designation: Thompson Vineyard

description: Here's a big, rich, densely layered Syrah, the kind of wine that Cab or Merlot lovers who are looking for alternatives should discover. It's full-bodied, dry and oaky, yet with its cherry, chocolate, fig and licorice flavors, offers a whole different flavor profile. Brilliiant with pork tenderloin with a fruity sauce or stuffing.

designation:

description: This is sort of a second wine of the respected veteran winemaker, Nick Goldschmidt, who bottles his more expensive brand under his last name. But there's nothing second-rate about the wine. It's classic Alexander Valley, soft and a little herbal, and rich in cherry, red currant, licorice, sweet vanilla oak and peppery spice flavors. Lovely now, and with the integrity to evolve for a decade.

designation: Sentinel Oak Vineyard Pyramid Block

description: Made from the oldest vines in the winery's vineyard, Terre Rouge's Sentinal Oaks Pyramid Block is usually their best Syrah, and so it is in the 2005 vintage. It's a beautiful wine, soft, rich and opulent. The flavors of blackberries, ground black pepper, cherries, raspberries, chocolate, coffee, cola and Asian spices flood the mouth, leading to a dry, anise-tinged finish. Best now and for a few years.

designation: D rnsteiner Kellerberg Reserve

description: A first from Pichler, this is a wine that stopped fermenting while still sweet and offers rich layers of honey, lychees and pepper are all here, as well yellow peaches and honeydew.

designation: Estate Bottled

description: Near perfect in the way it tastes almost sweet, then pulls back into dryness. The flavors of pineapples, green apples, pears, peaches and honeysuckle are made even more delicious by the judicious application of new oak and sur lie aging.

designation: Sagemoor Vineyard

description: Sagemoor's old Cab vines comprise 79% of the blend. The rest is a mix of Merlot, Cab Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, melded into a deep and satisfying whole. Beautifully mixed cassis, berry and cherry fruits are dotted with dried herb. There is plenty of caramel and toast in the lingering finish, and this wine combines hedonistic power with depth and character.

designation: B soleil

description: The gorgeous nose artfully combines cured meat, earthy compost and spicy herb with plump berry and cherry fruits. Beautifully dense, this is a big, almost rustic wine, with bold flavors, blue/black fruits, sweet saddle leather and firm, supple tannins. The current vintage is the best B soleil yet, finished with elegant, firm and supple tannins.

designation: Solomon Hills Special Bottling Two Barrels Made

description: With 15% residual sugar, this dessert wine is decidedly sweet in apricot, pineapple, pear, honey, vanilla fudge and smoky flavors, with a brisk minerality. It maintains a zesty balance, with crisp acidity.

designation: W?sendorfer Kollm tz Smaragd

description: An impressive wine, a real star, with its honeyed aromas, rounded green fruits and a concentration of power that is balanced with acidity and a light, floating aftertaste.

designation: W?sendorfer Kirchweg Smaragd

description: This vineyard, the way to the church, gives a full, rounded wine with very pure, direct fruit, and a green structure. This is an impressive wine that offers minerality as well as big fruit.

designation: Cimarossa Vineyard

description: This latest of Sbragia's single-vineyard Cabs shows the winemaker's penchant for ripeness and power. There's nothing subtle about the oak and black currant flavors, which explode in the mouth. But few winemakers in California know better than Ed Sbragia how to draw elegance and subtlety from a wine of this size. Fine now, and should develop for a decade or more.

designation: Ried Sch tt Smaragd

description: A finely constructed wine that is likely to age over many years. With its juicy currant flavors still dominated by minerality and citrus, there is some austerity. It is a complex wine showing great terroir character from the steep vineyard site.

designation: Josephine Red Wine

description: A gorgeous wine notable for its balance and Bordeaux-like elegance. Smoky, ashy oak dominates the aroma, just hinting at the cherry, currant and plum fruit beneath. In the mouth, the wine is firm in dusty tannins, and bright in cherry and blackberry flavors. Made from Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec and Cab Franc, this polished Bordeaux blend will be best after 2010. And look at that alcohol, a moderate 13.5%.

designation: Pisoni Vineyard

description: Shows the extraction and volume associated with this vineyard, with bigtime cherry, cola and red currant flavors that have an edge of chocolate and coffee. It's an enormously complex wine, rich in acids and with a gentle scour of tannins that suggests game, pork, steak, that kind of fare.

designation:

description: Appropriately big and burly, full of ripe fruit, rather soft as well as rich. With its yellow fruits, layers of white currants and a powerful wood element, this is a wine that is still knitting together. There is potential here, especially from the underlying acidity. Give it 4C5 years.

designation: H?hereck

description: Closed, mineral and salty, this is potentially a rich and powerful wine, full-bodied but still retaining great varietal character. The aftertaste has great acidity, which cuts through the wine, leaving considerable aging ability.

designation: Estate

description: Made from a tiny vineyard north of St. Helena, the 2004 represents the inaugural release from this winery. It's a very promising start. Made from 100% Cab, the wine is polished and delicious, showing black and red currant, plum and spice flavors, with hints of cola, tangerine and licorice. Rich in acids and tannins, it should age gracefully through 2012, at least.

designation: Artist Series #5 Red Wine

description: This Bordeaux blend needs some air to shed it's slightly reductive aromas, but then bursts into vivid life with succulent, sweet raspberry/cherry fruit, nicely supported with tangy acids and firm, ripe, well-rounded tannins. The streak of smoke and licorice in the finish remains compact and bound, but suggests that as this lovely bottle ages it will reveal more and more elegant layers.

designation: Silver Pines Vineyard

description: This Sonoma Mountain appellation is becoming increasingly important for Pinot Noir, thanks to bottlings like this. The wine is amazingly powerful in black cherry, raspberry, rosehip tea, licorice, cola and vanilla oak flavors. Yet crisp acidity and silky smooth tannins make it balanced and elegant. Defines a certain California, drink-me-now style.

designation: Roll Ranch Six Barrels Made

description: If you're looking for a supersweet, Sauternes-style dessert wine that feels clean, this late-harvest Viognier fits the bill. It's absolutely decadent in honeyed apricot, pineapple, cr me br?l e and vanilla fudge flavors that are balanced with crisp acidity.