Smooth and supple, with ripe wild berry, cola and cherry flavors…

Straightforward and varietally true, this is a good all-purpose cabernet. Dark and youthful in appearance with smoky aromas, spicy plum fruit, and a creamy texture that will pair well with a variety of people and foods.

...exhibits a more saturated ruby color, and a pleasing red currant, "Petit Bordeaux"-like personality with some ripeness, medium body, and a soft style.

Ripe fruit, spice and balance.

Low-keyed fruit gets a little help here from a dusting of oaky spice.

Perhaps limited by the vintage, this wine delights with big and rich aromas while delivering wholly enjoyable but somewhat less complete flavors. Initial impressions of black currant and sweet spice scents are enhanced by creamy, somewhat toasty oak, and it is this attractive mix that shows up as the wine enters the mouth.

Has everything you expect in a Cabernet: aromas of cocoa, cedar, berry, and oak, with good structure, silky flavors and a nice finish.

Rich and outgoing even in its youth, this well-endowed wine speaks very much to the juicy, fully ripened fruit that marks the better wines of the vintage. Its abundant cherry and cassis qualities are infused with a balanced bit of rich oak, and, while fairly firm and a little hot in the latter going, it hangs on to its fundamental fruit and never dies. Appealing now for its straight-ahead fruitiness, it will only get better with time and promises positive growth for another four to six years.

Firm and intense, with a narrow band of earthy currant and cedar flavors.

Wood spice overrides both loosely defined ripe, dried cherry fruit in the nose and flavors. Round, firm and showing little tannic harshness, this likable, early-drinking table wine will be a good buy when found at discounted retail prices.

Sweet, thick and highly influenced by oak, this very ripe wine steers to dryness on the palate despite a bit of glycerin fatness on entry. Finishing with a little more toughness and a little less fruit than might be ideal, it nonetheless achieves a good measure of richness and will pair nicely with simple steaks and chops over the coming three or four years.

Purple ruby. Medium-bodied. Balanced acidity. Moderately extracted and oaked. Cloves, coffee, black fruits. Well concentrated, with soft textured but ample tannins and a subdued finish. Seems somewhat closed at present.

One has to give credit to Kendall-Jackson. As a winery, its major focus is on large-production bottlings under its Vintner's Reserve program. Yet, in its Grand Reserves and its host of expensive labels (Hartford Court, Stonestreet, Edmeades, Pepi), it often comes up with wines of special beauty. Here, the wine fights a good battle with the vintage tendency toward shallowness by finding enough ripe fruit to fill its somewhat open, medium-full-bodied frame. High in richness and suppleness, it will deliver great joy over the next four to seven years but is a question mark if held longer.

Black cherries and currants dominate this wine from another big California house. Additional flavors of chocolate and raspberries make it a wine that shows well now, but underneath is good evidence that it will get even better in seven or eight years.

A clean, open, soft textured wine that fills the niche for easy-drinking Cabernet.

Very pretty oak adds a twist on vanilla and cream to low-keyed themes of ripe-cherry fruit. Fairly solid and moderately deep. Packs sufficient tannins to develop for as much as four to six years.

Has all the ingredients for greatness, with tiers of black cherry, currant, anise and plum, finishing with chunky tannins that let the fruit glide through.

A firm, tight core of currant, cedar and tobacco notes that pick up a minty tone and chewy tannins.

Cherryish fruit is teamed with a bit of herbs and cocoa. Ripe but always diffuse flavors.

Pleasantly fruity with grape, herb, cherry and currant notes framed by light oak, but finishing with firm tannins. Ready now.

A perfume of blackfruit, smoke and cedar with the slightest of herbal notes. The palate is a well balanced reflection of the nose but with a minty finish.