Wine Atlas

REGULAR READERS of this column know I am lucky enough to be able to travel around the world visiting places where grapes are grown and good wine is made.

I have not made it to South Africa, but I have been to many other places, some of which have become real favorites and have lured Mrs. Olken and me back for vacation because of their beauty and the hospitality of the locals.

I have discovered a new place, and it comes as a bit of a surprise. Argentina to me has always been a strange brew of intrigue, politics, revolution, political and economic instability. On top of that, it has made an ocean of wine for years now, and most of it has been simply lousy. White wines kept in barrel or tanks until they

turns brown and have given up all

sense of vigor and vitality and redscooked to within an inch of their lives are hardly objects of beauty to my palate.

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Although wine sales are up more than 30 percent in the past year, I know a lot of people still haven't discovered wines made from the pinot noir grape. If you're among them, make a New Year's resolution to try a great one.

Here are three at varying prices from California's MacMurray Ranch winery. Named for its former owner, the late film and television star Fred MacMurray, the winery is in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County.

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