RUTHERFORD, Calif. - Elizabeth Pressler was originally from Philadelphia, but settled in the Napa Valley with a background in marketing and a desire to work in the wine industry. She helped launch new brands, such as Tony Soter's Etude, and eventually ended up in the sales side of the business.

That's how she met Spencer Graham, then a wine merchant in Charlottesville, Va. A romance blossomed, they married, and Elizabeth moved to Virginia.

Had they lived happily ever after as gentrified Virginians, there would be no Elizabeth Spencer and the Napa Valley, and wine lovers who covet well-balanced wines, would be the worse for it.

Elizabeth Spencer is the wine that bears both of their names. For both had the itch to make wine and carve a niche in one of the most demanding wine arenas on the planet, the Napa Valley. This was a fool's errand, of course. In this day and age, anyone hoping to make a mark in the Napa Valley arrives with investment bankers and high-priced lawyers in tow.

Pressler and Graham simply arrived with a great idea and enough capital to get it off the ground. They would source grapes from premium Napa and Sonoma vineyards, make the wine at one of the numerous custom crush facilities in the valley, and use their combined marketing and sales skills to create demand.

"We make 10,000 cases, 6,000 cases of that is split between Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc," said Graham during a recent tasting at their modest tasting room in Rutherford.

Modest. I should say, in size. It's a small building with an adjoining courtyard and garden. But the Rutherford tasting room has been the most brilliant stroke in the marketing of their superb wines. The small building was the original Rutherford Post Office, built in 1872.

It's just off Highway 29, the main north-south artery through the Napa Valley, on the Rutherford Cross Road, which connects Highway 29 and the heavily traveled Silverado Trail. Most important, however, is its location directly across the street from the Rutherford Grill, one of the valley's most popular restaurants for locals and tourists alike, and the historic Beaulieu Vineyards.

I happen to make the Rancho Caymus Inn, next door to the Rutherford Grill, my headquarters on visits to Napa Valley, so I can't help passing Elizabeth Spencer wines each morning as I head out for my winery appointments. Curiosity finally got the better of me, for I had neither heard of nor tasted the wines until I set up an appointment to taste with Pressler and Graham on a recent trip.

The Elizabeth Spencer tasting restored my faith in the future of Napa Valley wine production for anyone other than captains of industry, oil barons and trust babies.

The wines were better than good. They were impressive. Not in a Robert Parker-Jim Laube over-the-top, stop-the-presses sort of way, but then I don't really enjoy wines like that. At least not often and not for long, and certainly not with food.

Elizabeth Spencer wines are fresh and alive, and aren't lacking for intensity of flavor or expression of aroma, characteristics you would suspect might be missing in wines that are produced in a restrained style. No such problem here.

"We love acid (in our wines) and we use the term 'fresh' quite a bit," Graham noted. I tasted a number of what they consider their core wines, including a lovely red-fruited 2002 cabernet sauvignon sourced from St. Helena, Howell Mountain and Mount Veeder; a 2004 Mount Veeder cab; and a 2005 Howell Mountain cab.

The common thread throughout was the remarkable balance of each wine, though in terms of structure and flavor no two wines were alike.

I also very much enjoyed a 2006 grenache from Mendocino that was made in a grapey beaujolais style that Elizabeth typically serves chilled with barbecued meats. A Sonoma Coast chardonnay with mouthwatering acidity and the aroma of lemon custard and spice on the nose was, to my mind, one of the finer California chardonnays I've tasted this year. And the sauvignon blanc was tangy and crisp, perfect for the warm Napa afternoon I was enjoying.

Something of a novelty, and available only in the tasting room, was a stellar chenin blanc from Mendocino County. It had the sort of bracing acidity I find and admire in the chenin blanc from France's Loire Valley.

Though the Elizabeth Spencer wines are distributed nationally, if they are difficult or impossible to find in your part of the world, they can be purchased from the winery's website at www.elizabethspencerwines.com.

If you are a fan at all of the Corison cabernets, which are about as well balanced as Napa Valley cabernet gets, you will find the Elizabeth Spencer wines to your liking. And if you succeed in acquiring a few bottles, you will be striking a blow for the little guy in the Napa Valley, and buying a little time for a breed of vintner that appears to be on its way to extinction in this tony corner of the wine world.

BEST BUY

Dry Creek Vineyards 2007 Dry Chenin Blanc, Clarksburg ($11) - This is a beautiful summer sipper that is easy enough to enjoy as a refreshing quaffer and serious enough to stand up to savory flavors from the barbecue, including grilled fish and barbecued oysters. Despite it's seeming simplicity, the Dry Creek chenin actually delivers a complex array of aromas and flavors, from bright, fresh yellow citrus to honeysuckle, melon and tropical fruit, all supported by juicy acidity that cleanses the palate and calls of another sip — or two. Rating: 88.

TASTING NOTES

Wines are rated on a 100-point scale. Wines are chosen for review because they represent outstanding quality or value.

Far Niente 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($125) - I used to think Far Niente Cab was overpriced — back in the day when it retailed for about $40 — but I've since come around, given its extremely high quality and the aggressive pricing of its Napa Valley competitors. That said, I can't afford to drink Far Niente every day, but for a special occasion it's about as special as it gets. The '05 Far Niente is a dramatic wine from an extremely good vintage. If I could compare it to a first-growth Bordeaux it would be Lafite Rothschild, a wine of consummate refinement and elegance. This Far Niente is comfortable in that league, from the first whiff of cedar pencil and cassis to the exquisite layers of red-fruited complexity. What is utterly remarkable is the delicacy and refinement given the depth of the wine, a feat suggesting perfect ripeness and an eye toward freshness. This is clearly one of the most well-balanced, high-end Napa Valley cabs I've tasted this year. Rating: 96.

Lancaster Estate 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley ($70) - This big, rich estate cabernet from one of the up-and-coming stars of California wine is everything you would want or expect in an Alexander Valley cabernet sauvignon. It is full-bodied and generous on the palate, showing layers of ripe black fruits, a thick, juicy texture and sweet, supple tannins. Despite its obvious ripeness, the '05 Lancaster exhibits good balance between fruit, acid, wood and alcohol and offers savory notes of dried herbs, black olive and subtle wood smoke that complete a very attractive package. Rating: 92.

To find out more about Robert Whitley and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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