Byron can always be counted on to come up with interesting, terroir-driven wines. This pinot, clearly from a cool climate, is dry and tart in acids, with a silky texture and ripe, pleasing cherry, cola and mocha flavors, as well as a complex woodspice taste lasts through the long finish.

Possesses pleasant lemon zest, honey, fig, melon, and stone fruit notes.

Reveals broad, savory, sweet black cherry characteristics intermixed with forest floor, underbrush, and dried herbs. Full-bodied, ripe, charming, and seductive with a supple texture, it should be consumed over the next 2-3 years.

Honey, citrus, spicy lees, vanilla, baked apple and pineapple aromas. Round, rich, slightly sweet entry with good acidity and freshness. Good smoky, leesy, vanilla, buttery, baked apple, peach and pineapple flavours. Good intensity with a butterscotch and citrus finish, slightly older style.

Loads of upfront fruit, but not the depth, power or structure of its older siblings. With wonderful suppleness, it will undoubtedly be more of a crowd pleaser than its packed, stacked, more serious predecessors. The 2004 should be drinkable upon release, and last a decade or more.

The only red wine that I can recommend. Exhibits a dense purple color as well as spicy, ripe black currant notes intermixed with loamy tannic, dense, and promising, it requires 3-4 years of bottle age to strut its stuff.

Dark ruby/purple color is accompanied by a bouquet of graphite, black fruits, earth, and charcoal. This attractive, medium-bodied blend will benefit from another 1-2 years of bottle age given its tannic structure. It will are for 12-15 years.

Offers notes of allspice, cola, cranberries and cherries in a ripe, medium-bodied, spice-driven Pinot. Along with its siblings, it possesses a supple texture as well as a velvety expansiveness. It will drink well for 2-4 years.

Exhibits aromas and flavors of honeyed citrus, buttered oranges, and honeysuckle in his medium-bodied, ripe, nicely concentrated style. It should provide pleasure over the next 1-2 years.

Reveals light intensity, blueberry fruit and flower notes, in addition to a certain leanness. Delicious in a superficial, medium-bodied way.

It is a medium-bodied, pleasant white to enjoy over the next 2-3 years.

Aromas of cranberries, strawberries, and pomegranate emerge. With tart acidity, a floral character and decent structure, it is best drunk over the next 3-4 years.

It offers white peach, pineapple, toasty oak, and earth characteristics.

This entry-level Kendall-Jackson's syrah is no slouch. It comes from premium, cool climate hillside vineyards and gets a full quotient of oak aging. Although ripe and fruity in the California mode, the more austere flavors of the hillside fruit provide a robust, rustic style. Appealing to both California and Rhone wine lovers, this will prove a crowd pleaser.

Outstanding. Exhibits notes of coffee bean, mocha, white chocolate, black cherries, and currants. Ripe and rich, with abundant tannin, this impeccably made Merlot should age graciously for 10-12 years.

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

could easily be confused with one of its German or Austrian counterparts, given its dryness, sleekness and mineral component.

Juicy, with good concentration to beef, pomegranate and cola flavors highlighted by mocha oak and round structure. Drink now through 2006.

Ripe and juicy, with fleshy plum, blackberry and wild berry fruit. Supple in texture, with notes of leather and mineral.

This Bordeaux-style red is cloaked in a royal robe of dark purple fruit-- blackberry, black cherry, dark plum--that enfolds a treasure of flavors: lavender, vanilla, coffee, toasted oak.

An indigo-dark, velvet-soft red, this Cabernet Sauvignon broods with dark chocolate and espresso that bespeak its mountain terroir.

In a sultry Saint-Émilion style, this Cabernet Franc-based wine from Sonoma resonates with boysenberry, chocolate and loamy earth. Definitely the ideal accompaniment to tenderloin of beef.

Essentially a Merlot cut with Cabernet Franc, this dark wine blends blackberry, perfumed rose, and fresh-brewed coffee.