Value of the Month is quite an understatement here. This one needs a central spot in our all-time Value Hall of Fame. It’s ridiculously good, and I don’t mean “good” as in “good for the price.” I mean straight-up delicious, fun, good wine. I don’t know how Tintero does it, putting out wines that are artisanally and sustainably made on his small family azienda at prices like this. Perhaps it’s just a question of priorities. No fancy cars are parked in his driveway, if you catch my drift. This vino bianco is as unpretentious as its maker yet is far more than a simple vino. Lovely, crisp, fresh fruit aromas abound from the first pour. The wine itself is dry, low in alcohol, smooth, and flavorful, with Tintero’s signature frizzante touch of just the faintest hint of bubbles to liven it up. You really can’t go wrong with this one. My advice is to drink it chilled as can be on a hot summer day for the full experience.

I still recall hearing from Kermit, about fifteen years ago, of his latest find while traveling through the Languedoc. The winemaker at Château La Roque, Cyriaque Rozier, had pulled him aside after tasting through the La Roque range and sheepishly asked if he would like to taste a wine he’d made under his own label from an old-vine parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon he’d recently purchased (just to keep him busy on nights and weekends). They tasted, and I got an enthusiastic phone call shortly thereafter about this Cabernet that had a deep soul and dark garrigue fruit of the Languedoc, with a bright shine and lofty aromatics typical of Cabernet in its ancestral home of Bordeaux. When I noted the price, I did a double take and asked again to be sure I hadn’t heard wrong. It was, and is to this day, a price totally incongruous with the work behind that bottle (biodynamic farming, low yields, minimal intervention winemaking . . . the whole nine yards, if you will). While Cyriaque has since expanded his wines under the Fontanès label, this Cabernet remains the backbone and star of his production, as unique and tasty as it ever was. He also continues to manage La Roque, keeping his Cabernet as his pet project for fun—and a top-value everyday rouge for us.