In the following pages, Wine Business Monthly identifies some wines that winemakers will want to check out. Our sixth annual "Hot Small Brands" list includes some of today's most exciting brands from small- and medium-sized wineries--a select group. Ten wines from North America appear on the list.

When WBM published the first annual list of "Hot Small Brands" in 2003, we sought to identify and recognize small- or medium-sized wineries--none that produced more than 150,000 cases a year--that had experienced the most growth in a short period of time. We measured that growth in case sales. This was during a time in which there were vast supplies of wine on the bulk market. It coincided with the emergence of what marketers called "lifestyle" brands and what would later be dubbed the "critter craze." Fun and whimsical labels were gaining ground, and several wineries launched new brands that took off quickly. Many of our early picks went on to new heights, some continued to grow organically, and others were later acquired by corporate wine companies.

The list, and the criteria for inclusion, has evolved--as has the industry. Most of the wines included in this year's list are not made in large quantities. These are wines that members of our editorial staff think are important for winemakers to taste. We tend to highlight wineries and brands that represent market trends or innovation, that take a leadership position in their regions, or that make unusual varietals or unexpected wines.

The Hot Small Brands list has always been about standing for something. Most of the wines represented here are from up-and-coming wineries that have achieved success by delivering on quality. Several represent seemingly overnight success stories that were years in the making.

WBM will be serving these wines at a reception we will be hosting on Tuesday night during the annual Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, California.

This is one of our staff's favorite Zinfandels.

Gregory Graziano's grandfather, Vincenzo Graziano, and his wife, Angela, first planted vineyards in Mendocino County in 1918. In the late 1920s Vincenzo sold grapes to home winemakers on the East Coast and bootlegged wine to support his family. In the 1940s after Prohibition, Vincenzo, along with other local growers, formed the Mendocino Vineyards Winery, which eventually was sold and merged into Cresta Blanca Winery in Ukiah.

Gregory Graziano carries on the family winemaking tradition for which his grandfather set the foundation. Greg and his wife started the winery some 20 years ago. There are four brands: Saint Gregory, Monte Volpe, Enotria and Graziano--each for a particular set of varietals. Graziano farms about 15 acres of Italian varieties in Ukiah and Potter Valley, sourcing fruit from growers throughout Mendocino, including from his cousins, who farm 100 acres of organically-grown grapes.

Graziano will at most make 30,000 cases and produce 30 different wines in a typical year. Graziano started making Mendocino Zinfandel in 2001, and it is now the wine he makes in the largest quantities.

The Zinfandel is a blend of fruit from 10 to 20 different vineyards, depending on the vintage, much of it from vines that are 40 to 50 years old. The wine spends 18 to 20 months in the barrel, which is unusual for California Zinfandel. French, American and Eastern European oak are used, and about 20 percent of it is typically new oak.

"We're trying to get back to that old style of Zinfandel that made Zinfandel famous," Graziano said. "Everyone is trying to pump it out as fast as they can. We're not looking for big wines. We're looking for wines with good balance, tannins and acidity."

The grapes mostly ferment in open-top tanks that can hold five or, at most, 10 tons. Vineyard lots are kept separate, and a combination of yeasts are used. Wines spend four to five days in a cold soak at 50°F to 60°F, and are then punched down and pumped over twice a day. The wine stays in the tank for 12 to 15 days then is pressed off. Malolactics are natural and will finish off in spring or early summer before the wine goes to barrels. Wines are rarely, if ever, racked. They are topped every two to three weeks and left with the secondary sediment. After barrel-aging, they are egg-white fined and roughly filtered. Graziano likes to give them six months in the bottle before release.

"We want the wines to be smooth and very complex," Graziano said. "Because we don't move the wines, the fruit is very well preserved in the wine. We try to keep the SO₂ very low throughout the aging process. … We like the combination of earth and terroir and fruit. We don't want any particular element to stick out."

Graziano said he is "traditional" in his views about making and selling wine. "Zinfandel is very important for us," he said. "We're not interested in growing a lot; we just want to keep steady, slow growth and keep our prices reasonable--especially in these times."

Four Vines stands out because of its irreverent packaging and slick marketing, but that's just part of the story--the winery delivers exceptional quality to back it up. This is a "small" winery that has been growing very quickly. Talk to retailers or distributors and they'll tell you that this winery is "hot." Four Vines made about 12,000 cases in 2002 and grew to more than 90,000 cases in 2008, but co-owner Bill Grant said he's stubbornly resisting the temptation to grow more quickly at this point unless he can line up fruit sources of sufficient quality. He said distributors can't get enough of his product. "We sell out of everything we make," he said.

Last year the winery, which is just east of Paso Robles, made some 40,000 cases of its popular Old Vine Cuvee Zinfandel, which sells for about $14 a bottle. The winery made some 30,000 cases of its "Naked Chardonnay" un-oaked wine. They are the best-selling wines, but Four Vines works with about 20 different varietals.

The wine we wanted to call attention to is the Four Vines "Peasant," a GSM blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah--all of it from the Paso Robles area--with a little Counoise thrown in (in some years there's a little Tannat in the blend, too). So-called GSM blends are becoming increasingly popular along California's Central Coast. Rhône varietals in general continue to show very well in the Paso Robles area; we think GSM blends may be a future hallmark of Paso Robles.

The tasting notes provided by the winery describe the wine as follows: "On the nose, smoky black fruit and spice, vanilla crème brulee. On the palate, rich black fruit spice and anise finishing long into sexy vanilla oak. Picture a night with Brigit Bardot wrapped in velvet." Just 595 cases were made.

Price: $13.99 BRIX: 23.9-24.8 pH: 3.81 TA: .68 g/100 ml Alcohol %: 13.5% Blend: 92% Viognier, 8% Chardonnay Cases Produced: 3,000 cases

Texas is the fifth-largest wine-producing state with 160 wineries and eight appellations of origin, yet few people outside of the state have a clue that Texas makes wine. Check out the Becker Vineyards Viognier, which is well known in Texas.

Located in the Texas Hill Country between Fredericksburg and Stonewall, Becker Vineyards was established in 1992 by Richard and Bunny Becker. Dr. Richard Becker is an endocrinologist and still practices medicine in San Antonio, though he is also very involved with the winery. Becker Vineyards is best known for the Viognier, reportedly served by President Bush at a White House dinner and at his Crawford ranch for Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Some 3,000 cases of the 2007 Viognier were made, all with grapes from three vineyards in the Texas High Plains. Though severe weather limited yields of most varietals in Texas vineyards during 2006 and 2007, Viognier was not severely affected.

The Becker Viognier was blended with about 8 percent Chardonnay. Fruit was harvested between 23.9 and 24.8 Brix. The wine was fermented at 65°F down to about 12 Brix and was finished off in new French oak barrels. The wine is 100 percent malolactic and is cold- and heat-stabilized. It spent about four months in new oak barrels.

Winemaker Russell Smith worked in California in the cellar at Joseph Phelps before joining Flora Springs as assistant winemaker, ultimately returning to Texas in 1989, and has been making Texas wines ever since. He's been working with the Becker family since 1999.

The Beckers now operate 46 acres of French Vinifera vines with eight different varietals, including Syrah, Petite Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Last year the Beckers also purchased the old Bluebonnet Hills Vineyards in Ballinger, Texas, a 29-acre vineyard
producing Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Scheurebe.

Red Tail Ridge winery is owned and operated by Mike Schnelle and Nancy Irelan, a husband-and-wife team that recently left California for Seneca Lake in upstate New York where they purchased 34 acres. Schnelle, who had worked in financial services, moved first and started clearing and preparing land for vineyard development. Irelan arrived in January 2006, leaving behind a position as vice president of viticulture and enology R&D at E&J Gallo.

At Gallo, Irelan kept abreast of research activities around the world, collaborating on various initiatives, including projects at Cornell University--and she began visiting the Finger Lakes region in the early 1990s. "I was incredibly impressed by the quality of their wines and the uniqueness of the style," she said. "Having tasted wines from around the world, I thought it was incredible because I wasn't seeing Riesling produced with the same kind of differentiated product style."

Irelan had considered various regions for a winery venture but started to focus on the Finger Lakes. Given the environment economically, it seemed that the timing was right. Schnelle and Irelan looked for land for more than a year, evaluating potential sites with input from their friend Bob Pool, then the extension viticulturist for Cornell, based in Geneva, New York. (Pool died of cancer in 2007.)

The winery is slowly ramping up and just opened a tasting room. The 2007 vintage was under 2,000 cases for all varieties. The 2008 vintage is around 5,000 cases, including more than 2,000 cases of Riesling. The goal is to be an 8,000-case estate winery. Irelan and Schnelle are making wine at a neighbor's facility but plan to build a winery on their property. They are working with the New York Energy Research Commission on creating a "green" building with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System™) certification, and they are considering alternative energy sources.

Wooded grafted cuttings were planted in the spring, went through the winter and the next year produced a limited amount of fruit, which was harvested.

The 2007 Estate Dry Riesling was picked at 21 Brix and fermented with Epernet 2 yeast. "We let the wine ferment until it decided to stop," Irelan said. "That's all there is to it. It basically made itself. We did a little bit of fining, not much, and stabilized it and bottled it--pretty simple. It's not a real complicated wine to make."

Irelan and Schnelle have also planted multiple clones of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, a small experimental plot of Teroldego as well as some Dornfelder. Once the vineyards are mature, they may make an estate-blend red with Dornfelder, Pinot Noir and Teroldego.

"Considering how young the vineyard is, the production of (the Estate Riesling) was really encouraging," Irelan said. "We knew this area had tremendous potential. The area has been making some really nice wines for a while and has a very bright future."

We all know that Pinot Noir is "hot" right now and that Pinot Noir aficionados can get pretty geeky about this varietal, which is commonly referred to as the "heartbreak grape." Enthusiasts often get into knowing about the vineyards, the winemaking regimen, you name it. Some consumers prefer a Pinot Noir with a little less alcohol, a style with more "elegance" and "finesse"--something more austere or "Burgundian." Yet there are many consumers that are more attracted to the newer, bigger, bolder Pinot Noirs: wines that sometimes taste a little more like Syrah; wines that are sometimes characterized as Pinot Noirs for Cabernet lovers. One's not better than the other; they're different.

Part of the appeal of the Sojourn Cellars Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is that it will appeal to consumers of each persuasion. "The Sonoma Coast bottling is a nice mid-point, and we capture both customers with that wine," said winemaker Erich Bradley.

We were also attracted to this wine because much of the fruit in the blend is from a vineyard that lies in the Petaluma Gap, an area that is becoming well-regarded for Pinot Noir--a cooler site that adds some "nuance."

The fruit for the 2006 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast came from the Sangiacomo Roberts Road Vineyard and Windsor Oaks Vineyard with a touch of Small Vines Estate Vineyard fruit. It is a blend of six clones.

Craig Haserotand Erich Bradley, the proprietors of Sojourn Cellars, are two friends who met on the tennis courts of Sonoma. They started making wine in very limited amounts in 2001. They started making Pinot Noir in 2004 and have since been ramping up. Last year, they opened a new tasting salon where they offer a personal, 45-minute, seated tasting of their wines.

Bradley said he tries to be as "hands-off" as he can when making wines so as to allow the wines to "make themselves."

"Our philosophy has been to source fruit from the best vineyards we can and not impose ourselves on the winemaking end. With Pinot Noir, that's the way: native fermentations, small open-tops, punch down by hand, basket presses, all French oak--and we don't use any pumps."

The wines are cluster- and berry-sorted in the winery, and fruit is cold soaked for three to five days. Whole berries are fermented in open-top tanks with native fermentations. The wines are also unfined and unfiltered.

Bradley expects to stay small. "As A-plus fruit becomes available to us, we want to expand; but I think 4,000 cases or 4,500 might be the upper ceiling before we have to make some compromises on wine quality we aren't prepared to make. When you choose to be a high-end Pinot Noir producer, it limits how much wine you can make."

A pioneer in Oregon, Domaine Drouhin is a prominent Pinot Noir producer owned by the Drouhin family of Burgundy house Joseph Drouhin, which was founded in 1880. The 225-acre estate in Oregon is home to 90 acres of high-density vineyards in the Dundee Hills. Wines are made by fourth-generation winemaker Véronique Drouhin and have long drawn praise from the dominant critics.

So why isn't Oregon, known for cool climate grapes (notably Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris), better known for great Chardonnay?

Many attribute Chardonnay's lackluster performance in Oregon to the use of a clone from California that was available in the beginning but wasn't well-suited to the climate. Some debate that explanation while others blame flawed farming, site selection, clone selection or a combination of the three.

With generations of experience with Chardonnay in Burgundy, the Drouhin family went with the Dijon clones they had experience with: clones 76 and 96. Domaine Drouhin is among a select group of Oregon wineries making superior Chardonnay (although they certainly aren't the only ones), and the 2007 vintage was a hit with the WBM staff.

Some 2,500 cases of the 2007 Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay were made. Grapes were hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed, but what's somewhat unique on the winemaking side is that the wine is made in two lots that are eventually blended together. Half the wine is fermented in stainless steel and never comes into contact with any wood. The rest is fermented and aged in French oak. The stainless steel portion sees no malolactic while the other portion sees 30 to 50 percent malolactic.

Pinot Gris is the dominant white wine in Oregon, but Domaine Drouhin is helping carve out a niche for Oregon Chardonnay.

When Jeff Runquist entered his Petite Sirah in the California State Fair competition, organizers didn't have a specific slot for Clarksburg--but his Petite Sirah has since been selected by judges as the best red wine in the "other" category for four of five years. It stole the show in one of our blind tastings.

The Clarksburg appellation in Yolo County (just south of Sacramento in the vast Sacramento River Delta) is 16 miles long and eight miles wide. It's recognized in the trade as a region that produces good bang for the buck, but it isn't well known by consumers. Cooled by breezes from San Francisco Bay, it has a "coastal" climate. Runquist says, though, that this particular wine is really a reflection of the specific vineyard from which it comes.

Runquist started making wine for himself in 1995 while working for J. Lohr and has been working for McManis Family Vineyards since 1997.

He's been producing his label at the McManis facility, but his goal and dream have been to build a small winery in Amador County. That dream was realized last May, and a tasting room has since opened. Runquist is slowly moving production to the new winery, where he makes several different wines, including "Z" Zinfandel from Massoni Ranch in Amador's Shenandoah Valley.

Runquist first worked with Petite Sirah grapes from Clarksburg with J. Lohr. "One of the things I really enjoyed was that the wine had a beautiful, deep color. It had all the charm of Petite Sirah but none of the penalty (astringency).

"It's been very consistent for us, and we've been very pleased with how it's been received in the market," Runquist said.

The wine is fermented in small bins, immediately racked into barrels and left in neutral barrels outfitted with Innerstave French oak inserts for about a year.

Winemaker Joel Burnstein may be best known for Grenache as his inaugural vintage took a best of show award at a major competition and earned high marks from some of the critics. Burnstein became a vintner after a mid-life career change. Studies in enology at Fresno State led to an internship at Sterling Vineyards and later a job as winemaker for Jekel and San Saba.

A trip to France proved to be the inspiration that led to Burnstein's emphasis on Rhône varietals and to starting his own brand, initially a sideline.

Marilyn Remark is Joel's life partner. "I have a degree in business and enology," Burnstein said. "Everything told me she had a much better name."

WBMfirst encountered the Marilyn Remark Roussanne during the California "Wine Rush" tasting in New York. At each of 10 regional tables, wines were presented in six categories highlighting diversity and trends; the Roussanne was one of the "unexpected" wines--Monterey isn't well known for Roussanne.

This particular wine is from grapes from a small vineyard in the Arroyo Seco region that were grafted to Roussanne, basically at Burnstein's request. The viticulturist is well-known vineyard manager Steve McIntyre, and the "grower" is Silverado Premium Properties, one of the most prominent vineyard operations in California.

The wine is whole-berry pressed, fermented in stainless steel at 50°F to 55°F, and then put into neutral oak, mainly because Burnstein doesn't have enough small tanks to accommodate all of his wines.

"I'm one of those believers that the wine is already made when it comes in," Burnstein said. "I can screw it up--I can't make it any better than when it walks in the door, which is why I insist on working only with top people and contract by the acre, rather than by the ton, so I have the control and can get what I want."

This is another wine that really surprised us. Who knew that Zinfandel did well in Washington state? It does. Zinfandel is not made in large quantities anywhere in Washington--there are probably 50 acres planted in the entire state--but there are a handful of producers making it. Zinfandel can do very well in Washington's warmer and windier sites. Whether it will ever be made in large amounts in Washington isn't a viticulture question--it's more of a marketing question.

The Trio Vintners Zinfandel comes from grapes grown along the Wallula Gap on the Columbia River, close to where the Walla Walla River joins it, some 20 miles from Walla Walla.

Trio Vintners is a partnership between three Walla Walla winemakers: Tim Boushey, Denise Slattery and Steve Michener. They went back to school and studied winemaking together at Walla Walla Community College, earning Associated Applied Arts and Sciences degrees from the Institute for Enology and Viticulture in June of 2006. In 2007, they crushed more than 26 tons of fruit, including Syrah, Riesling, Sangiovese, Mourvedre, Chardonnay, Tempranillo, Carmenere and Zinfandel.

The collaboration is a bit unusual but makes sense. There's a lot to do in a winery, and the three have no staff. They do it all, dividing up work and collaborating on winemaking decisions. "All of us had a desire to be in the business," Slattery said. "Pooling our efforts and collaborating was the fastest way to get up and running with very limited resources."

The winery and tasting room are located in one of the "incubator" sites at the Walla Walla Regional Airport. The incubator site is a joint economic development project between the Port of Walla Walla and Washington state. The buildings are not subsidized, though, and no equipment is provided. A business must be brand new to get in and can stay six years. There are five wineries at the site, each operating completely separately.

Napa Valley is the crème de la crème, the bomb, the No. 1 appellation, famous the world over, the most successful wine region in America, among the most respected in the world, the wine region everyone has heard of, especially when it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon. Yet finding Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for a reasonable price is a challenge. Value is a relative term, but Napa wines are darn expensive. When average grape prices exceed $4,000 per ton, it's hard to make a wine retailing for under $30 or even under $40. Many Napa wines sell for far more, sometimes for hundreds of dollars per bottle.

Not that Napa wines are "overpriced." If they were, people wouldn't buy them. It's ironic, though, that many people who work in the wine industry can't afford to drink Napa Cabernet Sauvignon very often, even with the industry discount.

And who isn't watching their wallet these days?

We tried to find tasty Napa Cabernet Sauvignon priced below $25 retail. We tasted dozens of wines, but our panel was surprised by the mediocrity. We slogged through many commercially flawed wines. We raised the bar to $35, and the quality bumped up quite a bit, to be sure. The Avalon 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet, however, more than held its own in our tastings and came with a welcome price tag, too: $15 suggested retail.

The Avalon 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is made by Purple Wine Company, which acts as a negociant, working with grape contracts and through the bulk wine market. The winery crushes all over California, then blends the wines at its facility in Graton, Sonoma County, where the wines are bottled.

As the winery puts it, "We believe in the grape that put Napa Valley on the map at a price that won't deplete your 401(k)."