How to Buy a Bargain

Several years ago, in a small (now-defunct) liquor store, I spotted three bottles of wine on a floor-level shelf with tops different from those in the same bin. I pulled one out and found it to be a 1970 Inglenook Red Pinot priced about $5. I bought all three and found them to be splendid.

Such happy accidents happen from time to time, but with such purchases be prepared for spoiled wine. Stores like this usually don’t have consistently cool storage conditions. The same can be true for restaurants that aren’t geared to sell wine.

Here are a few suggestions to avoid problems:

* Make sure all older wines (two years past the vintage date for white wines, three to four years past the vintage for reds) are lying on their sides to keep the cork moist.

* Look at the tops of bottles to see whether any of the corks have pushed against the top capsules. This would be an indication that the temperature in the shop has fluctuated enough to harm the wine.

* Avoid any wines that are bottled in clear glass if they are stored facing fluorescent lights or sunlight. Ultraviolet light hitting clear-glass bottles may cause the wine to have an odd “lightstruck” smell and taste, sort of like concrete (a number of restaurants, including the Daily Grill on La Cienega Boulevard, store their wine in windows through which sunlight passes).

* Look for “leakers”--bottles that have a tiny amount of wine, perhaps dried, visible under the capsule. Leakage like this in table wine often is a sign that the wine has suffered from poor storage. Leakage is not uncommon in very sweet, late-harvest wines--in them it is not an automatic sign of a problem.

Wine of the Week

1990 Domaine Bouche Cotes du Rhone “L’Amandier” ($8)-- Red Rhone wines are enjoying an explosion in popularity, but once you get past top-name producers such as Guigal and Jaboulet, wines from unknown houses such as this are likely to be bargains. A fairly rich, dense, thick red wine with black cherry, tar and anise aromas. The blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre gives the wine a classic earthy Rhone note to the nose, and the aftertaste is generous and full without being clumsy. A companion wine, designated “La Truffiere” ($8 to $9), is bigger and richer, with more blackberry aroma and more obvious depth. It is in limited supply.

Splurge: 1990 Charmes-Chambertin, Joseph Drouhin ($85) --The 1990 vintage of Burgundy has been heralded as one of the great vintages in that district. Most of the wines are bold, deep and flavorful. This one has plenty of depth, but the exciting thing is the many layers of fruit and, despite the youth of the wine, its remarkable accessibility. A delightful bright cherry and faint cinnamon nose is evident when the wine is first opened. This develops into rose petal, toast and spice components that show both charm and depth. This is an elegant red wine that tastes great now and will improve beautifully for at least a decade.