A rarity: a Top 10 list that's really first-rate

Americans love the Top 10 concept. At a glance you can take in the quote- unquote "best" of something, and then move on to the further pleasures of either agreeing with ("Wow, that guy really knows his stuff!") or berating ("What was she smoking!?").

Wine magazines do the same thing, with lists of top budget wines, best of show, most expensive, etc. I generally give them short shrift. But when Wine Business Monthly — a trade magazine that doesn't rate wines or do puff stories on multimillion dollar wine — put out its list of the 10 Hottest Small Brands of 2005, my curiosity was piqued.

These are brands that are selling well, emphasizing quality, pricing their wines to be affordable for everyday consumption and often include innovating packaging such as screwcaps. Past lists have often put the spotlight on brands that went on to great success, names such as Red Truck, Rex Goliath and Jest Red.

The new list included some wineries I've often mentioned in this column, particularly SoloRosa (a brand devoted exclusively to rosés), Peachy Canyon (for their iconic Incredible Red) and Kunde Estate.

No. 1 on this year's list was the Mendocino Wine Co., a recently formed partnership between Paul Dolan (ex-Fetzer Vineyards president) and a Texas contractor named Tim Thornhill. MWC caught my attention because it has acquired Parducci, one of the great old Mendocino brands that, sadly, had fallen on hard times in recent years. It also has what its Washington distributor calls a "sniper brands" division, producing wines such as Big Yellow Cab, Tusk 'N Red, Zig Zag Zin and Roselle Rose.

The current releases from Parducci are mostly back vintages that do not reflect the new ownership, which took over in 2004. The best of them was the pinot noir, which not-too-surprisingly improved significantly with the 2004 vintage, though the 2003 is a decent bottle for the price. It was last week's Wine Pick, and my tasting of the upcoming 2004 promises better days ahead for the brand.

Among MWC's other brands, the Zingaro "Benchland" zinfandel, the Zig Zag Zin and the Tusk 'N Red are all pleasant enough, mixed varietal reds, selling in the $10-$11 range.

New to me was another Top 10 selection, Andretti Winery, which was founded by the legendary auto racing champion Mario Andretti. Oddly enough, despite the proliferation of car- and truck-themed wines, Andretti doesn't go there. Nor does the winery jack up the prices, as most "celebrity" labels do, simply because there is a superstar sitting at the head of the conference table. Instead, Andretti's aim is to deliver quality at a good price, and it is doing just that.

The Selection Series wines include a chardonnay, merlot, zinfandel and a cabernet, all from a blend of California vineyards. The cabernet and the zinfandel are the winners here, both selling for $13-$14. They bring good, clean fruit to the table — bright raspberry in the zin, brambly blackberry in the cab — and would certainly be good choices for an early-spring barbecue.

A step up is Andretti's "Napa Valley" line. The two I tasted, a 2005 sauvignon blanc and a 2005 pinot grigio, were equally fresh and quite charming. They showed fruit rather than new oak — a plus with both of these grapes — and each in its way had an assertive, penetrating vibrancy, with crisp acids and nuances of green herb and citrus rind. Thoroughly delicious! They sell for $16. All the Andretti wines are distributed by Grape Expectations.

State wines praised

By the time you read these words, the latest issue of Robert Parker's influential Wine Advocate newsletter will have reached subscribers. Virtually every wine seller in the country pays attention to the scores awarded in the bi-monthly publication, and it can make (or seriously hurt) a winery's reputation. Along with reviews of the 2003 and 2005 Bordeaux wines, the new issue includes an overview of new releases from Washington state.

Though Parker's name is on the masthead, Pierre Rovani is solely responsible for reviewing the wines of Washington state. Rovani is a well-traveled, well-fed, jovial but opinionated man who has been rather severely critical of Washington in the past. He has a very sharp mind and a palate to match. Though I have heard him speak on several occasions, I have never heard, or imagined I would ever hear, the sort of unvarnished praise he heaped on the vintners of Washington state in a keynote speech at Taste Washington earlier this month.

He began by recalling his first visit to Washington a decade ago, traveling with Parker and tasting wines for two days while holed up in a hotel room. Though a few good wines stood out, said Rovani, on the whole it was "depressing, hard work."

At that time and in subsequent vintages, Rovani criticized Washington for not living up to its potential, for making too many flawed bottles. He seemed puzzled, distracted even, by the fact that there were wineries in the western half of the state located hundreds of miles from the vineyards.

But at Taste Washington, speaking of the reviews about to appear, he had only the highest praise. "I can tell you," he gleefully told an audience liberally sprinkled with growers, winemakers, distributors and Wine Commission staff, "that two of the highest scores in the issue go to Washington wines. Across the board, expensive to value, Washington leads the pack. I think Washington's growers are at the peak of their profession. The vineyards are making incredible fruit. The future is unbelievably bright. We're not talking potential. You've achieved it."

Rovani went on to speak eloquently about the quality of Washington cabernet, calling it "the best in the world." He had high praise also for the state's merlot, riesling, semillon, chardonnay and syrah, though he believes that there is room for further improvement. "If winemakers approached syrah as a totally different variety," he admonished, "rather than making it like cabernet, the quality would go through the roof."

He finished with a flourish, enumerating numerous advantages that Washington enjoys — a perfect climate (wonder where he got that phrase?), great land ("cheap!") and control of water via irrigation. "You can play God," he said. "None of your competition has this advantage. The Bordelaise are on their knees in a chapel praying for rain — you guys just turn on the spigot. My money is on you.

"Basically, Washington, you've arrived," he concluded, predicting "an enormous influx of money, tourists and wine writers from around the world."

I'm not sure we need roving packs of wine writers stomping through our vineyards, but the rest of it sounds pretty good to me.

How to find wines: Wines mentioned here should be currently available, though vintages may sometimes differ. All wine shops and most groceries have a wine specialist on staff. Show them this column, and if they do not have the wine in stock, they can order it for you from the local distributor.

Paul Gregutt is the author of "Northwest Wines." His column appears weekly in the Wine section. He can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.