Also very good is the 2001 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Syrah, which is fruity up from with a tannic kick and a hint of white pepper on the finish.

Stylish fruit and lovely balance in this mildly scented, complex white wine. The fruit is more citrussy than I have seen in the past, and the balance focuses more on the fruit than on oak. A nicely crafted effort.

Merlot comes across with plenty of life and more complexity than found in earlier years. The juice was cold soaked and the wine macerated on the skins after fermentation. It was aged for 17 months in small oak with 12% new barrels. Pretty in the glass, it shows assertive cherry and blackberry fruit, along with notes of cedar and spice. Medium-bodied, the flavours echo the aroma but are carried by cassis and definite soft tannins. Unlike so many cookie cutter, overly juicy Merlots in this price range, this one can be enjoyed now, or cellared for 3-4 years.

Peach, green apple, and melon flavours with butterscotch and toasty oak.

Coastal winds infused this wine with a taste of the sea, with floral scents of thyme and honey, with a sea-salt rasp of minerals. It's tightly wound, but the flavors play out complex and long. Decant a bottle for a roast halibut.

A mineral tone runs through it, focusing the wine's citrus flavors on a bitter orange note, lengthening the more austere structural elements of the finish over a buttery warmth. Match its coastal minerality with grilled fish.

There's an intriguing umami character to this Chardonnay, running parallel to the flavor of seared salmon trout with chanterelles the wine is made to match. The texture is viscous and firm, the flavors dry and lasting, a warm, austere take on biscuits, buttermilk and pineapple.

Packed with alcohol, this blows like a wind from the sea, giving immediate pineapple flavors, then it's gone. It's big and succulent while it lasts, a meal in itself, with sauerbraten or baked country ham.

In the middle, this wine feels clean and relatively austere, the leesiness of its structure balancing simple, lemon-tinged citrus flavors. Then it stays structured even as it turns sweeter in the end, finishing with the flavor of maple sugar candy. That caramelization will match roast halibut in a butter and lemon sauce.

It may have a big batch of Merlot in its makeup, but this rich, ripe wine smells very much like a very good Cabernet. Its black cherry fruit tinged with olivey and sweet rooty, loamy notes leads to a very solid, supple wine in the mouth. Its ending tannin asks but a few years of cellaring

Dry in the middle, with mineral and oak tones that combine into puff pastry scents. Then it's sweeter in the end, as the gentle finish turns toward butter almond flavor, a butter sauce for salmon steak.

This generous and somewhat seductive wine reminds a bit of fine Merlot in its frontal sweetness and outgoing smells of berries, cherries, caramel and chocolate, but, by mid-palate, it lays full claim to Cabernet as its tannins come into view. If on the gruff and somewhat astringent side of things just now, it has the right mix of fruity richness and vitality to keep improving for a good six or seven years.

Deep, dense, and solidly filled in the nose with lots of curranty fruit tied to rich oak and elements of dark chocolate, this rugged youngster is a little less inviting on the palate just now, and its ample flavors of concentrated fruit are beset by slightly outsized tannins. It finishes on the dry and austere side and needs some patience to make its way to beauty.

Scents of sweet apples and toasted oak barrels feature in this bottling's medium-intensity aromas, and its rounded, slightly viscous feel on the palate provides a comfortable platform for the somewhat beamy flavors that follow. It is ready now.

Soft with pear butter and bitter almond flavors, this lean Chardonnay needs decanting and something meaty as a veal chop to show its best.

It is far from being one of the deeper or more extracted Cabernets around, but this balanced fruity, oak-enriched effort has a fine sense of substance and delivers plenty of honest varietal character at the price.

Very good and a panel favorite. Oak and creamy nose with lots of butter, vanilla and some lime; lemon, apple, mango, pepper and rich butterscotch; balanced; well-made for the rich style.

The 2001 Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the more fascinating wines I have tasted in a long time, an excellent value for its rich fruit, perfect varietal character and finesse.

Kendall-Jackson, founded 22 years ago, is renowned for its widely distributed Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay...(K-J) has made radical changes in how they make their wines, and that commitment is now showing up in their new releases…The latest version of this $12 (Vintner’s Reserve) Chardonnay 2002 is surprisingly better structured and more flavorful than any past version, and Ullom has developed a system to make the wine more consistent than in the past.

Spicy and blunt, this medium-to full-bodied Syrah can age several years.

There is a lot of serious fruit and structure in this $20 reserve wine from the indisputable king of restaurant Chardonnay. The reserve takes fruit up a notch from its popular Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay. More barrel exposure leads to a more complex palate of citrus and tropical fruit flavors with special notes of pineapple and coconut.

A rich, classic mix of blackberry and dark chocolate seamlessly fused with oak; nice, ripe tannins. Screwcap