Restaurants : THE WINE LIST

A wine list doesn’t need to have 400 wines to be excellent, but when it has 400 that are creatively chosen, as does the Water Grill’s, it’s a smash.

For traditionalists, this list has excellent Burgundies and Bordeaux. For Californiaphiles, there are oodles of excellent local wines. But most intriguing are the unusual wines rarely seen on wine lists--or anywhere else.

Among the best wines at fair prices are 1988 Byron Reserve Chardonnay, $25; ’88 Swanson Chardonnay, $25; ’90 Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc, $18; ’89 Quivira Zinfandel, $21, and ’88 Matanzas Creek Merlot, $30. The real excitement, though, is in the rarities--wines as superb as ’89 Navarro Gewurztraminer, $21; ’90 Ponzi Pinot Gris, $15, and ’87 Nelson Cabernet Franc, $27.

Some wines are priced a bit on the high side. For instance, I wouldn’t pay $45 for ’89 Cambria Chardonnay, $44 for ’89 Mondavi Reserve Chardonnay or $100 for ’87 Chateau Margaux. But there are good values elsewhere, notably in the unusual wines, which are priced quite fairly. One is a sublime Cabernet from Washington, ’86 Quilceda Creek, $32, of which just a few hundred cases were produced. Moreover, diners may choose from a dozen wines in half-bottles.

The only questionable tactic: listing nine white wines from Italy but no Italian reds, the hottest wine category in California the last two years.