Blanc

This dry white wine — a blend of grenache, clairette and bourboulenc — is on the full-bodied side and offers intense flavors of tropical fruit, pear, apricot and spices. It shows a complexity and length that are unusual for its price range. A fine value from an exceptional producer. From: Cotes-du-Rhone, France Price: $13 Serve with: Full-bodied fish such as salmon

Three Bistro Blanc alumni, including Tae Strain, will return to Marc Dixon's Glenelg restaurant for a 'pop-up' dinner on Nov. 7.  Strain was the chef at Demi, the lower-level restaurant within Crush at Belvedere Square, which closed in May after a brief but exciting run. At the 'pop-up' dinner, he will be joining Ben Rosen, who is now working with James Beard Award-winning chef Michelle Bernstein in Miami, and Janny Kim, who recently returned to...

From: Sonoma County, Calif. Price: $14 Serve with: Grilled seafood In contrast with the many thin and harsh sauvignon blancs on the market, this well-made dry white wine is full-bodied and creamy in texture while retaining a certain herbal edginess. Its fascinating array of flavors includes chalk and other minerals, pear, lime and dill. Very fresh and youthful, it's an excellent choice for outdoor summer occasions.

From: California Price: $10 Serve with: Grilled seafood, steamed crabs This is a well-executed while wine blend at a very reasonable price. Though both of these varietals tend to be aggressively fruity, the blend is pleasingly restrained. The wine offers flavors of minerals, lime, herbs, juniper, honey and a touch of freshly cut cucumbers. It's not ultra-complex, but it is a refreshing wine from a reliable producer.

Year in and year out, this is one of California's best values. It's crisp, clean and dry, with none of the tutti-frutti quality of many California chenin blancs. It would be even better if Dry Creek could get this wine to market in time for summer, which is when you can really use a refreshing wine such as this one.

It's sad to see this perennial value in dry white wine creep toward the $10 mark, but it's still a great value at the price. vTC There's nothing here longtime fans of the Sur Lie Reserve aren't accustomed to: full body, hints of honey, some lightly herbal notes and a judicious touch of oak. As a hybrid wine grape, seyval doesn't get much respect, but in this rendition it resembles a fine semillon-sauvignon blanc blend.Pub date: 10/27/96

1997 La Vieille Ferme Cotes du Luberon Grenache Blanc/Roussanne/Ugni-Blanc ($8).This imaginative white-wine blend uses the high acidity of the ugni blanc to counteract the usual heaviness of Rhone Valley whites. The result is a stylish dry white wine with Loire-like herbal notes to offset the spicy, peachy flavors typical of the Rhone. Its freshness, grip and bite make it an excellent candidate to serve with white-fleshed fish. Drink it over the next six months.Pub Date: 10/21/98

1995 Hop Kiln's A Thousand Flowers, Russian River Valley White Table Wine ($9)There's a lot to be said for a truly frivolous white wine. Nothing complex or demanding here -- just springtime in a glass. It's a crisp, exuberant dry wine with so much peachy fruit it seems sweet. The blend is gewurztraminer, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and riesling, if anybody cares. Bravo to Hop Kiln for having the good sense to rush this wine to market while it's fresh. Oh, that California's chenin blanc producers would do likewise.

2000 Alexander Valley Dry Chenin Blanc, Alexander Valley ($9). This intensely flavorful, dry white wine offers wonderful freshness, structure and liveliness. Exceptionally complex for its price, it displays a fascinating mix of flavors: lime, peach, pear, cherry and slate. It's far more elegant and less of a strictly summer wine than many California chenin blancs. It would be an excellent companion with a wide variety of seafood or spicy Asian food. This wine makes you wonder why more wineries don't focus their attention on this under-appreciated varietal.

2003 Hugel "Cuvee Les Amours" Pinot Blanc, Alsace ($13). This vibrant, crisp, dry white "lovers' blend," less plump in style than many pinot blancs, is an elegant alternative to chardonnay. The flavors of lemon, pear, minerals and sweet pea are vibrant and well-delineated, and the finish is long and satisfying. It would match up well with white-fleshed fish or Southeast Asian cuisine.

This is neither a typical nor an average sauvignon blanc. Matanzas Creek has a style all its own, and it certainly ranks in the top 1 percent of sauvignon blancs worldwide. The flavor profile is not the typical mouthful of grass and herbs. Fig is the dominant flavor, seasoned with nuances of citrus, pear, herbs, Asian spices and vanilla. It is much deeper, richer and more complex than most sauvignon blancs. While it's on the expensive side for a sauvignon blanc, it's a bargain for a great white wine.

Tae Strain of Demi and Marc Dixon of Bistro Blanc are teaming up to create a one-night only collaborative  dinner. The menu for the seven-course Spring Tasting Dinner will be served at Bistro Blanc on Monday night. Strain says there will be surprises along the way. Tempted? Seating for the $125 dinner is very limited, and reservations need to be made in advance. Call Dixon at Bistro Blanc to make them. (1st course) Strawberry Carpaccio, "Burrata", Balsamic Pearls, Crispy Basil (2nd course)

In Paris, the pop-up party materialized on the cobblestones in front of Notre Dame cathedral. In Chicago, it was held under the watchful eye of the Picasso sculpture on Daley Plaza. And on Tuesday night, when this trendy movable feast arrived in Baltimore, it again was in a unique setting: With the Domino Sugar sign casting a red glow from across the water, more than 200 guests descended on a pier at the foot of Caroline Street in Fells Point for the city's first "Diner en Blanc.

James "Biddy" Wood, a retired music promoter and well-known personality in Baltimore's Pennsylvania Avenue jazz scene, died of respiratory failure Friday at Harbor Hospital Center's hospice unit. He was 87 and lived in Bolton Hill. Born in Lexington, Ky., he was the son of Francis M. Wood, an educator who was director of segregated, or "colored," schools in Baltimore, and Nellie Hughes, a home economics teacher. The family lived in Catonsville, and "Biddy," as he was known because he was a small child, graduated in 1940 from Frederick Douglass High School.

This dry white wine — a blend of grenache, clairette and bourboulenc — is on the full-bodied side and offers intense flavors of tropical fruit, pear, apricot and spices. It shows a complexity and length that are unusual for its price range. A fine value from an exceptional producer. From: Cotes-du-Rhone, France Price: $13 Serve with: Full-bodied fish such as salmon

This dry sparkling wine was my favorite of several well-made bubblies from this large Washington state producer, whose high-quality products are widely distributed nationwide. This wine has a very pale blush of pink, good intensity and just a hint of the flavor of pinot noir grapes. It has classic notes of toast and yeast, and a long, clean finish. It might not have quite the refinement of Champagne, but when you consider it's about one-third the cost, you'll appreciate how close it comes.

1999 Daniel Gehrs Pinot Blanc, Monterey County, Pinnacles ($15). California produces many pinot blancs, but few bear any resemblance to the delicious versions produced in Alsace. This is a brilliant exception -- rich, honeyed, intense and spicy. It offers vibrant flavors of peach, pear, melons, coconut, vanilla, banana and spices. While it's basically a dry wine, it gives an impression of sweet fruit. It was a brilliant match for pan-seared salmon and would also go well with roast chicken.

SAINT-DENIS, France -- After a tedious first half, something awakened in the French World Cup team last night, something exciting and desperate, and the team that could not score goals suddenly got two from the unlikeliest of places.After producing no goals in his first 37 appearances with France's soccer team, the exquisite defender Lilian Thuram delivered a pair last night, providing a 2-1 victory over Croatia and propelling France into the World Cup final for the first time before delirious fans at sold-out Stade de France.

"Grass is for Cows" is the motto of this producer, and it delivers a sauvignon blanc that is notable for its lack of grassy, herbal notes. Neither is it overly fig-flavored — the extreme some producers veer toward. It's a subtle, smoky, mineral-infused wine that reminds me very much of a good Graves from Bordeaux. It seems to be structured for longer aging than most California whites, and could develop very nicely with a year or two aging — something I rarely say about a sauvignon blanc.