Our American wine market is like Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," the best of worlds as well as the worst of worlds. On no other country's retail shelves are we faced with so many other countries' wines. That's thrilling — and it's daunting.

And the difficulty of choosing a good wine is ramped up when the labels are in a foreign tongue or when they name wines in an unfamiliar manner (say, by region rather than grape variety). Most do both.

That's when it pays to turn the bottle around and read the back label rather than the front. Don't even bother with the worry, at least initially, of learning another country's wine appellations or producers or even vintage years. For many foreign wines, the work of vetting the best has been done for us by that wine's importer, the person or group that has gone out from these shores in search of good wine and found it.

Some of these people have been nosing out fine wines from France, say, or Italy for decades, and their reputations are fail-safe. Kermit Lynch and Robert Kacher, for example, are synonymous with French wines, especially from smaller, certainly little-known but also top-drawer producers. Leonardo LoCascio built an entire company, Winebow, on the thousands of cases of solid Italian wine that he's found and brought into the U.S. since the 1980s.

I've worked up a list of importers of wines from many countries, each of which, in my experience, has what the wine trade calls "a good book," wines that they have found, sometimes squirreled away in the nooks of another country's winemaking vineyards, and brought to our, yes, crowded wine sales shelves.

But they make buying easier; their names alone are guarantees. Go to their websites to learn more about the wines that they bring to us, the grape varieties behind the label names, the commonly small producers who craft these wines and the stories behind the places from which those wines and artisans come.

A trio of recommendations and a list for you to clip and keep.

Bill St John has been writing and teaching about wine for more than 40 years.

Three wines to try

2011 Michel Gassier Cercius, Cotes du Rhone, France: You'll find this about, but for sure at Whole Foods, which spotlights it as one of its "Top Ten Wines"; it's a terrific southern Rhone, 85 percent grenache and 15 percent syrah, from vines that are more than 80 years old (unheard of, by and large, at this price level), with waves of aromas and tastes of fresh red cherry and spice and a terrifically juicy feel on the tongue; no-wood aging merely accentuates those goods. Eric Solomon Selections/European Cellars. $13-$15

2008 Luberri Vineyards Biga, Rioja, Spain: From the founding winemaker of the famed Artadi winery of Spain, now out on his own in Rioja; 100 percent tempranillo from 40-plus-year-old vines, with ebullient berry aromas and flavors, in an elegant, smoothly rendered style, with hints of wood and vanilla and grace notes of spice and earth. De Maison Selections. $20-$23

2011 Denis Jamain Reuilly Les Pierres Plates, Loire, France: Everyone (too many everyones) knows Sancerre from this general region, but few know this small neighboring appellation; it, too, is all-sauvignon blanc, but here also in a softer, riper style, with more weight and richness than many a Sancerre and marked whiffs of citrus and minerals — all at a lot less than most Sancerre. Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. $20

If your wine store does not carry these wines, ask for one similar in style and price.

Importers to know:

AUSTRIA

Circo Vino

Terry Theise

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND

Negociants USA

Old Bridge Cellars

CHILE/ARGENTINA

TGIC Importers

Vine Connections

Winebow

FRANCE

De Maison

Eric Solomon Selections/

European Cellars

Kermit Lynch

Louis/Dressner

Mad Rose Group/Rosenthal

Wine Merchant

North Berkeley Imports

Robert Kacher Selections

WorldWide Cellars

GERMANY

Michael Skurnik Wines

Rudi Wiest Selections

Terry Theise

ITALY

Dalla Terra

Louis/Dressner

Marc de Grazia

Mad Rose Group/Rosenthal

North Berkeley Imports

Winebow

WorldWide Cellars

PORTUGAL

Louis/Dressner

Obrigado

Rare Wine Co.

SPAIN

Classical Wines

De Maison

Eric Solomon Selections/

European Cellars

Ole Imports

Rare Wine Co.

Steve Miles Selection

Valkyrie Selections

WorldWide Cellars

WESTERN BALTICS

Louis/Dressner

DEEP IN MANY COUNTRIES

Domaine Select Wine

Estates

Michael Skurnik

Polaner Selections

Vineyard Brands

Weygandt-Metzler

Importing

Winebow