The Great Estates offerings are impressive...The 2000 Great Estates Chardonnay Monterey reveals a cool-climate bouquet of citrus oils, lemon grass, and liquid mineral scents along with a hint of tangerines. This medium-bodied, tangy, crisp, high acid Chardonnay is French in style. All of these Chardonnays are excellent values considering their high quality.

Pleasant, but essentially monolithic. Drink it over the next year.

Tangy, with lemon, ginger root, earth and apple flavors. A disappointing effort from a former leader with the variety. Drink now.

Killer juice! Red fruits, plums, citrus rind, blossoms, clove and more cascade through layers of exotic delights.

Killer juice! Red fruits, plums, citrus rind, blossoms, clove and more cascade through layers of exotic delights.

Pure, seductive Pinot aromas combine floral, rose-petal aromas with dark fruit and brown sugar. Rich flavors of blackberries and boyenberries cascade across the palate in a fall of velvet. Moderate acidity makes it approachable now, but there's enough tannin to preserve it for a few years. A wine that can stand up to a steak but still retains a sense of Pinot elegance. EDITOR'S CHOICE.

Aromas of dark fruit, anise, smoke and dried herbs morph into flavors of stone fruits (plums, cherries) in the mouth, with a strong undercurrent of pomegranate. This thick, almost syrupy wine is almost steroidally concentrated, but stays focused ...

A beautiful orchestration of rip fruit and oak, with touches of cream, toasty oak wrapped around layers of lemon- and nectarine-scented pear and apple. Long, lingering aftertaste.

A delicious mouthful of Chardonnay, from its ripe, floral and fruity aromas to its rich layers of spicy pear, tangerine and nectarine, finishing with a sweet fruit aftertaste.

Bright and easy-drinking, with tangy peach pit, pear and pretty honey notes, picking up richer toasty oak character in the finish.

A ripe, well-balanced style, with pear, peach, fig and coconut flavors wrapped within toasty oak and lemony notes that linger in the finish.

Dense and compact, with firm flavors if dill, currant, anise, and cedary tobacco. Drink now through 2007.

There's a bit of a medicinal note, but the black cherry, cola, raw dough and roasted herb flavors have good intensity, framed by toasty oak and modest tannins.

Firm, with compact dill and earth-laced currant, olive and blackberry. Turns tannic and leathery and reflects plenty of charred-oak aging, and while it's well-structured, the dry oakiness on the finish is a concern.

Well-balanced, elegant and understated, with pleasant green apple, citrus and honeydew melon flavors that turn simple.

There's good depth to bright lemon, pear, apple and toasty oak flavors that linger through the finish.

Has faint matchstick aromas and is a touch coarse; flinty, mineral, citrus and pear flavors should soften a bit with short-term cellaring. Drink now through 2006.

Good intensity, with smoky orange peel, dried cherry, raspberry and spice. Lively acidity and well-integrated tannins.

Nicely focused apple, vanilla, quince, and fig flavors integrate with toasty oak character turn ample on the finish. Drink now.

Sturdy, pleasant red offers a nice core of blackberry fruit and a touch of vanilla to make it gentle on the finish.

Light, fruity, supple, appealing for its pretty cherry and strawberry flavors.

A stunning wine that could pass for a top Batard-Montrachet from Burgundy. Rich and deeply flavored, but also fresh and well-defined, thanks to excellent acidity.

One of the best American Pinots I've ever tasted - and at a very reasonable price - this features sweet black cherry fruit with subtle herbal undertones and just the right touch of smoky oak.

Strong flavors of peaches and baked apples, with fresh acidity effectively balancing the wine's full ripeness.

Hartford Family Winery 2000 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($22.00):