Mark Beringer had been on the road for four days pushing his Artesa wines when he met up with us. Tired, he was about to face a room of restaurateurs and wine merchants who he hoped would help him get more of his wine into the hands of consumers.

Road trips like this can be very monotonous, but necessary. Beringer is the great-great-grandson of Jacob Beringer who founded the wine empire that still carries the family name. Mark has been working with wine since he was 12, but spent his training at other wineries – the Beringers sold the name and winery to Fosters many years ago.

Most recently, Beringer was stationed at Duckhorn Vineyards, where he established the highly successful Paraduxx and Goldeneye programs. Codorniu wanted to duplicate its sparkling-wine success in its native Spain and opened a modern facility in 1991. But after several years of dismal sales, it stopped its sparkling-wine program and turned to making still wine and renamed the facility Artesa in 1997. Just this past February, they brought aboard Beringer to give Artesa the same success he gave Duckhorn's new birds. But first, he had to make the wines.

Artesa is making everything from tempranillo to albarino, but Beringer admits it's time to settle down to the two top grape varieties for Carneros: chardonnay and pinot noir. We don't understand why any winemaker would bother with minor grapes, especially if it is trying to establish an image with consumers.

Beringer says he is just starting to see balance from the grapes that are grown on relatively young 15-year-old vines in one of California's best pinot noir and chardonnay regions. His cabernet sauvignon will be coming from vineyards on Atlas Peak.

Artesa also makes a motley blend of red grapes, including some indigeous to Spain, under its Elements label that defies definition but is quite tasty. Its Ridgeline label is for a cabernet sauvignon blend made from grapes grown on Oak Mountain.

Here are some of our favorites:

Artesa Carneros Chardonnay 2007 ($20). Simple, but well made, this wine shows off apple and pineapple flavors with a dollop of creme brulee and toasty oak.

Artesa Carneros Estate Reserve Chardonnay 2006 ($26). If you like your chardonnay creamy in the mouth and with good oak notes, this is a winner. Nice butterscotch, vanilla and apple flavors.

Artesa Carneros Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2006 ($38). Rose petal aromas classic to the region are followed by intense, complex fruit redolent of cherry, raspberries and with leather, cedar and cinnamon notes. Very nice.

CHALONE

Another good pinot noir producer is Chalone Vineyard, the oldest producing vineyard in Monterey County. Founded by Dick Graff, its pinot noirs and chardonnays made in the 1970s became legendary. More recently, however, it hasn't quite lived up to its reputation.

Winemaker Robert Cook, who joined Chalone in 2007, is trying to change that. He is picking grapes at night to better preserve the freshness of the fruit, getting back to the fundamentals that made Chalone so good, and making wine that can be aged. He has a memory to guide him – a 1981 Chalone pinot noir he remembers from a 21st-birthday celebration that sold him on a career in oenlogy.

We liked the 2007 estate chardonnay, the first vintage Cook can call his own. He says it is the first in a while that represents the old Chalone. Good acidity balances the creamy mouth feel. It has generous stone-fruit flavors and distinctive minerality.

WINE PICKS

Epiphany Gypsy 2006 ($25). What a fascinating wine from Santa Barbara County. A blend of grenache, mourvedre, syrah, cinsault and petite sirah, this Rhone-styled wine sports black cherry, plum and herbal flavors with bold raspberry, pepper and tobacco aromas. It is a wonderful wine that could hold a slight chill...