The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Trace Ridge, a Knight’s Valley cuvee that is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, offers nice chocolatey, black currant notes with some underbrush and forest floor. The wine has excellent texture, zesty acidity, and the vintage’s tell-tale tannin and almost Bordeaux-like structure superimposed on the exuberant fruit of northen California. It should drink nicely for a decade or more. Despite the size of some of the cuvees produced at Kendall-Jackson (2.3 million bottles of the Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay and 300,000 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc), winemaker Randy Ullom is at the top of his game, and of course is given carte blanche authority by the two principals, Barbara Banke and her husband Jess Jackson. There are some terrific values in this portfolio.Tel. (800) 769-3649; Fax (800) 600-5985

Savoury, verging on overpowering, and is really a bit overripe. A bit raisiny. Good, but solid.

From a slope of Mount St. Helena overlooking this small valley appellation comes this very dense, young 100% Cab. It’s an impressive wine, not only for the sheer concentration of blackberry, currant and plum fruit flavors, but for the plush mouthfeel, which has a gorgeously soft quality. K-J’s winemakers really rock in the science of tannin management.——S.H.(7/1/2008)—— 94