Toasty, creamy and lush with ripe, smoky oak flavors and lots of honey and butterscotch.

Has a nice sense of harmony and finesse, striking a fine balance between its core of cherry and raspberry flavors and its light oak shadings.

Soft and easy to drink.

Soft fruit nose with a rich, structured body - a very elegant wine.

The super-ripe pineapple, banana and mandarin orange fruit flavors typical of Santa Maria chardonnay meet up with ginger and marzipan flourishes as the wine breathes.

Lemon and herbal scents provide the central theme for this wine's aromas with oak adding a bit to the complexity. The wine is round and firmly balanced, and while its flavors could certainly be richer and more intense, they are nicely focused. A pineapple tone surfaces towards the finish and lingers in the aftertaste.

Rather tangy, spicy style with some authority- good balance. (Also appeared in 9/98 issue.)

Rich, fine, sweet red fruits on the nose and vanilla spice with richly flavored dark cherry fruit and a sweet middle.

Ripe blackcurrant and sweet oak nose. Mouthfilling, ripe, sweet blackcurrant fruit with a smoky complexity.

Quite peppery on the nose with hints of black cherry. Soft and juicy and has some charm but lacks length and finesse.

Strawberry fruit on palate with lovely oak and balanced with ripe fruit. Elegant with good extract and very good length

This wine is sourced primarily from Napa and Sonoma counties, giving it a fairly dark appearance with sweet plum, chocolate and American oak aromas.

Clean and blossomy aromas show sweet fruit and a touch of citrus pushing through lees and oak elements but depth is not evident at any step. Glycerin gives an impression of richness on the palate and, in spite of its slight coarseness, this one should drink well with chicken preparations.

This '96 reserve is what first rate Sonoma chardonnay is all about - powerful, sensuous yet finely tuned, with layers of texture and flavor. Scents of sweet pear and guava interplay with new French oak. It's ready to drink with something rich, like grilled quail stuffed with pancetta and white truffles.

Firmly tannic, with gamy leathery edge, it slowly reveals complex cherry and berry flavors, showing more complexity on the finish, where the flavors fold together nicely.

Tightly focused, with a core of ripe pear, spice, fig and light oak, showing depth, richness and complexity on the finish, where a dash of pineapple folds in. (Also appeared in 7/31/98 issue.)

"A touch earthy, it works its way into more mainstream fruit flavors, with ripe pear, apricot and toasty oak. Finishes with complex oak and more fruit." also appeared in the 7/98 & 12/15/98 issue

"Clean, with ripe, moderately rich and complex pear, fig, apple and smoky oak nuances. Finishes with a sense of elegance and polish and hints of pear and lime." also appeared in the 7/98 issue

Elegant, ripe and spicy, with pretty plum, berry-and cherry-laced flavors. Well balanced, supple and pleasing. (also appeared in the June '98 issue)

Very toasty nose, citrus and butterscotch, overripe pear; good acidity, viscous, slightly honeyed; excellent balance. Perfect with pork tenderloin with mustard.

Here is a wine that typifies to a "tee" the opulent, optimally ripe and highly oaked formula for success in latter-day Cabernet. From its dense, cherry-raspberry aromas to its broadly filled, wonderfully well-extracted flavors, it carries a wealth of very sweet oak spice, but it never leans so far to oaky excess that its fruit is lost. Fairly tannic and a little hot at the end, the wine is also very rich to the last, and we would expect that richness to remain throughout the called-for five to eight years of cellaring.

With a solid impression of well-ripened fruit the central theme of both its nicely focused aromas and substantial, slightly juicy flavors, this fleshy Cabernet is ling on richness, weight and staying power. And ,if sporting a full dose of toasty oak as a prominent player, it never veers too far from its curranty, ripe-plum essentials. It is at once both slightly supple and yet youthfully tannic and will benefit from several years of cellaring.

Low-keyed fruit gets a little help here from a dusting of oaky spice.

Perhaps limited by the vintage, this wine delights with big and rich aromas while delivering wholly enjoyable but somewhat less complete flavors. Initial impressions of black currant and sweet spice scents are enhanced by creamy, somewhat toasty oak, and it is this attractive mix that shows up as the wine enters the mouth.