Kendall-Jackson the long known producer of terrific wine for exceptional prices has taken the bar up quite a few notches with this release of the Grand Reserve’s. All of these wines are made from the top 5% or less of all of the specific varietal used in the wine, letting this be the cream of the crop as they say. The 2007 Chardonnay ($21)was out of this world, soft layers of tropical fruit especially banana and pineapple were countered by layers of vanilla and oak. Very elegant and extremely well made. The next wine was the 2008 Grand Reserve Sauvignon Blanc ($20) made with predominately from Mendocino and Lake County fruit, you can really taste the layers of lemon grass, grapefruit, and rosemary herbal notes with a very slight hint of dried figs on the finish. Now for the reds, we started with the 2006 Merlot ($28) made with Sonoma and Napa fruit, this is a merlot lovers merlot, layered with black plum and berry notes followed by a lush dark chocolate and cigar box finish. The fruit hangs on the palette while the oak and cedar notes round out the tasting experience. We than had a real treasure the 2005 Meritage ($35), this is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Displaying a nose of roasted coffee beans and chocolate covered black cherries, which lead into a silky smooth dark red treasure loaded with dark plum and oak notes, this was an extremely velvety red. The last wine of the night was a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon ($30) which had loads of body and finesse, waves of dark red fruit and spice flowed over the tongue and the finish had just the right amount of oak and smoky dark chocolate notes. All of these grand reserve wines were exceptional examples of the varietals, have just the right amount of spice and fruit, each one is well worth every cent.