Appearance: Dense, dark saturated garnet color. Aromatics: Plush and enticing with currant/cassis, blackberry, ripe cherries dusted with baking chocolate, all supported by echoes of oak toast, vanilla, wet slate/mineral, baking spice, faintest suggestion of eucalyptus/mint. Palate: Ripe and bold on the attack with full - bodied Cabernet character one expects from Paso Robles. Food Pairing: Tri-tip barbecue with BBQ beans and garlic bread. I am also haunted by the thoughts of my grandmother's twice baked potatoes with sharp vermont cheddar. Rich and ripe enough to be cocktail red, restrained and balanced to make it perfect at a steakhouse or even with an eggplant and goat cheese napoleon. If the suggestion of a vegetarian match with Cab doesn't work for you, think medium - rare lamb chops with Moroccan spice and Turmeric couscous.

Appearance: Medium garnet with excellent clarity and hue. Aromatics: Ripe cherry, raspberry, baking spice leap from the glass. Giving the wine a deeper whiff brings out amazing complexity: earthy leather with the slightest hint of sage and wet state/concrete. Palate: Bright fruity attack/entry, light to medium body with excellent acid structure and persistant red berry fruits and bright cherry in the finish. Lively and delicious from the start to finish, absolutely classic Central Coast character showing both the elegance, fog, cool winds and sandy maritime soils of the Santa Maria Valley and Monterey growing areas. Food Pairing: From flasky white fish with a bit of tomato or mushroom in the recipe, light to strong artisanal cheese, this will match it all. Today i'm thinking about a Vermond chedder grilled cheese and a heirloom tomato soup, or perhaps (to get a bit more fancy) a medium-rare filet mignon smothered in a pinot noir reduction.

Appearance: Light to medium straw with brilliant clarity. Aromatics: Hints of chalky minerality framed by green apple, quince, pear, whispers of tropical aromas, buttery oak, lime blossom and caramel. Palate: Impeccable balance between the persistent richness, bright, ripe fruit (echoes of apple, pear, quince, pineapple and guava) and delicious roundness from attack to mid-palate, with crisp acidity, hints of granitic minerality and excellent overall harmony. Easy to sip, drink and love for novices or serious geeks! Food Pairing: Chicken, Pork or Duck Curry from mild to slightly spicy, or any white fish (Halibut,black cod?) in a butter-based preperation. Shrimp scampi with some garlic bread would also be an amazing combination with this delicious and specia Chardonnay.

Appearance: Medium straw with gilded highlights, brilliant clarity. Aromatics: A wonderful marriage of bright apple flesh and skin, pear, orange blossom, echoes of topicality and a chalk-like mineral note, enough fine French oak/browned butter to show proper elevage, but the oak treatment elevates and spices the delicacy and balance of the wine's aromatics. Palate: Seamless transition in the palate from broad and savory attack (entry), a bright and oak-influenced mid-palate, and a lingering finish that shows just enough malolatcic character to give a hint of butter and roundness to tame the just-less-than-stern acid structure from the Santa Maria Valley's foggy mornings and cold nights. More oak/toast in the attack and then becomes much more structured and less oaky in the mid-palate and finish. Food Pairing: Round and soft enough to sip, bright and lively enough to cleanse the palate between bites of Maine lobster with drawn butter, fried clams, roast or fried chicken, pancetta-wrapped halibut in beurre blanc or BBQ brisket.

Eye: Golden straw with heavy, transparent legs. Nose: Explosively sweet pear, orange-blossom honey, nectarine, cotton candy, and hints of candied hazelnut prove overwhelmingly delicious and appealing. Mouth-Match: Delivers on all the amazing aromatics: super-ripe pear, peach, nectarine all wrapped up in a honey-like sweetness and viscosity-- but also shows some more delicate complexities: hints of Pacific Ocean salinity, candied tangering peel, orange blossom, black tea, a fantastic brightness, structure provided by bright moth-watering acidity that keeps the wine structured and firm. I prefer to drink 'Late Harvest' wines as dessert, but this matches beautifully with foie gras (savory) or as an accompaniment with sweets, a salted carmel tart is a fantastic match, as would be a pear tart with ginger ice cream or New York-style cheesecake. This wine can be used to dress sorbet, as well.

Appearance: Light straw, brilliant clarity. Aromatics: Fuji apple, lime zest, nectarine flesh, orange blossoms. Faint hint of saline minerality.Palate: Bright, nervey with great balance,peach skin, nectarine flesh, white flower, minerality and broad mouth feel, solid crispness, attack and cut(bright, mouth-cleansing acidity). Food Pairing: This wine is bright, aromatic and delicious enough for cocktails around the pool on a warm day, structured enough for a cheese and charcuterie plate, and perfect for classic Alsatian cuisine: pan-fried frog's legs (cuisses de grenouilles) in parsley cream sauce. Morro Bay oysters, a white sauce pizza with shrimp and bacon, or grilled peach halves with burrata cheese.

Appearance: Medium garnet color in the glass with a proper light, youthful meniscus. Aromatics: Bright red berry fruits, dried cherry, earth, and a hint of 'sauvage' make the aromatics of this young wine both bright and complex. Palate: Ripe red-berry fruits and dry cherry. Vanilla-scented cherry and raspberry notes are complimented with a cool-climate structure and earthy depth that makes great pinot noirs the only wines in the world that have the flavor of a red wine and the structure/liveliness of a white. Food Pairing: Bright enough for salmon, deep enough for filet mignon cooked over red oak.Braised rabbit with root vegetables, Cassoulet on a cold winter's night, mustard and garlic-crusted pork loin on the grill, hickory-smoked oysters with minced morel mushrooms, or ground rib-eye burger with aged Vermont cheddar.

Appearance: Medium plus garnet color with excellent color saturation to the wine's edge. Aromatics: A nice balance of ripe black berry fruit, tart red fruits and loamy earth dominate the aromas in the glass--not at all a fruit bomb--more of an earth-bomb with plenty of bright cherry and blackberry fruit to keep it lively and delicious. Cranberry, rhubarb, candied orange peel, hibiscus tea, beet root all peek out meekly behind the enticing and understated fruit expression. Faintest hint of oak/barrel treatment showing only the elegance of older French oak barrels: vanilla and oak toast. Palate:Young, tight and grippy on the attack with firm structure and admirable fruit/earth in the long finish. Complex persistence from mid-palate through finish.Food Pairing: cassoulet (white bean/duck/port stew), duck confit, wild mushroom pizza, ripe cheeses such as Epoisses or Affine.