Wine, like food, always seems to be just a little more fascinating to the taste when it’s blended. A pinch of this, a measured amount of that, and you have a taste all your own and can now call it by some seductive name. Great chefs have done this for years and enjoyed celebrity status for their dishes.

In the wine world the same holds true. In Napa/Sonoma, it’s Opus One, Insignia and Symmetry. In Paso Robles, it’s Isosceles and Rhapsody. In Italy try Tignanello and Sassicaia. Virtually all French Bordeaux style wines are blends.

Into this mix, a Temecula winery is establishing itself as a blending specialist with its Amante blend. Falkner Winery recently held a blending party to celebrate its newest 2004 release, which is described as a "Super Tuscan Style Red Wine."

Guests at the party were challenged on two fronts: blind taste several bottles of wine and pick out which of the bottles was the ’04, and from several 100-percent grape releases, blend their own creation.

Ray Falkner and his seasoned winemaker, Steve Hagata, presented an introduction to the process of making a wine blend before we all dove into mixing the juice.

Falkner, who is half Italian, told the story of how he came to name the blend Amante.

"It was one of five romantic names that resonated well with a musical kind of sound to it," he said. "When we chose ‘Amante’ we felt we should know what it meant in Italian, so we went to the dictionary and found it was the word for illicit lover or mistress." A perfect name for this mystical mix.

It turned out the blend they used for the ’04 Amante was 50 percent Sangiovese, a famous Tuscan grape, 25 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 percent Merlot and five percent Cabernet Franc. Amante is a distinctly Italian style wine with a pungent aroma, Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] elegant cherry and a lovely hint of pepper on the finish. Price at the winery is $39.95.

Falkner Winery is celebrating its eighth anniversary with a lively party from Friday, July 4, through Sunday, July 6. There will be free jazz concerts, tours and discounts on wine and other gift items. Freshly prepared rustic dishes will be available at the winery’s award-winning Pinnacle restaurant, which just launched a summer style menu with more salads, sandwiches, pastas and light seafood.

For more information call (951) 676-8231 or access their Web site at www.falknerwinery.com.

New concept wine bar opens in Las Vegas’ Palazzo

Concluding my wine and food discoveries in the wondrous world of Las Vegas, next time you are in that timeless town, check out the new Double Helix Wine Bar and Boutique in The Shoppes at the new Palazzo Hotel for an exciting, breakthrough experience.

First thing you’ll see is the beautiful open, circular bar in the middle of the main intersection of this indoor mall. The plush fixtures and dramatic lighting form a backdrop for some 45 wine selections by the glass in either two- or five-ounce servings.

Next door is the Double Helix Wine Boutique shop, where customers can purchase the wines they liked at the bar and a lot more of the greatest wines of the world.

Ray Nisi, a New York restaurateur, enthusiastically conceived this new dimension in wine service. He told me that "Double Helix was a carefully chosen name to reflect the positive and proven benefits of wine on human health, and hence, structural DNA."

The bar offers weekly wine tasting events and features different vineyards, sometimes with the winemaker present.

For a schedule next time you’re in Vegas, call (702) 735-WINE.

Frank Mangio is a wine connoisseur certified by Wine Spectator. His library of columns may be viewed at www.tasteofwinetv.com. Reach him at mangiompc@aol.com.