The fruity, big-bodied Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve 2003 comes with an extra measure of oaky richness.

Clean fruit and velvet tannins offer sleek California ripeness for steak.

17th Annual Restaurant Wine Poll

This wine is full of intense flavours, black cherry, blackberry and black currant, giving it wonderful structure and a strong backbone, which helps the flavour to linger in the middle. It finishes with hints of vanilla. An affordable experience from a family-operated winery, which continues to create with increasing excellence.

Big oak, big black cherry fruit, big tannins; a real steak wine.

A classic Cabernet nose of cassis, with herbal notes, too. Good slightly ripe fruit, but not overly sweet, this wine is well balanced, and not an obvious New World fruit bomb. An elegant and restrained example of what California is capable of.

25 years after its birth Kendall-Jackson is still a family-run winery. This is not all about super-ripe fruit and high sugar levels - far from it. There is an attractive herbaceous base supporting the black currant leaf flavours that dominate the palate, although there are also hints of chocolate and spice.

Very dark crimson. Beige volcanic rock. Very fresh Cabernet notes. Clone 7. Quite high altitude. Much richer on the palate...

Warmer, riper, richer nose. Want to drink - very rich and ripe and four-square. Dry tannins underneath. Quite deceptive.

Plum jam and vanilla oak. Dark spicy plum fruit. Well balanced. Dryish finish. Nice length. Nice effort. Fine flavour. 3-6 years.

Smells somehow roasted yet mountainous - not unlike a high Argentine fruit. Dry finish. Spice and tar. Real vitality in this very exciting, expressive one-place wine.

Serves up tangy berry and cherry flavors that weave in olive, herb and earth tones... Drink now through 2007.

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

This is a pretty nice, average Cabernet, dry and balanced, with good fruit flavors.

On the smooth side. Flavors of cherry, dark plum, cassis, oak, spice and licorice. Balanced. Chewy tannins.

Polished fruit, plush on the palate and long finish.

Lovely fragrant, ripe berry fruit. Bright and breezy, juicy style with good concentration and balance. Very drinkable up to 3 years.

Intense and concentrated, if a bit dry and tannic. I'm left wishing there were more fruit to offset the tannins. Hints of currant and mocha peak through. Drink now.

Brawny, with blackberry, plum and currant tones folding into cedary oak, herb accents and chewy tannins that clamp down on the finish. Drink now through 2009.