I have found the perfect wine for the hot American summer. This amazing white wine is made from Spain's most expensive grape varietal, the Albari?o, which is indigenous and mostly grown in the northwestern part of the country, close to France in the Euskadi (Basque) region.

Burgans Albari?o Rias Baixas is incredible, with a tremendous amount of complexity, offering very different characteristics to other known white wines.

It is made by the respected producer Bodegas Martin Codax, and may be just the answer we've been looking for to quench our thirst on sizzling summer nights.

While costing less than half of a mediocre California chardonnay, it will redefine the way you look at white wine. It is a highly recommended selection.

In the glass, this Burgans Albari?o is a bright fine citrine-yellow color with a star-bright core going out into a faint yellow to glass-clear rim definition and medium-high viscosity.

The aromatics of this wine are like nothing else in the world of white wines. It is intense and pungent, with crushed Japanese gooseberries, also known as physalis, then pear sparkler, apple cider, pomelo fruit segments, water chestnuts, Key lime pie made with kaffir limes, tangerine rind and oodles of fresh minerality.

In the mouth, this explosively delicious wine coats the palate with interesting white fruit characteristics, including, but not limited to citrus rind, lemon drops, Granny Smith apples, white peach skins, apricot jam, honeysuckle and zesty minerals, because the wine has no oak to interfere with the pure fruit and delineation in the bottle.

This is a wine that could turn a red wine drinker onto whites. It is better and fresher than 99 percent of the white wines in the market, and would be good for your next party or dinner. It should drink well through 2006. Try it by the glass or with something such as spicy Thai food.

Wine: Burgans Albari?o Rias Baixas

Grape: Albari?o

Region: Salnes Valley, Orixe, Spain

Vintage: 2003

Price: $12.99

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.