With the fall of the dollar vs. the euro and the rise of California's red-wine prices, it's getting harder to find bargains. To dig up a range of options (and to try to ensure that no one would just name an overstocked wine), I posed this scenario to some local merchants:

"A new customer comes in, says he or she wants a good red wine for under $15. You're very busy and don't have time to find out the customer's tendencies. But you obviously want them to come back for more. What wine do you recommend and why?"

Scott Aubinger, Tournament Liquors, Blaine: "The Dievole Pinocchio, a nero d'Avola from Sicily. The wines coming out of Sicily at all price points are drinking really nicely. It's a medium-bodied wine with enough complexity to make it interesting with many different kinds of food. It goes great with red sauce and most any Italian food you can think of."

Andy Kass, Sutler's Wine & Spirits, Stillwater: "I'd pull a Don Gascon Malbec. Malbec is hot, hot, hot. While other wines are going up, South American wine prices are a lot more stable, and consumers are getting a lot more for their money. This is a full-bodied wine, but it's got some spice and some forward fruit, a profile that a lot of people like. It's great with grilled meats and versatile enough to handle a lot of different appetizers, and certainly it's good by itself."

Tom Keim, WineStreet Spirits, Bloomington and North Oaks: "I usually take people like this to the malbecs from Argentina and the carmeneres from Chile, because that's a fun place to explore. You rarely run into a bad malbec. I'd go with the Henry Lagarde Malbec Reserve, which is big and lavish and reminds me of an upper-tier Napa cab. That's kind of where the American palate has gone."

Dan Keyport, Dolce Vita Wine Shop, Chaska: "I would pick two. The Cycles Gladiator cabernet (from California's Central Coast region) is beautifully balanced, with nice fruit and moderate tannins. Our customers have just loved it. And the Antica Osteria Rosso (a blend from central Italy). It's not oaky at all and has good fruit, good structure. It's a really good everyday food wine."

Nick Nadeau, 1st Grand Ave. Liquors, St. Paul: "I'd say the Borsao Crianza. It's a blend of grenache, cabernet and tempranillo, with real bright raspberry and blueberry flavor, a juicy style. It's a medium- to full-bodied wine that's really versatile with food -- barbecue, rubbed meats."

Mike Yungner, Liquor Barn, Long Lake: "I'd put them on to the Penfolds Shiraz Cab. We've still got the 2005, and the 2006 just got 91 points from Robert Parker. The Australian wines are still really good values. This wine has got that great blackberry nose, and it lasts really long on the palate. You could lay this wine down for 10 years, too."

Mitch Zavada, South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis: "I would go down the middle with something like an Australian shiraz or a red from Spain or a zinfandel. You want something that's got enough fruit to it that it can be a cocktail wine, but that will go with food. I'd say the Luzon Jumilla [from Spain]. It's got good fruit and enough acidity so it's really diverse with food."

Bill Ward • bill.ward@startribune.com