"'You don't make skin-fermented sauvignon blanc if you have a mortgage, ' Abe Schoener told me earlier this year, " says Colman.

FORBES: Ten Independence Day Wines

To say Schoener puts more time and investment into his "thinking man's sauvignon blanc, " as Colman calls it, is an understatement.

FORBES: Ten Independence Day Wines

Schoener ferments the juice right along with the grape skins for three weeks, extracting every last flavor out of them--pleasant and harsh alike--then ages the fermented juice in new oak barrels for 10 months.

FORBES: Ten Independence Day Wines