White wines from France’s Rhone region aren’t particularly well known and, at least in this country, don’t get all that much respect. You don’t see many of them on store shelves or restaurant wine lists, and you don’t see many of them reviewed, for that matter.

Which is a shame, given that white Rhones are usually different and interesting, and that’s something I’m always looking for. The Belleruche ($12, purchased, available at Spec’s), from one of the Rhone’s largest producers, has always been one of my favorite wines for just that reason. When I can find it, of course.

This is a previous vintage, and the extra year of bottle age has given the wine, a blend of grenache blanc, clairette and bourboulenc, a little more character. There is lots of white pepper, some oiliness and just a hint of a green fruit, like lime or apple. This is a not a white wine for people who need something fruit forward, like sauvignon blanc or chardonnay, but it’s not supposed to be.

And don’t worry that you haven’t heard of the grapes used to make it — almost no one who isn’t in the wine business has heard of them, either. Which is another reason why the wine is so interesting, and that’s three more grapes for your Wine Century Club effort. Chill this and drink it on its own or with something like goat cheese; roast pork with apples would be terrific, too.

Don’t dismiss a wine just because it doesn’t have a cork. Screwcap, Tetrapak, box … The type of closure is no longer a reflection of quality. These wines show just that.

I have always wondered how to approach Chianti, which is not only the one Italian red wine that most Americans know, but the one Italian red wine that wine snobs turn their noses up at. If I review it, I run the risk of alienating both groups — a neat trick, of course, but right up my alley. The former would think the wine was too obvious for them, and the latter would think I was naive.

But that hasn’t stopped me before; there are handful of reviews and a variety of references to Chianti on my wine blog (and, quickly, Chianti is the region in Tuscany where the wine is made, using mostly the sangiovese grape). And it won’t stop me now, because the Coltibuono ($10, purchased, available at Jimmy’s) is well-made wine that offers lots of value.

In this, it’s a simple, young, lighter Chianti with big dollop of cherry fruit (which apparently comes from a small percentage of the canaiolo grape, which also softens the wine). But there is still the telltale Italian acid, which means the wine cries out for tomatoes, pork and cheese. Or, in other words, pizza. I drank it with olive and tomato bruschetta, and that was terrific, too.

If most wine drinkers know Freixenet, it’s from the black bottle that they see at the grocery store. And the black bottle is decent enough $9 Spanish sparkling wine, or cava.

Sometimes, though, if you’re lucky enough, you’ll see the black bottle’s cousin, a rose cava called Rosado ($9, purchased, available Kroger). It’s a step up from the black bottle — a little fruitier and a little more polished. In this, it sits between two of my favorite rose cavas, the Cristalino at $7 and the Seguras Viudas at $10.

The wine is made with trepat, a Spanish grape used only for cava, and garnacha, the Spanish version of grenache. Hence some soft red fruit (strawberry?), as well as a little yeastiness and lots of bubbles. In this, it’s an excellent example of how a multi-national producer can turn out a cheap wine with character.

The Rosado will handle New Year’s ably, whether it’s for toasting on Saturday night, for brunch on Sunday morning or for sipping anytime this week. And it’s an excellent food wine; I drank it with oven fried chicken and it was delicious. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame.

Cheap wine is more popular than ever, but the wine industry — and especially the wine writing part of it — seems to resent cheap wine more than ever. Their reasons aren’t quite clear, but chalk up much of the backlash to the fact they’re tired of cheap wine, and want to get back to making and writing about the expensive stuff. We can be a bit snobbish, no?

Some of you might think I don’t like California wine, given how often California wine comes in for criticism. Nothing could be further from the truth. I dislike dishonest and cynical wine, and a lot of that just happens to come from California.

I am pleased to report, however, that not all California wine is that way. The Tamas ($10, purchased, available at Kroger, Goody Goody, Super Target) is an example of what a $10 California red blend could be if producers paid more attention to the wine and less attention to their focus groups. 

This is a juicy, fruity wine with lots of ripe cherry, ready for beef or burgers. Wine geeks will say that’s the way a wine made with cabernet sauvignon, petite sirah, and barbera from the Central Coast should taste. But, and this is the important bit, the Tamas also has structure: some acid and even tannins — almost unheard of in grocery store red blends — that give it a backbone and make it something more to drink than grape juice with alcohol.

This is red wine for people who want red wine for dinner (Christmas dinner, perhaps?) but who are scared of buying something they won’t like or are intimidated by price. It’s another fine effort from Tamas, which is one of my favorite producers but doesn’t seem to get much attention from anyone but me.

The Spanish have been making vin ordinaire for what seems like forever, but given that Spanish wine has traditionally been overlooked in the U.S., the only cheap Spanish table wine that most of us know is Sangre de Toro.

Which is too bad, since the company behind Protocolo does a more than decent job as well. The red was a little boring — mostly fruit that had been too heavily handled, though not nearly as overdone as some. The Blanco ($7, sample, 12 1/2 percent alcohol, widely available), on the other hand, was a nice little surprise in the midst of holiday wine tasting. It’s made with two Spanish grapes — airén and macabeo, which is also used to make cava. The Blanco had a little lemon fruit, some earthiness and even a bit of minerality, though not as much acid as I expected. This was probably because it was a previous vintage; even so, it held up well.

Chill this and keep a bottle handy for wine with dinner (chicken comes to mind, though takeout that’s not too spicy would work, too). It’s mostly a warm weather wine, but I’m not going to pass up a chance to drink good cheap wine just because it’s cooler in December.

The Bishop Arts Winery, which Oak Cliff resident Elias Rodriguez has been planning since last January, could open as soon as the end of December. At the latest, the winery is expected to open in January.

Rodriguez has been open, serving coffee and bagels for several months while he waits for approval so sell and manufacture wine.

The shop, in a former art gallery at Davis and Tyler, will specialize in Texas wines. Rodriguez, who has worked in German wineries, plans to make wine at the shop as well. His vision is similar to Times Ten Cellars.

Rodriguez has hired chef Ericka Vazquez, who once worked under chef Sharon Hage at Salve. Vazquez also worked as a grill cook at the Oceanaire and Craft Dallas. Her resume as a cook is a who’s who of upscale Dallas restaurants, but Bishop Arts Winery is the first kitchen that is all hers.

She is planning a menu that includes a cheese board, soup, salad and desserts. The menu isn’t final yet, and they haven’t decided whether to offer entrees. But I tried Vazquez’s delicious beef and vegetable soup the other day (they have free wifi and good coffee), and I have high hopes for her menu.

One of the reasons why I enjoy cheap Italian wine so much — besides its quality, of course — is the sense of adventure that is part of tasting the wines. For one thing, the grapes aren’t what we’re used to in the U.S. For another, the Italians often seem baffled by marketing their wines in the U.S., which further complicates the grape problem.

The Li Veli ($11, purchased, available at Jimmy’s) is a prime example. Or, as one of the comments on CellarTracker (my web-based wine inventory software) noted, “Not sure what primonero means. …”

In fact, this wine is a 50-50 blend of two red grapes from the Salento region in Puglia — primitivo and negroamaro, or Primonero. Get it? Told you the Italians were often baffled by U.S. marketing techniques. It’s not like a California winery would ever call a wine CabLo.

Nevertheless, the wine is well worth drinking. It’s very dark, almost plummy, and very Italian — spicy, earthy, food-friendly acidity and low alcohol (13 percent). The negroamarao seems to dominate, providing the fruit and earthiness, while the primitivo balances the wine. This is winter dinner red wine — red sauces, stews, and the like — even if you’re not sure what the name means.

Here comes the booze. A year after Dallas voted to make Oak Cliff wet, beer and wine stores are cropping up on West Davis.

Dan Beer and Wine opened last week on West Davis at Polk.

When I visited, they didn’t have their wine selection in stock yet, but the beer selection was pretty good. They have one full cooler of local and craft beers. That cooler also contained Rheingold, which I thought was interesting since I don’t recall seeing it in Dallas before, and it is neither craft nor local. Is it the new Pabst, the beer cool kids drink because it’s ironic? Anyway, we bought New Belgium Snow Day. It cost $8.99 for six.

Another store, North Oak Cliff Beer and Wine, is coming soon to the space on West Davis at Clinton, adjacent to Urban Acres. North Oak Cliff Beer & Wine is opening on the same block as Chelsmati’s Wine Market, which Oak Cliff resident Tina Acosta opened in July.