Copyright Times Publishing Co. Nov 19, 2003

    Best choices in the classic cabernet-merlot style may be the least expensive 2000 Bordeaux. It was a great vintage and has had a little time to settle down. "Any 2000s are a pretty good bet," says Bob Sprentall from B-21 in Tarpon Springs.

"The easiest and hardest holiday shopping has already begun in Tampa Bay area wine stores.

Buying wine for Thanksgiving, Christmas parties and holiday dinners, to take to neighbor's houses, and to give as gifts adds up to a long and complicated list. Filling it can seem an expensive, endless and not-so-jolly chore.

Humbug.

With a basic survival strategy and $100 or less, you can stock a holiday wine cellar with six bottles of your own house wines - three red and three white - to get you through six weeks of holiday meals, plus a bottle of bubbly for New Year's and a bottle of something rich and sweet you can savor in the quiet times.

Of course $100 could also buy a case and a half of a tolerable $6 wine, but let's splurge a little for the holidays. To assemble our Holiday Survival Cellar, we alloted $10 to $12 each for six bottles of still wine and $15 to $20 each for the sparkler and the dessert wine.

(If you're tempted to spend big, we've included some advice for a $200 eight-bottle cellar. Those who are willing to spend $50 a bottle don't need any help.)

Deciding where to buy gets more complicated each year as big grocery chains, price clubs and discounters get into wine, especially at the holidays. This year, Target has a rack of $10 to $40 wines next to soda pop and across from greeting cards.

Wine retailers range from the no-service giants to small high- service shops, and there's a way to shop in each.

Some tips on how to select a purveyor:

Don't expect advice or a big selection at the monster stores. You're there for the discount, so pick brands you know and search the high-end prices for the best buys. Ditto for supermarkets.

At the biggest liquor stores, you may get a little help and you'll get a lot more selection. Before you go in, take a minute to narrow your focus and set your price range, say zinfandel, $10 to $15. When buying high, stick with what you know.

At small stores, take advantage of the service, don't be intimidated by it. Tell the clerks what you want, say, for instance, a red wine to have with steaks tonight that costs less than $10. They should give you three or four choices they've tasted themselves. Don't think wines will cost more; the best merchants will steer you to bargains.

By the way, for now we'll forget buying wine as a gift. Yes, it's quick, simple and comes in all price ranges, but the choices are exasperating if your mission is to please or impress "someone who really knows a lot more about wine than I do." Bad idea.

It's better to give a friend a bottle of wine you can honestly say you liked and maybe a recipe or some cheese to try it with. If you're anxious about the recipient's wine snobbery, buy them clear glasses. (No one has enough.)

Our focus is stocking the house with wine to drink and share with family friends and other holiday visitors, from Thanksgiving through New Year's.

For your house wine, you want bottles that are reliable, well- made and please everyone around the table, including your aunt and uncle who "don't like wine" and the colleagues you think you'll never win over.

You could just get a merlot and a chardonnay, but that would be too easy - and too hard: Thousands of wines are now made from these grapes, and it's difficult to sort out where they fall between vinegar and soda pop.

We talked with wine merchants from Tarpon Springs to Tampa and St. Pete Beach and came up with these suggestions for stocking house wines, bubbly and dessert wines:

House red

For a crowd-pleasing red, look for wines that are ripe and juicy, of at least medium body and a pleasant finish. That means red wines without too much tannin, the dry, bitter and woody taste that comes from the grape skins and stems. Strong tannins enable great cabernets and Barolos to live for decades as they slowly soften into luscious reds; before that they can be the kind of wines that make drinkers say "I don't like wine."

Grapes and wines with more modest or softer tannins fall into two rough categories.

Wines that are lighter and fruitier, not big and dry, include pinot noir from California and Oregon or Beaujolais' better reds. After years of frustration, California is now making easy-drinking pinot noirs in the $10 bracket.

The most popular Everywine today, however, is Australian shiraz, which comes from a spicier group of reds that include zinfandel, petite sirah and Rhone grapes. While these were once, and still can be, robust and full-bodied, many are available around $10 in both varietal wines and blends in a style that is ripe, smooth and crowd- pleasing.

To salute Italian heritage, look for round, soft dolcettos from the Piedmont or Montepulciano d' Abruzzo, a polished red that's much friendlier to the mouth than its jaw-breaking name. For a Spanish accent, look beyond the Rioja for wines from Priorat, Navarre and Penedes, preferably those made from tempranillo or garnacha grapes.

    Best choices in the classic cabernet-merlot style may be the least expensive 2000 Bordeaux. It was a great vintage and has had a little time to settle down. "Any 2000s are a pretty good bet," says Bob Sprentall from B-21 in Tarpon Springs.

Put three bottles in a cold place and they'll go well with any big dinner from turkey to roast beef.

Bigger bucks: Double your price range and $20 to $25 will buy the most famous Rhone blends such as Chateauneuf du Pape, a wider choice of Bordeaux, or some lesser but approachable Burgundies. You can sample better Australian shiraz from Penfolds or D'Arenberg, Oregon pinot noirs, Italian barbarescos and classic Chianti. From the United States, you can have pinot noir from Santa Barbara, Calif., and well-made cabernets from the likes of St. Supery and Geyser Peak, and various leftovers from the great '97 and and '99 vintages. These are better quality wines with charm as well as character.

House white

In picking your house white, remember that the grinch is not tannin but acid. Again, acidity is a crucial part of all wines, good and bad, as with any fruit product. In the right amounts, acid gives a wine backbone and crispness; some have nice acidity, other wines have it not so nice.

Softer white wines to consider for a $10 house are chenin blanc, the white wine of the Loire Valley, and viognier, a grape of remarkable perfume and spice that makes the lush, famous Condrieu of the Rhone and also some much less expensive American and Australian wines.

Other options are German wines and those of similar style where there there is crisp acidity which is oh-so-carefully balanced by residual sugar. The chief choice is Riesling, available from California, Washington and, of course, Germany and neighboring Alsace in France.

One of the safest choices is gewurztraminer, usually spicier and sometimes sweeter, perfect for the Thanksgiving table because it matches pumpkin pie as well as turkey.

Buy three bottles of house white and put them in the fridge to serve chilled as an aperitif or with poultry, seafood or Thai take- out.

Bigger bucks: Spend $20 to $25 a bottle and the cellar doors are wide open. Look for California's best sauvignon blancs or French Sancerres if you want a little crispness.

After dinner

Give yourself the gift of dessert wine. For $15 or even $10, you can tuck away a bottle of surprising richness to add a leisurely grace note to winter evenings. Port, sherry and late-harvest wines are a quick way to dress up dessert or substitute for it. Set them out with blue cheese, nuts or dried fruit for a surprise guest or to provide lingering time with closest friends or family. Bottles can be opened for a couple of glasses, corked and live to please another night or two.

While true vintage ports start at $30 for bottles that would best be left untouched for a decade or two and the great Sauternes are best paired with $100, there's a wide variety in our $15 range, in both half bottles and full.

Portugal offers nonvintage, late-bottled varieties, young tawnies, ruby and vintage character blends, as well as the expensive stuff. Look for Warre's Warrior or Six Grapes or the new Raven from Noval. Australia has made rich portlike wines for two centuries and many of them are $15 or less. The lush Benjamin tawny is less than $10.

Wines made from supersweet grapes harvested when they are more like raisins are among the most expensive wines in Germany and France, although some producers in Sauternes and neighboring Barsac make handsome half-bottles for $15 or so. Plus, Australia and California have both succeeded with less expensive versions.

Muscat grapes, which combine sweetness with rich perfumes, provide other good choices. Look for muscat de Frontignan and other French muscats from the Rhone and the south of France, moscato di asti from Italy, and American muscats. The warm-climate vineyards of the central California coast, such as Eberle, make very pleasant muscats and two innovative wineries, Bonny Doon and Quady, make fruit-flavored muscats good enough to pour over ice cream.

By the way, dessert wines are a relatively fail-safe gift. Even experienced wine buyers don't explore them and will enjoy the chance to try one.

Bigger bucks: If you can afford $25 to $30 for a dessert wine, look for 10-year-old tawny ports, an array of Madeiras, rich oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherries, full bottles of Sauternes, higher grade beerenauslese from Germany and Canadian icewine.

Bubbles

For a nice bit of bubbly, $15 won't buy classic Champagne from France, but it will buy plenty in the world of other sparklers.

Bubbly made by the traditional Champagne method can be found in cavas from small Spanish makers such as Paul Cheneau, in other parts of France outside the Champagne district and again at some successful California and Australian wineries.

The most intriguing sparklers from Italy are the mild and peachy proseccos from outside Venice; for more traditional bubbly, try Rotari.

Bigger bucks: If you pop $30 for sparkle, you'll find a few well- known Champagne marques on sale this season, but you can also sample an Italian brachetto or California's best efforts, such as Schramsberg or Roederer Estate.

Whatever your budget, use any leftover money for more bubbles; you may find other reasons to celebrate.

The $100 wine cellar

Three bottles, house red, $10 to $12

$10 to $12

(Buy one of each or three of one)

Petite Sirah, Parducci, 1999

Cherries, berries and hints of cocoa, gutsy enough for any meal, easy on any palate.

Parallel 45, Paul Jaboulet, 2002

A classic blend from the Cotes du Rhone, friendly and spicy every year.

Moulin-A-Vent, Georges duBoeuf, 2002

Beaujolais at its unhurried best, flowers, berries and rich on the tongue.

Three bottles house white, $10 TO $12

(Buy one of each or three of one)

Viognier EXP, RH Phillips

Very friendly Rhone Ranger serves up tropical fruits, rich feel.

Riesling, von Hovel, Scharzhofberger Kabinett, 2001

Fruit, spice and honey in a great German vintage.

Sauvignon blanc, Geyser Peak, 2002

Crisp and bright but still juicy, with flesh and a fruity nose.

One bottle bubbles, $15

Gloria Ferrer

Pioneer California sparkler with Spanish roots still toasty, fun.

One bottle after-dinner, $15

Raven, Quinto do Noval

Beauty of a bargain, black ruby color and intense first taste of port."