L.A. WINELINE 16 BEST BUYS IN FRENCH BURGUNDIES.

Byline: LARRY LIPSON

With pinot noirs gaining rapidly on the popularity charts, it's interesting to see the results of a French burgundy ``best buys'' tasting by panels of wine experts in California this summer.

However, if your definition of a bargain runs to bottles ticketed under $15, don't read any further because these wines, with one exception, range from $18 to $35.

French red burgundies other than Beaujolais bottlings are primarily made from pinot noir grapes and France's white burgundies are chardonnays.

Two panels, one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles, took part in the tasting and ended up choosing 16 wines, eight of them red, seven white and one sparkling.

The bubbly, a 2002 Bailly La Pierre Cremant de Bourgogne rose from Caves de Bailly, turned out to be the least expensive at $15.

The reds, in order of price, began with three under $20: a 2000 Anne-Marie Gille, Cote de Nuits Villages, and a 2003 Louis Latour Marsannay, each $18, and a 2003 Joulie, Cote de Nuits Villages, priced at $19.

Three at $25 were the 2003 Joseph Drouhin Santenay, 2002 Moillard Savigny-les-Beaune and 2002 Tollot Beaut Chorey-les-Beaune.

Also considered best buys were the 2002 Bouchard Beaune Premier Cru du Chateau at $30 and the 2003 Anne Parent Monthelie at $33.

Reasonably priced white burgundy picks started with a 2004 Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuisse at a $19 cost, a 2004 Pascal Bouchard Chablis at $21, a 2002 Michel Briday Rully at $25 and a 2002 La Chablisienne, Premier Cru Cote de Lechet Chablis at $28.

In the over-$30 range were the 2003 Olivier Leflaive Premier Cru St. Aubin, En Remilly at $31, a 2002 Chateau Fuisse Pouilly-Fuisse at $34 and a 2001 Michel Picard Premier Cru St. Aubin, Le Charmois, for a mere $35.

The tasting was sponsored by the Burgundy Wine Council and Sopexa USA, which promotes French wines in this country.

Information: [phone] or www.sopexa.com.

ALL DRESSED UP: Great ladies usually dress well for the holidays.

Consequently, La Grande Dame, the grande marque champagne from the house of Veuve Clicquot, offers an Emilio Pucci-designed cooler jacket dubbed Caprice to slip over its 1996 vintage bottle as an ideal holiday gift.

Now available nationwide, the suggested retail price of the bottle of prime bubbly and its sleek silk-jersey, neoprene, zippered attire that will keep its contents cold for two hours, is $220 for both.

Information: www.veuve-clicquot.com.

NEW RELEASES: Signature Wines has released its latest Elvis wine in time for holiday gift buying. Under the Graceland Cellars label, it's a 2003 Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon called Velvet Elvis in magnum size in a black velvet-lined Elvis gift box priced at $99.99. But in case it's too expensive for your budget, there's the regular-size bottle of Blue Christmas Elvis 2003 cab available for $17.99. Information: www.signaturewines.com. ... Starbucks follows its previously released Coffee Liqueur with a new Cream Liqueur. ... And Van Gogh has released a new flavored vodka titled Double Espresso-Double Caffeine. ... L.A. brew fanciers will be able to try the new Grolsch Light Lager before the rest of America. Now available in L.A.-area stores, this Dutch beer doesn't go nationwide until 2006. ... From Sterling Vineyards you can now find its 2002 SVR reserved Bordeaux blend ($49.99) and its 2004 Napa Valley chardonnay ($16.99) on local shelves. Information [phone] or www.sterlingvineyards.com.

SIPS & NIBBLES: Want to purchase one of those fancy bottles of Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad sparkling wine to welcome in the New Year, but don't know where to get it? Call the Segura Viudas holiday hotline: [phone] after Dec. 1 for the location of the nearest retailer. ... Tom Wark, a wine industry publicist who runs a popular (6,000 readers monthly) wine blog called Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog, tells us he's now sharing the Internet with more than 120 other wine blogs. Information: [phone] or www.warkcommunications.com. ... Like those dry roses from France's Provence region? The Wines of Provence Council claims ``a stellar rose vintage'' based on the 2005 harvest. Find out more by visiting www.provencewines.com.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com