With Valentine's Day approaching, wine columnists are busy telling us what wines to drink with chocolate. I'm no exception, this time, as my February column in Washingtonian magazine is on this very subject.

My conclusion? While I like exploring dry red wines with various flavored chocolates, the most compatible pairing was Brachetto d'Acqui, a charming red bubbly from the Piemonte region of northern Italy. Brachetto has juicy flavors of strawberry and raspberry, low alcohol (typically around 5%), and it fairly dances with chocolate.

Brachetto is a niche wine to be sure, but adventurous retailers should have at least one on hand. The most widely available is probably Rosa Regale, which is imported by Banfi Vintners and retails for about $22 for the 2006 vintage. This delightful wine will help set the Valentine's mood, and if you have any leftover, keep it chilled for breakfast.

Wine writers love to use their first column of the year telling the future what to do – what wines will be hot, which ones not, what cool people will be drinking, and what they’ll be thinking about what they’re drinking. Usually, the writers predict that the wines they’ve written about last year will suddenly be all the rage, thereby proving their self worth.

Well, here’s my prediction: I predict you’re fed up with that nonsense.

And I’ll wager that after the holidays you just may be tired of opening those special occasion bottles to impress friends and family and are eager to return to simple wines with simple foods. After looking at your credit card bills, you may even have resolved to loosen the connection between your thirst and your wallet. (True wine lovers never resolve to cut back their consumption of wine, just how much they spend on it.)

So for January, I’ll focus each week on bargain wines that pack surprising quality for the price. These wines will help you re-establish some equilibrium just in time to splurge for Valentine’s Day.

Let’s start with two nice reds from Castello Banfi. The Col di Sasso 2006 ($10), a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese, offers fruit and heft at a price rarely seen in a red from Tuscany. It’s great for burgers, pizza and hearty pasta dishes.

Banfi’s sister winery, Vigne Regali in Piemonte, offers L’Ardì 2006 Dolcetto d’Acqui ($12). This light, juicy red features flavors of cherry and raspberry, with a happy balance that allows you to appreciate the wine’s quality without genuflecting.

Buon Giorno, amici! I’ve just returned from Italy, where I was lucky enough to visit Montalcino in Tuscany for the annual Benvenuto Brunello event celebrating the new vintages – the last harvest plus the new releases of Brunello di Montalcino (2002) and Riserva Brunello (2001), and Rosso di Montalcino (2005). I plan to report in more detail later, but here’s the skinny: Winemakers in the Brunello DOCG are celebrating a string of strong vintages, with the 2006 earning five stars, or top marks for an “outstanding” vintage from the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, the trade group that represents all 200-plus producers of Brunello. This follows four-star (excellent) vintages in 2005 and 2003, with another outstanding rating for 2004. The rating for 2006, announced Saturday, was commemorated with a plaque designed by Adam Tihany installed on the town square. The bad news for these producers was that the new release of Brunello comes from the merely “fair” two-star 2002 vintage. (By law, Brunello must be aged at least four years, two years of which must be in cask or barrel, and at least four months in bottle. Riservas are aged five years from the vintage.) Heavy rains hit Tuscany at harvest time that year, resulting in an uneven vintage. Many producers decided not to make a Brunello that year, pouring all their wine into their Rosso instead. Even so, in my tastings I found several producers that managed to reduce yields and preserve enough good fruit to make very appealing wines. My favorites included Argiano, Banfi, Barbi, Castello Romitorio, Talenti, La Fiorita, Tenuta Caparzo, Tenute Silvio Nardi, Tenuta Oliveto, and San Filippo. The 2005 Rossos were exceptionally strong as a category. These wines should do well on restaurant wine lists and be a favorite of home consumers, too. Look for these mini-Brunellos on your retail shelves soon.

After I came back, I read that wine is not the only attraction these days at Castello Banfi. It seems workers there discovered the intact skeleton of a prehistoric whale. Now that’s terroir! Ciao!

(The photos show fog shrouding vineyards around Montalcino, as seen from a parapet of the hill town's fortezza, and a sommelier presenting wines for tasting at the annual Benvenuto Brunello event.)

Here's a fun concept: Create a non-vintage red blend, similar in concept to an NV brut Champagne, with the idea of achieving consistency year to year independent of vintage variation, while achieving complexity by combining some wine with a little age with the fruitiness of young juice. That's the idea behind Treanni, a blend of Merlot, Refosco and Cabernet Franc from the Veneto wine region north of Venice. The current release, from the 2003 through 2005 vintages (you can tell by the 2006 bottling date stamped in painfully small type on the back label), offers enticing aromas of raspberry and white pepper, with a silky, fleshy mouthfeel and appealing fruit flavors. "The idea is to combine the freshness of young wine with the complexity of the older wine," says Count Brandino Brandolini, owner of the estate, who visited Washington recently. "It's a wine meant to be drunk very informally, but with some complexity to give it interest." Conte Brandolini is best known for its powerful Merlot, called Vistorta. Count Brandolini also is president of Chateau Greysac in Bordeaux. Imported by Palm Bay Imports, Port Washington, N.Y. www.palmbayimports.com.