Part of the success of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay in Chile has been a decades-long process of finding the right place to grow the grapes. As happened in California through much of the 20th Century, the importance of finding the suitable micro-climate or terroir for particular grapes in Chile was relegated to the scientific principle of: “How ’bout plantin’ grapes over there?” “Uh, o.k., looks good to me.” The slow and meticulous process of searching for appropriate vineyard areas began in the 1980s and continues today, bringing a focus for sauvignon blanc and chardonnay to cooler-climate regions like Casablanca and Leyda valleys, from which you could drop-kick a corkscrew to the Pacific Ocean. With one exception, all of these sauvignon blancs or chardonnay are from those two areas.
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Viña Leyda was founded in 1997 in the Fernandez Valley (about 80 kilometers — 50 miles — southwest of Santiago), which the winery successfully had changed to the Leyda Valley and named an official D.O. in 2002. The Pacific Ocean lies just over a series of low hills, and when you walk up Viña Leyda’s sloping westward-facing vineyards to an elevation of about 180 meters (540 feet), you feel the freshening of the breeze and a bracing salty bite. The valley is increasingly a home for wineries or vineyard owners looking for prime sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir acreage, though syrah is beginning to be planted too. From no properties some 12 or 13 years ago, the Leyda Valley now holds about 2,000 hectares of vineyards planted by 20 producers. Viña Leyda owns 249 hectares, about 615 acres. The winery was acquired by Viña Tabali in 2007; the overarching entity is now Viñas Valles de Chile. Chief winemaker for Viña Leyda is Viviana Navarrete.

The Leyda Classic Sauvignon Blanc 2010 delivers a heady bouquet of lime, lemon and grapefruit in a pungent welter of gooseberry, dusty limestone, fennel and dried tarragon. The wine is terrifically bright and lively, keenly crisp and endowed with heaps of lime and tangerine flavors highlighted by sunny- leafy elements amid a tidy balance between lushness and spareness. It keeps you on edge for another sip and cries out for fresh oysters. Very Good+. About $9 to $11, a Great Bargain. How different is the Leyda Garuma Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2010? It’s spicier than its cousin, rounder, a little lusher and clearly more high-toned and elegant yet vibrant with limestone, oyster-shell and penetrating gunflint qualities. Fruit tends toward gooseberry and yellow plums. This is an extremely attractive and beautifully balanced sauvignon blanc. Excellent. About $14 to $16, representing Good Value.

The fresh, clean Leyda Classic Chardonnay 2010 offers simple, direct appeal in a well-made package. Scents of green apple, pineapple, grapefruit and jasmine are bolstered by prominent limestone-like minerality, while spicy pineapple and grapefruit flavors are couched in a smooth, moderately lush, chewy texture. Very Good. About $9 to $11. A wholly other creature is the light gold Leyda Lot 5 Chardonnay 2009, a bright, bold chardonnay that features notes of pineapple and grapefruit, spice cake, toasted hazelnuts, camellias and (after a few moments) almond brittle but no whit of anything tropical or buttery. It’s almost opulent in the mouth, rich and dense, yet finely balanced by crisp acidity and traceries of limestone and shale; 25 percent new oak lends a sheen of blond spice and subtle wood. Thoughtful winemaking. Excellent. About $25. Production was 500 cases, so mark this one Worth a Search.

The wines of Viña Leyda are imported to the U.S.A. by Winebow Inc. New York. Image of Viviana Navarrete from leyda.cl.
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Veramonte has a complicated history into which I will delve more thoroughly when we touch upon red wines, particularly its “icon” pinot noir called Ritual. Suffice to say that Veramonte came early to Casablanca Valley, which lies northwest of Santiago close to the ocean. When I was in Chile in April 1999, the winery’s impressive Palladian facility was just a couple of years old; I was surprised when we pulled up on the afternoon of October 4 — two weeks ago! — to see the place looking rather shabby and badly in need of a coat of paint.

As at many wineries in Chile and Argentina (and the United States of America), a “Reserva” or “reserve” label indicates the least expensive line of wines, another indication that outside of the European Union the term, which should imply some prestigious limitation, is meaningless. On the other hand, it’s the quality of wine in the bottle that counts, right, and in their price range, the Veramonte Reserva wines are real stand-outs, though to be honest, I found the Veramonte Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Colchagua Valley, too dense, woody and tannic and generally too big for its britches. (See, however, last week’s Wine of the Week.) Veramonte’s winemaker is Cristian Aliaga.

The Veramonte Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Casablanca, is pale straw-gold in color; lively aromas of grapefruit, damp limestone, tarragon and dried thyme, Key lime and tangerine burst from the glass, and whoa! wait a sec! is that a tinge of mango? The wine is tremendously vibrant, crisp with tingling acidity and a scintillating limestone-like mineral element, all of this balancing a texture that’s almost powdery in seductive softness. The bright finish brings in more spicy lime and grapefruit and a hint of shale. I challenge you not to slurp this up. Very Good+. About $10 to $12, a Great Value.

Veramonte wines are imported by Huneeus Vintners, Rutherfordm Cal. Image of Cristian Aliaga from veramonte.com.
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My group visited Viñedos Terranoble’s El Algarrobo (the carob tree) estate in Casablanca on Tuesday, Oct. 5, an occasion notable not only for the wines we tasted but for our initiation into the traditional Chilean barbeque. During this al fresco lunch I discovered that in Chile (and Argentina, I later found out), a bit of salad and vegetables on the plate serves merely as an excuse for piling on the meat. The winery was founded in 1993; owner is general manager Juan Carlos Castro. Terranoble owns 4,750 acres of vineyards in Casablanca, Colchagua and, farther south, Maule Valley, where the wines are made. Unlike at many other wineries, the “Reserva” label is Terranoble’s second tier; the “Classic” label forms the base of the production pyramid. Chief winemaker is Ignacio Conca. I’ll discuss Terranoble’s red wines later, but here’s a mention of the very attractive Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2009, whose grapes derived from El Algarrobo. The vineyard was planted in 1998.

Made all in stainless steel, the Terranoble Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Casablanca, is a pale straw color; the aromas seem typical for the grape and the region: lime and lime peel, tangerine, grapefruit and its zest, dried thyme and tarragon, but there are touches of acacia, almond blossom and even a hint of toasted almond for added intrigue. The wine displays lovely weight and balance, feeling not just crisp and vibrant but rather welcoming in the mouth, with deft poise between soft roundness and taut acidity. Flavors are dominated by lemon and lime, but include shades of melon and mango. The finish is dry, herbal and chalky. The alcohol content is 13 percent. Absolutely delightful. Very Good+. About $13, another Great Value.

Imported by Winebow Inc., New York

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Viña Cousiño-Macul was founded in 1856 and is the only 19th Century winery in Chile still owned solely by the founding family. Once distant from Santiago, the estate today is surrounded by the city, though buffered by a 150-acre private park of magical dimensions, especially when toured at twilight. Though grapes are still grown at the family domain, most of the productive vineyards for Cousiño-Macul are in other provinces. Technical director for the winery is Pascal Marty.

The Antiguas Reservas Chardonnay 2009, Maipo Valley, is fermented 90 percent in stainless steel and 10 percent in new French oak barrels. While the color is pale — that is, a pale but intense gold — there’s nothing pale about the effects that follow. Fashioned rather in the out-going Californian mode, this is a bright, bold and ripe chardonnay that bursts with notes of baked pineapple and grapefruit and hints of lightly buttered cinnamon toast. Quite tasty and appealing, the wine stays on the sensible side of flamboyance to set a classic tone of a lush, almost creamy texture balanced by chiming acidity and a strain of limestone-like minerality. Alcohol level is 13.7 percent. Very Good+. About $14, a Nice Bargain.

Imported by Winebow Inc., New York.
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It was a tough day at Valdivieso, despite the distraction of a superb view and a plethora of passed appetizers — including chopped bull’s testicles for the Anthony Bourdain types — and a nice lunch; loved the truly comforting quinoa pudding for dessert! But we tried 30 wines, and that was after a very long bus ride through Colchagua along little twisty dirt roads and over rickety plank “bridges” until the point that, within sight of the tasting pavilion, high on a hillside, the driver gave up and we walked the rest of the way. The whole enterprise gives new meaning to the word “remote.”

The winery traces its origin to Alberto Valdivieso, who founded a sparkling wine company in the Curico Valley in 1879; that’s where the wines and sparkling wines of Valdivieso are still made, though the winery has vineyards in Casablanca, Leyda, Colchagua (where we were), Maipo Valley, Rapel Valley, Maule and Curico. Director of enology and winemaking for Valdivieso is New Zealander Brett Powell.

We’ll work our way through the multitude of Valdivieso’s red wines in the future, but for now, I’ll stick to sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, the subject of this post.

The Valdivieso Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Leyda Valley, is attractive yet typical of its grape and region. That is, it features bright, cleansing acidity; pert and pungent elements of lime, grapefruit and limestone; some leafy touches of dried thyme and tarragon; and a crisp, tart texture balanced with a bit of soft lushness. Not compelling but quite nice to drink. Very Good+. About $15. The Valdivieso Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Leyda, on the other hand — aged six months in 500-liter barrels, 30 percent new — delivers a powerfully earthy, flint-laced wine that’s lovely enough that it stops short of being dramatic. This is deeply spicy and herbal, with tangerine-and-clove-tinged citrus flavors that feel packed into a texture of great presence and personality. A superior sauvignon blanc. Excellent. About $20, and well worth the price.

The Valdivieso Wild-Fermented Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2009, also from Leyda Valley, rests one year in mixed oak barrels, that is, of various sizes and ages. I’ll say that while this bright, bold, exuberantly spicy, ripe, slightly tropical and creamy chardonnay is not my favorite style, there’s no denying the thought and craft that went into its making. At least you don’t feel the wood too much; that’s a blessing. Very Good+. About $20.

Imported by Laird & Co., Scobyville, N.J.
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It turns out that Viña Ventisquero is even more remote than Valdivieso, and the landscape, in the high Apalta region of Rapel Valley, is even more spectacular, especially as the setting sun gilded the steep, vineyard-fledged hillsides. The winery is a project of Gonzalo Vial, who owns Agrosuper, a leading purveyor of fresh food in Chile. The winemaking facility is in Maipo, though like most producers in Chile, Ventisquero owns vineyards in many regions. Chief winemaker is Felipe Tosso, who left Concha y Toro in 2000. He works (on the top wines) with Australian consulting enologist John Duval, who made his last Penfolds Grange in 2002. Ventisquero means “glacier.”

These white wines are from Casablanca, far north of where we were tasting them.

The Ventisquero Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2010 is a shimmering pale straw color. The bouquet offers penetrating scents of lime and grapefruit, dried tarragon and a scintillating strain of clean earthiness and bright limestone. The wine is very dry, crisp, lively, chalky, with that pert, fresh, taut, damp grassy, bracing salt marsh thing, yet it lies blithely, smoothly on the tongue with its notes of lemon balm and lemon drop, pear and melon. A truly compelling sauvignon blanc, one of the best. The alcohol content is 13 percent. Excellent. About $13, a Phenomenal Value.

Equally enticing is the Ventisquero Reserva Chardonnay 2009, a wine that displays Chablis-like minerality in the limestone/shale range, with a hint of pungent flint, and lovely tones of pineapple and grapefruit with a slight tropical bent. Thirty percent of the wine is fermented in stainless steel with the rest in French oak, approximately 10 percent new barrels; some of the wine — Tosso said, casually, “maybe 15 or 20 percent” — goes through malolactic fermentation. The result is impeccable balance between richness (almost creamy) without ostentation and spareness without aridity; in other words, this chardonnay is earthy and elegant, juicy yet crisply taut, and it just feels damned terrific in the mouth. Excellent, and another Great Value at about $13

The “Grey” label is next to the top-line for Ventisquero. The Single Block “Grey” Chardonnay 2009 is a fine example of the grape from a cool climate, making a wine that exudes confidence and elan and displays great presence and personality. This sees French oak, 50 percent new, and goes through 40 percent malolactic. Again, the limestone-infused Chablis style is indicated, though in the case of “Grey” the manner is hyper-intense and concentrated and fraught with electrifying acidity, though the wine is balanced by lovely ripe and spiced citrus and pear flavors and a modicum of slightly creamy lushness. Another Excellent rating. About $20. How can they sell it so cheaply?

Imported by Austral Wines, Atlanta, Georgia.
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Yes, everyone knows that Catena Zapata, in Argentina’s Mendoza region, is best-known for its red wines, particularly made from malbec and cabernet sauvignon grapes, but at the risk of seeming perverse, I want in this post to concentrate on the winery’s chardonnays. I promise that in a few days I will get back to Catena and its history and its red wines. This is, of course, the first in a series of posts that I’ll be working on in the next month or so about the wineries I visited, the wines I encountered and the people I met in Chile and Argentina between Oct. 3 and 12, early Spring south of the Equator.

Bodega Catena Zapata traces its origin to 1902, when Italian immigrant Nicola Catera, gifted with a vision the result of which even he could not have comprehended, planted malbec grapes in Mendoza. The winery is now run by Nicola’s grandson Nicolás and great-grand-daughter, Laura. Chief winemaker since July 2007 has been Alejandro Vigil, though a good word must be put in for young assistant winemaker Pablo Sánchez, who oversees white wine production.

The philosophy at Catena Zapata is to grow grapes in vineyards that push the limits of altitude (if not attitude). Grapes for the Catena label ($16-$22), Catena Alta ($35-$50) and Catena Zapata and Nicolas Catena Zapata ($120) derive from these Andean-foothills vineyards: Angelica, 2,850 feet; La Piramide, 3,100 feet; Domingo, 3,700 feet; Altamira, 3,870 feet; and Adrianna, 5,000 feet; these vineyards, especially Adrianna, are very high for chardonnay. Alcohol levels are kept relatively moderate, with 14.2 percent being the highest. The vineyards — referring to all the grapes here, not just chardonnay — go through the expensive process of four harvests, not to balance the same level of ripeness but to use different levels of ripeness to achieve complexity in the wines.

Catena Zapata’s American importer is Winebow. Images of Nicolás Catena and daughter Laura from catenawines.com.

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Grapes for the Catena Chardonnay 2009, Mendoza, are from La Piramide, Domingo and Adrianna vineyards. The wine is 100 percent barrel-fermented and aged nine months in French oak barrels, 40 percent of which were new. The color is radiant medium straw-gold; the bouquet is bright, fresh, bold, spicy, moderately tropical in nature and a little sassy for a chardonnay. Flavors of pineapple and mango are borne up by notes of roasted and slightly caramelized pears and peaches, and if you take from that description that the wine is rich and concentrated, you would be correct, but that richness is leavened by a strain of profound limestone-like minerality and tongue-tingling acidity. The Catena Chardonnay 2009 is sleek and smooth, suave, sophisticated, obviously very well-made, yet I cannot go as high as an Excellent rating because my palate feels a bit too much oak on the finish, marring what would otherwise be an impeccable package. Drink now through 2012. The alcohol content is 13.5 percent. Very Good+. About $16, and whatever my caveats may be a Great Value.
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The Adrianna Vineyard provides 80 percent of the grapes for the Catena Alta Chardonnay 2008, with the rest derived from the Domingo Vineyard. The wine is barrel-fermented and aged 12 to 16 months in French oak, of which 50 percent were new barrels. No caveats whatever attend my appreciation of this chardonnay; it’s spectacular, by which I don’t mean flamboyant or obtrusive, rather utterly confident, wealthy in dimension, generous in detail and nuance. The color is very pale straw with barely a shade of gold. Penetrating scents of limestone and shale-like minerality lend this chardonnay true Chablisesque purity and intensity; there are touches of roasted lemon and lemon balm (both in nose and mouth), a hint of tangerine and, after a few moments of swirling and sniffing, notes of green grapes, green plums, quince and ginger, the latter two elements also present in the flavor profile. The edgeless balance among scintillating acidity, the wine’s natural lively minerality and the subtlety and suppleness of the oak regimen create a wine that’s racy, stimulating and exciting, certainly among the four or five greatest chardonnay wines I have tasted this year. Drink now through 2015 or ’16, well-stored. 13.9 percent alcohol. Production was 3,000 cases. Exceptional. About $35, and worth every damned penny.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For lunch at the winery, chef Lucas Bustos-Garcia prepared a first course of Brie Crostini with quinoa, raisins and sweet corn salad, a tasty and very pretty way to start the meal. Served with this appetizer was the Catena Zapata Adrianna Chardonnay 2006, a limited-production wine, about 300 cases, that would be worth every effort to beg, borrow or steal, if any exists out there in the world. (The wine does not appear on the Catena website, and the only reference I find on the Internet is Tom Cannavan’s wine-pages.com, see here.) At a bit more than four years after harvest, this chardonnay is superbly ripe and succulent but quite dry, even a little austere. The oak seems a tad obvious at first, but food and a few minutes in the glass smooth out that influence, leaving flavors of lemon balm, green plums and quince permeated by cloves and sandalwood and an intriguing dusty, leafy quality layered over limestone and salt marsh. (What do I mean? — something clean, bracing, organic, earthy, invigorating, yet smooth and sapid.) So savory was this chardonnay that I saved a few swallows to have with the next course, miniature sweet potato and butternut squash pies, in white ramekins, that concealed diced beef in a juicy broth (see accompanying image). As with the chardonnays from Catena mentioned above, the Catena Zapata Adrianna Chardonnay 2006 is suave, elegant and almost seamless. It could go another four or five years, if stored properly. Excellent, to be sure. Price? I dunno if it was even released. The wine certainly proves, if we needed more evidence, that high-altitude chardonnay can be both classic and individual, and that Adrianna is one of the world’s great vineyards. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joan Didion was once asked to lecture on the topic “Why I Write.” Her response was something like, “Look at the vowels in those three words: I, I, I.” In other words, writing is all about me, myself and I, and writing on a blog is the same deal. Wait! No! Those are the other blogs! This blog is all about you, you, you, my readers! Just so, the title of this post, “Nine White Wines,” encloses those “I, I, I” implications, but is really about wine choices for you, though today I limit those choices somewhat by excluding wines made from the chardonnay grape. I’ve tried some pretty good ones recently but also some chardonnays that were sodden with oak, so that grape will get separate posts in a week or so, “a week or so” being such a comfortingly elastic expression of futurity. (I’ve never seen this photograph of Joan Didion before, from 1970; wow, what a dish! And one of my favorite writers and heroes for her courage, her unflinching gaze, her slashing prose! I’m on a project now of reading or re-reading all her books.)

Anyway, Nine White Wines (and a bonus at the end).
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Made all in stainless steel, the Dry Creek Vineyard Chenin Blanc 2008, Wilson Ranch, Clarksburg — in the Sacramento Delta region of Northern California — opens with whiffs of lemon balm and dried thyme, with tangerine and a hint of orange zest. This is an incredibly fresh and refreshing wine whose crisp acidity whets the palate and lays the groundwork for juicy citrus flavors touched with a bit of mango; lightness and delicacy are wedded to a moderately lush texture. The finish rounds out the wine with some lime peel and bracing grapefruit bitterness. The alcohol is a soothing 12.5 percent. Always a favorite for summer quaffing with grilled shrimp, seafood risotto or linguine with clam sauce. Closed (for the first time) with a screw-cap. Very Good. About $12, representing Great Value.
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The torrontés grape makes charming and delightful wines but not great wines, and that’s nothing for it to worry its pretty little head about; how happy we are, for example, to meet a person who is consistently charming, delightful and undemanding. Sort of like me. The Trivento Amado Sur Torrontés 2009, Mendoza, Argentina, however, blends 15 percent viognier grapes and 10 percent chardonnay with 75 percent torrontés. What, I thought, is this an attempt to pump up the virtues of a simple grape and turn it into something “important,” a “Super Torrontés,” as it were? The fact is, this is a terrifically appealing wine that offers scents of ripe peach, pear and quince with meadowy undertones and a whiff of camellia. It’s very dry, very crisp and mounts a limestone element so piercing that it’s almost poignant. Give the wine a few minutes and it becomes slightly honeyed (but not sweet), with notes of candied grapefruit and ginger, but there’s always that crystalline acidity and austere minerality to leaven the sensuousness; the finish brings in the forthright bitterness of grapefruit and lime peel. So, I suppose this is a kind of Super Torrontés and no worse for the bolstering. Very Good+. About $15, Good Value.

Imported by Excelsior Wine & Spirits, a division of Banfi Vintners, Old Brookville, N.Y. Trivento — “three winds” — is the Argentine outpost of Chile’s giant wine producer Concha y Toro.
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Bold in stone fruit, the Adegas D’Altamira Albariño Brandal 2008, from Spain’s northwestern region of Rias Baixas in Galicia, takes yellow plum and peach and blends them with dried thyme, sage and white pepper for a striking bouquet; in a few minutes you’ll notice touches of orange zest and lime peel, grass and hay. The texture is amazing, so plush that it feels talc-like yet cut with riveting acidity and a scintillating limestone quality. Flavors are more melon and pear than stone fruit, with hints of cloves and ginger, the whole package being dry, zesty and savory. The wine is made all in stainless steel and does not go through the malolactic process, so it retains buoyant freshness and concentration. I can hear it now, on its knees, begging, “Please, please, please, serve me with oysters right out of the sea!” Or mussels grilled with rosemary would be good too. 12.5 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2012. Excellent. About $18.

Imported by Quintessential, Napa, Ca.
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Winter’s Hill farm was established in 1961 by the Gladhart family in what is now Oregon’s Dundee Hills appellation within the Willamette Valley. Dundee Hills is where David Lett, Dick Erath and the Sokol Blosser family started their pioneering wineries in the 1960s and early ’70s, staking a claim for pinot noir. The Gladharts planted their first vines in 1990. The winemaker now is Delphine Gladhart, a Frenchwoman married to Russell Gladhart.

The Winter’s Hill Pinot Blanc 2007, Dundee Hills, delivers wonderful tone and presence while maintaining a fleetness and delicacy of effect that’s exhilarating. Mildly spicy pear and lemon scents segue into spicier flavors of pear, roasted lemon and melon, with a touch of almond skin. The balance and restraint here, the equilibrium and sense of elegance allied to a feeling of slightly repressed depth, are not only admirable but irresistible. So many wines could profit from this sort of decorum that never feels fastidious. Production was 840 cases, so mark this Worth a Search. The alcohol level is 14 percent. Excellent. About $18.
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The Guado al Tasso Vermentino 2008, from Antinori’s winery in Bolgheri, in southwestern Tuscany, is a sort of seaside wine; one feels the briskness and breeziness of the sea-wind, the snap of salt and crusted oyster shells. There’s the slight fragrant astringency of rosemary crushed in the hand, the richness of roasted lemon and lemon balm, a subtle note of honeysuckle and jasmine. Adding to the freshness are tingling acidity, a touch of spritz –this is all stainless steel — and heaping elements of damp limestone. So this is delightful and charming, but not simpleminded; there are serious bones here, the structure of elegance, an evocative whisper of Olympian distance in the austere finish. 13 percent alcohol. We drank this with roasted salmon with a potato and artichoke hash. Excellent. About $25.

Imported by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Woodinville, Washington.

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Yes, you’re reading this correctly: Pinot blanc grapes — a mutation of genetically unstable pinot noir — do grow in Burgundy, though they are found rarely in vineyards and even more rarely bottled as a single wine. (They thrive in cooler Alsace.) The venerable Domaine Henri Gouges, however, employs pinot blanc for its Bourgogne, and for 2007 produced a delightful example. Did I say “delightful”? Actually, the Domaine Henri Gouges Bourgogne Blanc Pinot Blanc 2007 is one of the prettiest wines I have tasted in dog’s years. This is wonderfully fresh, clean and pure, with notes of jasmine and chalk, macerated lemons and lemon curd with a touch of spiced pear and quince. Avid acidity flashes like a bright blade — man, I just freakin’ love alliteration! — enlivening a texture that inextricably weds crispness to slightly cushiony lushness. If this didn’t fall a tad short on the finish, it would be well-nigh perfect, though it’s still well-worth seeking out. Very Good+. About $26 to $32.

Imported by Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, Ala.

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Here’s what hard work and perseverance (and maybe being in the right place at the right time) will do for you. Damian Parker, director of winemaking for Joseph Phelps Vineyard, came to the winery in 1981 as bottle-line supervisor. Ashley Hepworth came to Joseph Phelps in 1999 to work the crush, after two years in the kitchen at Charlie Trotter, and in 2008 was promoted to winemaker. America is a great country after all!

Whatever the combination of knowledge and experience Parker and Hepworth represent, they got the Joseph Phelps Sauvignon Blanc 2008, St. Helena, Napa Valley, exactly right. While there’s nothing wrong (or not much) with the larky, snappy, blastingly citric and tropical sauvignon blancs that flood the market today, it’s nice to sip a sauvignon blanc fit for grown-ups. First, all things lemon are here, from roasted lemon to lemon balm and lemon curd, with an infusion of dried thyme and tarragon and a hint of dusty summer meadows. The wine is quite lively, sporting a keen edge of damp limestone and a tingling line of crisp acidity. The oak is subtle and supple, the result of eight months in new French oak puncheons — generally defined as holding 500 liters — and one- and two-year old French barriques, holding 225 liters or 59 gallons; in other words, the winemakers consciously decided to forgo the influence of new barriques for a more nuanced approach. What can I say? This is a sauvignon blanc of immense presence and authority that doesn’t neglect the elements of elegance and grace. Drink now through 2012 or ’13. The alcohol content is a sensible 13.5 percent. Exceptional. About $32.
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The Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2008, Clare Valley, South Australia, delivers exactly what you want from a Clare Valley riesling: a classic bouquet of lychees and peaches, lime peel and petrol (or rubber eraser) and penetrating aromas of gunflint and damp shale. If you could drink such a bouquet you could stop there, but move along, please, to flavors of orange zest, grapefruit and mango ensconced in a very dry, very crisp and spare structure that makes it feel as if you’re drinking liquid limestone that dates back to the Ice Age it’s so pure and immediate, and yet, paradoxically, here comes a gentle whiff of rose petal and lilac. The finish, not surprisingly, is elegantly-wrought, all high cheek-bones and unblemished foreheads, very cool, pale, princesse lointaine, complete. The whole effect is beguiling and seductive, and I wish I had a glass sitting right here beside me (though I’m having a fine old time with this quaffable Domaine “La Garrigue” Cuvee Romaine Côte du Rhône 2008 that I’m sipping rather too much of at the present moment). Drink now through 2014 or ’15. Screw-cap closed. Exceptional. About $38.

Imported by USA Wine West, Sausalito, Cal., for The Australian Premium Wine Collection.
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What you need to know about the St. Urbans-Hof Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Auslese 2007, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, is, first (working backward), that it’s from Germany’s Mosel region; second, that it derives from the excellent and even better year of 2007; that’s the ripeness level of Auslese is pretty damn ripe and potentially sweet; that the grape is riesling; that the vineyard is the well-known, even legendary Goldtropfchen; that the commune wherein the vineyard resides is the equally well-known Piesport; and that the producer is St. Urbans-Hof. Got that? And they say that German wine labels are too complicated!

The color is shimmering pale gold; aromas of softly spiced and macerated peaches and pears are permeated by lime peel and cloves and by subtle earthiness, clean and damp, and pert slate-like minerality. The acidity is so tremendous that the wine practically vibrates in the glass, yet the faint sweetness, a subtle sense of honeyed and baked stone fruit, like brioche with peach and plum marmalade, cuts the acid down to layers of etched limestone. This is vital, resonant and lively, though the finish comes through with an aura of stately balance and integration. We drank this with roasted salmon accompanied by roasted potato salad in a cilantro/jalapeño vinaigrette. Yay, LL! Now through 2017 or ’20, well-stored. Excellent. About $55.
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Yer Bonus: Two sparkling wines from Vouvray, Loire Valley, meaning chenin blanc grapes. Each made in the traditional champagne method of second fermentation in the bottle.

The Francois Pinon Vouvray Brut (non-vintage) is all steel, limestone and shale, roasted lemons, quince and ginger; the color is pale straw/gold, the myriad tiny bubbles as uncountable as the galaxies in the heavens. Very clean and fresh and crisp, with touches of biscuits, baking spices and toasted almonds, with a faint whiff of almond blossom. We drank this while cooking dinner one night and snacking on flatbread slathered with dried tomato and walnut pesto. Charming and delectable. Very Good+, and a Bargain at about $17.

Imported by Louis/Dressner, New York.
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Maison Huet — “oo-ay” — has been among the best producers of dry, semi-sweet and late-harvest Vouvray wines since it was founded in 1928. You will notice that the Domaine Huet Brut 2002, Vouvray Petillant, is seven and a half years old, and at this point it is drinking to perfection. Pop the cork — I mean open it properly and gently — and you smell the fresh bread, biscuits and granite from a foot away. The color is medium gold; the “bead” is gently effusive — petillant implies lightly sparkling — and mildly effervescent. This sparkling wine, which ages four years in the bottle on the yeast, evinces the straw/hay quality of the chenin blanc grape but offers, also, touches of buttered toast, cinnamon bread and a hint of roasted hazelnuts and macerated lemons and pears preserved with cloves. I hope readers get the idea that the Huet Brut 2002 is not just “a reasonable alternative” to Champagne but a fine expression of a grape and a style of sparkling wine in itself. It should be consumed within a year or 18 months. Excellent. About $30 to $35.

Imported by Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York.
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Samples for review, except for the Domaine Henri Gouges Bourgogne Pinot Blanc 2007, tasted at a trade event in New York. Photo of Joan Didion, Hollywood, 1970, by Julian Wesser, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The numbers bruited on the website for Andeluna Cellars do not inspire confidence. Almost every page tells us that the winery in Argentina’s Mendoza Valley encompasses 48,000 square feet and that it harbors a 1 million-liter tank capacity, 720,000-bottle storage capacity and room for 1,200 aging barrels. This sort of statistical braggadocio seems so transparently American, as if the numbers and size so frequently mentioned would alone guarantee quality: “My factory is bigger than your factory, so I make better thingamabobs than you do.”

Fortunately, Andeluna, owned by H. Ward Lay, son of Frito-Lay founder Herman W. Lay, turns out well-made wines that are not only attractive in several ways but represent good value. In fact, the basic level wines, selling for about $10, are phenomenal bargains. Winemaker for Andeluna is Silvio Alberto.

Consultant for Andeluna is the ubiquitous traveling enologist Michel Rolland, owner of Le Bon Pasteur and other estates in Bordeaux and an advocate of new oak and ripe, fruit-forward red wines. Surprisingly, the Bordeaux-styled red wines of Andeluna, based primarily on cabernet sauvignon, merlot and malbec, are more restrained than the products of many of the estates for whom Rolland consults. The basic level of wines ages seven months in a combination of French and American oak barrels; the Reserve wines age 12 months in 80 percent French and 20 percent American oak. The flagship red-grape blend, Pasionado, aged 18 months in new French oak.

I suppose that everyone has noticed that author Salman Rushdie looks like Michel Rolland in disguise. I mean, take away some of Rolland’s hair, add eye-glasses with black frames and a scruffy beard, et voila! Separated At Birth.
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Made in stainless steel, the Andeluna Torrontes 2008, Mendoza, presents a medium straw-gold color, a little more emphatic than most pale versions of the grape. Scents of waxy white flowers and lanolin are woven with pear and peach and a hint of spice. The texture is lovely, sensuous and almost lush but cut by startling acidity. Elements of chalk and limestone lend austerity that increases through the finish to end on a note of astringency that approaches harshness. This torrontes offers its pleasures but feels ultimately unbalanced. Good+ About $10
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No such quibbles attend the rest of these wines, however much they may vary in particularity.

The Andeluna Merlot 2007, Tupungato, Mendoza, displays a radiant deep purple color and an intense pungency of black cherry, plums, smoke, dusty minerals, cassis and black pepper. Layers of shale and granite underlie spicy oak, grainy chewy tannins and the vivid thread of a vibrant acid backbone; the wine is deep and full-bodied, and while the emphasis is on structure, black fruit flavors with a tinge of red circulate in the depths. There’s 15 percent malbec in the blend. The alcohol level is 14.8 percent. Definitely try with lamb or veal chops. Very Good+. About $10, marking Good Value.
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The Andeluna Malbec 2007, Tupungato, Mendoza, includes 11 percent cabernet sauvignon and 4 percent merlot. There’s a “lift” of sweet black fruit that smells slightly macerated, roasted and smoky. The wine is smooth, sleek and appealing, a little softer than its merlot cousin, though it certainly displays plenty of oak and tannic authority. After a few minutes in the glass, it feels freighted with plums and fraught with spice, while a sense of dusty minerality dominates the finish. The alcohol content is 13.9 percent. Very Good+. About $10, Good Value.
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Spiced cherry, with classic hints of cedar, tobacco, bell pepper and black olives characterize the nose of the Andeluna Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Tupungato, Mendoza, factors that take on touches of briers and brambles and underbrush. Intense and concentrated flavors of black cherry and black raspberry are borne by a dry, earthy, gravelly nature supplemented by polished, spicy oak and dense, chewy tannins. The wine contains 8 percent merlot and 7 percent malbec; the alcohol level is 14.2 percent. Terrific personality for the price and a natural with steak and pork chops. Excellent. About $10, Great Value.
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Now for the reserve red wines.

The Andeluna Reserve Merlot 2005, Tupungato, Mendoza, is warm and spicy, fleshy and meaty, with a tinge of tobacco leaf over shale-like minerals. This is a sturdy wine, yet supple and shapely and with impressive presence. Cassis and black raspberry flavors are permeated by lavender, licorice and potpourri, though the dominant influence is spicy, almost peppery wood. The alcohol content is 14.3 percent. Very attractive and good for grilled meat and roasts. Very Good+. About $20.
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The Andeluna Reserve Malbec 2005, Mendoza, with 5 percent cabernet sauvignon, is similar to the merlot but a little spicier and a little more exotic, with wild berry, blueberry and mulberry scents and flavors and a hint of Asian spices, as well as the typical cassis and black cherry flavors. There are also touches of fruitcake and bitter chocolate in the depths, which circulate around grainy, chewy tannins and granite-like minerals touched with a piercing sense of iodine purity. Drink through 2014 to ’16, especially with barbecue or smoked duck. The alcohol level is 13.7 percent. Excellent. About $20, Great Value.
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The most reticent of this trio of reserve wines is the Andeluna Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Tupungato, Mendoza. This is solid, almost block-like, as well as dusty, earthy and minerally, large-framed, very spicy, mouth-filling, packed with briers and brambles and filled with oak and tannin, of which one feels more here than with the Reserve Merlot ’05 and the Reserve Malbec ’05. Best from 2011 to 2015 or ’16. Until then, Very Good+. About $20.
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Composed of cabernet sauvignon (35%), merlot (35%), malbec (20%) and cabernet franc (10%), the Andeluna Grand Reserve Pasionado 2004, Mendoza, is as good a rendition of the Medoc style as any wine coming out of Argentina. This exhibits classic traits of cedar and tobacco, bell pepper and black olive, with a hint of celery seed, all these nuances blended with cassis, black cherry, dried spice and flowers. This is a wine of immense gravity and dimension, yet despite its size, it conveys a sense of delicacy and decorum, of fine detail that does not suffer from the larger sense of structure. In fact, the balance among fruit, acid, wood and tannin in the Pasionada ’04 is exquisite. Don’t think, however, that I’m described anything winsome or wimpy; this is, actually, a tremendously dark, resonant, monumental red wine. The alcohol level is 14.1 percent. Drink through 2015 to ’17 with roasted meat and game or hearty stews. Excellent. About $50.

The Andeluna wines are imported by San Francisco Wine Exchange, San Francisco, Cal.
These wines were submitted to me as samples for review. No additional seductions or blandishments accompanied them.

The friendly drivers of UPS and FedEx bring wine to my door, not every day of the work week but often three or four days, sometimes two or three. It varies by circumstance and weather; shipping drops off during the hottest and coldest months. Some weeks, I receive a couple of cases of wine altogether; other weeks only a few bottles. Without these samples for review, a blog like this couldn’t exist, just as newspaper and magazine book pages couldn’t exist without the copies of books sent by publishers.

On August 20, I received seven bottles of wine, one from Argentina, two from Australia, one from California and three from Oregon. Prices ranged from 8 to $105. Contemplating these wines and the enormous variety and variation they representeded, I thought, “Eureka! Here’s an interesting post for BTYH, reviews of the wines I received on a single day, whatever their origin or cost.”

The order is from cheapest to most expensive.
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Black Swan Wines, which carry a South Eastern Australia designation, are imported to the U.S. and bottled by Barossa Valley Importers in Modesto, Cal., the mention of the town of Modesto telling us that Black Swans are Gallo wines. I received two from an extensive roster, the Shiraz 2008 and the Riesling 2008. Of this pair, the Riesling ’08 is the Bargain.
Not that I minded the Black Swan Shiraz ’08. Produced in 230,000 cases, it offers the definite character of a mass-produced wine, that is, one feels it as a “red wine” rather than as anything definably shiraz-like. Its mildly spicy black fruit scents and flavors are passably decent and it offers a pleasing texture, and if we were at a party and someone handed me a glass (or plastic cup, more likely) of this wine, I wouldn’t turn to LL and raise an eyebrow too noticeably. In fact, that setting would be this wine’s highest purpose, as a red vinous beverage to be knocked back when dozens of people are thwacked by loud music and have to shout in each others’ ears to be heard and the whole situation borders on the mindless. Fun!

The Black Swan Riesling ’08, on the other hand, makes a real claim to varietal character. The wine is fresh and clean, as we would hope, and displays sufficient hints of peach, pear and lychee highlighted by the grape’s requisite note of petrol (you may call it rubber eraser) that when I swirled, sniffed and sipped, I thought, “Well, shut my mouth, this is riesling,” not, I hasten to say, riesling of great intensity and purport, but certainly more than merely decent. The texture niftily balances crisp acidity with moderate lushness, and the finish brings in spice and limestone.

I rate the Shiraz as Good and the Riesling as Very Good. Each about $8.
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Don Miguel Gascon is an actual winery, founded in 1884, with an actual winemaker, Ernesto Bajda. This, too, is imported by Gallo, though unlike the Black Swan wines, Gascon Malbec 2008 is made, aged and bottled in its home, the Mendoza region of Argentina. This is a great wine for the price; I have used several previous vintages as Wine of the Week.

Made from 100 percent malbec grapes and aged seven months in a combination of French and American oak barrels, Gascon Malbec 2008 is a dark ruby-purple color with a violet rim (that’s when you tilt the glass and look through the edge of the wine to reveal all the hues); the bouquet bursts with scents of ripe blueberry and blackberry, spicy oak and briery, brambly elements. Black fruit flavors are permeated by plum dust, hints of coffee and tobacco, a bit of cedar; the texture is dense and chewy, and though the wine is robust (and a little exotic), tannins and oak influence are kept to sensible supporting roles. We drank this one night with grilled pork chops, and it was a hit. Very Good+. About $14, Good Value.
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The words no producer wants to read in a review are “disappointed” and “I liked the less expensive wine more than the expensive one.” Alas, that is what I must write today regarding three pinot noirs from Willamette Valley Vineyards.

The one I liked best, the one that seemed purest, most intense and unsullied is the Willamette Valley Vineyards Whole Cluster Fermented Pinot Noir 2008. “Whole Cluster” means that the freshly picked and sorted grapes are placed, uncrushed, in stainless steel containers that contain carbon dioxide gas, sprayed with yeast and then sealed in. As fermentation slowly occurs, the weight of the grapes on top begins gently to crush the grapes below, releasing the juice. The result, as in this example, is urgent freshness and elixir-like fruitiness, first grapey and then redolent of black and red cherries and mulberries. In the mouth, this wine dips a delicate toe into the dark waters of spice and macerated black fruits; a few minutes in the glass manifest something slightly leafy, a little mossy and earthy. The texture is so satiny as to be almost viscous, but vibrant acidity cuts a swath. Utterly charming and delicious. Drink now through 2011. Very Good+. About $19.

I loved the bouquet of the Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir 2007. A welter of cranberry, black cherry and sassafras, lilac and baking spice, it would easily seduce the most jaded nose. When you taste the wine, however, you find that touch of brown sugar and emphatic spice that too often characterizes West Coast pinot noirs. This element coasts on a tide of burly oak, and together they swamp the wine’s fruit, so that the finish devolves to wood and wood’s austerity. Very good. About $25.

My mantra is “If a wine smells like wood and tastes like woody, it’s too damned woody.” That’s my reaction to the Willamette Valley Vineyards Elton Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007. Yes, ’07 should turn out to be a fine year for Oregon, and, yes, the Elton Vineyard is highly respected, but vintages and vineyards matter little if a wine is over-manipulated in the winery. At first glance, one might think that the oak regimen for the wine was perfectly balanced, 14 months in French barrels, 20 percent new, but there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip, and for my palate the wine was insufferably oaky. I spent half an hour or so with this glass, swirling, sniffing, sipping, waiting for some nuance, some detail to emerge, but those pleasurable factors seemed not to have a chance. 410 cases. Perhaps a few years aging will make a difference, but I don’t have much hope. About $45.
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Here’s the story: 14 years ago, young Will Jarvis, son of the owners of Jarvis Winery, had an 8th grade science project. It seemed natural to make red wine, for which he had to receive permission and made a two-gallon barre, illustrating the whole process. Ten years later, he and his parents tried the wine and thought it was so good that it inspired the present wine, a first release of Jarvis “Will Jarvis Science Project” Cabernet Franc 2007, Napa Valley. No, readers, this is not the original wine, but it’s certainly one of the best cabernet franc wines to be made in California.

The color is dark ruby-purple, almost black. The first impression is of immense minerality, like shoals of granite and shale, but the wine is immensely fruit-endowed too, bursting with scents and flavors of spiced and macerated blueberries and black currant jam. The wine exhibits tremendous heft and substance, breadth and depth, but it’s neither heavy nor obvious; it wears its size stylishly, legitimately. As moments elapse, the wine unfolds layers of smoke and charcoal, touches of loam and burning leaves, deeper hints of violets and tar. When you take a sip, it’s not only mouth-filling but encompassing. Yes, quite a wine. It was in all new French oak, but only for nine months; how reasonable is that? 391 cases. Best from 2010 through 2015 or ’17. Excellent. About — ouch! — $105.
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Here it is, friends, the ultimate cheese toast, the baroque-est of the baroque, the heartiest of the hearty, the manliest of men. What you have here are pieces of FK’s homemade bread slathered with another of our new favorite condiments, Bone Suckin’ Mustard — motto: “We’re Talkin’ Serious” — distributed by Ford’s Foods in Raleigh, N.C.; topped with diced tasso, a ham that directs its feet to the spicy side of the street; further topped with a few slices of Roma tomato. Rummaging through the fridge, I found, in a box of take-out whatever, some slivers of roasted red and yellow pepper, which I requisitioned. I shaved cheddar cheese, Gruyere, a mystery cheese from which the label had fled, and after arranging those, of course I grated some Parmesan. Finally, a dusting of our other new favorite condiment, Urfa Pepper from Turkey. More about that anon.* Run those babies under the broiler until the cheese gets all melty and crusty. Woo-hoo, readers, these cheese toasts were flat-out, freakin’ great!

The wine? It certainly needed to be hearty and manly to match this over-the-top version of cheese toast, so I chose the Diseño Malbec 2007, from Argentina’s Mendoza region. The nose is all briers and brambles, roots and moss, earth and minerals, with hints of blackberry, black currant and wild berry. It’s tremendously spicy, packed with dried fruit, fruit cake, oolong tea and orange zest, with touches of intense and concentrated black fruit flavors. Chewy tannins and polished oak lend framing and foundation. A good choice with burgers and steaks and full-flavored red sauce pastas — as well as Terminator Supreme cheese toast. Very Good. About $13, Good Value. I have seen this wine discounted as low as $9, though at winechateau.com, the “regular” price is listed as $18.89, but the “sale” price is $13.79. Caveat emptor, indeed!
Imported by International Cellars, Gonzales, Cal.

*Urfa biber is a red pepper grown around the ancient city of Urfa in southeast Turkey. Almost black in color, the peppers are sun-dried during the day and tightly wrapped and sweated at night to concentrate the deep, earthy, meaty, raisiny flavor. Urfa pepper flakes are spicy hot — say a bit hotter than medium –but more intense than merely mouth-burning. We got out little jar from Zingerman’s mail order website and we use the stuff on everything, from cheese toast to tuna.

On Oscar Day we cooked a ribollita from the recently released Williams-Sonoma Cookbook: The Essential Recipe Collection for Today’s Home Cook (Free Press, $34.95), a terrific cookbook with lots of pictures. Ribolitta is a purely vegetarian Italian soup whose broth, in this recipe, is made from cannellini beans that are simmered with garlic and sage and then pureed. The vegetables are onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, Savoy cabbage, Swiss chard and lacinato kale and crushed tomatoes. You toast or grill slices of rustic bread, place them in the bottoms of wide bowls and ladle the soup over the bread. Yikes, this is seriously good, a really hearty winter dish, or end of winter.

We ate this marvelous concoction while we watched the Oscar ceremonies, a rather depressing, even degrading display of chutzpah, sentimentality, bad writing and cloying spectacle, but there we were. We had seen few of the contending movies — we wait for DVDs and pizza night — but you read so much about these matters in The New York Times and other newspapers and magazines that you might as well have seen them.

Anyway, the true point here is the wine we drank with the ribollita, the Nieto Senetiner Reserva Torrontes 2008, from Argentina’s Mendoza region; the winery was founded in 1888. I’ll go out on a limb and assert that this is the best example of torrontes I have tasted, and not because it’s pumped up with oak — the way poor gruner veltliners are now in Austria, so they feel like bad chardonnays and cost $50 — ; no, this all stainless steel torrontes is allowed to express itself eloquently without the bolstering of wood. Aromas of green grapes, orange zest, roasted lemon and jasmine tantalize the nose. In the mouth, the wine offers lovely balance between bright acidity and an almost lush texture; to the citrus element is added a note of peach, a hint of pineapple and a touch, on the finish, of grapefruit and a smidgeon of bracing grapefruit bitterness. The finish also brings in a tide of minerality, a scintillating element that rounds everything off nicely. Very Good+. I paid $14 for the wine, but it can be found around the country as low as $10.

Imported by Winebow, Inc., New York.

Gratuitous images of Penelope Cruz from cinenaisdope.com.

… and neither can I, not, my friends, because it’s so freaking expensive — about $64 — but because only 56 cases were made. It happens to be the Vina Alicia Syrah 2003, and it is, I promise, one of the best, no, one of the most astonishing syrah wines I have ever encountered, a wine of such piercing purity and intensity, a wine that so impeccably and effortlessly balances power and elegance that the glass or two I had left me awe-struck and humbled.

“Oh great, F.K., oh thanks, F.K., oh tiddly-winks to you, F.K.,” you’re saying, “for mentioning this fabulous and unattainable wine, which you got to taste and we didn’t.”

Well, yeah, O.K., sorry, but the point is that the Vina Alicia Syrah 2003 came not from France’s northern Rhone Valley or Australia’s Barossa, which we might expect, but from Argentina, from Mendoza’s chilly, arid Lujan de Cuyo region in the Andean foothills. If there was ever any question about the ability of Argentina’s vineyards and wine-makers to produce wines that could compete with the best in the world — and I have thought that the country’s high-priced wines tended to be more ambitious than accomplished — this wine lays all doubts to rest. The best we can do, I suppose, is hope that Vina Alicia, which also produces small quantities of malbec, petit verdot and nebbiolo, finds it in its heart to increase production just a little.

In the meanwhile, enjoy these Argentine wines that also represent the top of their class and price range.

My first note on the Luigi Bosca Reserva Malbec 2003 — also from Lujan de Cuyo — was “Wow!” Made from vines averaging 75 years old and aged in a combination of new and used French oak, this is a wonderfully layered malbec, deeply fitted with dimension and detail, dense and chewy, flush with dusty tannins but so lovely, so seductive, intensely floral and minerally simultaneously and packed with succulent black fruit flavors tamed by a rigorous finish. Bring on a rib-eye steak, please, grilled over hickory coals to rosy-pink medium rare, charred and crusty with salt and black pepper. Yikes! The price: About $23.

And, talk about an over-achiever — and a Bargain of the Decade — the Tittarelli Reserva Torrontes 2006, Tierra de Cuyo, Mendoza, proves that the grape doesn’t have to produce crisp, floral little quaffers, charming though such wines may be. This model sees no oak but spends 45 days in stainless steel resting on the lees — the residue of spent yeast cells — to produce amazing character for the grape. This wine is bone-dry but bursts with jasmine and honeysuckle, peach, pear and mango and whole spice-boxes of exotica, all this wrapped in a texture and structure that perfectly balance lushness with chiming acid. Don’t miss this one, and you don’t have to at about $13.

This trio of wines from Mendoza, Argentina, is brought into the United States — and only 17 states, so you may have to use some not-so-gentle persuasion on your local retailers and wholesale distributors — by William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va. Visit http://whimports.com