K-J has made a habit over the past three decades of delivering more bang for the buck than most of its competitors. That's as true today as it was 25 years ago. The Grand Reserve is a perfect example. At $26, the 2013 vintage would do well in blind tastings with merlot costing as much as $40. It shows excellent richness and weight on the palate, seductive blueberry and plum fruit, and supple tannins for a smooth ride. Notes of oak spice and wood smoke are restrained and well judged.

This is an impressive undertaking, made from estate vineyards across the region, all certified sustainable. Medium in build and intensity, it allows acidity to balance out the strong, interwoven tannin and power to remain buoyant in high-toned cherry and currant. It finishes with a flourish of cinnamon spice.

Kendall-Jackson's Grand Reserve Merlot proves a point many have been making for years about the merlot grape's potential in Sonoma County, where it is closer to the Pacific and generally cooler than neighboring Napa Valley. Merlot likes cool weather and it shows. This vintage of K-J Grand is dense and rich, with layered black-fruit aromas and a generous helping of sweet oak. It would stand out in any crowd.

The outstanding 2011 Merlot Grand Reserve, a blend of 91.8% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, comes primarily from Sonoma County’s Trace Ridge, Legacy and Alexander Mountain Estate vineyards. Copious aromas of berries, mocha and chocolate as well as a hint of oak emerge from this full-bodied, opulent Merlot. It should drink well for a decade.

The GR merlot is totally dialed-in at Kendall-Jackson, and the 2010 is one big wine. Look for a rich, spicy, black licorice nose flecked with black cherry, plum, tapenade, cedar, menthol, saddle leather, barnyard and vanilla aromas. Rich, ripe, supple tannins and big extract. Black-cherry jam, plum, cedar, black licorice, peppery, spicy, orange, espresso, sage and herb flavours. A bit warm on the finish, but it has great fruit and complexity. Should improve over the next three to five years.

The 2006 Merlot Howell Mountain is a dense ruby/purple-tinged wine displaying notes of crushed rocks, black raspberries, cherries, and white chocolate.

Taylor Peak is 100 percent Bennett Valley grown fruit that spends 17 months in French oak, of which 37 percent is new. Look for cool black fruit and blueberries with bits of tobacco, spice, compost chocolate and licorice. Impressive styling that focuses on mountain fruit giving it power but with Bordeaux Right Bank-like finesse. You can easily drink this merlot, for a decade. Well done and fine value.

More and more French oak (now 85 percent but only 23 percent new) has really helped to shape the new style of this wine that, while ripe and full-flavoured, is eminently more suited to food. Look for a bright core of plummy, black cherry fruit and mocha notes, with warm cedar, violet and tobacco undercurrents. Highly polished fruit from some impressive sites in Sonoma (85) and Napa (15). Well done.

A serious Merlot. Well-oaked, it shows lots of crowd-pleasing caramel, toast, vanilla and sweet woody flavors, but the fruit, acids and tannins are fully supportive of all that oak. Cherries, black raspberries and mocha flavors are pure and refined, leading to a dry finish.

A first-rate Merlot at a good price for the quality. Dry and complex with a soft, velvety texture, this supple wine features blackberry, red cherry, cocoa and sweet dried herb flowers, finished with toasty oak.

Wonderful Christmas-spice aromas lead to concentrated opulent fruit flavors in this full-bodied, complex and nicely oaky wine that's blended mostly from Syrah and Zinfandel. It's easy to pick out clove, cinnamon and cedar aromas before black currant and black cherry fill the palate.

A big, bold wine that also tastes precise and structured, it has deep, dense fruit flavors like black currant and black cherry, layers of fine tannins, hints of dark chocolate and espresso. This is a great wine to stash in the cellar, as it will taste best after 2020.

Opaque purple. Powerful, expansive aromas of black and blue fruit preserves, vanillin oak and incense, with a spicy quality adding lift. Lush blueberry and cassis flavors show an exotic floral touch and alluring sweetness, with gentle acidity providing shape. Closes smooth and very long, with supple tannins building slowly and folding into the dense fruit. I find this sexy wine quite approachable already.

Made in a modern, progressive, less classic style than its siblings, it is still very Californian in its opaque ruby/purple color, with a big, sweet kiss of toasty oak intermixed with ripe fruit, low acidity, and sweet tannin. From high elevation Napa vineyards, it is a big wine that should drink well for 10-15 years.

Here's a lush, soft Bordeaux blend, based on Cabernet and blended from vineyards around the county. Showing beautifully now, the wine opens with ripe cherry, blackberry, raspberry and coffee notes, surrounded by elegantly refined tannins.

The 2002 Stature is a cross-vineyard blend from many different sources. Composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot, largely from their Howell Mountain, Mt. Veeder and Stagecoach properties, it exhibits a dense ruby/purple color as well as lots of berry fruit intermixed with toasty oak, wet steel and chalk, a sweet, round, plump mouthfeel, and a medium to full-bodied finish with light to moderate tannin. It is far more accessible than the Highlands Estate Trace Ridge and should reach full maturity in another 3-4 years. It will last for 10-15 years where well-stored.

Succulent cherry fruit packed into a gentle, earthen tannin gives a sleek, integrated feel to this fat Napa cabernet. It's round and satisfying in middle, bracketed on either side by the smokiness of oak.

The inky/purple-colored 2001 Stature Meritage exhibits aromas of lead pencil shavings, licorice, black currants, smoke, and minerals. This closed but medium to full-bodied red boasts outstanding richness, sweet, well-integrated tannin, and a serious finish that lasts 40+ seconds. This impressive 2001 needs 2-3 years of cellaring, and should keep for 15+.

Firm and deeply concentrated, with a solid tannic punch to the blackberry, currant, coffee and plum flavors, this broad-appellation Cabernet reflects the strength of the vintage throughout the state.

Dark, grapey, with spicy plum, currant and wild berry. Finishes with firm tannins and fine balance. Notably elegant at this early stage.

Very aromatic, showing a complex nose of cherry, spice, smoked and raw meat, and tobacco. The flavors are copious, too, with strong black cherry, licorice and tobacco elements. Balance and structure are beautiful here, and the coffee-chocolate finish has a very good length, showing spice and blueberry accents. Lovely already, it will be better in four years.

Dense and chewy, but has all the ingredients for greatness, with tiers of black cherry, currant, anise and plum, finishing with chunky tannins that let the fruit glide through. Finishes spicy.

Bold, ripe, smooth and polished. The layers of plum, currant, and blueberry flavors are focused and lively right through the finish. Has the tannin and concentration for cellaring through the decade.

Slight brick edge on a ruby red wine. Fairly spicy nose: clove and cinnamon, a touch of mint, and lots of cherries.

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve is laced with black cherry, plum, grilled herbs, chocolate and menthol. Medium in body, with good underpinnings of both acidity and structure, the Grande Reserve delivers the goods. It is another impeccable wine in this range from Kendall-Jackson.