L.A. WINELINE TASTED IT, LOVED IT, FORGOT THE NAME?

Byline: LARRY LIPSON

Did you ever buy and drink a wine that you liked a lot but later couldn't remember its name?

If you did, then you're among the 75 percent of wine drinkers who admit this has happened to them at one time or another.

So says the Click Wine Group, which recently conducted a survey concerning wine buying and name recognition.

Click, by the way, markets wines with names like Fat Bastard, Root: 1, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and Bootleg, names they claim are easy to remember.

Click's report also reveals that 43 percent of the wine drinkers surveyed indicated a certain amount of intimidation when choosing wine.

That sounds plausible.

But get this. Click informs us that 42 percent actually believe ``some wine experts actually try to make wine harder to understand.''

Now there's a response that's pretty hard to believe.

Unless the ``experts'' referred to are simply wine snobs.

And we all know about them, don't we?

FIRST-YEAR BASH: Celebrating its first year in its new winery in Oxnard, Herzog Wine Cellars presents its First Anniversary Benefit Gala on June 22.

The winery, located at 3201 Camino Del Sol, offers attendees wine, hors d'oeuvres and music by Bernie Meisinger from 7 to 10 p.m.

Cost per person is $100. Proceeds will benefit Etta Israel Center and Gullwings Children's Museum.

Tickets: [phone].

PRETTY AS PINK: Are we ready for pink pinot grigio?

Folonari, utilizing the grape's darker skin (it's darker than that of most whites), believes that the fashionable pink hue will help make it a summer hit.

Priced at $7.99, this Italian blush, if it proves as successful as predicted, should induce domestic pinot gris/grigio producers to follow suit. The wine should be available in July at the Wine House in West L.A. and selected Gelson's markets.

NEW RELEASES: Latest from Rodney Strong Vineyards in Sonoma County are the 2001 reserve cabernet sauvignon ($40), the 2004 Chalk Hill chardonnay ($19) and the 2003 Jane's Vineyard reserve pinot noir ($35). Information: [phone] or www.rodneystrong.com. ... From Chile comes a new label, Duo, a collaboration between the Huneeus family there and Cellar Door, a wine marketer under the Pacific Wine Partners arm of Constellation Wines. Duo's initial offerings are the 2005 Casablanca Valley sauvignon blanc ($14) and the 2003 Maipo Valley cabernet sauvignon-merlot blend ($14). Information: www.cwine.com. ... Featuring 100 percent viura grapes, the 2005 Monticello Blanco, a crisp white wine from Spain, is now on the shelves for $8 per bottle. Information: www.osborne.es. ... Recent releases from Gainey Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley are a 2005 riesling ($13), a 2004 Santa Rita Hills chardonnay ($19) and a 2003 merlot (20) with grapes from Gainey Home Ranch. Information: [phone] or www.gaineyvineyard.com. ... Three-liter Australian boxed wines from Hardys, under the Hardys Stamp label, a 2005 riesling ($17.99) and a 2005 shiraz-grenache ($17.99) are ready for beach parties and picnics. The price per box is the equivalent of paying $4.50 for a regular bottle. Information: www.hardys.com.au.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com