A blend of top-flight fruit… A dense ruby/purple hue and aromas of blueberries, crushed rocks, white flowers, and spicy oak emerge from this rich, medium to full-bodied, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon. Give it 2-3 more years of bottle age and drink it over the following 15+ years

Complex and juicy. Rich, red fruit flavors of raspberry, strawberry and plum. Bright and tart. Long finish.

Anyone who would dismiss the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve tier of wines as mass-market juice is making a serious error. The wines are all admirably seriously styled, well made, vividly true to the grape variety, and surprisingly concentrated and flavorful. This Syrah is able to go toe-to-toe with counterparts at the price point from anywhere, and will leave most of its competitors on the canvas. Impressively dark and deeply colored, with fruit notes that recall black cherries and dark berries, along with very subtle wood-based scents and background notes of fresh meat and cocoa, this is a remarkable performance at this price level.

In a blind tasting of California Cabs that for the most part displayed baked-fruit dullness and syrupy sweetness, this wine stood out for its freshness and brightness. It's fruity without being sweet or ponderous, and its concentration of fruit on the finish speaks to its quality.

This Grand Cru from Saint-Emilion gathers up great bunches of fresh violets into a massive bouquet that heightens the rich plum fruit when the wine is tasted. Traces of leather also emerge, as does the odd but highly appealing scent of waxed wood. An exceptionally accessible Bordeaux

Predominantly composed of Cabernet Franc, with a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon, this Saint-Emilion layers voluptuous plum fruit against a sweet, sultry smoke

A big wine at a not-so-big price, it has aromas and flavors of wheat, blackberry, plum, cherry, toast, licorice and spice, with a pleasant earthiness and velvety tannins.

Notions of crushed rocks, white chocolate, black currants, plums, and flowers jump from the glass of the inky/purple-hued 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain. With sweet tannin, massive body, and undeniable elegance as well as length, it should drink well 15 or more years.

I was blown away. A Louis Latour Batard-Montrachet-like effort displaying huge honeyed orange, lemon zest, white peach, and crushed rock characteristics. From a cool climate hillside vineyard close to the Pacific Ocean's Bodega Bay, this beautiful, full-bodied effort boasts huge fruit, density, and intensity. Enjoy this profound Chardonnay over the next 3-4 years.

Leesy/brioche characteristics interwoven with apricot, peach, and pineapple fruit. It reveals superb complexity and richness along with an unexpected notion of smoky bacon fat, and a blockbuster finish.

It offers up smoky, sweet scents of lead pencil shavings, cedar, spice box, volcanic earth, black currants, and smoke. With excellent fruit, full-bodied power, a layered texture, and an exceptionally long finish.

It boasts an inky/purple color as well as a beautifully perfumed nose of creme de cassis, smoke, cedar, licorice, and spice box. A sweet, expansive, full-bodied attack is followed by impressive purity, elegance, and concentration as well as layers of flavor and ripe, well-integrated tannin. It can be drunk now or cellared for 15+ years.

A blend that is 80 percent cabernet and 20 percent Merlot. Saddle leather, coffee, tobacco notes mixed with pepper, spice, blackberry jam, briar, clove, cedar aromas with black olive, caraway and cherry -- good aromatics. Rich, round, supple and concentrated, but big. Spicy, smoky, vanilla, coffee, peppery, blackberry jam, black cherry, clove, olive, cardamom flavours with a big, warm, long finish. Needs years but has finesse and excellent potential. Best yet.

Exhibits an opaque purple color along with scents of incense, fruitcake, black currants, mocha, and berries. Rich, concentrated, tannic, and dense, it appears to be even more backward than La Joie. Nevertheless, it possesses tremendous upside potential. Cellar it for 3-4 years and enjoy it over the following three decades.

Its blueberry, créme de cassis, floral, and roasted coffee-scented bouquet is followed by a wine tannic, powerful finish. Although stunningly rich, it is the least accessible at present.

Tastes like a box of rocks drizzled with citrus oil. Poached pear, orange rind, stony white peach notes, and striking minerality are reminiscent of a Chevalier-Montrachet from the likes of Michel Niellon. With lovely body, acidity, and purity, it should be drunk over the next 4-5 years.

Where Byron's regular '03 Pinot is all about immediate gratification, this single-vineyard release, a year older, is a darker, brooding wine. Instead of red cherries, you get black ones. Cassis, too, and sautéed mushrooms with a splash of balsamic. Still there's a delicious core of mocha. It's an exquisite, silky Pinot Noir, firm and classic, and addictively drinkable.

Impressive, peppery, vanilla nose with much welcomed complexity. A dry, elegant style with smoky, vanilla, chocolate, licorice, spicy blackberry jam, cassis, minty cedar flavours. Long and warm this will need 3-5 years to soften. A serious Legacy from an excellent year.

The graciousness of the fruit defies the tannic weight of this wine, leaving a velvet impression, remarkably approachable for a young Howell Mountain cabernet, and extremely delicious. It's from vines the Smith family, the founders of La Jota, originally planted in the late '70s. The structure is there, underpinning the fresh black fruit, the acidity edging it with eucalyptus. Plump and satin-textured on release, this should age into a beauty. Drink 2010-'12 with a grilled rib eye.

K-J's new Highland Series has whittled down the barrels and vineyards to a single elegant expression of Santa Maria fruit aged in only 30 percent new French oak barrels. Its flavour intensity is off the scale, yet the wine is polished, elegant and eminently worthy of the dinner table. Look for super, tropical fruit flavours and apple pie spiked with cinnamon and lime rind, and finished with a creamy lees undercoating. Terrific, to say the least.

Intense butterscotch, spicy vanilla, creamy hazelnut, baked pear, mineral flavours with a long buttered spice finish. A bit warm but wonderful finish. Delicious now but should improve for 2-4 years.

Boasts a dense saturated ruby/purple color, and a big, peppery, sweet nose of black cherries, raspberries, licorice, forest floor, and underbrush. This spicy Zinfandel possesses abundant richness, concentration, and intensity.

Offers up beautiful scents of flowers, blackberries, blueberries, charcoal, hot rocks, and smoky new oak. Rich, full-bodied, and tannic, this impressive effort possesses a Bordeaux-like elegance and complexity. It represents a combination of North Coast Cabernet with Bordeaux freshness and elegance. Give it 2-3 more years of bottle age, and enjoy it over the following 10-15 years.