these Chardonnays is minimal.

2005 SAUVIGNON BLANC SONOMA The Sauvignon Blanc (12,000 cases aged six months sur-lie with some barrel fermented) is a crisp, elegant effort revealing notes of honeyed grapefruits, figs, and crushed rocks. It is a pretty, medium-bodied, fresh, food-friendly white to enjoy over the next year.

Spicy and rich. Clean, ripe, fruit-forward flavors. Cherry, blueberry and plum. Nice and bright. Medium complexity.

2004 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve is a gem.

No wine is more responsible for the popularity of California Chardonnay than the Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates Vintner's Reserve. When they build the California Wine Hall of Fame, it will be one of the first inductees. The Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates 2004 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, however is a much more refreshing take on the varietal. It's drier, crisper, spicier, better balanced, lighter in oak, and more clearly pronounced in tropical-fruit, citric and apple flavors than earlier releases. It does the state's Chardonnay vineyards proud.

It seems as though the Vintner's Reserve wines, the lowest rung on the K-J ladder, has found another gear and are once again close to being the industry leaders in this price category. The '03 Syrah has plenty of horsepower, with bold dark berry fruit notes and a flattering earthiness that gives this wine a touch of character.

Yes, you can have richness, bold flavor and elegance in one wine and this Chardonnay pulls it off. From its ripe tropical, lemon-lime and apple fruit to its complex spice, hazelnut and mineral notes to its toasty yet mouthwatering finish, Carmel Road is one smooth ride.

2003 ``Arcanum,'' by Tenuta di Arceno, Toscana (cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, merlot): black raspberries and black plums; big, rich, generous and spicy with tart finish; $95. Miami Herald July 20, 2006 WINE Wandering but grounded, he's `a servant of the soil' Fred Tasker ftasker@MiamiHerald.com Pierre Seillan seems a little too down-to-earth to be a globe-trotting, jet-setting ''Flying Winemaker'' -- one of those charismatic characters who flits about the world running winemaking operations at a dozen wineries in half a dozen countries. But he seems like one to his wife, Monique, who says she seldom sees him at their homes in California and France. ''If his mistress were a woman, I could compete with that,'' she sighs. ``But his mistress is his job. What can I do?'' Seillan began to wander in 1997 after 30 years of winemaking in France's Bordeaux region. That's when he met Jess Jackson, who, with his wife and fellow lawyer, Barbara Banke, has create a far-flung empire of wine operations in the United States, France, Italy, Chile and Australia, including notably Kendall-Jackson in California. The winemaking styles of Jackson and Seillan proved sympathetic, and Seillan today oversees red wine operations at several of Jackson's wineries as consultant or winemaker. He makes a red wine called ''Le Désir,'' a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, at Jackson's Vérité winery near Healdsburg in California's Sonoma Valley. He makes the red wine called ''Arcanum,'' of the same grapes, at Jackson's Tenuta di Arceno, in Italy's Tuscany region. Now Jackson and Seillan have teamed up to buy Chteau Lassgue, a 60-acre grand cru vineyard and winery in Bordeaux's Saint-Emilion region. ''Saint-Emilion is the most serious appellation in Bordeaux,'' Seillan says. ``It's not one of your generic Bordeaux areas.'' Seillan and Jackson were impressed with the vineyard's limestone soils, which give wine that French hint of minerality, and its perfect southwest sun exposure, which is crucial to getting grapes fully ripe. There's also a beautiful old chteau on the property, where the Seillans live part of the year. At the chteau, Seillan is turning out two wines from different plots with different soils. One is $35, the second is $50. Neither is a ''second wine,'' he insists, simply ``another wine.'' Reflecting Seillan's style, both are subtle wines based on merlot, with a French restraint and minerality. ''I am a servant of the soil,'' he says. ``It's not the other way around. I want wines that are fruity, with power but finesse and elegance, not too much tannic astringency.'' Visiting Miami, Seillan also was showing off wines he has made at Jackson's Verité and Tenuta di Arceno wineries. Both show his subtle touch, his ability to create intensity and complexity without bombast. And next year -- maybe later -- Monique hopes to slow down her flying winemaker and spend more time in France, fixing the plumbing and redoing the paint on their 18th century chteau. ''It needs repair, but all the money must go into the wine,'' she says, sighing again. ``Someday . . . ''

This wine, a rich but not intensely flavorful style of Sauvignon Blanc, is a change of pace from the super-flavorful versions that California is increasingly producing in emulation of New Zealands wines. It is dry and medium-bodied, with rich texture of its high (14%) alcohol and yet refreshing crisp acidity. Although its aromas and flavors are fruity (pear, orange rind, and some tropical fruit) partially thanks to a significant amount (23%) of Sauvignon Musque, they are fairly subtle. No oaky character is evident; in fact, only 10% of the wine is fermented in oak barrels. Flavors show very good concentration and length. A wine to enjoy young; its great with bitter vegetables such as broccoli rabe, with goat cheese pizza, and with stir-fry chicken.