Medium ruby red color; spicy, strawberry, cherry aromas; lighter in body, good acidity, spicy, strawberry fruit, lingering finish. Ripe, bright, light in body, this is pleasant to drink and would go with a lot of lighter foods.

Classy with some real stuff, yet quite easy to drink.

Complex and full-bodied. Integrated tannins. Rich blackberry and cherry flavors. Notes of coffee, chocolate and licorice.

Plum, berry and mocha nose flavors with nice vanillin oak. Rich and ready to drink. A great tribute to the Syrah grape.

Lush, vibrant tropical fruit flavours along with vanilla and pear.

Sweet, creamy and so very polished in both its richly oaked nose and rounded, slightly juicy flavors, this up-front offering is very easy to like, yet its fruit comes up a touch short on energy and its finish fades to heat and dryness.

Youthful aromas of fresh pears and Gala Apples sit beneath a mild veneer of creamy oak in its attractive aromas, yet, once in the mouth, the wine is very simple, never so well defined in fruit and slightly sugary in character with crisp, slightly citric acidity stiffening its finish.

KJ's least expensive Chardonnay is a straightforward look at the varietal and features both sweet apple- and pear-like qualities with minimal intrusion from oak. It shows an edge of sugar to its soft and easy flavors, but its ultimate use is as a simple, light quaff or mealtime mate.

A slight hint of animal and earth at first, but then a full-force blackberry fruit. Pure and layered from 96-year-old vines. Hold for six months and then up to 2006.

It's not the first time that Cambria's Katherine's has performed at the top of our chardonnay tasting - the past two vintages have both scored 90 or above. This may be a big, buttery wine, with lots of corn-silk richness, but it is also remarkably fresh, continuing to express a lively, honeyed ocean-coast minerality the day after it's first opened. The firm, compact structure is all seashells, layered in white. That contrasts the earthier elements of mushrooms, ferns and dried honeycomb. In balance, it stays cool for all its size and alcohol, a zesty, substantial white for pork or turkey long-brined then roasted.

Presented in a clean, mineral-scented, Chablis style, this youthfully austere wine should develop well. The oak influence is subdued, just hinting at caramel and toast, while the lees character yields a beeswax texture, dried honey and the scent of herbs and scrub along the Pacific Coast. Stone Côte is a small block of the Durell vineyard planted on an ancient riverbed, windswept and cool, and it's grown a firm and lasting wine, one to pull from the cellar several years from now for a plateau des fruits de mer.

Clean as a Pacific rain, when you open this bottle, the wine has virtually no aroma but for a hint of dust on grape skins. Still, at that first moment, it feels clean and wholesome, the texture supple and composed. With air, it develops through scents of pistachio toward orange zest and kiwi, holding onto that fresh and natural ozone character of the coastal rain.

Clean as a Pacific rain, when you open this bottle, the wine has virtually no aroma but for a hint of the dust on grape skins. Still, at that first moment it feels clean and wholesome, the texture is supple and composed. With air, it develops through scents of pistachio toward orange zest and kiwi, holding onto that fresh and natural ozone character of the coastal rain. A steal at $16, buy this one by the case.

Fresh tangerine and light citrus fruit casts a lively sheen across the palate, the contrast of oak and ocean giving a dry, saline finish. A light, clean chardonnay, great with oysters.

Smelling of sweet oak, pineapples and a hint of cream, this rich and nicely balanced bottling delivers a good dose of immediate fruit in the mouth and sports a lovely counterpoint of oak spice. Medium-full-bodied, slightly rounded in feel and bright without being unduly beholden to acidity, it progresses cleanly to a long and well-focused finish and should hold up nicely over the next two or three years.

Bright, nicely oaked, ripe-apple fruit is the shining star of this juicy, slightly frontal and eminently likeable Chardonnay, and the wine's minor flirtations with sweetness are countered by a finely fit measure on lively acidity. Wholly enjoyable now, the wine nevertheless has the careful balance for further keeping and may well improve in bottle for another year or two.

An extra dollop of vanilla and toast. Plenty of big, balanced fruit, with true varietal character.

Round and rich, with tangy orange/pineapple fruit and a hint of sweetness.

Simple, varietal flavors dominate this pleasant, quaffable alternative to chardonnay. It is blended with semillon, viognier, pinot blanc and malvasia to give it broad dimension.

Fine, complex, slightly honeyed bouquet, lots of class. Excellent weight and lots of clear flavours and complexity, finely made.