In recent years, Virginia has aggressively billed itself as an East Coast alternative to the wine country destinations of California and the Pacific Northwest. And unsurprisingly, Virginia wineries have sprung up like magazine articles apologizing for Kanye West's self-confidence. But with very few exceptions, the wines coming out of the Old Dominion generally either cost far more than they should (Chrysalis Vineyards' passable viognier runs a hefty $29 per bottle, while Alban Vineyards' excellent Central Coast California viognier runs about $10 less.), aren't made particularly well, or are vigorously overoaked.

If you subscribe to the notion that the wine is "made" in the vineyards, Virginia is simply a tough place to make great wines. Why? The soil is too good. Grapevines in poor soil produce fewer, more concentrated grapes. By and large, Virginia soil pampers the vines as if they were Dorothy Gale enjoying a mani-pedi in the Emerald City. What's more, rather than cultivating varietals that grow best in the Virginia soil, many Virginia wineries raise grapes whose names sell well when bottled. Cabernet sauvignon and delicate pinot noir do not grow well in Virginia, yet wineries continue to grow them and bottle the juice because they know that a daytripper is more likely to pick up a bottle of something they know rather than a bottle of something that can grow well in Virginia -- viognier, cabernet franc, chardonnay, riesling, or, more probably, seyval blanc or horton.

Maryland suffers from the same good-soil problem. But the Old Line State's draconian wine-import/export laws have stunted the growth of the wine industry there. Why should a farmer grow grapes to make wines if it's nearly impossible to sell them? Notwithstanding the legal limitations, a few wineries have popped up in Maryland. Perhaps the best-known Maryland winery is Linganore Wine Cellars -- whose sickeningly sweet, mostly fruit-based wines have singlehandedly proved that the late Jermaine Stewart was wrong to think that you can have a good time drinking cherry wine with your clothes on. Fortunately, there's at least one Maryland winery that's doing the best with what the soil offers and charging fair prices for its wares -- the Basignani Winery.

Located up Falls Road north of Baltimore City in Baltimore County's Horse Country, Basignani is run by Robert Parker-pal and Italian wine aficionado Bert Basignani. He produces carefully made wines from grapes that grow well in the mid-Atlantic climate and soil. His 2004 chardonnay ($15.75) is pure Maryland terroir and smells nothing like a California chardonnay would -- not to mention the fact that the oak is in good balance with the fruit. Same goes for the zinfandel, which is reminscent of the lightly spicy versions made in California's cool Anderson Valley.

And although Basignani isn't immune to the pull of big-name grapes with a merlot offering ($21) and a sold-out Bordeaux blend called the Lorenzino Reserve ($26.25), the winery is at its best and offers a good cost-to-quality ratio with French-American hybrids (seyval blanc, vidal blanc, and chambourcin, to name a few) that take well to the soil. Specifically, the 2004 "Elena" ($10.50) -- a white blend heavy on seyval blanc -- has more texture than a pinot grigio and some grapefruit on the nose. And the 2004 "Marisa" ($11.50) -- a light and dry red blend of chambourcin (which is performing well at Pennsylvania's Chaddsford Winery), chancellor (think of it as a French-American petit verdot that's largely used to add color and body), and Marechal Foch (a low-tannin, gamay-like hybrid that's named after the French World War I general) -- went down as billed, like a cherry-nosed, thinly textured Beaujolais.

The most interesting wine that Basignani is now offering is his recently released 1989 "Lorenzino" ($18) -- a dry sparkling wine made from seyval blanc. Not only is it a unique wine (sparkling wines are typically made from some combination of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier), it is a perfectly made sparkler. Small bubbles, slight toast, nice fruit, and a longer finish than one might expect -- definitely the favorite of the bunch. Because sparkling wines are so labor-intensive to make, Basignani isn't planning to produce a sparkler again. So, you should snap up this one while you can. And it outperforms Horton's moderately good, just-as-odd sparkling viognier.

Basignani Winery is about a 90-minute drive from Washington and is located at 15722 Falls Road in Sparks, Md. The winery is open for tastings from Wednesday through Sunday, generally from late morning through early evening. Visit their website or call (410) 472-0703 for more information.