“A rosé? I’ve never heard of that.”

Okay: we were in West Hollywood, rooftop-poolside at our hotel, so I admit I wasn’t swimming in a deep demographic pool of enophiles. I’d been shocked all weekend, in fact, at how un-wine-savvy the Los Angeles scene is. Even at the popular sushi spot Koi I felt like a big thirsty fish in a little pond stocked with cocktails and sake, but not much in the way of fruits of the vine. All I could devise to drink with my jalapeno hamachi was a California sparkler, one of only two offerings by the glass. Not a riesling or a gewürztraminer in sight.

But to overhear a waiter say that not only did he not have any rosé but he hadn’t any idea what it was — click here to find out what I wanted to do. More

Just in time for tax season, here’s a list of my ten favorite wines that cost less than, well, a lot of stuff, including a bouquet of flowers, three trips across the Golden Gate Bridge — even Madonna’s new CD. To make it easier to find the wines, I’ve listed the four reds, one rosé, and five whites by type, and then supplied a particular example from a producer I’ve grown to love. So if, say, you’re inspired to cop a highly-recommended cheap thrill off a pinot bianco from Italy, but can’t find my favorite from Terre di Gioia, trust me. Pretty much any pinot bianco in this price range will do the trick. For less than $3 per glass on the average, these wines will also take the edge off that check you’re writing April 15 to the military industrial complex.

For this year’s list of top ten wines less than $15, click here: More

You’d think that Tablas Creek’s remote location, more than a half hour’s drive into the oak-dotted hills from Paso Robles, would deter people. But no. In fact as we drove up, a stretch limo was disgorging a leesy troop of bachelorette-partiers; I worried they might be examples of the wine tasters gone wild phenomenon. Indeed, they were a symptom of a tasting room crowded with warm bodies getting warmer by the glass.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. One of the first large-ish wineries to set up shop in the area — France’s Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape teamed up with its American importer to buy 120 acres in 1987, the Pleistocene Age in Paso terms — Tablas Creek now produces about 22,000 cases, and is pretty recognizable thanks to savvy marketing and kind associations on the part of Rhône wine lovers with Beaucastel and its owners the Perrin family.

Why am I glad I didn’t turn around and flee? Click here to find out: More

Pink wine from California is usually off-putting. Either it’s too sweet, as in a white zinfandel. Or the pink is too, well, red — as in too fruity and alcoholic, and lacking the earthy notes and refreshing acidity of a rosé with a good European pedigree.

But I was won over recently by a Sonoma County rosé from a relatively new winery in Carneros called Nicholson Ranch. More

Dear Wine Girl:
Thank you for bringing that rosé wine as a housewarming gift. You told us not to save it, but to enjoy it young and fresh, so we did. We had a friend visiting who is an aficionado and he was really blown away. You told us it a special bottle and that it has a story … can you let us know more about it?
–Your neighbors Mark and Tony

Dear Good Neighbors:

I’m really glad you enjoyed the rosé (and that it got me points with your enthusiast friend!).

The wine was a Bandol from the south of France (Bandol is a fishing village on the coast between Marseilles and Cannes; behind it are some dramatic hills and vineyards comprising the appellation called Bandol.). It’s made by Domaine Tempier, a winery that was discovered and made semi-famous by the Berkeley importer Kermit Lynch. He was the first American importers to appreciate and promote the winery, the region, and the grape (mourvedre) they use to make their rosés and reds. As opposed to most “blush” wines which are generally sweet and made as an afterthought, the rosés from Bandol are dry, refreshing, and serious about themselves as a wine. Plus they’re great with most any food, especially BBQ or roast chicken, any kind of fish, charcuterie, olive tapenade, even watermelon by the pool.

Sometimes you’ll see Tempier’s Bandol rosé in good wine stores (I snagged the last one at Whole Foods yesterday on my way to a picnic!), but your safest bet, as Bay Area guys, is to go to Kermit Lynch’s shop in Berkeley on San Pablo Avenue. (Readers can order online.) My only complaint is that this particular wine has got pricey over the years. With my discount at Kermit Lynch, mine came to $25. Ideally I don’t like to spend more than $15 on a rosé. But Tempier’s, with its distinct blood orange and earthy notes, is worth the exception.

This week, the first official week of summer, has also been a week of sparkling rosé discoveries. First there was the Bugey-Cerdon, the off-dry, pink bubbly from the Savoie in France. Then, another pink came out of the blue the other night. The sommelier recommended it with this pistachio, mascarpone, and cherry sorbet construction I ordered, and not thinking it was going to be fizzy and not white I said, sure. Then out it came: a little glass of dark carmine wine called Brachetto d’Acqui, with bubbles somewhere between the full liveliness of a champers and the slight frothiness of a frizzante. Unlike the Bugey-Cerdon, the Brachetto fully embraced its sweetness, and its residual sugars, along with its fresh cherry and raspberry flavors, made it a perfect match with my dessert. (At only 5.5% alcohol, it didn’t make me sleepy during the opera afterward, either.) It turns out to come from Piedmont in Italy; the winemaker is Giacomo Bologna, and this particular bottling called “Braida” from the 2005 vintage retails for about $23.

But a dry, full-bodied, red, served cold — with bubbles? For my reaction to this unusual suspect, click here: More

One of the many reasons I love wine is that I’ll be going about my day, secretly confident that I’ve tasted or at least read about every type of wine there is, and then bam. A bus will come roaring down the boulevard of wine experience and take my complacent ass out.

This happened to me yesterday as I was snacking at a gourmet food court in a mall (only in San Francisco). I spotted on the wine list a sparkler I’d never heard of before, and to hide my ignorance and impress my smart friends I made a joke: “Look, they’ve got Certain Botox on the wine list.”

Really, the list said “Bottex Cerdon, $8/glass.” Discover, as we did, one of the world’s most amusing unknown wines by reading more here: More