California

Country: US / Variety: Chardonnay California Winery: Wattle Creek / Yorkville Highlands Simple and sugary sweet, with orange and apricot jam, buttered toast and vanilla flavors. Good acidity, though.

Country: US / Variety: White Blend California Winery: Rhapsody / Napa County Pretty rustic, with sharp acidity giving a bite to honey-sweet pineapple, green apple and lime flavors. The blend is based on Chardonnay.

Country: US / The Slammer Variety: Syrah California Winery: Big House / Central Coast A soft, common wine, sweet in raspberry jam flavors. Easy to serve at parties with tasty little appetizers.

Country: US / Lot 219 Monte Rosso Vineyard Variety: Zinfandel California Winery: Cameron Hughes / Sonoma Valley A bit of a disappointment from this famed vineyard. The wine is uneven, with sweetly candied cherry flavors alongside unripe vegetal notes.

Country: US / River Road Ranch Variety: Chardonnay California Winery: Trione / Russian River Valley Made with superripe fruit and scads of oak, this Chardonnay tastes like pineapple jam squeezed onto buttered popcorn. Somebody will like it, and it’s okay in its own way, but it exemplifies the worst of the New World, oaky style.

Country: US / North Bridge Variety: Chardonnay California Winery: Hop Kiln / Russian River Valley Dominated by oak and put through malolactic fermentation, this Chardonnay has buttered toast, buttered popcorn, butterscotch and caramel flavors that swamp the underlying pineapples and green apples.

Country: US / Variety: Pinot Noir California Winery: Arroba / Edna Valley Dry, sharp in acidity and rather green, a tough Merlot to love despite some decent cherry and spice flavors.

Country: US / Variety: Viognier California Winery: McManis / California Sweet and soft, which gives this Viognier a candied lemondrop, pineapple and butterscotch taste. Needs to be drier and better structured.

Country: US / Variety: Pinot Grigio California Winery: McManis / California This is a sweet, softly simple wine whose apricot, citrus and peach flavors will satisfy those looking for a decent everyday white wine.

Country: US / Laguna Ranch Vineyard Variety: Chardonnay California Winery: Laguna / Russian River Valley This is a simple Chardonnay, ripe and jammy in pineapples, with strong oak notes of buttered toast and caramel.

Country: US / Variety: Chardonnay California Winery: Courtney Benham / Santa Barbara County Your basic California Chardonnay, showing ripe tropical fruit, honey and oak flavors, brightened with acidity. Pretty simple, but not bad for the price.

Country: US / ZB Bien Nacido Vineyard Variety: Syrah California Winery: Kynsi / Santa Maria Valley A huge disappointment, coming after the previous two vintages. This ’05 is Porty sweet and sharp in acids, with extreme, medicinal flavors of blackberry jam and raisins.