Advanced Topics in White Wine

It's that time of year. If you have kids they're back in school with their pencils sharpened and their notebooks already full of doodles. You might be feeling a bit nostalgic about your own schooldays-gone-by, when you were taking courses and learning new subjects.

The best thing about loving wine (ok, one of the best things...) is that there is always more to learn. This fall, why not try some interesting whites that are beyond your normal Chardonnay-Sauvignon Blanc-Riesling comfort zone? You just may find a new favorite.

2009 M. Chapoutier Côtes du Rhône Blanc Belleruche (suggested retail $12.99; available in market for $8-$15) Red wine fans may be familiar with the rich, affordable red blends from the Southern Rhône, but have you ever tasted their whites? This blend contains Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Bourboulenc. It is more "old world" in style, with a fresh, neutral taste dominated by mineral and lemon peel notes. It tastes robust, and stands up well to richer fish (tuna, halibut), vegetable dishes, and chicken pot pie. If you like Sauvignon Blanc, I think you'll enjoy this wine. Very good QPR.

2010 Viña Robles White4 (suggested retail $16; available in market for $13-$16) ) This white blend is from Paso Robles, and gets its name from the four white grape varieties that go into every bottle: Viognier, Verdelho, Sauvignon Blanc, and Vermentino. This year's bottling is a very good QPR, versatile white wine with honeysuckle and citrus aromas and flavors. If you like dry Rieslings but are looking for a wine with more body, give this a try.

2010 Freie Weingärtner Wachau / Domäne Wachau Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Terrassen (suggested retail $15; available in market for $11-$17) The grapes are grown in Austria's Wachau region, and the wine that results is crisp with pear, stony mineral, and citrus elements. The wine tastes full and delicious, while retaining its bright and lively profile. Excellent QPR. I love Gruner Veltliner with fish, roasted chicken, anything made with lentils, and even Indian food.

2009 Leo Steen Chenin Blanc Saini Farms (purchased in my local grocery store for $19.99; available in market for around $17) Made from grapes grown in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley, this lovely Chenin Blanc is a lovely, dry example. There are apple and honeycomb aromas and flavors, which bring back the tastes of summer. If you like the apple notes in Chardonnay, but are not always fond of the oak that many winemakers use, try this wine and you won't be disappointed. And if you're looking for wines to set aside for Thanksgiving, this would be a great choice. Excellent QPR.

Full Disclosure: With the exception of the Chenin Blanc, I received samples of these wines for possible review.

A Summery Sparkler from Ca'Momi

No matter how much wine you drink, nobody knows everything.

Recently, I've been sampling some wine from Ca'Momi Wines. Located in the pricey Napa Valley, this is a winery that makes some extraordinarily affordable and delicious wines. Put it on your list of small producers to watch for and ask your favorite retailer to get some of their wine in stock.

A wine that I was particularly taken with was the NV Ca' Momi Ca' Secco ($16.99) This was summer in a bottle, with aromas and flavors of Meyer lemon and tangerine. The overall impression was round and fruity, but it was also quite refreshing with a medium-sized bubble to keep everything lively and light. The aftertaste was dry, as you might expect from a blended sparkler made with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Muscat. Very good QPR.

Because of all the citrusy elements in the wine, it would be an ideal choice for summer brunch, or for a lazy afternoon watching the sun go down.

Full Disclosure: I received this wine as a sample.

A Great House White from Ceja

Choosing house wines is a difficult business. A house wine must be affordable, obtainable, and versatile. It has to fit many moods, and go with many types of food. Ideally, you keep a few bottles of your house wine around to make your life easier because you know you like it and you know what it tastes like. Last minute dinner invitation? House wine to the rescue for a hostess gift. Last minute decision to sit in the backyard and watch the sunset? House wine to the rescue to toast the colors as they change and darkness falls. Forgot to pick up wine for dinner? House wine to the rescue, since it will probably go with the meal.

Given it's label's claims, I was interested in trying the 2005 Ceja Vino de Casa White Table Wine. I purchased this through my WineQ wine club for $19.99, but it's sold out from WineQ and the winery itself (expect the 2006 soon), but is available from online merchants for between $15 and $20. Ceja is a historic Napa winery, owned by the Mexican-American Ceja family, who came to the US in 1967 and bought 13 acres of land in Carneros in 1983. They celebrated their first vintage in 1988, and have been making wine ever since. Around the top of each bottle is a Latin motto: "vinum, cantus, amor," or "wine, song, and love." This sums up the family's winemaking philosophy, and is an indication of the passion that they bring to the job. I discovered on The Cork Board that Ceja's downtown Napa tasting room is now open for business, so I encourage you to check out the wines if your plans take you to Napa.

All things considered, the Ceja lives up to its label. This nicely made wine was pale straw in color, with aromas of both orchard and tropical fruits. Then there were luscious, mouth-coating pineapple, apple, and pear flavors and a fresh, juicy finish.

With its combination of round fullness and refreshing finish, this wine would indeed go with a very wide range of foods. We had it with roasted chicken and arugula/walnut pesto and the wine stood up nicely to the arugula, walnuts, and cheese as well as complementing the roast chicken. It's versatile enough to go with your Chinese takeout, with appetizers, and with vegetarian dishes, too.

If you don't have a house white yet, this is a great choice. And if you do, let us know what it is in the comments below.

Winery Watch: Navarro Vineyards

An ongoing series of Friday posts highlighting California family wineries. You might not be familiar with all of these vineyards and winemakers--yet--but they produce wines that speak with the voices of this state's people, places, and history. They are worth seeking out. These posts will be longer than most posts on the blog, but I hope you will find them perfect for leisurely weekend reading and internet browsing. To read previous posts in the series, click here.

Tucked into the hills just off Highway 128 in Mendocino County is a winery that produces cult wines for the common person. Navarro Vineyards is something of a cult favorite among people like you and me--folks who like fine wine, who appreciate when wine reflects the place where the grapes are grown and the varieties that go into it, and who don't want to spend an absolute fortune to drink it. Thanks to Ted Bennett and his partner in life and work, Deborah Cahn, it's been possible for ordinary people to drink extraordinary wine ever since they started Navarro Vineyards in 1974.

When Ted and Deborah began working the land and planting their vineyards, vineyards were few and far between in the Anderson Valley. They took over a former sheep ranch, and planted unfashionable varieties for the time, such as pinot noir, gewurztraminer, pinot gris, chardonnay, muscat blanc, and riesling. If this makes you think "Alsace," there is a reason. Ted and Deborah love the wines of that region, and they are perfectly suited to the Anderson Valley's soil and climate. Critics agree. The wines are regularly praised by Dan Berger, who frequently includes specific bottlings in the recommendations he makes for exciting and high value wines in Tom Stevenson's annual Wine Report (ps., the new edition is just released, so you may want to pick up the 2008 Wine Report now).

Today Navarro Vineyards is still a family affair, with Ted and Deborah working alongside their children Aaron and Sarah. If you are lucky enough to visit, you will feel like family too as you are welcomed into the friendly tasting room, given complimentary tours and pours, and lead over the hills, past the llamas, and into the rooms where the huge oak casks hold the wine until its ready to be bottled and sold to consumers like you and me. This is a working farm, run by people who love the land and live as lightly as possible on it, using cover crops and sheep to enrich the soil instead of chemical fertilizers. (photo of Ted, Deborah, Aaron, and Sarah, along with their beloved dachshund, from Navarro Vineyards)

Navarro Vineyards devotees are usually members of the Pre-Release Club, which delivers a personal stash of Navarro wines to you each June and December at 10-33% discounts. The friends I visited the vineyard with late this summer are members of the club, and were able to pick up some of their wines while they were there. They were even kind enough to share a bottle of Navarro's special pinot noir, the Deep-End Blend, with me over dinner after our day out in the Anderson Valley.

Below you will find my tasting notes for the wines I tasted recently at the vineyard. Prices indicated here are the suggested retail prices at the winery; as always the price you pay may be higher or lower at your local merchant. Clicking on a wine's name takes you either to a list of merchants who stock the wine, or to Navarro's online store where you can order what you want and have them shipped directly to you as long as your state allows it. Navarro wines can be hard to find in retail stores, because Ted and Deborah prefer to keep their prices low, cut out the middle-men and middle-women, and sell directly to their customers. With wine this good, and prices this reasonable, who can argue with their plan?

2005 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir ($18) I promised you I would tell you when I found a really good pinot noir under $20. I found it, and I'm telling you, this is excellent QPR. Rose aromas and juicy black cherry fruit usher you into the equally juice cherry flavors. There is medium toast on the mid-palate and a good balance already for a young wine between fruit, spice, and acidity. Not as complex as the Methode a l'Ancienne pinot noir, but a great deal for the price.

2004 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir "Méthode à l'Ancienne" ($25-$35) Really impressed with this year's bottling. I tasted nuts and earth, along with mushroomy and truffley notes, that accent the core of bright acidity and cherry fruit. I think it will age very, very nicely. Excellent QPR.

2005 Navarro Vineyards Navarrouge ($12) Eight red varietals, including syrah, cabernet, pinot noir, and carignan go into this excellent QPR wine that should be a leading contender for your house red. Cherry blossom aromas, black cherry flavors with a fair amount of oak in the midpalate, but it's interesting and flavorful. I suspect it will be even better in 4-8 months. This is one to buy by the case and just have on hand for when friends drop by at the holidays.

2006 Navarro Vineyards Edelzwicker ($12). A lovely wine for the money, made from riesling, gewurztraminer, and pinot gris grapes. Enticing flower aromas, with a palate of litchi and lime. Our favorite wine to have with Thanksgiving leftovers, or for any holiday lunch, don't be surprised when this turns up on my holiday wine picks this year. Excellent QPR.

2005 Navarro Vineyards Muscat Estate Bottled Dry (around $18 if you can find it). This is a wild, wild wine with pure orange blossom aromas and a searingly crisp and dry lemony palate and finish. Very clean wine, and schizophrenic in a good way--or at least a way that works! Perfect for sushi with wasabi. Very good QPR.

2004 Navarro Vineyards Syrah ($22) Huckleberry and cranberry dominate the fruity notes in this syrah. Good acidity, but I would prefer to taste more spice. I think this wine will continue to develop, though. Good QPR.

2005 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir Deep End Blend (price N/A). This wine has a lot of potential and is already drinking beautifully. High-toned cherry and cinnamon on first opening, with a dark ruby color. As it opens up notes of cedar, cocoa powder, and blackberry enter into the palate and aromas. Continued to develop and gain complexity as we drained the bottle. Wait a year and check again, but I think this one will age well and develop in interesting ways. This will be expensive if you can get it (as in more than $40), but it is an awfully complex pinot and good QPR.

2003 Navarro Vineyards Riesling ($18-$19). Very good dry riesling with apple and apricot fruit and a little tropical fruit lift in the midpalate. This resembles a German kabinett, but lacks the mineral dimension to make it outstanding. Good QPR.

2006 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir Deep End Blend (Barrel sample; not yet released). Beautiful color and pinot texture on this wine, with rich cherry flavors and nice cedary notes underneath with some earth, mushroom, and thyme. Lots of acidity now, giving the wine the structure that promises great things to come. Will be more than $40 if you can get it, but in time it is likely to be worth every penny. Good QPR.

Navarro Vineyards has a great website, with detailed information on every wine that they make. They also answer their email, so if you have a question or want to check to see if they have any bottles of that dry muscat hanging around, don't hesitate to drop them a line or give them a call. If you are a Navarro fan, feel free to leave notes about your own favorites in the comments below.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #38: Portuguese Wine

It's that time again: Wine Blogging Wednesday. Today, bloggers all over the world will be telling us what they tasted when they uncorked bottles of Portuguese table wines. Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino cooked up the theme for WBW #38, and asked us to look for Portuguese wines that were not the fortified port wines most of us associate with the region. Portugal makes beautiful table wines, too, and they challenged us to look beyond the popular Douro region, and beyond the familiar Mateus and vinhho verde to look for something new and different to taste our palate.

I succeeded in steering clear of the Mateus, and the vinho verde, but I did end up with a pick from the Douro. It turned out to be oddly challenging to find a Portuguese wine in LA, and the best selections were often in chain shops, like Beverages & More. But I did find a bottle--a white, no less--at a local store and it impressed me enough to wonder why more merchants don't stock wines from this region. If they are anything like this one, they are good, affordable food wines. My pick for WBW #38 was the 2005 Adriano Ramos Pinto, a white wine made by an old wine house that specialized in port founded in 1880 by the man whose full name is on this wine: Adriano Ramos Pinto. ($10.99, Mission Wines; available from other merchants for between $10 and $13).

The wine is blended from three varieties of grape: Viozinho (60%), a low-yielding white variety used in white port; another low-yielding white variety, Rabigato (30%); and Arinto (10%), a white variety that brings acidity to the mix and is used in making vinho verde. I've never tasted anything made with any of these grapes, so I wasn't sure what I was in for. Turns out that this white blend resembled an aromatic, bone-dry riesling or a medium-bodied, barely oaked sauvignon blanc. There were soft aromas of grapefruit, citrus pith, and a whiff of petrol when you first opened it--just like a riesling. These appealing smells led into the flavor palate, where clean grapefruit and mineral notes met up at the back of your throat with a whiff more petrol. At 12.5% alc/vol. it was a very pleasant food wine, all the more so because it was very lightly oaked. The wine was aged for only six months, with 80% of the juice spending its time in steel vats, and 20% of the juice spending its time in new French oak. Given its low price, and its interesting mix of aromatics and dry flavors, I thought this wine represented very good QPR.

This wine would be an excellent pairing with not-terribly-spicy Indian or Asian food, richer fish dishes, light chickendishes, and salads. We had it with Indian-spiced Bombay Sliders, mini chicken burgers with lots of aromatic spices and herbs in them. These were popped onto dinner rolls, topped with some curried mayonnaise, and some sliced veggies. We had oven-fries made with sweet potatoes along side. The wine really went well with this range of flavors and ingredients, and would have been a particularly good option for those who don't like the sweet impression that rieslings (even dry rieslings) give.

While finding the wine was a challenge, I'm glad I did locate a Portuguese table wine--and a white, no less. I'm going to keep looking for wines from this region, and try to learn some more about the grape varieties. This wine was a real surprise, and I think I'm missing a lot of interesting wine. Thanks to Ryan and Gabriella for the great theme, and as always thanks to Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours for dreaming the event up more than three years ago. I'll post the link to the roundup when it is available, as well as a link to November's theme.

Aren't Blends Beautiful?

Orchestras. Mutts. Fusion food--even weird fusion food. Historical- mystery- suspense- thrillers with a horror twist. Blended wine. I love them all. I see nothing wrong with mixing things up and experimenting with new combinations of sounds, tastes, and images. (Picture of the Philadelphia Orchestra from the Official Philadelphia Visitor's Site)

Which is why I find it so weird that 85% of any grape variety is enough to warrant slapping "sauvignon blanc" or "cabernet sauvignon" on a label. Do people think this makes me MORE likely to buy the wine? It turns out it makes me LESS interested. Am I alone in loving blended wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier, Grenache with Shiraz and Mourvedre, or Roussanne and Marsanne?

Is this labeling practice a weird hangover from when purchasers were scared--rightfully so--of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink blends? Do we still think that just because a wine includes a single variety of grape or the juice comes from only one vineyard, it's a better wine? Sometimes, this is true. But certainly not always, as anyone who drinks Rhone blends, Bordeaux blends, or some of the excellent blends coming out of California or Australia knows all too well.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately because of a recent dispute on CellarTracker! that had to do with labeling a wine as the varietal "Fume Blanc." I thought the varietal was sauvignon blanc, and the style off wine was fume blanc. Turns out our friends at the ATF recognize fume blanc as a synonym for sauvignon blanc. Weird, but hard to argue with even though I passionately believe that this just confuses consumers and is wrong, wrong, wrong. Then I argued that the wine had 88% sauvignon blanc and 12% viognier and should be labeled a white blend. Foiled again, since as long as there is 85% or more of a single varietal it counts as a single varietal wine.

This goes against everything I believe about promoting the widest possible number of grape varieties, and telling people exactly what is in the wine they are drinking. How will people learn about viognier if they don't even know that they're drinking it?

I don't need calorie counts or carbohydrates on my wine labels. I just want to know what grapes went into it!

A Classic White from Bordeaux

When most of us think of whites from Bordeaux, we think of the delicious Sauternes dessert wines made with a luscious blend of sauvignon blanc/semillon grapes that have been kissed by a touch of botrytis or "noble rot." But Bordeaux also makes dry white wines using the same mix of varietals. Because Sauternes gets most of the attention, dry whites from Bordeaux can be good value picks when you are in the wine store and are in the mood for something a little bit different with dinner.

I picked up just such a dry Bordeaux white, and was pleasantly surprised by the 2006 Château Lamothe de Haux Blanc given its low price. ($10.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar; available from other merchants for between $10 and $11) The wine greeted you with fresh, juicy aromas of melon and citrus. These aromas were the perfect prelude to the flavors, which were also citrusy with round notes of melon. There was a touch of thyme as you finished the wine, which only added to the pleasure of this full and rich wine. I thought this was an excellent example of a dry sauvignon blanc/semillon blend, and had excellent QPR.

We had the wine with a delicious grilled shrimp with an accompaniment of couscous salad. The shrimp were basted with a tarragon-flavored oil that picked up the nice herbal notes in the wine, and the shrimp seemed to pop with rich flavor just as the wine did. I should note that this wine would also be excellent with turkey--especially if you are going to serve some creamed onions with the meal, or sweet potatoes. So don't be surprised to find it in this year's Thanksgiving picks in a few weeks!

Indian Food and Wine Find

The challenges of pairing pizza and wine are exceeded only by the challenges associated with pairing Indian food with wine. Most people just have beer. For me, though, it has to be vino.

Usually, my go-to wines are riesling and gewurztraminer. They have enough of a sweet impression to handle the heat of the food without amplifying it with tannins, and their aromatic profiles also stand up to all of those spices that waft out of the pots. But I was surprised to discover a Rhone-style white blend could be an equally good partner for Indian food.

The 2003 Treana Mer Soleil is a white blend made with the Rhone varietals viognier and marsanne and it was superb with Indian food ($14.99, Costco; available elsewhere for between $20 and $30). The prelude to the wine was rich and sweet honey and apricot aromas laced with lemon blossom. At this point, I was ready to dive into the wine! Sipping it, my first impression was of satin, as the marsanne gave it a full, heavy feeling in your mouth. Despite the wine's first impressions, it is actually a dry wine with flavors of golden delicious apples and pink grapefruit dipped in honey. Good acidity made for a well structured wine that was refreshing and fresh.There is the merest suggestion of botrytis in the long and luscious finish, although my research did not indicate that botrytis was really present in the wine. Very good QPR.

We had this superb wine with Maya Kaimal's Black Pepper Chicken Curry, which originally appeared in her second cookbook, Savoring the Spice Coast of India and was reprinted in an article in Food and Wine Magazine. We had it with some steamed basmati rice, and I pulled out some leftover corn on the cob to use in a recipe from Sunset magazine for spicy corn and mustard seeds. The curry has coconut milk in it, so the heaviness of the wine and he creaminess of the curry's sauce were well-matched. And the balance of sweetness and acidity in the wine was just right for the rich spiciness of the dishes.

This is the second Rhone white that I thought would pair well with Indian food (the other was a Kris Curran Grenache Blanc). So if you've never been drawn to riesling and gewurztraminer, but want wine that goes with curry, don't be afraid to try another aromatic white. You may make an Indian food and wine find, too.

Yes, Virginia--Connecticut makes wine, too

When I went to school in Massachusetts, Connecticut was not thought of as a great viticultural center. But that is changing now, with more and more regions of the US trying their hand at growing wine grapes. While grapes have been grown in the state for hundreds of years on small family farms, the first modern wineries were established in the late 70s. Currently, there are more than 15 vineyards in the state, all producing wine with limited distribution.

Recently I had a wine from Sharpe Hill Vineyard in Pomfret in the eastern part of the state. Sharpe Hill's wines have have received over 185 medals in international wine competitions. The NV Sharpe Hill Vineyard "Ballet of Angels" white blend ($10.99, Colorado Wine Company), nick-named "Creepy Baby Wine" by irreverent consumers due to its distinctive label, is the best-selling Connecticut wine. And for me, it was a real eye-opener. This excellent QPR wine made from a secret blend of ten white grape varietals that probably includes melon de bourgogne, riesling, vidal blanc, and vignoles. Plentiful aromas of honeydew melon, honeysuckle, and citrus hint at the flavors that develop as you sip the wine. Though floral and slightly off-dry, a bracing acidity keeps the sweetness from becoming cloying or overpowering. This was a wonderful wine that would be exceptional with spicy food or Asian cuisine, like these Thai peanut noodles with chicken, or Thai salmon with rice salad.

The store where I bought this, Colorado Wine Company in beautiful downtown Eagle Rock, specializes in unusual, high value bottlings like these. It's worth stopping by if you live in the LA area or are here on a visit. They recently started a blog for customer reviews and discussion of wine. It's a great idea for Wine 2.0 types, and I've already found a great blog I didn't know about while reading.

The NV Sharpe Hill Vineyard "Ballet of Angels" is widely available throughout the country, but if its not to be found at a store near you, ask your local merchants if they can start carrying this great white wine. If you like Riesling, you will love the "Ballet of Angels."