Great with wild boar.

Sonoma County's Alexander Valley, where the fruit for this wine was grown, is celebrated for cabernet sauvignons with an enviable combination of strong spine and supple tannins, and this sweet juicy, cherry-flavored and long-lingering take on the varietal lives up to that standard with authority and flourish. It's a big wine, but drinkable now.

Large-scale, lovely ripe black fruit, bold flavoured with oak.

Made with fruit grown largely on Mount Veeder, this cabernet needs about a decade of cellar age before its resonating cherry fruit and chocolate icing can be enjoyed.

Tight cassis, earthy nose; immense and deep, layered flavours.

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.

Made in the wine-blessed trinity of Northern California counties, this serious wine requires the drinker's patience and attention. Structured with firm but ripe tannins, it is built to last, with powerfully focused flavors of cherry, plum, blackberry, cedar, leather and toasty oak that slowly reveal themselves in the glass. Drink it now with a sirloin and a side of sauteed wild mushrooms or leave it in the cellar to enjoy later with some of California's artisinal cheeses.

Vintner Jess Jackson owns some of Northern California's most coveted vineyards, extending from the Pacific Coast to the inland valleys. This wine serves up a complex collage that comes from vines growing in three different region: Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino. Soft Napa Valley tannins make it smooth and lush, while the flavors range from blackberry, cassis and chocolate to coffee and herbs--often found in Napa and Sonoma grapes. On the finish, the wine shows a hint of bright-edged anise, surely a mark of the cooler Mendocino climate.

K-J is anything but a boutique winery, but because of its nearly unlimited resources, it has pulled out all stops to craft a wine more akin to a small-production, high-quality-oriented facility. The fruit for this blend comes from hillside vineyards in Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino Valleys. The wine has a deep purple/black color, a deep nose of black currants, chocolate, mint and toasty oak. On the palate it is full-bodied and creamy, with concentrated fruit, soft texture and just enough tannic structure to give it focus.

Reserved nose. Strong cassis characters. Rich, juicy...has a tannic backbone and fair acidity, cassis finish. Quite good length.

Great colour, cedar and ripe blackberry, some tannins to be resolved but classy.

a medium-bodied and balanced interpretation of the varietal that captured harmoniously the grape's minty, violet, licorice and pipe-tobacco components. Unfortunately, Kendall-Jackson's winemakers made just 150 cases of the wine, using Howell Mountain and Oakville fruit left over from its high-end Stature cabernet sauvignon. The cabernet franc is available only at the winery's tasting room in Santa Rosa and through its wine club.

Again Kendall-Jackson's Vintner's Reserve tops the chart here, mainly since the winery reduced production of the wine and improved quality with its 2001 vintage.

definitely a wine designed for drinking rather than long-term keeping, sports plenty of well-defined fruit and a few fancy oak extras.

Good grip with rich blackberry and cassis flavors and a touch of vanillin oak.

Generous toasty oak notes accent herb, olive and berry flavors, with tart tannins. Drink now through 2006.

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.

dry, full-bodied, heavy tannin, high acidity. Consistently solid, with juicy berry and slight green-pepper flavors that show why K-J's Vintner's Reserve Cabernet is so popular.

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

Smells forward and ripe, with wild-berry, bramble, and blueberry aromas and an array of crushed, dusty Oriental spices. On the palate, it's awkward, somewhat hot, with 15% alcohol and some over-ripe, raisiny flavors that are Port-like. Some, however, will go nuts over this style.

Raspberry, pepper, clove and brown spices sing out in this densely packed flavor package. The tannins, however, are silky and user friendly; it's spicy and briary enough to let you know it's zin but balanced enough to easily stand up to food without overpowering it. Serious stuff.

Full-bodied dry red wine; medium deep magenta. Aromas and flavors of crushed dark fruits blackberries and black plums. Rich concentrated and well-knit. Tannins from fruit, big "guy wine" but balanced, well-structured. Alcohol about 15 percent, but not hot thanks to ripe fruit. Oak well-handled. Ageable.