It is a serious, unmistakably California Chardonnay exhibiting loads of honeyed tropical fruit, medium to full body, and admirable freshness as well as texture. Drink it over the next 2-3 years.

Possesses a sweet bouquet of graphite, black currants, earth, and high quality spicy oak. It reveals a beautiful texture, terrific purity, and plenty of structure as well as an accessible sweetness. It should drink well for 12-15+ years.

In what must be the New World's finest value in Chardonnay, there are slightly more than two million cases…for the first time made completely from Jackson Estate vineyards. This is undeniably the finest Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay K-J has yet made. A beautiful nose of orange skins, honeysuckle, and tropical fruit is followed by a medium-bodied effort with terrific fruit, good acidity, a subtle influence of wood, and a crisp finish. It should drink well for another 12-16 months.

The opaque blue/purple color is followed by smoky, camphor, blackberry, currant, and pepper notes. Good acidity, medium to full body, and a well-textured, long finish suggest it should be consumed over the next 5-6 years.

Top-notch…Its dense purple color is followed by a stony, earthy, terroir-driven nose, black currants, high tannin, and a backward, primordial personality. It requires 2-3 more years of bottle age to round into shape. Only time will tell whether the tannin of fruit will ultimately dominate.

Its deep ruby/purple color is followed by a sweet, concentrated, chewy mid-palate revealing notions of mocha, underbrush, and a pleasant resiny note. Medium-bodied, plump, and juicy, it is ideal for drinking over the next 7-8 years.

Deep ruby/purple-tinged. Exhibits a classic cassis, licorice, and smoke character along with abundant fruit on the attack, medium body, light to moderate tannin, and a heady, earthy finish. Drink it over the next decade.

Exhibits notes of cranberries, strawberries, and plums as well as an elegant, medium-bodied personality with a cool-climate feel. It should age nicely for 4-6 years.

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.