Tight cassis, earthy nose; immense and deep, layered flavours.

16th Annual Restaurant Poll - Popular Bargains under $25

16th Annual Restaurant Poll - Popular bargains.

very well made and wholly enjoyable

Edmeades pioneered the Anderson Valley, one of California's northernmost AVAs in the mid-'60s. Another huge, dense and structured Mendocino Zin hitting 15.5 percent alcohol and loaded with tannin. Lifted spicy, almost peppery nose with leather, chocolate and ripe blackberry fruit.

Composed from lime, from the flavor or Rose's lime juice and the acidity of mineral lime, this tastes clean and fresh, the citrus fruit holding on past wood tones of hazelnut. It should grow complex with another two years in bottle, to serve with grilled prawns.

This smells more like Bordeaux than Tuscany, and tastes like a blend between the two, incorporating cabernet franc's foresty tones with touches of cabernet sauvignon (13%) and sangiovese (5%). The vintage suited cabernet franc well, making something brisk and elegant out of conditions that devastated much of Tuscany's sangiovese.

There's richness of fruit underneath the oak of this wine, the flavors emphasizing hazelnuts and other oak-derived tones. Cellar it, and the fruit may well absorb some of the oak over the coming year.

The debut vintage for American Jess Jackson's new baby is a dark plum/ruby-hued effort offering scents of damp earth, ripe black currants, cherries, and hints of licorice and new wood. Possessing high tannin, medium body, and an austere finish, it is a good first effort meant for serious connoisseurs with patience as it will require cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2016.

Nicely focused aromas of black cherries and oak are followed on the palate by equally attractive flavors that combine ripe fruit and sweet oak with a hint of rich, loamy note. It has decent staying power and will serve well over the next few years.

Crisp, yet rich. Nice blend of citrus and tropical flavors. Notes of lime, Mandarin orange, pear, ginger and toast.

Intense black cherry and mocha flavors dominate this well-balanced wine with a long finish.

If I had to count on one hand the most serious, environmentally responsible and price-sensitive wine producers from California, Kendall-Jackson would be high on the list. Like K-J's other varietals, this is one big lip-smacking wine for $12. Flavors are robust and complex, texture is silky and dense, finish is long and lingering. Aromas shout out blueberries and black currants, with a chocolatey/smokey quality from the combination of French and American oak barrels. The fruit comes from steep Central Coast hillsides that grow small berries with dense flavors. Add this bottle to your weekend shopping list.

A good example of a fairly sweet style. Flavors of nectarine, peach and mandarin orange. Medium bodied.

It looks and even tastes dark, with hints of tobacco and coffee and a kind of leathery toughness. Classy wine.

Well ripened. Very honest Pinot....very attractive wine that (is) often found at substantial discount.

Exhibits a personality not unlike St-Emilion's Château Ausone. Aromas of incense, flowers, black fruits, crushed rocks, and steel emerge from this wine of extraordinary intensity, superb purity, full-bodied power, and backward tannin. As it sits in the glass, scents of smoke and earthy blueberries also come forth. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2021.

There is a laser-like focus to this large-scaled, inky/purple-tinged 2003. Notes of graphite, pen ink, black currant liqueur, smoke, crushed minerals, cedar, spice box, tobacco leaves, and gravity/hot rock characteristics emerge from this sensational, tannic effort. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025.

Exhibits huge body and massive concentration as well as a floral, blueberry, blackberry, cassis, creosote, and scorched earth-scented and flavored personality.

Is a great effort for the price. Made firm various vineyards, all averaging 80 years of age, it exhibits a sexy, up front, raspberry, blackberry, and spice box-scented perfume, huge body, a peppery component, and a large, seductive, luscious finish with no hard edges.

This is another stunning effort revealing copious quantities of boysenberry, blueberry, raspberry, and cherry fruit as well as a striking minerality. Full-bodied and fruit-driven, it is an exquisite Zinfandel to drink over the next 5-7 years.

Exhibits a dark, ruby color, floral, red currant, raspberry, and forest floor scents, medium body, and loads of finesse as well as delicacy. I would love to insert this wine in a tasting of California Pinot Noir. Sadly, there are only 164 cases.

Boasts a deep ruby/purple color along with a sweet bouquet of raspberries, garrigue, kirsch liqueur, and Châteauneuf du Pape-like peppery licorice notes. Full-bodied, ripe, flinty, and elegant, with a French-styled personality, it, too, will drink well for 5-7 years.