With the arrival of warmer weather, dedicated wine lovers immediately begin searching for white wines they can use for patio-sipping or pairing with chips and dip or other casual moments.
Although the easiest choices are the most common, such as chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, the world is filled with dozens of fascinating choices that provide far more excitement than the mundane. Most Americans just don’t know enough about these kinds of wines to take a chance.
Here is a random list of white wines that should provide far more interest than the ordinary:
Pinot grigio from Alto Adige: Pinot grigio from Italy usually comes from the Veneto, where it can be very good. But far more distinctive are those from Alto Adige (ahl-toe ah-dee-jay), a colder region where the wine’s aromatics lean more toward spice.
Chenin blanc: This well-known grape variety that flourishes in South Africa (where it is often called Steen) makes a beautiful, slightly sweet white wine. In recent years, it is being made in a drier style. Look for Vouvray from the Loire Valley.
Vermentino: An underrated Italian grape, it is slightly floral with a blossomy aroma. It is normally made dry, but some versions tend to be soft and very appealing when chilled.
Arneis: Soft and relatively fragrant, arneis (ahr-nayce) comes mainly from northern Italy’s Piemonte and usually has a delicate fragrance and a slight bit of spice.
Muscat: This is a sweeter white wine, and the grape of the same name is the dominant component in Italy’s Asti Spumante. It has a very floral/spicy aroma and is a normally quite sweet wine.
White Rhone blends: This is a relatively new category of white wine that has long been produced in France using at least a dozen different relatively obscure white wine grapes to produce a somewhat rich and beguiling wine. It has recently become popular with several California producers.
It is normally produced from grapes such as roussanne, marsanne, and viognier.
Wine of the Week
2022 Carol Shelton Coquille Blanc, Paso Robles ($28): Carol has made this lovely blend for several years, and the 2022 version is one of the best, with a beautiful nose of honeysuckle and almonds. Her website says: “Enticing nose of spicy pears and white peaches, almond paste/marzipan, a touch of honeysuckle perfume. Multi-dimensional, a hard-to-describe range of aromatics, intriguing, almost mysterious! In the mouth it is dry yet creamy and full-bodied, with nice almond paste on crisp-yet-juicy pear fruit.” Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa, California, has it for $23.99.Dear Readers: We would love to hear from you. What topics would you like to read about? Please send your feedback and tips to [email protected].
