Wine for Your Valentine

Choosing a special occasion wine can be a daunting task. At Calvert Woodley, the specialist recommends pink and bubbly. (Andrea Bruce - Twp)

Let's be honest: You don't drink Miller Lite on Valentine's Day. (And if you do, you shouldn't.) Nothing says romance like a glass of red wine or a bubbling champagne flute, but choosing a bottle for that special someone can be difficult. To help take some of the guesswork out of the problem -- and to prevent you from just grabbing the bottle with the cute animal on the label -- we called local wine shops and asked the pros to recommend one favorite bottle under $20 that could be used with dinner or enjoyed on its own and one sparkling wine suited for romance or a special occasion.

On Valentine's Day, Mike Martin of Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits turns to the language of love for inspiration. "There's an area in Beaujolais [France] called St. Amour," Martin says. "That would be a good one. It's a Grand Cru Beaujolais. It's a fruity wine -- a soft, easy-drinking red, perfect for the occasion." For a sparkling wine, Martin recommends "any of the roses," but especially likes the rose champagne from French producers Janisson & Fils. "It's a pretty, pretty pink," he says. A bottle retails for around $40.

Steve Maisel of the Wine Specialist suggests the Italian Casorzo Voulet as "a very easy-drinking red wine that you can enjoy and have fun drinking." On Valentine's Day, he says, that should be the most important thing. (Also, the $12.99 price tag means you can easily pick up two.) Like several other wine experts we spoke to, Maisel selected a rose for his sparkling wine: Canard Duchene Brut Rose, which comes from the heart of champagne country. "It's a serious rose for a special occasion," he explains. You'll pay $45.99 for a bottle.

A $16.99 bottle of the 2004 Prima Tempranillo is "the perfect wine for this time of year," declares Wide World of Wines owner Elliott Staren. Big, full and gutsy, the wine offers notes of black fruits and exotic Asian spices. He also recommends the 2005 Saintemillon Chateau Les Cabannes, which sells for $19.99. "This one's soft and more velvety," he says. The Chateau Gonet Brut Rose gets Staren's nod for top bubbly. Made from 100 percent pinot noir grapes, this rose sparkling wine has more complexity than a chardonnay champagne and tends to go better with food, he says. It costs $37.49.

Calvert-Woodley's Howard Friedman apparently likes wines that are (a) pink and (b) bubbly. For an inexpensive wine, he suggests a cremant rose from Lucien Albrecht of Alsace, France. "It has a strawberry tone," he explains. "It's very festive, goes well with food and it's the right color -- it will go well with roses." A non-vintage bottle costs $14.99. Friedman stays French for his champagne, choosing a Taittinger Rose that retails for $65.

Couples who say "I Love You" with steak should try Craneford's 2003 Merlot, says Jon Genderson, owner of the Capitol Hill wine shop Schneider's. "It has a nice earthy quality, so it goes very well with beef," he says. Look for notes of dark berries. For the sparkling wine, Genderson recommends a Spanish cava from Mont-Ferrant. The Brut Rose is darker than most, and Genderson touts the $18.99 bottle's blend of sweet and bitter tastes. "It's got a rich raspberry-strawberry fruit flavor, but with a dry finish so it will work with fruit." He also recommends the Hunold Cremant d'Alsace. "It's a very elegant style," he says. "It's quite dry and has a toasty fruit quality."

Suzanne McGrath, co-owner of the Curious Grape, proposes Rinaldi's Brachetto d'Acqui. "It's a lightly sweet, lightly sparkling wine from Piedmont in Italy," she explains. "It's just the best with chocolate." It costs $17.99 a bottle. McGrath has to think for a minute before selecting a sparkler, but says that if she was buying a bottle, it would be rose from the French house Duval-Leroy. "I like rose, especially for Valentine's Day," she says. "It's a very, very good family-owned champagne house, and it was recently taken over by a widow. Ever since she took over, the quality of the champagne has just rocketed." The Duval-Leroy rose costs $46.99.

A 1997 late-bottled vintage port called Porto Sao Pedro ($19.99) tops Pearson's owner Steve Silver's list of Valentine wines. "It goes well with dessert or chocolate," he says. Silver also tips his hat to Cremont de Bourgogne Bailly-Lapierre, an $18.99 bottle of sparkling wine. "It's made with pinot noir grapes and it's a brut, which means that it's dry," he says. For those who want true champagne, Silver recommends Francois Billion, made with chardonnay grapes in the Grand Cru vineyards. "This is the same region where they make Dom Perignon and other wines that cost more than $100, but this one costs $35.99," he said.

Sure, you may have sampled Australian shiraz, but Grapelegs owner Franco Clark thinks tongues will wag over Argentina's version of the bold red. He recommends the Don Diego Reserve Shiraz ($16.99). With its bold black fruits, the wine is great for grilled meat and lamb. A $10.99 Temperillo Curanza offers lighter flavors like cherry and plum. Since chocolate and champagne go hand in hand on this holiday, Clark is offering a bottle of Cafe de Paris (a chardonnay sparkling wine) with a box of eight sweet treats from local J. Chocolatier for $20. The chocolates arrive at the Shaw shop on Saturday, but those who want to reserve a box and a bottle in advance can call the store.