The Swirl Girls love to recommend great value wines that can be enjoyed any time. But there is also something to be said for "special occasion" wines - those generally higher in quality and price - that, just by their presence, can transform an otherwise mundane evening into one that is memorable.

We gathered recently at Chateau 'Dry' to taste-test a few higher-priced selections from Napa Valley, Calif., we'd been sent for review. It was a typical weeknight, nothing in particular to celebrate. We kept the food simple - a cheese plate and some homemade pizza. But the caliber of our wine worked its magic, creating a special occasion, just because.

Our first sip was the 2007 Franciscan Cuvée Sauvage Chardonnay ($32, online) from the Carneros region . The name ('sauvage' means 'wild' in French) refers to the winery's traditional Burgundian practice of fermenting its chardonnay with wild, native vineyard yeasts, a more natural but also more unpredictable method. The wine is 100 percent barrel-fermented with extended aging on its lees.

It is bright lemon-gold color in the glass, with a very aromatic nose of buttered popcorn, butterscotch and ripe banana, pineapple and pear. The extended lees aging gives the wine a decidedly creamy mouthfeel with tropical fruit and warm butter and vanilla flavors.

It's a full-bodied wine with generous oak-usage found in many California chards. And while this is generally a style I don't favor, we were all happily surprised by this wine. Nicely balanced, warm and inviting, this is a great match for baked, stuffed lobster, seafood fettuccine Alfredo, or any other creamy dish.

Next on our list was the 2008 Newton Vineyard The Puzzle ($80, Total Wine), the winery's flagship blend made from merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec. Newton Vineyard uses sustainable practices and small block farming on its 120-acre estate in the Spring Mountain District . The wines are fermented using indigenous yeasts and bottled without filtration to preserve natural fruit aromas and flavors.

2008 was a relatively dry year in Napa, resulting in small crop of concentrated fruit. This is reflected in the deep, dark color and aromatic nose of the wine. We all ooh-ed and aahh-ed over the glass. Bold called this a 'come to mama' nose that she could sniff all night. Aromas of juicy blackberry, wild berries, cocoa and vanilla caressed our noses. On the palate, the wine is round and lush with deep fruit flavors, a full body and smooth tannins. This is a wine for a serious dish like filet mignon with mushroom and figs, or braised lamb or pork with dark fruit compote. It's a very lovely wine that we all thoroughly enjoyed, but the $80 price seems a bit high.

We finished the meal on a sweet, high note with a glass of the 2006 Far Niente Dolce ($80, Total Wine; $90, Crown, for a 375 ml bottle), a late-harvest dessert wine made from hand-harvested semillon and sauvignon blanc.

Similar to the great dessert wines of Sauternes, France, the grapes are left on the vine well past the normal harvest time and picked once they have been attacked by Botrytis cinerea, or noble rot, a fungus that shrivels the grapes and concentrates the sugars within.

The 2006 Dolce is a deep amber color in the glass, with a rich aroma of over-ripe apricot, nectarine and peach, honeysuckle and orange blossom.

On the palate, this concentrated, syrupy wine has juicy peach, honey and vanilla flavors, and a long, sweet and slightly cloying finish. Earthy thought the wine was too sweet but Bold proclaimed it 'just right'. I loved the sweet fruit flavor, but would have liked a bit more acidity to balance it out.

The wine paired beautifully with vanilla ice cream topped with fresh diced Florida mango, compliments of our backyard tree. It was a perfectly sweet end to a lovely evening.

Cheers! ~ Swirl Girl Dry