Wine of the Week

This wine pours an inky red with fuchsia highlights and smells like a bushel of blackberries. Though it pushes the limit of ripe fruit, it manages to retain an elegant balance. Working with grapes from vines planted 100 years ago, Joe Battaglini has produced a benchmark Zin, one that goes beautifully with food. Too bad he made only 530 cases of it. Hurry, this is pure pleasure in a glass.

About $29. Available at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, (949) 650-8463; Wine Exchange in Orange, (714) 974-1454; and the Wine Club in Santa Ana, (714) 835-6485. Also available at the winery, (707) 578-4091.

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S. Irene Virbila