Not Just for Wine Geeks Anymore: Varietals, Appellations, and Appellation America

My new favorite wine site is Appellation America. I discovered them when preparing for my trip to Santa Barbara, and since I've returned I've been able to spend some more time on their site. I noted that Tom Wark at Fermentation also mentioned them in a recent post that drew attention to the invidious and detrimental effect that meaningless wine appellations have on US wines and those of us who consume them. While regulatory bodies seem intent on assigning AVA distinctions willy-nilly, Appellation America is fighting the good and necessary fight to raise varietal and appellation consciousness in America.

Why is this important? Because in good wines--wines that are made primarily in the vineyard and not drastically manipulated during processing with little tea bags full of wood chips and "all natural additives"--the site where grapes are grown effects the varietal characteristics of the wine. And knowledge of varietal characteristics is the #1 way to educate your palate. As you know, varietal characteristics and QPR are my way for evaluating wine so I take them pretty seriously. But even if you don't take them as seriously as I do, learning about varietal characteristics and how appellations shape them can add a great deal to everyone's enjoyment of wine.

Up until now you needed to have a good wine reference collection to read up on varietal characteristics, and a good memory to remember them so that when you drank a pinot noir you could actually recall what one was supposed to taste like.

Enter Appellation America.

Their fantastic site not only walks you through American appellations (AVAs) with real care, they have a wonderful guide to "varietal characters." The one pictured here is for--you guessed it--pinot noir. (reproduced with the kind permission of Appellation America) These catchy and memorable caricature-style sketches convey an awful lot about each grape. In this case, the image conveys the finicky quality of the grape, and the extent to which viticulturalists all over the world want this grape for themselves--but they find it tough going to tame this silky grape goddess. It was hard to pick just one image to include here, because all of them are vivid and engaging. So I encourage you to visit their site, and check them out for yourself. From the enthroned Campanian deity of Anglianico, to the gypsy sorceress Gewurztraminer, through the "ageing rebellious rockstar" Carignagne, and on to the masked Zorro of Zinfandel, once you've seen the pictures and read the descriptions you will be well on the way to learning your varietal characteristics!

Each varietal character page includes a character sketch like the one above, a detailed description of the varietal and its history, and a comprehensive overview of every appellation in North America where the grape is grown. So if you are a fan of Leelanau Peninsula MI gewurztraminer, you can find out more about that AVA with just a click of the mouse.

Please visit Appellation America and check out their resources--it's definitely worth getting to know this site and the valuable work they are doing.

2004 Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay Indian Wells

Tonight's wine choice started with my craving for fried chicken--but not any fried chicken. With the holidays coming up it had to be fried chicken I wouldn't hate myself for eating in 2 hours. Too many cookies lying around this time of year to be eating fried chicken! Saved by Cooking Light I put together a menu of oven-fried chicken (pretty amazing stuff dredged in a glue of egg white and buttermilk, rolled in seasoned flour, and then browned in a pan in a little oil before it's finished off in the oven), with some nifty little couscous salad cups with pomegranate dressing. (note: I fudged the dressing, since I couldn't find pomegranate molasses. I did find pomegranate vinegar at Trader Joe's and simply omitted the lemon juice, vinegar, and molasses and substituted 3 Tbs of the pomegranate vinegar).

Fried chicken says chardonnay to me, but one that retains its varietal zing of tree fruits and citrus. For dinner tonight, I picked out the 2004 Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay Indian Wells (Costco, $12.99), and it was a perfect choice. While this chardonnay had been processed using oak, it was very well balanced--much more so than many chardonnays at this price which can have a nasty, artificial oak and vanilla taste. This straw-colored wine had aromas of toast and apple. When you sipped it, it revealed apples, pear, and a suggestion of tropical fruit accompanied by a rich vanilla taste. There was a hazelnutty edge at the very end, just as you put your glass down to reach for another bite of chicken. Excellent QPR.

Chateau Ste. Michelle deserves kudos for consistently and reliably producing wines with good varietal characteristics at a consumer-friendly price. They are my go-to label when I'm in supermarket and have to buy something since I know that their wines will combine great taste and great value.

Two more annual wine lists

Two more annual top wine lists crossed my inbox today that I wanted to share with you.

Ken Hoggins runs a website that provides wine reviews that are independent of wine-seller bias. Realizing that even budget wine buyers like me often splurge on holiday wine purchases, Ken has selected holiday wines in all price ranges for you to put on your shopping list. The wines on Ken's list were chosen with the three most popular Holiday meals in mind: ham, turkey, and prime rib. They include the2005 George Duboeuf “Fleurie - Domaine des Quatre Vents” ($16) to go with ham (I suggested an earlier vintage of this wine without the vineyard designation to go with Thanksgiving turkey, so its a versatile selection), the 2005 Chehalem Pinot Gris ($19) to go with turkey, and the pricier 2003 Paul Jaboulet Aîné “Thalabert” ($33) to serve with prime rib. He also suggests a number of more expensive bottlings that would make great gifts for wine lovers. Ken is based in Boston, and has been publishing holiday wine picks since 1999. He uses an aggregate of wine ratings from all the key magazines to help guide his choices, and uses a tasting panel to confirm or contradict those findings.

Katie from AOL Food dropped me a note to let me know that their list of top wines for $5.99 or less was ready for readers. (Image from AOL's food site) Their picks include wines readily available in supermarkets and one Trader Joe label among the 5 wines. Food pairing tips are included for holiday meal planning.

Happy shopping!

Attention Whole Foods Shoppers

Catching up on my podcasts this morning, I came across a Whole Foods Top Holiday Wine Selections List. There are lots of "top" lists this time of year, but since this one is linked to a specific retail outlet, it should make for less frenzied searching and more simple purchasing.

With so many Whole Foods stores not only in LA but throughout the country, I thought I would put up links to both the podcast and the article on their website. (This is my first experience linking to a podcast, so let me know if I've messed it up). As always, if you are looking for a specific bottle on their list, it saves you lots of traffic agonies if you call ahead and make sure it's actually in your local branch.

There are 12 wines on the list, including a sparkling wine and what they call a "cellar selection." There are some interesting choices on there at many price points, including a tasty organic Tarantas Tempranillo-Cabernet blend.

Whole Foods includes cheese pairing tips on the list, as well. Happy shopping!

Wine Report 2007

If you haven't heard of this book you aren't alone. I've never heard of it either, but it's won all kinds of awards. And if you are seriously interested in wine and like finding different, unusual bottlings I think there is no better book you could get yourself (or, since the holidays are coming, put on your wish list) than this little volume of research and analysis.

Tom Stevenson's Wine Report (DK Publishing, $15) offers a refreshing overview of the world of wine that will shake up what you think you know about wine's big picture. The reason? This is a European publication, written by a team of about 40 writers, including many Masters of Wine. And it is a yearbook, designed to give you an overview of the past year's news and developments. You get pieces on Burgundy by the respected writer Clive Coates, on wine and the internet by Tom Cannavan, and on California wines by Dan Berger. Besides serving as the general editor,Stevenson is particularly known for his knowledge of champagnes which he writes about in this volume. He also contributes to Tom Cannavan's Wine Pages (Stevenson's columns can be read by clicking here).

The book is organized by region, with sections devoted to Bordeaux, Portugal, the Pacific Northwest and other major viticultural areas. Each region is covered in about 5 pages--the perfect length for when you're drinking your morning coffee, or sipping a glass of Alsatian wine before dinner, and need some light reading. You wouldn't want to read the book cover to cover, but if you handle it like a magazine you're on the right track. Each region has an overview, an opinion piece, vintage reports, and a series of top ten lists covering the best producers, the up-and-coming producers, rapidly improving producers, the best value producers, the greatest quality wines, the best bargains, and the most exciting wines.

Some idea of the different approach you will get from this annual can be seen in Dan Berger's treament of California. Following his opinion piece on misleading labeling, we have his greatest wine producers. The top three are: Joseph Phelps, Stag's Leap--and Navarro. I think Navarro wines are the unsung heroes of California wine, but when do you see big write-ups on them? And you pretty much have to buy their wines direct from the vineyard because you aren't likely to find them in your supermarket (though they can sometimes be had at Whole Foods).

Among the up-and-coming producers? Campion, Shannon Ridge, and Katherine Hall. Best value producers include Bogle, McManis, and Canyon Road. I've got wines from some of these makers in my wineracks, and will certainly keep my eye out for those I'm less familiar with.

Among the greatest quality wines in Berger's piece? the 2002 Phelps Insignia ($145), Navarro's 2004 Gewurztraminer from the Anderson Valley ($14), and Dutton Goldfield's 2003 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley's Sanchietti Vineyard ($52). How's that for range!

Best bargains include the Navarro 2004 Edelzwicker ($11), the Bonny Doon 2004 Pacific Rim Riesling ($9), and the Dry Creek 2005 Chenin Blanc ($13).

And unlike any other wine guide I've seen this year, their "most exciting finds" actually sound exciting: the 2004 Chasselas Dore Berthoud ($15), the 2004 Milat Chenin Blanc ($18), and the 2001 Heitz Grignolino ($14.25). Plus, these are exciting wines you can actually afford--how refreshing! At the back of the guide the contributors had to be ruthless in selecting just a few wines from each region to include in the 100 Most Exciting Wine Finds. These are accompanied by detailed tasting notes.

Like any annual guide, this one is meant to be read, acted on before the wines sell out, and then tossed to make room for next year's guide. But this one has more meat in it than most, and its take on wine--which seems to this reader to differ considerably from the wine magazines and to correspond much more closely with what you see in wine blogs--makes for interesting reading. With surprising twists and turns and hidden zingers in nearly every list, it is a wine book that I heartily recommend.