Whenever I need a hug, I write a column about the most inexpensive, pretty-good wines I've tasted lately. The reaction from readers is always positive enough to get me through another week or two. Like a vitamin B-12 shot.
I'm not calling you cheap, dear readers, but you do love a bargain. And it's not being cheap, really. If you want to drink wine at dinner, you can't be shelling out $35 a bottle every night.
Long and sometimes aversive experience tells me that newspaper readers, mostly casual wine fans, are happiest finding good wines in the under-$15 range.
Actually, I've heard cynics say any price over $15 is only to feed the winemaker's ego, but if you see the trouble some take in making wine -- I know one winemaker who makes her own barrels, interspersing French and American oak staves for maximum complexity -- you're willing to grant an extra $5 or $10 before declaring the ego point.
On the other hand, is a $150 bottle of wine 10 times as good as a $15 bottle? Not likely.
So here are my latest picks. As I always say, any fool can buy a good bottle of wine for $150. To buy a good $15 bottle, you've got to know what you're doing.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
• 2006 Redcliffe Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand: lively and crisp, with those tell-tale New Zealand gooseberry and mineral flavors; $12.
• 2006 Don Miguel Gascon Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina: shiny, saturated deep violent color, rich flavors of black plums and blueberries; $12.
RECOMMENDED
• 2006 Rigatoni Red Blend, Puglia, Italy: rich and soft and fruity, a secret blend created to go with tomato-based spaghetti sauce; $11.
• 2006 Snoqualmie ''Naked'' Riesling, Columbia Valley, Washington: light and dry, with green pear and vanilla flavors -- nice fish wine; called ''naked'' because it's almost organic, and thus sort of bare of pesticides, etc.; $10.
• 2006 Simi Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County: lively and crisp, with green apple and melon flavors; $15.
• 2005 Cte Du Bone Roan, Chteau La Paws, California (70 percent syrah, 12 percent zinfandel, 10 percent mourvedre, 8 percent carignane): Rich, full and fruity, with flavors of red raspberries and black coffee; winemaker Kent Rosenblum, a veterinarian, donates some of the proceeds to a pet charity called Paws With a Cause; $14.
• 2006 Cte Du Bone Blanc, by Chteau La Paws, California (32 percent viognier, 32 percent chardonnay, 31 percent sauvignon blanc, 3 percent roussanne and 2 percent marsanne): very fruity, very crisp, full-bodied, with peach and mineral flavors; $14.
• 2006 Heron Chardonnay, California: crisp and lively, lemon meringue flavors; $10.
