I love to discover new things! Life is just too short to limit yourself to a routine of the same old things, over and over. While I do have a few “old favorites”, when I’m in a restaurant and I see a dish I’ve never tried, I’ll order it. I’ll go to a gallery or museum to see the works of an artist I may have read about or heard of, but whose work I haven’t seen before. To me, discovery is one of the true thrills of life, one of the things that really makes me feel alive.

I’m like that with wine, too. There are some wines that I return to or buy year after year, true, but I love to find wines that I’m not familiar with. Maybe it’s a wine made from a grape I don’t know, or from an area whose wines I haven’t tried before, or made by a winemaker who is doing something different. It might be a wine that has been made from the same vineyard since the time of the Romans, or from a vineyard in an area that was never known for wine before.

The best (and often the most interesting) of these I bring to you every month as my Discovery Wines. Here, from the dozens I’ve tasted, are the three I’ve chosen for this month. I think you’ll like them, and, like me, will want to share your discoveries with your friends!

Darrin’s August Discovery Wines!

Clos des Rochers, Auxerrois, Grand Premier Cru 2004

This is one delicious, refreshing white wine! Made from hand-harvested grapes grown on the limestone-rich banks of the Mosel in Grevenmacher, Luxem-bourg. Clos de Rochers wines are known for their finesse, their clean style and mineral character, as well as their ability to cellar well, developing complexity with time. Only two years ago, one of their wines was judged “Best White Wine from Europe”! You’ll find layers of ripe, fleshy citrus fruit on the nose. The mouthfeel is smooth, rich and silky with lively flavors of green apple. I love the subtle seductiveness of this wine. Very sophisticated in style! – $12.95

Dostert, Roter Elbling 2005

Marc Anthony served Elbling to Cleopatra! This ancient grape was praised by the Roman Emperor Domitian, who claimed that it made his favorite wine. How’s that for a pair of celebrity endorsements? This is an unbelievably delicious rosé that stole the show when we tasted a few days ago: everyone who tried a taste bought a bottle or two to take home! There are enchanting fruit aromas here, and a slightly off-dry note that makes this delicious wine a perfect pairing with sushi, curries, barbecue, Thai dishes, spicy Asian cooking or simply to sip on a hot summer day. You can actually seem to taste the minerals from the soil the grapes were grown in! This is simply the best tasting rosé that I’ve had all year! – $10.95

Steltzner, Claret 2003

A Bordeaux style wine, made in the Stag’s Leap District of Napa Valley! Claret is an old English term for the wines of Bordeaux, and this wine is crafted from the three main Bordeaux grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The heady, aromatic nose has notes of cherries, cassis, oak, wet slate, figs, and the “spicy mocha” that so many reds from the Stag’s Leap area show. On the palate, rich, lush, mouth-filling and complex with flavors of plums, vanilla, black cherries, coffee, spices, black tea and cassis. There is so much quality here that you’d have to pay at least 50% more to get an Bordeaux of equal value! – $16.49

Buy Darrin’s August Discovery 3 Pack: Save 10% – $40.39