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GIBSONVILLE -- From bucket, barrel or bin, Max Lloyd -- wine-thief in hand -- forecasts wines to come at Grove Winery & Vineyards, east of Greensboro and west of Burlington if you're of a mind to hunt it on some curious back roads.

He's scored some Muscat Ottonel and squirts some cloudy 2008 juice in my glass. Max speaks of glorious aromatics, but it smells like a woman's perm and tastes like Windex.

No, no, no, Max is saying, you just have to imagine &ellipses; and then he cites variables to kick in through the fermentation and the clarifying and the hibernating, each transforming this tart new brew into a nectar some 10 months down the road.

Next, Max is tapping a tank. Into my glass flows 2008 Merlot -- this just three weeks old. It bites back but with enough fruit that I can at least identify it as wine wanna-be.

Max squirts early slurps of 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon resting in French and Hungarian barrels. We compare new oak versus seasoned oak. I like his Cab -- some barrels more than others. Max will puzzle out later the exact barrel recipe. I try fresh squeezed Tempranillo from tank and next -- oh thanguverymush -- some 2007 Merlot. It's all cherry and blueberry and silk and Max thinks he may declare this Merlot his first "reserve," so giddy is he over it. We agree the color is thin and debate other grapes to bump up pigment without attacking velvety fruit. There's still time for alchemy.

This reminds me of the million decisions that go into the grape-juice-to-finished-wine metamorphosis. Many decisions are made in the vineyard, many more in tank and barrel. Choice of yeast? Malolactic fermentation? Other grapes blended? New oak or old oak? French versus Hungarian versus American oak? If so, how much time in the barrel? Stir it with the dead yeast cells or no? Filter or no? Fine or no? Bottle-aged or no?

I marvel at the imagination -- maybe its informed prognostication -- winemakers practice in process. Where I smell hair perm, they sniff bouquet. Where I taste Windex, they leap way ahead &ellipses; and taste &ellipses; fruition.

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Most years, I'm privileged to crash Mutual Distributing Company's Wine Expo -- a fall trade show for restaurants and retailers stocking up for winter and spring. What the trade decides here might decide what you find in shops and on restaurant wine lists over the next six months.

Here, the trade previews early samples, evaluates specials, eyes each others' notes with suspicion (excessive overlap is not good), then shares gossip and altogether shares a good time by the end.

At the Expo, I always want to tarry, but if I do, I know I'll turn into a pumpkin. Or worse.

Here's my wish list of what I wish retailers/restaurants might stock. Not surprisingly, this off-the-beaten path listing will likely go unheeded. But it's my wish list and I'm sticking to it -- like that pony I always wanted for Christmas.

2007 The Spanish Quarter White ($12): From inquisitional quarters comes an unrepentant play to American tastes, with 60 percent Chardonnay and 40 percent Albarino. The Albarino grape is the grape of northern Spain near the coast. There's the bright acidity expected from that grape plus the juiciness of Chardonnay -- that old standard bearer -- to round it out.

2006 Steelhead Sauvignon Blanc ($14): From the Dry Creek appellation in California's Sonoma County (and made by Quivera, an old personal favorite), here's a funky twist of lemon-lime and caramel. It's so wacky a wine, I liken it to a sweaty pony alongside a Yuletide log.

2007 Donnafugata Anthilia ($15): From Sicily comes a blend of two grapes that do not trip off the tongue -- Ansonica and Catarratto. This natural bright acidity -- with peach and herb -- would be glorious with peel 'em shrimp. Also great at parties where guests polish off two glasses and are dared to pronounce this really, really fast three times.

2007 Fillaboa Albarino ($20): From northern Spain's maritime region comes a tart, green apple white that smacks you in the face with sea breeze and hints of brine. Albarino is often described as "wine of the sea." This is the first Albarino I've tasted that delivers a brine experience. At any seafood restaurant, this should be the quintessential white wine. But getting American consumers to look past Chardonnay is a huge challenge. Oh, how I wish, I wish I were a fish -- with Albarino.

2006 I'M Rose ($14): A rose from Cabernet Sauvignon, so you know it's dry and fuller-bodied than most. This is named after a wife (Isabelle) in the Robert Mondavi family clan. Get it? The I and the M? Because of sundry clauses, contracts, non-competes, and various legalese, this cannot be marketed under the Mondavi iconic name. Thus the goofy I-M-ing thing. But it's Mondavi quality just the same.

2004 El Coto Rioja Crianza ($12): Dried cherry, raspberry and earthy notes on this lighter-bodied red from Spain's Rioja region where the Tempranillo grape is king. On retail shelves, expect all Riojas to have a little bottle age, because that's the way they do it in Spain. If you like your wine with some maturity, go red with Rioja.

2006 Matchbook Tempranillo ($15): Same Tempranillo grape, very different locale. Here, California's climate pumps up the dark berry fruit flavors. And the tannic frame seems a little broader as well. A mouth-watering red.

2007 Erben Pinot Noir ($9.50): Germany is a place I wouldn't ordinarily look for Pinot Noir. But this quaff at this price is hard to pass up. I'm always looking for bridge wines for white wine drinkers convinced they'll never go red. This is cranberry, cherry and ripe apple in a glass with noticeable acidity to bind it. I've adopted this as my next house red.

2005 Peter Lehmann Shiraz ($16): A brambly, chewy, earthy Syrah from Australia's Barossa Valley region. Great steak wine at an affordable price, given quality level. Delivers a package of blackberry, black cherry, tobacco, and coriander spice.

2006 The Four Graces Pinot Blanc ($16): From the Dundee Hills region of Oregon comes this white sporting gorgeous pear, sweet apple and flowers. Fruit forward and aromatically graceful.

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Ed Williams, Public Information Director at Alamance Community College, has written about wine since 1990. This column runs the first Wednesday each month. To submit a wine event, e-mail williamsonwine@gmail.com.