Dark cherries and plums, toasted oak, and tobacco-leaf notes; soft tannins, ripe fruit, oak accents; long finish. Value.

A clean syrah with everything in sync. Blueberries, raspberries and tobacco on the palate. A bit earthy.

Toasty, nutty aromas, intense raspberry flavors, espresso finish.

Juicy fruit, more than peppery spice, is the emphatic theme of this open and up-front young Syrah, and the wine is helped along its way by a nice touch of sweet, slightly vanillin oak. Its soft and easy mouthfeel further contributes to its overall immediacy…

A bit brambly and zin-like. A syrah--wannabe. Boysenberry fruit flavors as opposed to blackberry.

Here's an example of syrah from a single vineyard (and a cooler region in California that brings out that deep, fleshy character of the grape with all its exotic spiciness and smoke.

Creamy oak scents lift and enrich ripe raspberry and cherry fruit in the moderately deep aromas. Sweet cream and nutmeg spice override the berryish component, and oak lasts a bit longer than fruit in flavors.

Chewy, yet smooth. Crisp, aggressive fruit and roasted notes from oak aging.

Rich oak, ripe raspberries and touches of chocolate come together nicely in the clean, medium-deep aromas of this well-defined young Syrah, and its flavors of berries, spice, pepper and earth keep it squarely on the varietal track.

Big spice, ripe fruit, beefy flavors; oaked, but smooth finish.

Full bodied wine that has a nice toasty smokiness, yet it's fruity and appealing.

Dense and peppery but there's also a tight core of plum and berry-scented fruit. It packs in lots of tannins on the finish, so you might want to celler this one until 1995 or so to let it soften.

Oak tones in the nose, leading to plummy-black pepper flavor and finish. Solidly built with lots of body and strong tannins.

Spicy and rich with lush texture and wonderful smoky, velvety qualitites.

Lots of power and substance. Big and peppery, dense and chewy. Vivid raspberry-plum fruit. Very good.

Very smoky aromas; full and flavorful, with the lightly peppery fruit of a Rhone-style palate and a long berry finish.

A provocative bouquet of bacon fat, toasty new oak, smoke and black fruits.

Lots of power and substance. Big and peppery, dense and chewy. Vivid raspberry-plum fruit. Very good.

Rummaging around the cellar for something interesting for dinner with old friends, I brought up my last bottle of Kendall-Jackson Syrah Durell Vineyard 1986. It had held up beautifully, wowing everyone at the table.

The coastal vineyards around Santa Barbara are producing some of California’s best syrah. Oodles of fresh boysenberry and plums with a delightful spice element. This is an amazing value for one of the best syrahs we have tasted recently.

Kendall Jackson winemaker Randy Ullom selected grapes mostly from the cooler coastal region in Santa Barbara County. The wine was aged in a combination of French and American oak to produce a wine that is balanced and structured. Aromas and flavors of jammy blackberry and blueberry mingle with earthy mineral, cola and spice, finishing with smooth tannins.

Soft but zesty, with easygoing notes of black raspberry, orange zest and bittersweet chocolate.

Sticky tar, dense blackberry, leather, soy and lilacs combine for a thick nose on this well-priced, widely available bottling. Beef char, dense purple flowers, blackberry jam and tar consume the palate, which is chewy with a strong tannic structure.

Try these selections if your post-holidays wallet is a bit light From the brand started in 1983, Kendall-Jackson has grown into one of the world's larger family-owned wine companies. The Vintner's Reserve line remains the company's backbone.