One of the best games you can play as a wine taster is to ask yourself, “If I didn’t know what this wine was, what would I think it was?”

As is well-known, we are easily influenced by the label and especially the price. If a wine costs $100, it’s tempting to credit it with virtues that probably wouldn’t come to mind if you knew was just $10. (The flip side is incredulity: “They want $100 for this?)

Proponents of blind tasting – where you can’t see the label or the price tag – are great believers in human weakness. According to them, a mere glimpse of a label,like that of an ankle in another era, is an irresistible temptation that renders tasters involuntarily bereft of judgment, willpower, and resolution.

I don’t buy it. Anyone can play the game of “If I didn’t know what this wine was, what would I think it was?” with surprising fairness. Indeed, seeing the label can allow you to evaluate a wine for what you know it’s supposed to be, rather than for what you’re guessing it might be.

The wines recommended this week are ideal for engaging in this exercise. For my own part, I found myself exclaiming over their uncommon goodness, which is far superior to what the label or price might lead you to think.

HERE’S THE (EYES WIDE OPEN) DEAL

QUINTA GENERACION “COLCHAGUA VALLEY” RED 2002, CASA SILVA Whatever unflattering thoughts you might have about Chilean wines, toss them aside. (Pandering to a lowest common denominator commodity market has badly bruised Chile’s wine image.) This extraordinary red wine from Casa Silva, the oldest estate in the Colchagua Valley – which some observers see as Chile’s version of Napa Valley – will change your mind in a single sip.

Casa Silva is the Chilean wine saga in one neat package. The founder, aptly named Emilio Bouchon (cork), arrived in Chile from Bordeaux in 1892, helping pioneer the Colchagua Valley. Succeeding generations built up and then sold off the family vineyards.

Starting in 1977, the family bought back most of the original estate. But it was only very recently, in 1997, that they took the leap from being a bulk producer supplying other wineries, to an embrace of the fine wine ambition under the Casa Silva label.

Various wines are offered, the best designated Quinta Generacion (fifth generation). This 2002 red is nothing less than compelling. A blend of cabernet sauvignon (50%), carmenere (30%), syrah (10%), and petit verdot (10%), the result is a sumptuous, silky red wine with a wafting scent of black currants, blackberries, black cherries and spices. There’s oak here to be sure, but it’s not intrusive.

The key flavor comes from the carmenere, an ancient Bordeaux grape variety that first arrived in Chile in the 1860s and subsequently disappeared in Bordeaux itself. It’s the source of the blackberry note and some of the spice (the oak supplies yet more), along with a luscious softness.

This is a striking red wine that is seductively supple yet still supplied with backbone. It’s delicious drinking right now, but has the depth, dimension, and stuffing to reward further aging.

If you play “If I didn’t know what this wine was, what would I think it was?” you might be surprised at how flattering your answer will be. At $19.95 a bottle, this is a “sleeper” in exceptional red wine if ever I’ve tasted one.

BUEHLER VINEYARDS CABERNET SAUVIGNON “NAPA VALLEY” 2003 Although Napa Valley can hardly be called a trove of bargains, a handful of Napa wineries do offer real value and reliably high quality. Buehler Vineyards is one such winery, especially for its fine reds.

Buehler makes two cabernets, an “Estate” cabernet from its own vineyards and another, designated “Napa Valley,”composed of purchased grapes and 25% estate-grown cabernet. Both bottlings are terrific, with the “Estate” version more expensive as well as having the edge in character.

But the “Napa Valley” cabernet is the real deal, especially in the just-released 2003 vintage. This is lush, rich, 100% cabernet sauvignon. Dense, suffused with fruit flavors of black currant and blackberry, there’s real dimension in this wine. Bluntly put, it’s far better than many other Napa Valley cabernets asking twice its price. For $24.95 a bottle, I’m hard-pressed to think of another Napa cab this good at such a low price.