Pale straw appearance. Medium-bodied. Full acidity. Moderately extracted. Tart peach, lemon, vanilla. Faint vanilla notes with lemony aromas that follow through on the palate. A red tart with subtle oak.

Very fresh, with newly mown grass and ripe fig notes; ripe lemon flavors add dimension in the mouth, framed by just a hint of spice and structure.

This one smells of creamy oak and fresh melon and pear-like vitality. A burst of fruit envelops the front of the palate while brisk acidity provides balance towards the finish. Good value.

Nicely focused in the nose, yet a bit shy on intensity throughout, this well-polished, medium-bodied Pinot gets good marks for its proper fruit, its extra bit of oaky richness and a lengthy finish. Never a flamboyant, it can improve for a few years in bottle.

Lovely wild cherry flavors with notes of spice are the immediate draw here, and the sinuous texture is well worth noting as well. You'll find the projective fruit delightful, suggestive of young Pommard from a fine producer who would emphasize texture and fruit over concentration and wood. Consumption over the next couple years is most advisable, as you wouldn't want these remarkable pinot flavors to fade, especially at the price of admission.

A dense, opaque, black/purple color and a sensational nose of Asian spices, toasty new oak, cassis and herbs. Full-bodied and intense, with underlying gracefulness and style, this is the first vintage where Cardinale has merited its lofty price.

When it comes to solidly oaked California chardonnay, the resulting butterscotch flavor is all right when apparent in moderation, all wrong when it seems to be applied with a trowel. This wine shows that flavor in moderation, with plenty of lovely fruit and its natural acidity in balance. Here's a match for thick-cut swordfish steaks, lemon-basted, grilled and scattered with pepper.

An impressive, full-bodied, low acid, dense, powerful wine, it possesses plenty of black currant and berry fruit intertwined with licorice, smoke, and vanillin scents. This layered, chewy, broad-shouldered, husky wine should be drinkable when released, and keep for two decades.

Intense and concentrated, with a range of flavors that stretches from earth to spice, cranberry and cherry.

Another excellent offering from Kendall-Jackson's inexpensive Vintner's Reserve program, this melony, subtlety herbaceous, medium-bodied wine is fresh and lively with good fruit and a crisp, dry finish.

Sweet but juicy and flavorful, offering plenty of floral, grape and honeyed apple flavors that linger on the soft, balanced finish.

Sweet but juicy and flavorful, offering plenty of floral, grape and honeyed apple flavors that linger on the soft, balanced finish.

What lacks in power it makes up for with finesse. Lean and soft, it has bright aromas and flavors of black cherry and black pepper.

There are abundant quantities of jammy black cherries and raspberries, intermixed with pepper and toasty oak in this medium to full-bodied yet elegant wine.

The 1995 Sanchietti Vineyard Pinot Noir is slightly less complex as well as shorter in the mouth, but I tasted it at an early stage of its development.

...light, crisp, medium-bodied wine that faded in the finish. Nevertheless, there is enough up-front honeysuckle-scented and flavored fruit to provide pleasent drinking over the next year.

...crisp, tart, spicy, peppery, light to medium-bodied.

It reveals tart acidity (too high for my palate), as well as attractive berry, cherry, cola, and herb-like flavors in its light to medium-bodied style. It is a fresh, lively Merlot ...

...it finishes with shrill acidity. and comes across as compressed and lean. It will undoubtedly dry out before it ever blossoms.

...exhibits a more saturated ruby color, and a pleasing red currant, "Petit Bordeaux"-like personality with some ripeness, medium body, and a soft style.

The straightforward, medium-bodied, berry-scented and flavored…

The wine is drier than previous examples, with a pleasant, crisp, melony, and tropical fruit-scented nose, honeyed, light-bodied flavors, and a clean finish. This is more than just a serviceable wine, it is a pleasant example of lighter-styled, fruit-driven Chardonnay. Drink it over the next year.

.possesses copious quantities of sweet blackcurrant, licorice-tinged, black cherry fruit in its aromatics and flavors. Full-bodied, deep, and moderately tannic, this wine rolls across the palate with a layered effect. Moreover, the tannin tastes sweeter and the fruit even richer than in the Veeder bottling.