WINE

HOT TIPS ON THE TASTIEST, MOST UNUSUAL AND REASONABLY PRICED LABELS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Wine junkies, like stock speculators, are always on the lookout for the next big thing. Just like playing the markets, buying and collecting wine can be a hair-raising and confusing experience. Do you hold, do you sell or do you open and drink? And what about betting on futures? Does the 2005 Bordeaux vintage really deserve all the hype? (Certain collectors are betting big money it might even surpass the legendary 2000.)

Some wine tipsters push edgy new regions or offbeat finds ("I'm telling you, now is the time for Embruix from Priorat"), others implore you to revisit an area you might have thought long overplayed ("Napa chardonnay is worth another look"). This wine columnist gig gets me to all sorts of events—pairing dinners, blind tastings, winemaker talks. After a few months of fieldwork, I'm always bogged down with a surfeit of shareable tips. Here are a few of the latest. Psst...

...Did you hear about what's raging in Spain?
I recently had the privilege of tasting the Iberian peninsula's most coveted cult wines at an "Icons of Spanish Winemaking" event at Restaurant Daniel in New York. Regularly priced at $500 a bottle and up, Dominio de Pingus from the Ribera del Duero region is a legendary single-vineyard cult made by Peter Sisseck from old vine tempranillo. Robert Parker has called it "one of the greatest and most exciting young red wines I have ever tasted."