Smooth and silky, Julia’s Vineyard 2015 Pinot Noir offers hints of blueberry and cranberry with a subtle tug of earthiness underlying the basic flavor profile. Soft tannins and a finish that lingers are among this pretty wine’s attributes.

Wines of the Week: Bargains for Your BBQ This labor day weekend (or any weekend for that matter), if you’re getting together with friends and family to enjoy some good,old-fashion BBQ, then our tasting panel has some wines for you. They’re all reasonably price and tasty. Cheers and enjoy! Blackberry, cherry, and plum aromas come together with accents of dark chocolate and toasty brown spice on the nose. With a sip, flavors of red plums and cherries unfold into elements of cocoa, cinnamon, and clove. Offering plush tannins and a balanced acidity, it will pair well with a hamburger.

This medium golden yellow colored Riesling opens with a yellow peach bouquet with hints of overripe mango and matchstick. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, balanced and soothing. The flavor profile is a tasty mild lime and gentle mineral blend with notes of Chamomile tea. We also detected hints of yellow grapefruit. The finish is dry and drift away nicely. I would pair this Riesling with swordfish skewers.

This young rosé from WillaKenzie, recently acquired by Jackson Family Wines, is rich and round. Big, front-loaded flavors of watermelon and strawberry come with a touch of tart apple, and the wine is gently framed with phenolic scaffolding. It's a big style, principally Pinot Noir, with dollops of Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc.

The winery is now part of the Jackson Family group. It's 100% barrel fermented and still wound up tight, so decanting will be helpful. Crisp apple fruit, fresh as can be, is wrapped in accents of toasted hazelnut.

Deep ruby color. Bright and juicy nose of raspberries, red currants, cranberry sauce, with lots of roses, violets, rhubarb and wild herbs. Plum and juicy texture but lively acidity, with dusty-light tannins. Crisp raspberries, cherries, pomegranate, tangy and chilled, with rose petals, rhubarb, mint and cola elements. Fruity and fun, but elegant, spicy, lively. It’s good to see Siduri keeping things going in this style. A blend of three-vineyards around Boonville, aged 15 months in 35% new French oak.

Savory nose; toasty and fresh, smoky and balanced; earthy, restrained and long.

Medium-light to medium ruby color; appealing, cherry and raspberry fruit aroma with hints of clove, cinnamon, and forest floor; medium body; nicely balanced, somewhat elegant, red fruit flavors with bright acidity and a silky mouthfeel; medium tannin; lingering aftertaste. Enjoyable for drinking now or over the next year or two. Very highly recommended.

This dark red colored Pinot Noir from La Crema opens with a mild red plum bouquet with a faint hint of cola. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, balanced and smooth. The flavor profile is a tasty mild strawberry with notes of red plum and gentle minerality. The finish is dry, and its well-managed moderate tannins stick around for quite a while. This Pinot is food friendly and will be a crowd pleaser. I would pair it with a juicy burger at your favorite bistro.

Vibrant and floral, with expressive honeysuckle, peach and lemon flavors that dance on a sleek and supple finish.

Well-framed, with pastry notes accenting the lively tangerine, green apple and pear flavors. Offers a rich, buttery finish, showing savory hints.

90 Point Sips from Sonoma County A bouquet of lime, pineapple, minerals, and wild grass greets the senses. Flavors of citrus fruits, pineapples, and melons come together among nuances of bell pepper and minerals on the palate. Crisp, with a fairly lively acidity, open a bottle when you enjoy a shrimp stir fry.

The 2009 Napa Valley Cabernets at Age 10 Dark medium ruby. A bit less energetic on the nose than the Helena Dakota, with its medicinal kirsch, menthol and licorice flavors joined by some funky nuances of leather and game. Plusher than the Helena Dakota but more medicinal too, showing little easy sweetness to its dark fruit and tobacco flavors. Finishes rather tannic and distinctly dry, with a faint metallic quality. I would probably want to drink this wine over the next five or six years.

Crisp and juicy with savory dried cherry flavors; bright, tangy and dry, long and balanced.

This yellow colored Chardonnay opens with a fragrant lemon and pineapple bouquet. On the palate, this wine is full bodied, balanced and rich. The flavor profile is a tasty pear and oak blend with notes of minerality, almond, and with hints of nutmeg and honey. The finish is dry and it flavors linger nicely. This Chard would pair well with a chicken and wild mushroom ravioli in a mild butter cream sauce.

A broad warm-climate style with buttered popcorn, ripe lemon, apricot crème brûlée and some hazelnut complexity. Silky-textured, full-bodied and creamy yet with a fine sense of detail and poise.

Tight, juicy and youthfully tannic, this comes from the Cloud Landing Vineyard in the new appellation, planted to a multiplicity of clones. Textured and richly full bodied, it offers complementary elements of forest floor, tea, blueberry and orange peel.

Pale pink in color, dusty-rose-and-bold-cherry in scent, this is a rich rosé with some coriander notes that lend it the spiciness to match tête de cochon or cured pork sausages.

This mountain-grown wine displays firm, hearty tannins and smoky oak on the back of the palate, which support rich, full-bodied brambly blackberry and cherry. Sweet tobacco, crushed rock and clove add a length and breadth of earthiness that contrasts well.

This midnight purple colored Syrah from Copain opens with a mild boysenberry bouquet with a hint of coffee. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, balanced and easy to drink. The flavor profile is a mild juicy plum that is slightly tart with notes of integrated black olive, mild minerality and charred oak. I also picked up a hint of blackberry towards the end. The finish is dry and its moderate tannins build-up slightly before drifting away. This Syrah is food friendly and would pair well with grilled steak tips.

This grows at a Jackson Family vineyard in Occidental, neighboring Coastlands. Jeff Stewart captured the cool site in a brisk 2017 with vibrant notes of sour cherry and nori that contrast with the smoky, black density of its tannins. The extract is a little bitter for now, the wine needing bottle age to mellow and integrate.

Scents of lilac and creosote give the wine a strong chaparral feel. The flavors are all dark cherry, the texture tense and compact at once, with the stuffing to age. Cellar.

This has a brooding scent of tobacco, burnished wood and a whiff of blood. It’s compact and savory, with a spicy finish for beef stew.

Fruity, smooth and slightly spicy, this medium-bodied wine is a crowd-pleaser. Still one of the best Chardonnays with the broad California label designation, it offers delicious peach, ginger and vanilla flavors, and a good balance between ripeness and crispness.

Spicy and complex, featuring tobacco, cedar and chocolate-covered coffee bean notes that add plenty of detail to the core of currant and plum flavors. The spiciness continues to linger on the plush, velvety finish. Drink now through 2035.