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Spring is a transitional season for wines. In the end, weight, not color, is the crucial factor in selecting bottles. Below are 20 great spring wines for $20 each, presented in no particular order. Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Pfalz Bürklin Estate Riesling Trocken 2011 If you’ve ever wondered what the wine description “mineral” implies, try this dry riesling. It is pure mineral, rich but not heavy, tangy and textured. Dr. Bürklin-Wolf has been making excellent dry rieslings for years. The Bürklin Estate is its entry-level wine, offering a delicious taste of the depth and complexity of the more expensive single-vineyard wines. The no-dosage method of making sparkling wine is a difficult balancing act. In ordinary sparkling wine, a sweet solution, or dosage, is added at the end of the production process to offset the acidity of the wine. Omitting it can sometimes produce a harshly austere wine, but when done properly the wine can be exceptionally pure and precise. This is a superb no-dosage sparkling wine, made entirely of chardonnay by a tiny estate in the Mâconnais. It’s creamy yet light, dry, straightforward and graceful. Fancy having Brangelina, Drew Barrymore and Dan Aykroyd over for dinner? No problem, they'll even bring the wine. OK, maybe the stars themselves won't show up, but their wines will appear with just a wave of a credit card. You might start with an aperitif of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's new Miraval rose, move on to a light pasta dish served with Barrymore Wine's pinot grigio, then perhaps finish up with a glass of Aykroyd's cabernet franc ice wine for dessert. It's hard to put a number on celebrity wines, a category that includes singers, sports stars, chefs and more. But Danny Brager, vice president for alcoholic beverages at market research firm Nielsen, says there's close to 100 on the market at the moment. Pictured above is Bocelli Family Wines overlooking the vineyards in Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy. Renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli of Bocelli Family Wines, put a new twist on the celebrity wine connection. Born into an Italian winemaking family, Bocelli pursued a singing career and has since returned to his roots helping promote the family wines. OK, maybe the stars themselves won't show up, but their wines will appear with just a wave of a credit card. You might start with an aperitif of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's new Miraval rose, move on to a light pasta dish served with Barrymore Wine's pinot grigio, then perhaps finish up with a glass of Aykroyd's cabernet franc ice wine for dessert. It's hard to put a number on celebrity wines, a category that includes singers, sports stars, chefs and more. But Danny Brager, vice president for alcoholic beverages at market research firm Nielsen, says there's close to 100 on the market at the moment. “It keeps growing all the time,” he said. Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor. Here’s this month’s selection of wines, priced from $9 to $16, that over-perform in value for their very reasonable price. They include a delightful white and two rosés that will help you welcome the warm weather of spring. Free Range on Food is a forum for discussion of all things culinary. Join us every Wednesday at noon. A lot of Californians probably aren't even sure where Uruguay is (southern South America, between Brazil and Argentina), let alone that it's the continent's fourth-largest wine producer. Not many of the country's wines make it here, and the signature grape variety is the relatively unknown tannat. "There's not much traction in the U.S. market," says international winemaking consultant Paul Hobbs, in something of an understatement. That may be starting to change. Some of that country's best wineries are signing up with importers and promoting their wines through a trade organization, Wines of Uruguay. Foreign investment is funding exciting new wine projects, and some wineries are hiring high-profile consultants, such as Hobbs, who is working for Juanico, Michel Rolland (Narbona) and Alberto Antonini (Garzon).
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