It’s easy to lapse into an all-Cabernet diet here in Napa Valley, so it’s refreshing to try something different whenever possible. I had a great time drinking three out-of-the-box bottles recently.

A thirst-quenching and slightly off-beat white is a Semillon from the new Fortitude brand of Etude Wines, based in Napa. You could spend a lot of time in wine shops and not encounter any varietal Semillon from this state.

Fortitude Semillon Luvisi Vineyard Napa Valley 2006 ($18) shows what I like about the varietal in general. It has some of the textural richness of a Chardonnay but with nicely reserved flavors that are a bit more herbal or almond-like than out and out fruity. It’s a nicely balanced, fresh and tangy wine, and the back-story about the Luvisi family of Calistoga, who grow the grapes and have lived on the property since 1908, kind of clinches the deal for me.

I think this is only the second vintage for Fortitude. Etude also makes two red field-blend wines under this label. I quite liked the Shake Ridge Amador County 2005 that’s primarily Zinfandel, but I have to say the Frediani Family Napa Valley Charbono-based 2005 tastes better on paper than it does in the mouth. Rather hard and austere.

As an artistic idea I think Fortitude is a good one. But from a marketing standpoint, how confusing is it that a winery founded on Pinot Noir is now doing all this?

OK, now a Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2004 from Wild Horse, their big stallion, the Cheval Sauvage ($65). When I had this last weekend after a couple of weeks without Pinot it tasted like going home — if your home was a 400-year-old stone manor with window boxes and heavy wooden shutters in Chambolle-Musigny.

I know that Wild Horse sold out to a big company a few years ago, and that founder Ken Volk has started his own new brand. But this was delicious anyway. Just think, the grapes were harvested a few months before “Sideways” hit the theaters in early 2005 and Pinot Noir, particularly Santa Barbara Pinot Noir, suddenly was discovered.

The third bottle was idiosyncratic, but I like something different or off-beat frequently. It was a super-Tuscan style red wine from a vineyard property in out-of-the-way San Benito County called Pietra Santa. It’s not well known and seems to be trying hard to find its strengths. This was Pietra Santa Sassolino Red Wine Cienega Valley 2001 ($18).

I got the bottle as a free sample and it had been lost in my cellar for some time. We were having some roast chicken with lots of herbs, and I imagined drinking something on the light to medium side of the spectrum with a little grip in the texture, not fat. Maybe a Pinot Noir, but when I found this Pietra Santa I hoped it would fit the bill.

After uncorking, the first pour smelled funky, muddy, swampy. I almost poured it down the drain, but decided to set that glass and bottle aside while I went looking for something better. It was an aged wine, after all, six years old, and things happen to wine in aging that you can’t always predict. When I came back to it in 20 minutes it smelled cleaner, and I started to get an olive, herb and plum thing in the aromas that I hadn’t grasped before. On the palate it was medium-bodied, with good, firm tannins and a slightly tangy finish, one of the things that I love about Chianti Classico.

This wine was made from Sangiovese (the main Tuscan grape variety), Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Although somewhat pre-mature and at first too pungent in aroma, it turned out to be one of my better experiences with California Sangiovese by the time we finished the bottle after dinner.

As you can probably tell, wine is more than a beverage to me. It’s a sensual, intellectual pastime that helps keep my days lively and the conversation flowing.

What wine have you enjoyed lately that was not a life-changing experience, but a good discovery in drinking? No professional sales pitches, please.

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