Moraga Vineyards is a wine growing estate in the Santa Monica Mountains at an elevation of 600 to 900 feet, five miles from the Pacific Ocean in the Los Angeles community of Bel Air. From the care of each individual vine, to the selection and blending processes, to the hand labeling of each bottle, every effort is taken to produce wine of distinctive style and the highest quality. As of 2013, it has been owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Moraga grows the varietals of Bordeaux wine: Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. We recently had the opportunity and honor of tasting two Moraga wines, their Red and White.

Moraga Red Wine is produced from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with a small amount of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. We sensed a complex nose of spice, cedar, sandalwood leading to juicy plum and red currants and a hint of blueberry. This is a restrained, finesse wine that will not knock your taste buds into a frenzy of sugar like so many California reds, but will caress your mouth with soft tannins and a lengthy finish.

Moraga White Wine produced from Sauvignon Blanc grapes that are picked in a very narrow window of time, when the flavors shift from grapefruit zest to peach, nectarine and tropical fruit. This is a suave wine like a fine Graves. We enjoyed floral notes of honeysuckle, then came the bright peach flavors, then pineapple and other tropical notes. A hint of minerality was welcome and the wine was persistent in the finish.

Moraga strives for perfection and we feel they reach it. Their consistency year to year is extraordinary. These are wines of structure, balance and elegance that age beautifully like their Bordeaux cousins. That is why some of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants serve their wines. The Estate is not open to the public and practically the only way you can buy this wine is from their much-heralded wine club. Be prepared to pay about $175 a bottle for Moraga’s red, $110 for the white. World class does not come cheaply. We felt honored to have Moraga in our glass and we are sure you will, too. belair@moragavineyardsThe outstandign wines of Moraga