If you’ve worked the same job long enough – say, three decades – then you know there’s almost nothing new. Ask any lawyer, government bureaucrat, physician, or sanitation worker. Really, it doesn’t matter. Trends come, trends go. But legal work, tax collecting, sickness, and garbage really don’t change.

It’s no different with wine. When I first started writing three decades ago, the reigning belief was in brands such as Blue Nun, Mouton-Cadet, and Lancers. This, my boy, was the future – or so I was told. Then everything shifted to wineries rather than brands. Then came – brace yourself for “suit-speak” – convergence. Wineries became brands. What’s the difference? Size. Robert Mondavi used to be a winery until it became so big that it morphed into a brand.

So right now the business belief du jour is brands. Everyone is agog at the admittedly impressive sight of Yellow Tail and its 10-million-cases-from-nowhere dominance of today’s shelves. Care to place a bet that, in time, Yellow Tail will go the way of brand brontosaurs such as Blue Nun, Mouton-Cadet, and Lancers?

In the meantime, we still have – more than ever before in wine history – a plethora of what might be called real wines, which is to say they’re not blended from all over hell and creation but from single vineyards or small, distinctive districts. The wines to follow prove just how much better such wines really are. What’s more, the prices are just as appetizing as many (overpriced for their quality) branded wines.

HERE’S THE DEAL

MONTEPULCIANO D’ABRUZZO 2001, MASCIARELLI One of the great red-wine bargains on the shelves today comes from a family winery in the Abruzzo region along the eastern coast of Italy, midway down the boot.

Vintages come and go, yet Masciarelli almost always turns in a vintage-dated red wine, made 100% from the montepulciano grape variety, that is ripe, lush, and smooth down the gullet. Above all, it has character. This isn’t some formulated-for-the-masses red wine, but rather an authentic expression from a specific region and a singular (in every sense) red-grape variety.

Production is large enough that finding Masciarelli presents little difficulty. The family owns about 480 acres of vines spread across 11 farms in the zone. They make a sizeable amount of wine, upwards of half a million cases. But their focus is so clearly defined that they almost never miss.

The 2001 Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is another in a long list of winning red wines. Smooth, supple, and fleshy with a dense fruitiness buoyed by that faintest edge of bitterness so typical of Italian taste (think of Campari and you’ll know what I mean), this is the ideal pasta/pizza/hamburger red. Really, you can’t do better for the money. And the money sure isn’t much: $6.99, with a street price a dollar lower than that, even.

COTE DE NUITS-VILLAGES “LE VAUCRAIN” 2002, Louis Jadot [bf] Vintages matter mightily in France’s Burgundy region, and Burgundy fans are dancing in the rueover the succulent quality of the 2002 vintage. “Ripeness is all,” said Shakespeare. And that pretty well sums up what happened in 2002 in Burgundy.

The results show beautifully in this lovely pinot noir from the shipper Louis Jadot. Cotes de Nuits-Village is a catchall designation. It’s an appellation banner under which five villages in the northern part of Burgundy’s famous Cote d’Or can sell their wines. As it happens, all five villages (Brochon, Comblanchien, Corgoloin, Fixin, and Premeaux-Prissey) are capable of creating pretty fine pinot noir. So anything labeled Cote de Nuits-Villages is a pretty good bet.

This 2002 bottling from Louis Jadot is more than a good bet. It’s a sure thing. It’s actually made from a single vineyard called Le Vaucrain, owned by Jadot. This makes all the difference, as Jadot takes exceptional care of its vines and keeps the yields suitably low. Above all, it means consistency. Vintage permitting, this wine is always reliably wonderful. Note to Burgundy fanatics: Le Vaucrain is located in the village of Premeaux-Prissey, very near the premier cru vineyard Clos de la Marechale in Nuits-St.-Georges.

The 2002 Cote de Nuits-Villages “Le Vaucrain” from Louis Jadot displays the characteristics of the vintage. It’s ripe-tasting, slightly soft, and is flat-out perfect for drinking today, although it has enough density and balance to continue to improve in a cool spot for at least another five years. This is the kind of red Burgundy that people dream of finding, but so rarely do – especially at this price:$17.95.Put plainly, this is the best 2002 red Burgundy deal I have come across. Get it while you can.

RIDGE VINEYARDS “PASO ROBLES” ZINFANDEL 2002 One of the distinctions of zinfandel is that, similar to pinot noir, it conveys distinctions of site. Oddly, though, zinfandel is rarely praised for this virtue – odd because a grape’s ability to articulate what might be called “somewhereness” is what sets great varieties apart from mediocre ones. Pinot noir, Riesling, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and nebbiolo are all considered exceptional precisely because of this virtue. They have the ability to amplify the voice of the land with uncommon clarity.

Zinfandel can do the same, although it’s probably not in the same top tier as the worthies cited previously. Still, it isn’t a dumb red grape, either. And this lush, dense, round-as-a-river-rock zinfandel from the Paso Robles area of Central California proves the point admirably.

Paso Robles zins are notable for conveying a distinctive whiff of chocolate allied to big yet soft fruitiness. Like all good zins everywhere, the dark color and lush fruitiness set you up to expect a gripping, astringent undertow of tannins. Yet it never appears. Paso Robles zin, like a big Newfoundland dog, is surprisingly gentle.

This 2002 bottle from Ridge actually comes from a single vineyard, the Dusi Ranch, which is a repository of ancient zinfandel vines. Zinfandel has been grown in Paso Robles for well over a century and Dusi Ranch is one of its premier old properties.

This is terrific zinfandel that speaks loudly and persuasively of place. Nowhere else in California will you find zinfandel with that signature whiff of bitter chocolate allied to zinfandel’s characteristic berry-like flavors. The combination is irresistible, especially when it goes down as smoothly as this wine. $24.