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white wines
What were we drinking? With shrimp ‘n‘ grits?
For all its retro flavor Shrimp ‘n’grits is now the official dish of 21st century Florida. Good thing, we’d almost given up on grits at breakfast, now grits and shrimp is on every menu of apps (the edible kind) in the upscale Deep South. Served with fresh Gulf shrimp in red sauce or brown gravy, it tastes like Florida at its best.
At our house it depends on fresh tomatoes. We usually have colossal shrimp in the freezer from Bama Seafood (don’t miss the sales when their shrimp comes in) and Dixie Lily grits in the pantry. Saute onions and garlic with Provence or Italian spices. Add tomatoes and shrimp heads and cook down. Remove heads (and pick their meat if you want), add chopped spinach leaves and shrimp. Cook a few minutes, just until spinach wilts and shrimp cook through.
2008 Alamos Torrontes $7.99
The key is that the sauce taste fresh not like a sausage sandwich or pizza, and the sweetness of shrimp remains.
The usual wine pairing is a light red, but I chose an Argentine torrontes.
This is not showoff obscurantism. At $7.99 you could make this fragrant lovely your go-to refrigerator white. That price is for the torrontes from Alamos, a value label from the great Catenas and it’s a surprisingly good introduction to the grape, full of peaches and flowers in the nose a friendly citrus on the tongue, more oranges and melons than grapefruit. But a round texture and a lively acid finish. Only 13% alcohol. Sends most sauv blanc and chard to Dullsville.
If this is not the year of torrontes, it’s at least the summer of this flirtatious grape. Get to know it.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
The Power of V: Va va Vouvray
2008 Chateau de Valmer Vouvray (Loire) $9.99
I’m over e-this, i-that, q-who and z-whatever. What about V? Now that’s a letter. Even has its own TV series (two of them), plus Vino, Venice, Vivaldi, Veronica, Vidalias, Velveeta…
Okay maybe V doesn’t always work, but it’s a great start to white wines worth exploring: Viognier, Vermentino, Vinho Verde, Vidal and very French Vouvray.
Vouvray is in that dreamy patch of chateau country midway along the Loire that romantics, hunters and anglers love, but wine snobs neglect. Here the noble grape is chenin blanc, and in the magic limestone caves above the river it can become dry, demi sec, doux or even mildly mousseux with bubbles.
Try the middle path in the 2008 Chateau de Valmer Vouvray ($9.99 and a double V!). This is bright gold in color aroma and taste, honeysuckle in the nose, ripe pears, pineapple and orange zest on the tongue, but not heavy, with a chalky minerality and a little acid for backbone. A wine made for seafood, salmon, mild curries and picnics. Worth buying several to lay down. You’ll be surprised how it grows up in a few years.
Speaking of picnics, stop by the chateau and gardens on your next trip to France. It’s like visiting… Versailles. And free.
Roaming Wither Hills, NZ, For good’n’ plenty sauv blanc
2008 Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc $8.99
The hills are in the view, the grapes are in Wairau Valley, a lovely chunk of Marlborough, and the sauvignon blanc is in the hands of a bright young crew led by Ben Glover.
Never heard of it? You will now. As we explore beyond the top brands, you’ll find many more hardy and fresh labels like Wither Hills and an SB that has more flavor and less price than most you know.
New Zealand does make sauv blanc for less than $15 at least at B-21.
Take it from Gourmet Traveller WINE, the glossy bible to down under drinking which gave the 2008:
“Supple, fruity wine with attractive pineapple/passionfruit flavours plus underlying gooseberry and red capsicum. One of the better examples of this vintage. Ripe with good balance and a hint of sweetness.”
For me there’s ample gooseberry, the fuzzy green fruit we call kiwi, with is its own soft sour slightly sweet fruit. Not as thorny as it sounds and shows here to be more like pineapple and melon. The grapefruit is not assaultive, more like a ruby seedless; the bell pepper is restrained. No cat spray either. Surprisingly round and easy to drink.
This will have a spot in your fridge this summer.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Hold the puttonyos: Dry Tokaji from Hungary?
2006 Chateau Dereszla Tokaji Dry $8.99
Yes and it’s a wonderful bargain, a crisp and clean dry wine from the same furmint and muscat grapes that make the royally rich dessert wines that made Hungary famous.
Chateau Dereszla’s 2006 Dry Tokaji ($8.99) collects all those fruit and nut flavors in the emerging category of alternative whites we might call Peachy. (Torrontes, Viognier, Albariño et al). Plus you get a lush texture and great balance. Proof that there’s more to life than chard, sauv blanc and pinot grigio.
This lovely dry Tokaji is also what I call a Next World Wine, wines from underplanted or overlooked corners of the New and Old World. Mexico and Uruguay, Eastern Europe, Thailand and India all grow grapes and make wine, better and more available every year.
The vision for Ch. Derezla comes from winemakers with deep roots in Chamapagne and Bordeaux and an itch to revive or start first class properties elsewhere, from Alta Vista in Argentina to… legendary Tokaj.
B-21 has a wide range of Derezla’s sweeter botyrized, late- harvest wines, from traditional three and five-puttonyos up to grand Aszu, the most precious at $79.99.
You can however have a taste of tomorrow for far less. Chill down dry tokaji and fire up fresh shrimp.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Norton Cosecha Tardia: Argentina’s sweet side
2008 Norton Cosecha Tardia Chardonnay Dulce Natural $6.99
Found a great little treat from big ol’ Bodega Norton, a honey of a late harvest chardonnay.
That’s right. Like all big operations Norton’s grand portfolio includes surprise rarities even a bonarda and a merlot rosé as well as the familiar staples and trophy wines. In this case I spied the “Cosecha Tardia” and thought “late”- something first.
This is a fine white from Norton, with flavors of honeysuckle, melon and pear, even coconut, but it’s not a thick sweet pudding. Creamy of course yet not heavy, well balanced and low in alcohol (under 12 percent). Almost as if a German winemaker made chard as a spatlese.
Cosecha Tardia could go with any light meal, but I’d rather have it alone with a big cheese, ideally something bleu. Only $6.99.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Do the Txacolina, a fashionable language lesson
2008 Txomin Etxaniz Txakolina Getaria - $19.99
The hip white wine of the Basque country, and increasingly in tapas bars around the world is a home grown product with a bright invigorating taste and a jaw-breaking vocabulary.
In the Basque language of north east Spain “Tx’’ is pronounced more like “Ch’’ so Txakolina sounds like chocolate ‘tini. Don’t think cocoa, however. Txakolina is a pitcher full of grapefruit and lime with a bit of spritz to add to the energy. It’s perfect with seafood, grilled or cold. In that sense it falls midway between a muscadet and vinho verde.
The wine is made from Hondarribi Zurri, a local grape grown in a DOC centered in Getaria. One of the best makers is Txomin Etxaniz; B-21 stocks it at $19.99.
If the words are unfamiliar now, you’llget to know and love the taste especially this summer.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
From rocky Madeira to Australia, verdelho makes a comeback
2009 Woop Woop Verdelho - $9.99
Pinot Grigio, watch out. Sauv Blanc and Riesling too. The Australians have found another white wine in the cellar, Portuguese verdelho, and it just might be the next great quaffer. Of course the Aussies first played with it in their ports, sherries and other stickies. Now they vinify it dry and it’s a delicious bite of white fruits. Put it in that growing basket of of viognier, roussanne, albariño and wines full of peaches, apricots and flowers. Lots of Oz wineries are playing with it, including the Mollydooker gang, but my favorite is from the Woop Woop gang down in South Australia along Langhorne Creek and the Limestone Coast.
This is a tropical breeze, with fresh pineapple, mango and ripe sweetness refreshed with clean crisp acidity, like a waterfall on a Pacific island. Makes you want to start a luau. At $9.99, you can invite a crowd.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Still time for resolutions: Make mine Grenache
2008 Lafage Cote Est - 9.99 ($8.99 by the case)
If Jancis Robinson resolves to drink more Riesling in 2010… I hereby resolve to drink more and more Grenache/Garnacha/Garnacas/Cannonau. This should be easy. And fun. Grenache/Garnacha is the most widely planted grape on the planet and consequently gets no respect. But it’s hardly generic. It has accents from Catalan to Valley Girl. It’s planted in big numbers in Spain, France, Australia, California, in Sicily as well as the Rhone. And colors from blanc and gris to rosé and even near black. First up is a surprise contender, Cote Est, a lively little French white dancing in the Cotes Catalanes somewhere between the southern Rhone and Spanish Catalonia. A better hint is that it’s from Jean-Marc Lafage, who rocked us with Las Rocas (great red garnacas in Spanish Catalonia). For the white he’s in old-vine France outside Perpignan. Cote Est is a juicy blend of Marsanne, Chardonnay and half Grenache (white and gris). Tart backbone of citrus and minerals, but with a heady blast of sweet peaches, apricots, honey and a dusting of white pepper. Blindfolded, I would have smelled Viognier, tasted Torrontes and hungered for sushi. If I drink a bottle a day for a year, I could write a book called “Grenache and Garnacha’’ and then a movie. Would Meryl Streep play me?
- Chris Sherman
2009 Crios Torrontes (Argentina)
2009 Crios Torrontes ($11.99)
Winemaker Susana Balbo has done it again! If you have been a Crios Torrontes fan since the 2007 vintage as I have you will not be disappointed with this new arrival. 2009 Crios Torrontes is simply a superb representation of Salta’s Torrontes production. Aromatically similar to Viognier, you’ll find hints of magnolia, peach and citrus on the nose. On the palate, tons of lime, acidity, and concentration. This torrontes is dry but obtains such a voluptuous body for a wine so delicate, fruity and floral. The acidity and mineral components are quite impressive. This 2009 Torrontes is best enjoyed in its vibrant youth, paired with smoked meats, seafood and cheeses or with no partner at all. It is an excellent everyday wine at a refreshingly affordable price.