I am a wine person who believes that soils and growing conditions greatly affect what ends up in the bottle.

Fortunately, Old World countries such as France and Italy have had decades — and in some cases, even centuries — to pinpoint the areas of truly special vineyards. In many of these cases, the wine was then named after the place rather than the grape variety.

To better illustrate this, let’s take a look at grenache, a red grape variety. While there may be the occasional standout made exclusively from grenache, it is most often blended with other varieties such as syrah, mourvedre and cinsault, to name a few.

In France’s southern Rhone Valley, many top-echelon wineries have created legacies through such blends, made from grapes grown in their estate vineyards. With distinct soils and growing conditions, each vineyard delivers unique wines.

Here are some that have stood out for me over the years.

>> 2014 Catherine Le Goeuil Cotes du Rhone Villages Cairanne (about $23 a bottle): The hilltop village of Cairanne is little known outside the country. Locally, it is considered one of the finest among the 17 recognized Cotes du Rhone Villages. (Cotes du Rhone is a region in Rhone with an AOC designation, a legal government certification defining a place of origin and standards for production.) It is also the home to Catherine Le Goeuil, a champion of organic and biodynamic farming in France.

Her wines are rustic, earthy and wonderfully delicious. I recommend serving this one slightly chilled for afternoon sipping or outdoor barbecues. What a great value!

>> 2012 Domaine Gallety “Cotes du Vivarais” (about $33): The Cotes du Vivarais, a newer AOC-designated wine appellation, runs along the northwestern flank of the southern Rhone Valley in a warm, semi-arid spot. This bottling comprises half each of grenache from a 50- to 60-year-old vine and syrah of a 25- to 30-year-old vine, each grown in a distinct mix of soils.

This offering has such refinement, texture and balance that I find it surprising that it hasn’t yet been discovered. Now is the time to take advantage of the fabulous pricing.

>> 2014 Sang des Cailloux Vacqueyras (about $35): When I first visited the village of Vacqueyras in 1991, I was amazed by different types of soil I would see in a 15-minute drive. On that visit, I met owner-winemaker Serge Ferigoule. It was to be an introduction to a man, his vineyard and wine I will remember forever.

Ferigoule’s vineyards are on the Plateau des Garrigues, an elevated mishmash of rocks, rounded river stones, red clay and limestone, all of which gives this wine its strong, masculine, wildly rustic core. It is a blend that is predominantly grenache, with a slug of syrah and tidbits of mourvedre and cinsault. This wine is also half of my all-time favorite food-and-wine pairing. The dish: Fire-roasted rib-eye steak with a bay-leaf chimichurri.

>> 2014 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape “La Crau” (about $90): Undoubtedly, Chateauneuf-du-Pape is the most famous village in France’s southern Rhone. It is also home to one of the world’s most famous red wines, which over the past 20 years has been getting lots of press and high scores. This in part explains the price tag of wines from the area.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape is made up of many nooks and crannies with different characteristics. A celebrated parcel of the appellation is La Crau, which I would describe as a mound of rounded river stones pushed together by ancient glaciers. This gathering of stones with other earthen soils and minerals, and old vines of grenache and syrah, create a distinctive wine — masculine and majestic with a rustic core, and the ability to age into something utterly magical.

Yes, $90 is pricey, but when compared with the offerings of Bordeaux, Burgundy or Napa Valley, Calif., this really is a deal.

Chuck Furuya is a master sommelier and a partner in the DK Restaurants group. Follow his blog at chuckfuruya.com.