Save time: Look for wines from the Bien Nacido vineyard

Buying wine can take a lot of your spare time. You have to gather intelligence, generally using several methods: recommendations from family, friends and co-workers; reading wine columnists in newspapers, magazines, newsletters and, hopefully, online media; attending wine tastings and festivals to try out a broad range of wine.
Let me help save you some time. Just zero in on the fine wines made from the grapes of the Bien Nacido vineyard in Santa Barbara County.
The vineyard used to be one of the wine world's best-kept secrets. But Lettie League, wine editor for Food & Wine magazine -- a marvelous writer, by the way -- outed Bien Nacido in a fine piece in the November 2002 issue. And wine lovers who watched the movie "Sideways," and noticed the prominence of the Hitching Post restaurant, started telling others the story-behind-the-story about restaurant -- it's a gathering place for winemakers who swear by the fruit from Bien Nacido.
So, more and more people are hip to Bien Nacido.
The vineyard produces some outstanding pinot noir, syrah and chardonnay. It's in the Santa Maria Valley, which has some of the wine world's coolest temperatures, and is blessed with a long growing season. The soil -- the real determining factor as to the quality of a wine -- is a combination of gravel and clay.
And the family that runs the place is selective. They only sell to winemakers whom they've vetted. One quality that apparently gets you approved as a winemaker is being a helluva conversationalist -- since, as Lettie Teague reports, some of the leading winemakers who use Bien Nacido's product get together to hold court at the Hitching Post.
Because insiders know the legend of Bien Nacido, lots of winemakers put those words on the label. Look for them.
And here's more. The Miller family, which runs Bien Nacido, sells its fruit to winemakers by "blocks," or "parcels." Those blocks are given letters.
Word on the vine is that Q is the most cherished. And some winemakers put the letter Q on their label to signify as such. Look also for the letters T and N on pinot noir from Bien Nacido. And, for chardonnay from the vineyard, look for I and U.
Bien Nacido wines are a little pricey. I live in Macon, Georgia, far away from the wine capitals of this country. So I've only found one Bien Nacido label in the two years I've been in Macon. But it's great: A syrah and a pinot noir from Lane Tanner, both about $30, sold at a funky little liquor store called The Depot on Pio Nono Avenue. The Depot doesn't have the most comprehensive selection in my city, but they have the quirkest.
Here are some other Bien Nacido winemakers whose product is available at many places around the country: Foxen Bien Nacido chardonnay, about $40; Testarossa Bien Nacido chardonnay, about $35; Fetzer Bien Nacido, $40.
I've tasted all three of these during visits to California. I recommend them highly, almost as highly as I recommend Lane Tanner's syrah and pinot noir -- two of my favorites.