Summer bargains: fruity finds under $11

First day of summer. Time to relax and pop the cork on some fun wines, some easy wines, some chill 'em and swill 'em wines. Let's just say it: some cheap wines.

Among several of the everyday brands made by Don Sebastiani & Sons, I have found a few that are particularly good values. What I am looking for is balance and true fruit flavors. That means that alcohol levels are moderate, the winemaker lays off the fake oak, and these wines deliver clean and plentiful amounts of ripe fruit.

One caveat: I have been tasting the most recent vintages for all these wines, 2005 for the whites and 2004 for the cabernet. These are the vintages that I am recommending to you.

Some older vintages of these wines may still be in the market. Although they are also budget priced, I have not tasted the older vintages recently, so it's buyer beware. Generally, younger is better with cheap wines. If your local wine merchant does not carry what you are looking for, please mention that all these wines are distributed by Alaska.

Fusée 2005 Chardonnay: $5. This is an excellent five-buck chard, with plenty of creamy pear and vanilla flavors. Don't look for classic styling here — hang on to the Montrachet — but still, this is very flavorful and full of ripe fruit.

Smoking Loon 2005 Chardonnay: $9. The extra bucks buy you a bigger, more structured wine than the Fusée. The Smoking Loon is built around flavors of pineapple and buttered pie crust.

Pepperwood Grove 2005 Viognier: $6. I find this bottle a nice match to the chardonnays. It shows peach and apricot fruit, and a similar lush, sweet mouthfeel.

Aquinas 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: $10. The 2004, which is delicious, may not yet have arrived in town, so file this one away for the future. Dark and spicy, loaded with flavors of plum, cherry cola and creamy chocolate, it's sure to be a crowd-pleaser at any summer party.

All hail the quail

I have frequently sung the praises of Covey Run, and since we are speaking of summery bargain wines, it's worth mentioning that their recent releases have been true to form, offering fine quality at very reasonable prices.

Covey Run was founded in 1982 and is now owned by Constellation Brands — one of the largest (if not the largest) wine conglomerates in the world. Kerry Norton took over the winemaking duties in 1999, and the brand has ramped up the quality ever since, despite the general belief that large corporations usually do more harm than good to hometown wineries.

The Covey Run "Quail label" wines, which pay homage to the winery's original name of Quail Run, are priced at $6 and $7 this month. New releases include the 2004 sauvignon blanc, solidly made in a light, tart, true-to-varietal style. You'll find pleasant herbal accents and tangy citrus fruit, nicely lifted with some palate-scraping, clean, leesy acids.

The Quail label 2004 chardonnay is done in a quite fruity style, with bright melon, pineapple and red-apple flavors. It's a tart, racy, fruit-forward food wine that's a great choice for seafood or chicken salad.

Completing the series, the 2003 merlot includes a splash of malbec in the blend and delivers appealing flavors of strawberry, plum and cherry with light licorice, black olive and herbs de Provence.

Vertical tasting

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to do vertical tastings from time to time. A vertical tasting is generally one in which wines from the same winery, grape and sometimes vineyard — but different vintages — are opened and poured.

The comparisons that such tastings provide are fascinating. You can see a winemaking style evolve; you can taste the particular flavors of a vineyard that come through year after year; you can spot vintage variation and best of all, you can see how/if the wines age.

I am often asked by readers to identify the right time, or the best time, to drink a particular bottle of wine. I honestly don't believe there ever is such a thing as a best time for any bottle (unless it's really bad, in which case, there is no good time!). But good wines show different aspects of their personalities at different stages of evolution.

So if you have several bottles of the same wine, it is a good idea to sample them at intervals of a year or two, to see how their flavors change.

Recently I sat down with winemaker Brian Carter and his partners to taste through a sequence of wines from Apex. Apex was introduced in 1990 as a superpremium brand in the Washington Hills portfolio. Washington Hills is now under new ownership, but Apex is going strong, and in fact a second line, called Apex II, debuted last year.

The Apex label includes dry and sweet rieslings and gewürztraminers, chardonnay, vineyard-designated merlots, syrah and cabernet sauvignon. We tasted almost every vintage of the cabernet that has been released, beginning with the 1990 and continuing through 2001. Only the '97 was missing.

As a group, these wines had aged well. In warmer vintages, the winery's Yakima valley Outlook vineyard provided much of the fruit; in cooler vintages it was purchased from Klipsun on Red Mountain. Highlights included a round, sweet tasting '92; an elegant, Bordeaux-like '93; and a chewy, tannic, spicy '94. All are drinking at their evolutionary peak.

The '98, from a very warm year, represented a change in style, to riper fruit and tannins. The '99, from a great vintage, was the best ever, firm and tight with concentrated black cherry fruit and dark, roasted notes. That one will keep for a long time.

Almost as good is the most recent release, the 2001. Tart boysenberry and raspberry fruit is buoyed by tangy acids, and the characteristic leafy, herbal notes provide a counterpoint. Quite young still, this will drink best if given a fair amount of breathing time.

As a group, these Apex cabernets nicely demonstrate the talents of Carter, one of this state's most experienced winemakers, and also prove the point that Washington cabernets, when made in a balanced style, are indeed the perfect match of European elegance and New World fruit flavors.

Unless noted, all Wine Adviser recommendations are 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 can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.