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Pick of the week

Sonoma Vineyards Merlot 2004 ($19.45 in Ontario, No. 060632; $22.99 in B.C.) is full-bodied and deliciously juicy, oozing cherry, toasty oak, tobacco and cedar.

The official publication date of the current Wine Spectator issue is listed as "April 30" but the cover-story headline is worthy of April 1. "California Values," it blares in big type. "Best Wines to Drink Now From $8 to $50."

Values? In California? That's an April Fool's joke, don't you think? The state has been known for many things lately. Budget drinking isn't one of them, not here in post-monopoly-markup Canada, not since the early 1990s.

Roughly 15 years ago, California began ceding its reputation in Canada as a value leader. Consumer thirst for its hyped-up luxury labels, combined with soaring land values in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, inflated prices beyond the pale - and drove wise value shoppers straight to the more hospitable Australian and Chilean shelves.

The reality south of the border was different, to be sure. Popular brands such as Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve and Bearfoot Cellars have long sold at huge discounts in the U.S. market.

Worse for Canadians, the grievous gap in the exchange rate during that period ensured that we got hosed on what few deals were left.

But just as an under-schooled kid from Austria with scant acting talent can become a Hollywood star and governor of the most populous state in America, miracles can happen in the wacky world of wine economics. Which is to say prices can actually come down. California wines now in some cases are more affordable thanks to the level, ahem, paying field of a near-par dollar.

One of my top recommendations today falls into that category, Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($37.45, product No. 255513). It doesn't qualify as a cheap weeknight warrior most Canadians can afford to sip with meat loaf, I admit. (Then again, nor do most of the "values" listed in Wine Spectator's cover story for the private-jet set, which, in any case, features few wines widely available right now in Canada.) But the Mondavi Napa cab is $2.50 cheaper than it was exactly three years ago.

I'm also happy to report that it's just as good.

I've long been a fan of this flagship red. From several bottles-worth of experience, I can attest it pays tasty dividends after 10 years in the cellar. This vintage is right on the money, with textbook California-cab fruit and exceptional poise and grace for the money. Full-bodied and silky, it suggests classic cab flavours of cassis and blackberry layered with cedar and smoky tobacco woven around fine-grained, nicely integrated tannins.

The Mondavi cab is available across the country, including Vintages in Ontario and British Columbia (where it's $39.99). It's also a wine that consumers in big cities across the country can sample along with many others as part of the touring California Wine Fair, which stopped in Vancouver and Calgary this week and rolls into Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre on April 8. Other cities include Moncton (April 22), Halifax (April 23), Ottawa (April 24), Toronto (April 28), Quebec City (April 30) and May 1 (Montreal). Visit http://www.calwine.ca for details, call 1-800-558-2675 or e-mail calwine@sympatico.ca.

A few California producers also have begun to take competition from the Southern Hemisphere more seriously, releasing compelling labels that might be dubbed kangaroo killers.

Or kangaroo stompers, as the case may be. Many of you are already familiar with the Barefoot brand, available on and off in the West for about a decade and - since 2005 under the ownership of Ernest & Julio Gallo - now with a formidable shelf presence in Ontario.

Though it sells for much less in some stores south of the border, one white selection in the lineup, Barefoot Pinot Grigio ($9.90, No. 053983, and $9.99 in B.C.), is still a very good buy here. I confess to being no fan of the round, surreptitiously sweet pinot grigios typical of California, but I'm impressed with this brand, both for its concentrated lemon and green-apple flavour and lively acidity.

Also from the vast Gallo stable is Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull Merlot 2004 ($11.95, No. 045518), a very good value, showing the smooth roundness that has made merlot the go-to full-bodied red for so many people, accented with vanilla and creamy tannins. It's hard to find a decent merlot at this price, and Rancho Zabaco has outdone itself here. The widely available Dancing Bull Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 ($11.95 in Ontario, the decent 2003 vintage is available for $14.99 in B.C.) is good too.

A notch above in price, but still a good value, is Smoking Loon Chardonnay 2005 ($17.95, No. 055509). It's a new brand from the new value powerhouse Don Sebastiani & Sons, run by descendents of the Sebastiani California winemaking dynasty with roots going back more than a century. The company also is behind successful, moderately priced U.S. brands Hey Mambo and Screw Kappa Napa. The chardonnay is medium full-bodied and round, with notes of honeydew, lemon and tropical fruit and lively acidity.

Smoking Loon Syrah, by the way, is available in British Columbia for $16.99. Though I've not had a chance to taste it, the red ranked among Wine Spectator's list of almost 190 top California values under $50 (U.S.). Alas, it costs just $9 (U.S.) south of the border.

Further up the price scale, but still worth the money, is Sonoma Vineyards Merlot 2004 ($19.45 in Ontario, No. 060632; $22.99 in B.C.), part of a new label created by Rodney Strong Vineyards owner Tom Klein. The bottle is striking, with bright orange screw cap and artsy black and white photo of Sonoma redwood trees, part of a bucolic art-photo series that includes a dairy cow and a vintage tractor. What's inside is fetching too. Full-bodied and deliciously juicy, the merlot oozes concentrate cherry, toasty oak and tobacco and cedar.

It might be perverse to call a wine with a three-digit price tag a bargain, but everything is relative. California's cult cabernets, among the most sought-after wines in the world, start around the $100 mark and now exceed $500 a bottle for recent releases, as in the case of Screaming Eagle. Should you actually be preoccupied with value when dropping that kind of coin on fermented fruit juice, you might want to consider Whitehall Lane Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 Reserve ($102.25, released this week in small quantities in Ontario). In a 2006 Wine Spectator feature on California's top cabernets, Whitehall Lane ranked second on the quality-to-price scale, just behind Truchard.

The worst on that value list, incidentally, was Screaming Eagle, which, while near the top in quality, was California's most expensive.

The Whitehall Lane Reserve is seductively concentrated and silky, with flavours of dark berries, chocolate, black pepper and cedar, with polished tannins. I suppose California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might consider it a good-value red to enjoy with weeknight takeout from Spago.