Wine of the week: Planeta La Segreta Bianco 2012

What makes a great cheap wine? First, more quality than the cost. Second, consistency from vintage to vintage, so that quality doesn’t suffer to keep the price down. Third, terroir — does the wine taste like where it came from?

Which is why Sicilian wine has been seen so many times on the blog over the past several years, and why the Segreta red and white blends from La Planeta have so often been part of that. This vintage of the Bianco ($8, purchased, 12.5%) is no exception — it has everything a great cheap wine should have:

? The cost/quality ratio should embarrass other regions (are you listening, California?), with top-notch fruit and professional winemaking that uses the fruit to its best advantage. That means no tricks like fake oak to cover up a flaw.

? This wine, though it doesn’t taste exactly the same as the 2010, is of the same high quality.

? And it does taste of Sicily, with white fruit and citrus, thanks to the island’s grecancio grape, which is half the blend. If this vintage is not as rich as the 2010, it’s fresher and a little more food friendly. It’s grilled seafood and chicken wine, as well as hummus and pitas.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2015 $10 Hall of Fame. I should also note the screwcap, and the very well done back label, which includes the phrase “a great everyday wine.” Would that others were so direct about the wine they make, and not try to convince us that their grocery store merlot is one of the great wines of the world.