This is the wine that started Jess Jackson's wine empire. It's hard to believe it has been around for 20 years. We remember this wine clobbering a nice batch of expensive white burgundies in a blind tasting 18 years ago. It's still fun to drink with its tropical fruit flavors and hint of citrus and toasty oak. We're sure to see this in another 20 years.

Made entirely from a single block on the Santa Maria Bench, K-J's Chardonnay is big and rich on the nose with peach, mango, honey, creamy spicy lees fruit. Wow.

Sweet themes of juicy apples play the lead to entirely supportive oak first in the nose and then again in the flavors of this up-front offering, and, while acidity firms up things by mid-palate, it does so without taking away from the wine's generally juicy nature.

Made from grapes from Santa Barbara, Monterey and Sonoma County, this is a full-throttle California Chardonnay. We prefer this wine as a stand alone since its big tropical fruit and elegant oak aging make this a wine to ponder and savor. A full symphony all by itself.

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

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.

Made from coastal grapes, this chardonnay has all the bells and whistles: barrel fermentation, whole-cluster pressing and malolactic fermentation. Forward tropical fruit flavors, butterscotch oak and butter aromas. Maybe there's too much going on here, but it doesn't lack flavor.

Orange blossom character atop sweet vanilla, toast, lime, baking spice and baked apples; flavors of mango, banana, pear and tropical fruit; round and full with decent acidity on the finish that shows some citrus and more toasty oak.

Rich and ripe. Peach, pear and citrus fruit aromas carry through in the flavors. A hint of spice. Nice, lingering finish.

Vanilla aromas, sweet golden-apple flavors, rich, fat, sweet.

Rich and buttery - a big wine with sweetness on entry. Clean, bright aromas and flavors of vanilla, orange zest, papaya, fresh pineapple with toast and toffee. Nice balance of oak and malolactic characteristics.

Fresh mildly blossomy, slightly pineappley fruit emerges nicely with balanced oak and hints of sweet butter in the immediate aromas of this juicy youngster, and its open flavors run parallel in their bias to tropical fruit.

A consistently popular wine full of apple and pear fruitiness complemented by well-balanced, spicy oak flavors and a barely perceptible, but appealing, touch of sweetness.

Rich, intense aromas and flavors of black raspberries; sweet and smooth; excellent balance; long, deeply fruity finish.

Top of the category...

Peach, green apple, and melon flavours with butterscotch and toasty oak.

Although its overtly leesy nose is almost singularly keyed on nutty, burnt bread elements, this offering comes through with a generous dose of sweet pear-like fruit on the palate and its open flavors find a creamy streak of oak instead of the expected repeat of toast and char. Nicely rounded and a touch oily in feel, it finishes with a lingering mix of apples, pears and oak and should do fine service as a juicy partner to grilled chicken dishes.

Serious Grenache Dried cherry fruit and savoury oak. Composed and complex.

Truly great old-vine Grenache for Pinot Noir lovers Another Jackson Family Wines-owned property which they're probably just waiting for the world to appreciate. This wine is actually overseen by winemaker Christopher Carpenter, whose main job is making some of Jackson Family's highest-end California Cabernets (Cardinale, Lokoya.) To be honest, that doesn't sound like the right resume for making a great old-vine Grenache, and the winery web page boasts Wine Advocate scores for all the wines on it -- and this wine isn't on it. I'm not sure what's up with that; I hope they're not planting on grafting these vines (also right near the Yangarra and Smart vineyards) over to Cabernet so they can more effectively extract dense 97-point flavors. Grab the wine while you still can. It's light-bodied, with red currants and berries and some surprising tannin on the finish that means you might want to hold onto it for a bit.

Delicious and full-bodied, this Australian gem is loaded with ripe dark fruit and spice. Great, hedonistic texture.

Huon’s best Australian wines of 2018

Top 100 Australian Wines of 2018 - #37 The sum is greater than the parts here. Stunning interaction of the two grapes. The shiraz fills and lightens the cabernet just perfectly. Abundant red and dark berries, plums and chocolate. Super fine tannins, too. This is blended to perfection. A brilliant wine. 96 points.

Eight Cool And Unique Wines To Try Now This beautiful wine is all about balance, harmonizing the richly textured blue-black fruits into a layered richness on the palate. The tannins and structure fold into place nicely—drink now or age for 10 -20 years. Why Try? This wine is a world-class example of the polished rough beauty of Australian Shiraz and a steal for $75. Buy a case and age them.

Top 100 Australian Wines of 2018 - #68 A fresh and fragrant cabernet with violets and dark rose-like floras, cassis and blueberries. There is also a decent serving of spicy oak in the mix. The palate is smoothly arranged on sheets of formidably strong tannins, which are carried seamlessly into the finish. A stunning cabernet. 95 points.

Merlot and More from an Exciting McLaren Vale Estate The wine called “The Peake” is a blend of 56 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 44 percent Shiraz, sourced from vines planted in 1971, and at $150 it occupies a higher tier of production than the other three wines. The more time that elapsed in my evaluation of these four wines, the higher my opinion of this particular wine rose. It is a sleek, complex, complete wine that carries a dual varietal voice of red fruits and dark fruits, juiciness and earth. Given enough time, it could easily be the featured wine of this column. But right now, it is less dramatic than the Shiraz, and less charming than the Merlot.