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White Wines
Wine Tutorial
Wine Makers
Wine Shops
Wine Regions |
White wines can be broken down into:
2a) Chardonnay (pronounced Shar-dun-ªªª)
2b) Sauvignon Blanc (pronounced Saw-vin-yawn
Blahnk)
2c) Gewurztraminer (pronounced
Geh-verts-trah-meener)
2d) Riesling (pronounced Rees-ling)
(Again, I am leaving out some wines--such as Pinot
Grigio and Semillon--in an effort to keep these pages
clear and simple and in a simultaneous effort to keep
my own task manageable.) |
Chardonnay
is the great grape of the white Burgundies of
France. It is also the grape of many expensive (and highly
oaked) California wines. It is also one of the wines of
choice for the Power Yuppie. It can range in style from
the round and fruity Bin 65 of Australia's
Lindeman winery and the inexpensive offerings of
California's Napa Ridge, to the slightly heavier
oak-barrel-aged offerings of Beringer,
Kendall-Jackson (the California Chardonnay for
the Yuppie health-spa-and-business-lunch crowd), and
Robert Mondavi, to the massive Burgundies (such
as the Montrachet wines of Louis Latour,
Domaines de la Romanee Conti, Joseph Drouhin,
and Louis Jadot) of France and the oak-aged
powerhouses of such California wineries as Chalone,
Beringer Reserve, and Robert Mondavi Reserve.
The best California Chardonnays rum from about $15 to
about $35. The best French Bugundies are simply out of
sight price-wise, running from a low of about $25 to as
much as $500. Less expensive Chardonnays can be had from
Chile and Australia, running from $5 to $15.
I am not a great Chardonnay fan, but the reader/drinker
should experiment to find out what style he/she prefers
(and what price he/she prefers).
Sauvignon Blanc
is the grape of white Bordeaux wines. These wines
(especially from the Graves region of France) can
reach a soft, nutty, almost honeyed quality when they are
mature (from 7-15 years of age). These wines can also be
unpleasantly grassy, tart, and/or flatly and insipidly
dull and flavorless. Some good wines to try include:
Chateau Haut-Brion
Domaine de Chevalier
Chateau Laville Haut-Brion
(These three Graves wines will be quite expensive and
sometimes hard-to-obtain, but wonderfully tasty if someone
else is buying!)
Less expensive (and easier to find) Sauvignon Blanc wines
are made by
Caymus (look for their Sauvignon Blanc, also look
for a wine called Conundrum, which is a mix of
Sauvignon Blanc and other white varietals)
Robert Mondavi (Mondavi labels this wine Fum¾
Blanc)
Duckhorn Vineyards
Robert Pecota
Chateau St. Jean
Markham
Kenwood
These wines will run from about $8-$15.
Less expensive, but still drinkable wines can be had from
Chile and Australia.
Gewurztraminer
and Riesling
are most famous in German/Alsatian wines, but since
I have very little experience with German wine, I will
restrict myself to some brief comments on the American
wines which are made from these grapes. These grapes are
generally turned into semi-sweet wines with a floral
and/or spicy perfume and hints of honeyed-peach, pear, and
tropical fruit in the flavors. They are generally good
"next steps" for those who have cut their wine teeth on
White Zinfandel; they provide some of the same sweet
approachability as does the infamous blush wine while also
providing a bit more in the way of flavors and food
compatibility. Gewurztraminers and Rieslings (sometimes
referred to as Johannisberg Riesling, or White
Riesling) often go exceptionally well with Thai
and Schezwan Chinese foods, as the sweetly spicy
quality in the wines complements the spiciness of the
foods.
Some reliable producers of these food-friendly semi-sweet
wines include:
Chateau Ste. Michelle
Columbia Crest
Fetzer
Hogue
Napa Ridge
These wines will run from $5-$9
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