I had the good fortune yesterday to attend a substantial retrospective of gran reserva Riojas from some of the top producers in the region. I've long been a Rioja fan, and have for just about as long been convinced that traditionally styled Riojas are some of the best wines to cellar if you're interested in drinking older wines—they age wonderfully, especially from great years, and, relative to similarly long-lived reds, are distinctly underpriced. 

First, though, I should give a shout-out to my fave affordable Rioja from the big tasting that followed the retrospective, which was the 2004 Bodegas Luis Canas Crianza, a juicy, cherry-filled, appealingly streamlined red that sells for under $15. Good juice.

Of the older wines, the winner of the day for me was the 1982 Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904, pale red in hue, utterly classic with its aromas of dried cherries, leather, black tea leaf, and resinous spices. On the palate it added a coffee note to that mix of characteristics, and a silky texture and presence that was just gorgeous—drinking it was like a psychic transportation to Rioja. Which is pretty impressive, for fermented grape juice in a bottle...

The two oldest wines in the lineup were fascinating as well. The 1964 Marqués de Riscal Gran Reserva (a blend of 75% Tempranillo with 25% Cabernet) was intensely luscious and deep to start with, full of sweet rich cherry and mocha notes, lush tannins, and a lightly resinous funky note—which, unfortunately, intensified as the wine opened and eventually left it pretty odd and stinky. Such are the risks of old bottles. On the other hand, the 1964 Faustino I Gran Reserva, which started out somewhat nondescript and a bit thin, opened up into a beautiful old Rioja, elegant in a noble way, with cool sweet berry notes, layers of herbal nuances, a hint of dark chocolate, and a really graceful structure. So, such are the benefits of old bottles...

None of those wines is really findable except, possibly, at auction (or in Spain). The 2001 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial ($54), though, should be around and about, and was the star of the younger wines in the retrospective—cherry fruit with notes of licorice and forest floor, ripe and dense but not heavy, and a leathery-gamey hint on the end. All the richness of the '01 vintage in a classically styled wine, in a sense. I wish I had a case so I could see how it will be, forty years down the line. —R.I.

Every spring, I wait for that transcendent moment when everything comes together and the season hits its most refreshing, jubilant, birds a-chirping note and there's no looking back to the bleak days of winter. That moment finally arrived last night over a couple of pizzas on the patio of Franny's in Brooklyn. I was with my dear friend John, we could see the Big Dipper, the pies were expertly wood-fired and I discovered the absolutely most perfect pizza wine ever in a glass of Bonarda from Italy's Lombardia region. The 2007 Castello di Luzzano Oltrepò Pavese ($16, find this wine) is deep red and lightly frizzante with lively cherry fruit and a kick of juicy mandarin orange flavor that was incredible with the tangy tomato sauce on our buffalo mozzarella pizza. Served chilled, it's similar to a Lambrusco but not as dark and frothy, just bright and clean. And to think this is only the beginning of patio-Bonarda-star-gazing weather. —Megan Krigbaum

Despite the dreary weather here in NYC, it is Spring, so I'm going to operate under the delusion that if wine glasses are filled with lively springtime wine, then the sun will emerge, birds will chirp, fluffy clouds will drift in the cerulean sky, and all that sort of pastoral folderol will mark our days for weeks to come.

To that end, I'd suggest going out en masse and depleting stores of their stocks of the 2007 Loimer Lois Grüner Veltliner ($14, find this wine). It's a bright, vibrant white, with the pea tendril-pepperiness that Grüner often has, fresh grapefruit acidity, and a briskly herbal finish. Loimer makes a variety of higher-end estate Grüners that are impressive as well, but for the cash, this one's a no-brainer. —R.I.

Starting this time of year through the fall, New York City's eternally crowded scenester restaurant, Balthazar, goes through something like a billion cases of Sancerre a week. This minerally French Sauvignon Blanc is intensely refreshing on a hot day, but thanks to its popularity, good, cheap Sancerre is a rarity. So I was thrilled to find another, equally satisfying Sauvignon Blanc from France's Loire Valley: the gulpable 2008 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny ($15). It's got that telltale Sauvignon grassiness along with ripe yet tart apple flavors. There's a slight richness (thanks to the touch of Chardonnay in the blend) along with plenty of snappy acidity and clean minerality. In other words, tough wine not to like... — Kristin R. Donnelly

Maybe it's the odd juxtaposition of snow and the beginning of Spring, but somehow the idea of an off-dry (lightly sweet) white wine seems like the ideal thing today. Maybe it's the thought that if Spring were actually acting like Spring is supposed to, I might be able to sit on a porch and sip one with some prosciutto & melon, instead of staring out a window at snowflakes. Regardless, here are three that caught my attention lately:

2007 Grove Mill Riesling ($17, find this wine) As often seems to be the case with New Zealand Rieslings, a little sweetness seems only to intensify and focus the flavors of lime zest and pear in this wine; it's got a nice floral note on the nose, too. 

2008 Ca’ del Solo Muscat ($20, find this wine) Randall Grahm's Ca’ del Solo wines come from his estate vineyard in Monterey County, which is farmed biodynamically (and is mostly composed of Chualar and Danville Sandy Clay Loams, if you want to really geek out about it). This vintage of his Muscat is wildly aromatic, all spice-gumdrop, melon and tangerine, and manages to be full-bodied in texture without actually being particularly heavy or high in alcohol (it's 12.5%). Moreover, it's made from Moscato Giallo—an semi-obscure muscat clone from Italy's Alto Adige—with 12% Loureiro, an even more obscure Portuguese white variety typically used in Vinho Verde. Regardless, it's a mighty tasty wine that sure makes me wish it were summer...

2007 Abbazia di Novacella Gewürztraminer ($25, find this wine) I tasted this a few months back when I was zooming through the Alto Adige on my way to Slovenia for a story, and it's stuck in my mind ever since. Intensely spicy, with a kind of spiced bosc pear character and lots of flavor, this comes off slightly sweeter than it actually is. The winemaker told me that there's only three grams per liter of sugar here, and that the perceived sweetness is mostly glycerin; he also told me that it was grown on calcareous soil, though the importer's website says, contrarily, "gravely sand of moronic origin." What sand of moronic origin might be I don't know, but I sort of love it. 

A little France vs. California match-up for the weekend, for no good reason other than that the wines were in our tasting room, they were good, and writing about them seemed like the thing to do. So nice to have one's purpose in life be so clear, right?

From California, the 2006 Clos LaChance Estate Grenache ($30) has a striking scent of violets and wild berries—really intense aromatics that give way to juicy blackberry fruit and a little black pepper on the finish. 

Then, heading down the coast, there's the 2007 Jorian Hill BEEspoke ($45), an oddball name for a potent and stylishly made 50/50 blend of Grenache and Syrah from a newish winery in the Santa Ynez Valley. It suggested smoky purple berries with a hint of wild game in the nose, then ripe, dense, berry-driven fruit with what I wrote down as a "lasting boowangy end." I have no idea what the heck I meant, though it still seems like the right thing to have written.(NB, the wine is not shown on the website, but I imagine if you called up they'd tell you how to find it.)

From France, that other country, I came across two affordable and impressive southern French reds. The 2007 Domaine de Cascavel In Fine Rouge ($14), a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah from the Côtes du Ventoux, has the classic wild herb scent of garrigue, with blackberry and cocoa notes and a juicy but firm texture.

Then, also from the Côtes du Ventoux, I was impressed by the 2007 Mas du Fadan Rouge ($13), black-purple in hue, with dusty pepper and floral notes, and a fleshy, low-acid structure that somehow still held together all of its dark, plummy fruit. It comes from a small vineyard
naturally fertilized by goats, and the property's name, fadan, means someone who has been touched by the fairies or lost their mind. Happens to me all the time.

Wells Guthrie at Copain is primarily known for his impressive single-vineyard Pinot Noirs and Syrahs, most of which are quite small production and, while not crazily expensive, not exactly cheap either. For a while he made a series of affordable wines under the Saison des Vin label, but as he told me today, that mostly just confused people—they didn't know whether the wines were from Copain or not, who was making them, or what they were, exactly. So he's renamed his affordable line Copain "Tous Ensemble," and narrowed it into a set of three regionally designated varietal wines. I tasted them today, and they pretty much blew me away in terms of quality for price (this may be partly because he uses some of the fruit from his single-vineyard sources in the cuvées).

The 2007 Copain Viognier Tous Ensemble Mendocino ($20) is fermented entirely in stainless steel, which shows in its bright, crisp, lightly minerally fruit and almost prickly (in a good way) end. It smells of just-ripe nectarines, and, like all three of these, is made from organically grown grapes.

Then there's the 2007 Copain Tous Ensemble Pinot Noir Anderson Valley ($30), which I thought was remarkably good—tasting it blind, you'd assume this was a single-vineyard bottling at about $20 more a bottle. It has a sweetly floral, raspberry-strawberry aroma; lithe yet saturated fruit (again, ripe raspberry/strawberry in character) that really fills the mouth, a hint of rhubarb and a citrusy tang on the end. 

Finally, the 2007 Copain Tous Ensemble Syrah Mendocino ($20) offers balanced but substantial mocha-plum-blackberry flavors, a nose that suggests smoked meat and fragrant berries, and a grippy but appealing tannic finish. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a better $20 wine for a good steak that I've had recently. 

These wines aren't wildly limited, but they aren't in huge supply either. Probably the best way to track them down is to contact the winery, though wine-searcher.com is always a good option as well. I was also impressed (as usual) with Guthrie's single-vineyard wines, but I'll keep them for a later post; better to start the weekend with a few good bargains.

I've been wading through an ocean of affordable wine for our April issue, and while I'm reserving a good chunk of the best wines for the magazine itself, here are a few that I thought deserved mention now.

2007 Domaine Lafage Côté Est ($11, find this wine or its importer) When I was at the Wine Market Council meeting I blogged about recently, some of the Nielsen statistics showed that a large majority of American wine buyers tend to think of French wines as terrible values. Everyone should recalibrate by running out and buying this wine. Lightly spicy, with a kind of fresh talcum/floral character on the nose, it's loaded with rich apple/stone fruit flavor, completely luscious but not heavy at all, and ends on peppery herb notes. From the Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes, it's 60% Grenache Blanc & Gris, 30% Chardonnay, and 10% Marsanne, aged in stainless steel.

2007 Tieffenbrunner Alto Adige Pinot Bianco ($14, find this wine or its importer) I had this while traveling in the Alto Adige, had it again recently while standing in front of my stove at home, and both times was impressed by what it offers for the price: crisp apple fruit, a touch of that Pinot Blanc-lanolin-shading-to-cheese rind scent on the nose (a nice thing, though it doesn't exactly sound so great), subtle minerality on the finish. Not a wine that draws a lot of attention to itself, but a great wine for everyday drinking.

2006 Cono Sur Visión Gewurztraminer ($15, find this wine or its importer) Gewurztraminer can be overwhelming—as wonderful as a producer like Zind-Humbrecht's wines can be, they're so rich that it sometimes feels like heavy work just getting through a glass. Cono Sur's affordable bottling doesn't hold a candle to ZH in terms of complexity, but it's a surprisingly bright, lively version of Gewurz (the cool Pacific winds in the Casablanca Valley probably help) with melon, spice, and some lime-citrus notes. 

Oh, you know, why not? Just because every single media outlet in America is probably doing a Superbowl-tie-in story right now doesn't mean I shouldn't, too, right? Anyway, I was going to write about the following five wines regardless; they'd be dandy for a Superbowl get-together, but they'd be equally good if you were sitting on a sandy beach, or heading over to a friend's for dinner, or making venison chili over a camp stove in a shed outside Durango, Colorado. Why you'd want to do that last one, I have no idea, but at least you'd be drinking good wine while you did.

2007 Fournier Sauvignon Blanc ($12) This Loire Sauvignon Blanc, from vineyards in the Touraine and Anjou regions, comes across like a good Sancerre for about half the price—it's grassy and zesty, with lemon and gooseberry flavors and a spicy finish.  

2007 Ajello Majus Bianco ($14) A blend of the local Sicilian varieties Grillo and Cataratto. This is all midsummer Sicilian sun: smoky pineapple notes and full-bodied texture. The Ajellos have grown grapes in Sicily since 1860, and while they still sell the majority of what they grow, they reserve the best lots for their own wines.

2006 Feudi di San Marzano Sud Negroamaro Puglia ($12) Sweet, rich blackberry fruit wrapped up in spicy tannins—that’s pretty much the story with this easygoing Southern Italian red. It isn't exactly a brainy wine; more just lush and simple and inviting.

2007 Domaine Jean Bousquet Malbec ($13) Jean Bousquet started off making wine in southern France in the 1970s, but in 1997 he moved to Argentina's Tupungato Valley, evidently so he could make wines like this one: generous, black, full of ripe raspberry fruit.  

2006 LiVeli Orion Salento Primitivo ($15) This is a Puglian wine produced by a Tuscan family (the owners of Avignonesi). Powerful and earthy, it seems as though it might have been siphoned out of the ground rather than fermented in a tank, which in my book is a good thing.

Here's an interesting news story from AFP that I meant to post a little ways back. It discusses how worldwide demand for wine is apt to keep increasing despite the economic doldrums we're all in, largely thanks to the rapidly growing Russian and Chinese markets.

This follows on the heels (the somewhat rapidly receding heels, as it was a couple of weeks ago) of a Wine Market Council presentation I went to on consumer wine trends, where among other things I learned that wine was actually up last year, somewhere around 3.8% for the  thirteen weeks through December 15, and up 4.8% over the 52 weeks preceding that date. Not exactly boom times, but this was a substantially better performance than most of the other categories that Nielsen tracks (though not flour and dry vegetables/grains, which were up about 35% each—lots of people staying home to cook these days).

Anyway, unsurprisingly, the parts of the wine world that are growing fastest at the moment are the under-$10 realm (the $0-$2.99 segment is booming, though I'm not sure exactly what wines besides Two-Buck Chuck live in that world). The over-$20 zone? Hm. Not so good.

There were other hot-not notes to the presentation—Argentina? Hot. France? Not. Pinot Noir? Hot. Syrah/Shiraz? Not. I also learned that—and this is just in the channels that Nielsen surveys, which leaves out a lot of small, boutiquey wine shops—there are 13,698 different wines floating around out there on store shelves. 

So here's one of those 13,698 that I liked when I tasted it recently: the 2007 Gai'a Nótios White ($13, find this wine). Yes, it's Greek, but don't worry—if you haven't explored Greek wines recently, you should, because particularly for fans of crisp, focused, seafood-friendly whites, Greece has become a terrific resource. This bottle, a 50/50 blend of Moscofilero and Roditis, smells of spiced stone fruits and shows lots of lemon-lime citrus backed up by mouthwatering acidity. It would be great with this recipe for shrimp saganaki, created by my pal Grace Parisi in the F&W test kitchen.