A nice, plummy wine with some real richness. Round, full-bodied and firm, with a coffee-earthy finish that sets off the fruit. Fairly tannic and very dry.

Rich and fruity, a textbook North Coast Cab. The flavors of black cherry, coffee, herbs and a smattering of smoky oak are well-balanced with firm tannins and good acidity.

Ripe, with vanilla tones framing melon, pineapple and pear flavors, with tart citrus and grass character on the finish. Drink now. 10,000 cases made.

Rich, ripe and massive Grenache, redolent of all sorts of dark fruits - plums, blueberries, blackberries - that cascade over the palate like a roaring waterfall. Still, there's enough texture and grace to make it possible to warm up to this thoroughbred, and the finish sails on forever. Best from 2006 through 2012.

Big, rich and juicy, brimming with blueberry, plum, blackberry and black pepper flavors that are so lively they seem to jump out of the glass. the finish lingers intensely, cloaked in ultra refined tannins. Drink now through 2012.

Ripe and distinctive for its gamy, spicy character, a fleshy Shiraz with fine tannins wrapped around the generous berry and licorice flavors at the core. Finishes long. Best from 2006 through 2010.

Peter Fraser makes this Yangarra Estate beauty for Kendall-Jackson, one of America's biggest wine companies, and we're lucky that the whole lot doesn't flood Stateside. It comes from one of the most prized old vineyards in the Vales, on a big sandhill that grows, among other things, some of the state's best grenache. This is polished, intense and almost sullen wine that deserves a year or two before you trouble it. It's no early-drinking bimbo, but a dead serious, full-bore, very accomplished and confident dry red.

Rich, showy and vibrant. Grassy, with notes of lemon, lime and anise. Medium-bodied and elegant. Light tannins.

Mid-sized fruit is decked out with the butter and oak of a much bigger wine here, and the sensations of size come through in the mouth. If always richer in feel than it is in pure fruit, the wine carries apples enough to seize the day, and its rounded, slightly soft-edged finish invites early drinking with the likes of grilled ahi or salmon.

Closed nose, hint of green pepper, sweet oak; very rich, sweetish fruit, fairly tannic, concentrated, tight.

recognizing wines that cost less than $20 as champions of value.

K-J's are the wines wine snobs love to hate because they are so hugely popular. You can't, after all, be a snob if you drink what everyone else is drinking. But Jess Jackson deserves a lot of credit. Most owners, having created what must be the best-selling brand in wine history, would have succumbed to the temptation to shave quality, bump up the price and pocket the cash. Jackson, though, has done the reverse, raising the quality of his flagship Vintner's Reserve line while holding the price. So kudos to him for making a fine-drinking California cab at a decent price.

The '01 Matanzas merlot is intense, to say the least. We love the sophisticated, toasted, smoky oak vanilla aromas streaked with pepper, chocolate and black plum jam. It is packed full of toasted oak, coffee, chocolate, plum jam and orange peel flavours. Smooth and polished, perhaps the best merlot yet from Matanzas Creek, drinkable but you could easily cellar for five or more years.

The old-vine designation will make more sense when you see how black and extracted the wine appears in the glass. Aromas are abyss-deep, with dust and black soil over dark fruit. The palate holds nothing but the purest blackberry, dressed up with some toast. Finishes with taut cherry. A solid, masculine wine.

A nice step up from the 2000 VR. Black peppery, earthy, licorice, cassis, leather and spicy nose. Round, supple, dry and rich with very spicy, black peppery, vanilla, meaty, cassis flavours and a black olive, licorice, black berry finish. Good texture and concentration. You can drink now or keep for two to three years.

Exceptionally popular, perhaps due to its supple, sweet fruit and generous vanilla component.

2003 Fume Blanc And here is a wonderfully scrubbed, lightly grassy, floral and very quietly oaky wine. It earns its spurs for energy, for its absolute purity of spirits and for its perfectly measured seasoning of grassy varietal character. Its priceworthiness is also to be noted.

2001 The Deuce Sauvignon Blanc - Alexander Valley This Sonoma County winery has won its fair share of accolades for serious Sauvignon, and this rich, intensely varietal bottling again hits the mark with its involving display of deep fruit, rich oak and weedy herbaceousness...fairly full-bodied and more fleshy in feel.

Focused on bright, mildly melony fruit, but decked out with lots of grassiness and a deft bit of creamy oak, this very well-crafted wine is both interesting and also easy to drink. Slightly rounded in texture, yet always lively and light on its feet, it truly earns the food friendly epithet that is so often used in describing the attractions of the grape.

One cannot help but be impressed by this wine's keen focus on ripe blackberries and its solid structure. It is fairly viscous but not heavy on palate, and its somewhat brusque tannins are within reasonable expectations for the variety.

Bright, plum-berry fruit, round with light tannin; delivers fine berry flavours.

Huge and intense in every respect. Dark and extracted, high in toasty oak, dense in tannins, tingly in acidity, and most of all, enormous in fruit. Waves of plum and blackberry cascade across the palate, ending in a burst of spice and mocha. Drink now through 2010.

From a high mountain vineyard over the Alexander Valley. The wine is clearly built for the cellar. Deep down you'll find a solid core of well-ripened cherry fruit.

Here's a Chard with great interest and distinction. Strikes the mouth with a mineral and steel firmness that's sleek and streamlined, but then a rich tone of sweet tropical fruits, vanilla and buttered toast bursts on the palate. The pineapple and mango is very intense, and coats the tongue through a long finish. Nervy, balanced and quite delicious.