Hello Everyone,

It’s going to be a hot one out there, so let’s talk about a beautiful wine style that can help us beat the heat.

Try a new wine this week!

Bruce

The world’s most famous white wine grape is capable of producing very different styles of wine when grown in different places, and when different winemaking techniques are applied.  Let’s look at three of the most common styles, each available in different price ranges.

One word often seen on the backs of wine labels is “Burgundian” style.  This is named for chardonnay’s original home, France’s Burgundy region.  It’s a cooler climate, so most of the wines are more elegant, a product of less ripe grapes.  The mineral laden soil also flavors the grapes, being drawn up by the vines’ roots.  Crisp, elegant and complex would be three words often used to describe this style.  Because the French originals are lighter, techniques such as fermenting in the barrels, and leaving the lees of the wine—some would call this the dregs—to remain in the barrel, are often used to add body and texture to the wine.

Many California wines are described as having a “New World” style, though there’s a lot of variety even within California.  Speaking generally, it refers to a richer, riper, fuller style, with more concentrated fruit and less obvious tart acidity—some of which comes from a warmer climate. In some cases leaving the grapes on the vine longer to ripen more fully contributes to this style, and sometimes applying the Burgundian techniques mentioned above are used to achieve this extra richness.   The flavor of the soil is not often a major factor in a wine described as “New World”.

A somewhat similar style is the Tropical Fruit style of chardonnay.  This is an unusual sounding name, most often used to describe chardonnays from parts of California’s Central Coast chardonnay, particularly those from southern San Luis Obispo County (Edna Valley) and northern Santa Barbara Country (Santa Maria Valley).  An extended fall ripening period in those areas gets a lot of the credit for this.  Grapes ripen slowly and completely there.

Until recent years, many chardonnays were given extra richness of texture (and less crispness), by a process called malolactic fermentation.  It occurs naturally over time, but can be induced at the winery.  Simply described, fruit acids that give some wines a green apple flavor (malic acid), is transformed into a softer, richer, less-tart-and-more-buttery acidity (lactic acid).

Food-wise, many people favor richer chardonnays with richer dishes (cream sauces, bisques, etc. while others say that a leaner chardonnay with crisp, tart acidity cuts through rich food.  It’s fun to try both and see what you like best.  In many cases, oak aging is used to add richness and complexity to a chardonnay.  With elegantly styled wines, too much oak can overwhelm the fruit, resulting in a wine that is unbalanced.   One that doesn’t is “Eve” Chardonnay, from Charles Smith Wines.  Fermented in stainless steel, only 15% is aged in oak barrels, allowing the fruit to shine through.  It retails in the $10-$15 dollar range.

Charles Smith’s “Eve” Chardonnay is from Washington State’s Columbia Valley.  Its name reflects its crisp, appley flavors, similar to a Burgundian Macon (Pouilly-Fuisse, St. Veran, Macon-Villages, etc.)

Hello Everyone,

This week we’ll discuss a red wine blend very much like another that I tasted a few years ago — after a 17 1/2 hour non-stop flight!  And it was worth it.

Try a new wine this week!

Bruce

Syrah has long been established as one of the world’s greatest red wine grape varieties.  Today it’s grown in just about every country that makes wine.  Its dry red wine typically shows a deep dark color and bold, berry-like flavors.  And as good as it is alone, some of the world’s most famous red wines are syrah blends.

Like most of the world’s wine grapes, syrah came from France.  Along the northern Rhone River the syrah grape reigns, especially for the famous wines Cote-Rotie and Hermitage.  Each will often contain a small amount of white wine grapes, but the syrah is so deep in color that it adds complexity without making the wine appreciably lighter.

While Rhones can be quite expensive—there are three single-vineyard Cote-Rotie’s that can retail for well over $150 per bottle—both Cote-Rotie and Hermitage have neighbors that are perhaps less great, but also less expensive.  St. Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage are two.  Southern Rhones combine syrah with other local varieties like mourvedre, grenache and others.  These are called “Rhone Blends”, whether they’re the French originals or grown somewhere else.

And Australia really popularized the syrah grape — which they call shiraz — both on its own and blended with cabernet sauvignon.  Rhone blends are also popular there.

Rhone grapes have found a hospitable home in the vineyards of South Africa, where people have been making wines for 300 years.  Ocean-cooled breezes, from where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic, flow inland to the vines, much as Pacific breezes do along California’s Central Coast (another great Rhone grape area).  Robertson Winery’s Shiraz-Mourvedre-Viognier blend is a good example, with exceptionally deep color, rich, moderately dense dark fruit flavors and a smooth, lingering finish.  It retails locally for $10-$12.

At Robertson Winery, vines are planted from NW to SE to allow cooling ocean breezes through the vineyard.  This blend is 86% Shiraz (Syrah), 13% Mourvedre, 1% Viognier

Hello Everyone,
Maybe it’s too hot for some wine lovers to enjoy red wines, but some of us try will try anyway. I guess if we can stand around a hot smoker or grill for barbecue, hamburgers or steak, like I’m about to this evening.
Try a new wine this week,
Bruce

Many red wine lovers love big, deep, full-bodied reds, and nothing quite attains the hedonistic nature of a big red wine like zinfandel.  Inky dark, with flavors described as “bramble berry” and “black fruits”, a great zinfandel can be a perfect match for hearty dishes and wine lovers who love hearty wines.

Where are they made?  First of all, zinfandel is a uniquely American wine, though they wouldn’t agree with that in Italy. They claim that we got it from them, a grape they call primitivo.  Today many people believe that the Italians got the variety from Croatia, across the Adriatic Sea.

Most California Zinfandel is grown in warmer parts of the state.  It takes lots of sun to fully ripen zinfandel grapes. At one time Napa Valley was known for great zinfandel, but during the past several years it’s been more profitable to plant cabernet sauvignon and other Bordeaux varietals.

Across the Mayacamas Mountains, Sonoma County has a long history of zinfandel.  They have many old vineyards that were planted by Italian immigrants decades ago (some a century ago).  These unique vineyards are easily recognizable by the odd-looking “headpruned” style, where each vine stands alone on a thick, gnarly trunk instead of along a trellised row.  At this advanced age the vines produce only a few grapes, but they’re very intense in color and flavor.

Another good place for big zin’s, including old vine zin, is the Sierra Foothills, where wine has been made since the gold rush days.

Today, though, the self-described “Zinfandel Capital” is Paso Robles on the Central Coast. North-south running mountains there block the cool breezes off the Pacific, causing daytime temperatures to soar. Rising hot air draws in ocean-cooled air in the evening.  Many of the world’s great red wine regions have hot days and cold nights like this.

Vina Robles makes a fine, single-vineyard Paso zin.  Grapes are picked by hand in the cool of the morning, and sorted at the vineyard.  Fermented in small stainless steel fermenters, 1 percent of the juice being drained off to further concentrate the wine.  Then, it’s 16 months in oak barrels.  This deep, rich, yet balanced red retails for about $30 per bottle.

More than 40 years ago, Robert Mondavi created something new from something old.  He called his new style of white wine from sauvignon blanc grapes “Fume Blanc”.  Made to represent the style of sauvignon blanc from northwestern France’s Loire Valley, as opposed to the southwestern French style of Bordeaux, this crisp, lively, only-slightly-oaked wine was sauvignon blanc’s first “modern” interpretation.

Mr. Mondavi didn’t protect the name Fume Blanc, so other wineries soon took advantage of the wine’s success in the marketplace.  Many began to bottle sauvignon blanc in both styles:  Bordeaux-styled “Sauvignon Blanc” and Loire-styled “Fume Blanc”.

Less than 20 years ago, U.S. wine distributors (I among them), were being presented with an ever-increasing number of sauvignon blancs in another new style, from a country that few of us expected — New Zealand.  This style was unoaked, with very tart, “palate-cleansing” fruit acids.  They were described with terms like “gooseberry”, “lime”, “minerality” and “kiwi”.  Those were words that few of us had been using until that time.  Some called New Zealand sauvignon blancs “the margarita of the wine world”.

So once again this fine white wine grape experienced something of a renaissance.  Along with pinot grigio, which began to gain popularity around the same time, this new style of sauvignon blanc began to make the white wine side of restaurant wine lists much more interesting.  Before this, most Americans ordered chardonnay.

And, looking back, it’s not hard to see why.  Sauvignon blanc has always been great with food, especially seafood dishes, and most especially lighter, fresher preparations.  With American cooking moving that same direction, it truly became the right wine at the right time.

Most modern sauvignon blancs combine a French-like eleganc,  New Zealand’s “New World exuberance” with California fruit.  One good example I found recently is from Robertson Winery in South Africa.  Its notes of citrus in the nose and fresh, lively acidity combine to make it very refreshing for this warm summer.  Its retail price is around $10-$12.

Robertson Winery is located in South Africa, at roughly the same distance south of the equator as California is north of it.

Hello Everyone,
In the wonderful world of wine, something new is often something old that’s been rediscovered.  This week we’ll discuss the hottest wine in America (from the wine world’s oldest grape variety), something that’s new to many people, and an old favorite of many more.
Try a new wine this week!
Bruce

It is widely believed that the Muscat grape, often called Moscato, is the oldest wine grape variety of all, the progenitor of all other wine grape varieties.  That’s old, but today it’s enjoying a newfound popularity.  It is, in fact, the hottest wine in the country!

Casa de Campo Moscato

That’s not a big surprise to Moscato’s many fans.  Its flowery, perfumed nose is followed by a luscious texture and rich flavor, with hints of fruits and flowers that almost defy description.  Honeysuckle, rose, apples—many scents and flavors are ascribed to the Muscat grape.

But there’s more.  The main Muscat grape, prized from Asti (yes it’s used in both the sparkling  Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti, spumante’s spritzy sibling), to California to Australia and beyond, is the White Muscat.  A cousin of this grape is called Orange Muscat, for reasons that become quickly apparent when you pour a glass, and another is called Black Muscat, for its very deep purple/black color and flavors to match.

But the original, the one that everyone wants, is Muscat Blanc, or the White Muscat.  In the south of France it’s called Muscat Frontignon, used in the local dessert wine called Muscat de Beaumes de Venise.  In Italy it’s sometimes called Muscat Canelli..

Muscat Alexandria is a different cousin. It’s most popular in Eastern Europe, as is Muscat Rose (I’ve had both of these in Eastern Europe, and loved them both).

Whatever you call it, Muscat/Moscato is gaining a lot of new friends these days, who enjoy its fragrant nose and intense flavor.  Most Muscat is made either slightly sweet or sweeter than that. Sometimes a lot sweeter. There aren’t many dry Muscats out there.

But this doesn’t mean that it has to be with dessert.  Spicy dishes often pair well with off-dry or slightly sweet white wines.  I know that some wine lovers suffer an automatic shutdown when this style is mentioned, but anyone who enjoys a fine German Riesling should give moscato a try.

I found one earlier this year from Argentina, called Casa de Campo (“House in the Field”, or “Country House”.  It has all the great qualities that most moscato’s enjoy—perfumed nose, luscious texture, fine, lingering finish—but has a bit more complexity and a touch crisper acidity that really balances its rather delicate sweetness.
Casa de Campo Moscato retails for around $10.

You can remember Casa de Campo Moscato by the cows on the label. They also produce a Malbec.

Hello Everyone,
What’s more American than apple pie? Maybe something is, but to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, let’s talk about the perfect wine pairings for apple pies, apple tarts, chocolate desserts and more.
Try a new wine this week!
Bruce

Nothing caps off a holiday dinner like a great dessert with a well-matched wine.  But a lot of people don’t do this often, and so haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it.  Here are some pointers that I’ve picked up over many years of ending dinners this way.

First, in almost every case a dessert wine should be sweeter than the dessert.  If your dessert is too sweet it could make the dessert wine taste bitter.  If you’re cooking the dessert yourself, you can adjust the sweetness.

One exception is red wine with chocolate, a very popular restaurant offering.  It can work well, or it can work not so well.  With dark chocolate, I like a dry red wine that’s fruit centered (some call this a New World style, like from California or Australia), not too tannic and puckery.  Deep, full-bodied merlot often fits into this style, as do some cabernets (especially many of the ones from Paso Robles).  A late harvest zinfandel, or other reds that have a bit of sweetness can be an even better match, though there aren’t many available

I once saw a representative for a California sparkling wine producer pour a Blanc de Noir (white wine from red grapes, in this instance from pinot noir), after milk chocolate.  The lingering finish was surprisingly similar to chocolate covered cherries.  It’s been years and I still remember it.

Late harvest sauvignon blanc (and blends), such as a Sauternes from France’s Bordeaux region can be really good with custards.
With fruit desserts, especially a nice apple tart, I like a late harvest riesling.  The best are from Germany, but the best bargains now are mostly from California or Washington.

If you can’t find a late harvest riesling the next be choice is probably a late harvest muscat.  Italian versions, and some California versions, are labeled moscato.   California moscato is often heavier than their Italian cousins.

And whichever sweeter white wine you choose to pour with dessert, I’d be careful not to serve it too chilled.  Just take it out of the refrigerator a few minutes before serving.

Last year I found a good sweet riesling from California, from a valley that sits adjacent to southern Napa Valley’s Carneros district called Seisun (“seh SOON”) Valley.  It’s from Wooden Valley, where the Lanza family has been growing grapes and making wines for many decades.  ($10-$15 price range)

Wooden Valley Riesling is from Suisun Valley, right next door to Napa’s Carneros District.

Hello, everyone,
It’s been almost too hot to cook out the past several weeks, so let’s celebrate the break in the weather with our annual “Wines with Barbecue” issue.
Try a new wine this week!
Bruce

In the American South, the barbecue competition circuit is in full swing.  From the Southeast to Memphis to Kansas City to Lockhart, Texas, smokers are smokin’ and grillers are grillin’, enjoying “low and slow” the many hours required to turn out one of America’s most notable contributions to the food world.

Many fans have already discovered wine with barbecue.  In Little Rock, our barbecue wine dinners are some of the best attended and most requested. The key is to serve the sauce on the side, leaving the tender, juicy, smoke-infused meat to shine through, complemented by wine, usually red.

Most barbecue is pork.  Pulled pork comes from the upper part of the shoulder, curiously called a butt.  In Memphis, the ribs will almost certainly be baby backs, while in Kansas City you’ll likely be eating the larger spareribs.  Spareribs are from lower down—not at all “high on the hog”, as baby back fans will point out.  St. Louis style means spareribs with the bottom portion trimmed away.

In central Texas, “The Buckle on the Barbecue Belt”, they like beef brisket, smoked for 12-18 hours over live post oak fires.  The most famous, Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart (about 20 miles southeast of Austin), doesn’t serve theirs with sauce.  Few do.  In fact, they say that the only reason they created a sauce at all was for out of state visitors who kept requesting it.

Smoked chicken is less famous, but is included as one of four categories in a Kansas City Barbecue Society-sponsored competition.  I think smoked chicken tastes great, though as a Memphis Barbecue Network fan I really prefer pork.

Wine-wise, I like to begin with chicken, paired with a full-bodied white, not too crisp and tart but softer, fuller, rounder, and maybe oakier.  Warm climate whites, like Mediterranean varieties (Viognier comes to mind), work well.  For pork, I think instantly of fruit-centered reds like California or Oregon pinot noir, or syrah, or maybe a medium-weight California zinfandel.  With beef, I’d go with a big red, like an old-vine zin, mourvedre, or maybe a petite sirah.  Cabernet and merlot might be noticeably absent from my barbecue favorites list, especially cabernet.

For a good all-purpose barbecue wine, I like the petite sirah from Lot 205 winery in California.  It has enough depth and concentration for pork and beef, but is fruit-centered enough not to overwhelm some good smoked chicken.  And it retails for around $11 or $12 a bottle.

Barbecue fans know how good wine is with smoked meats!

Hello Everyone,
Even in the heat of summertime, many of us like red wines. This week we’ll look at a popular modern twist on a classic techinique.
Try a new wine this week!
Bruce

In some parts of the world, wines are made exclusively from a single grape variety. In others, they think that blending two or more together is better.  One historic example of improving one wine by adding another began in Bordeaux, France, home to some of the world’s greatest wines.

Why would the world’s greatest wines need improving?  Well, these days they probably don’t, but long ago, when an especially cool or wet season resulted in cabernets and merlots of Bordeaux that were too light in color, body and flavor, syrah from southeastern France was added.  Syrah is typically deep, dark and richly textured, just what a wimpy red needs.  This addition of syrah to cabernet sauvignon was called “Hermitaging”.

The name came from one of the Rhone River Valley’s greatest wines, Hermitage.  Hermitage is a deeply colored, full-bodied syrah from the northern stretches of southern France’s Rhone River Valley, where warm, sunny days yield grapes that are deep in color and rich in fruit.  Today they’re expensive, but before they gained their current fame they weren’t.  Adding it to cabernet made sense, though it was usually done in secret to protect the reputation of the more prestigious Bordeaux region.

In recent years Australia really popularized the syrah/cab blend, and their versions were at one time big sellers in the U.S. and around the world.

Today, Washington State has emerged as a prime place to grow both cabernet sauvignon and syrah, so I suppose it’s only natural to see this “Hermitaging” of cabernet happening there.  Charles Smith (K Vintners, Charles Smith Wines), and Charles Bieler (Three Thieves), worked together to make a 51% / 49% Columbia Valley cab/syrah blend called Charles and Charles Red.  It’s a big mouthful of red wine, with layers of black cherry and black raspberry flavors, toast and spice.  It retails for around $12 or $13 a bottle.

The label for Charles and Charles Red is a photograph of a wall of the American Legion Post 35 building near Walla Walla, Washington. Charles Smith bought the building and it is painted as a conceptual art piece. Its intention is to provoke thought of the future while honoring the past.

Hello Everyone,
This week I’m divulging the name and location of my favorite seafood restaurant, where a sommelier once recommended a wine that I still love today. And it’s not chardonnay …
Try a new wine this week!
Bruce

As much as I love a good chardonnay, nothing quite elevates a summer seafood dish like a crisp, racy, citrusy, unoaked vermentino.  Or a similarly styled verdelho.  They may not be household names in this country—yet—but around the Mediterranean people eat a lot of seafood and much of it is washed down with local wines like these.  This is the type of wine you have on vacation, and wish you could find back home.  The thing is, you can.

Most vermentino is from the area along and near Italy’s western coast, north and south of the famous leaning tower of Pisa.  The island of Sardinia grows a lot of it.  And almost predictably, my all time favorite summer seafood wine is grown in the same area as my favorite seafood restaurant.  Near Pisa is the ancient town of Lucca, and near Lucca is Ponte a Moriano. And at Ponte a Moriano you can find the restaurant, La Mora.

At La Mora, you’ll find plenty of fresh cotze (mussels), vongole (clams) and pesce (fish), prepared with Michelin-starred perfection.  And that’s where I had my first great vermentino experience, recommended by a sommelier to whom I remain appreciative.

I’ve had less of Portugal’s verdelho, but they’re largely in the same tart, unoaked style.  Another fine seafood wine is Spain’s verdejo, as similar in style as in name—not surprisingly, they’re often confused for one another.

As for viognier, it wasn’t many years back that American wine writers were discussing the possibility of it replacing chardonnay as our country’s go to white wine.  It hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t, but its softly dry nature and hints of honeysuckle can be a memorable match for subtle seafood dishes.

Not a lot of these grapes are being grown in California yet, but they are gaining ground.  One winey that blends vermentino, verdelho and viognier together, along with some sauvignon blanc, is Vina Robles, near the Central Coast wine town of Paso Robles.  Very warm summer days are followed by very chilly summer nights, with 50-degree swings in temperature.  This is not uncommon in dry climates, and these Mediterranean grape varieties thrive in it.  Vina Robles WHITE4 (“white wine to the power of four”) is estate-grown, unoaked, and a good match for summertime dining.  It retails for around $15.99.

WHITE4 from Vina Robles combines some of my favorite summertime grape varieties for a crisp, racy, citrusy, dry white wine.  It’s somewhat richer in texture than most of its European counterparts, making it appealing to chardonnay lovers.

Hello Everyone,
Let’s get ready for warm weather and summer menus with an overview of which types of wine pair best with an array of seafood dishes.
Try a new wine this week!
Bruce

It’s always seemed to me that there’s more variety in seafood dishes than in beef dishes.  From mussels and clams to Lobster Newberg, some are very light and delicate while others are much richer–especially those recipes that include cream and butter.  Some have lemon juice, which really affects a wine’s flavor, while others do not.  Here are some of my favorite seafood and wine combinations.

Boiled shrimp with riesling.  I’ve loved this match for years, every since, as a young fellow, I was introduced to it by a much more worldly couple.  The riesling should be on the dry side, but many riesling lovers, myself among them, prefer the classic “off-dry” style.  Ideally, the small amount of residual sugar in the wine is offset, almost hidden, by riesling’s naturally tart, green-apple-like acidity—which also obviates the need for lemon.

Mussels with sauvingon blanc.  Here’s another classic, especially with today’s crisp, lively, unoaked, “Pacific Rim” style popularized by New Zealand sauvingon blancs.  I include dishes like cioppino here, an Italian-style seafood soup or stew where seafood is simmered in a tomato-based broth.  For this combination I do like a little lemon juice.

Sauteed grouper with lightly-oaked chardonnay.  This dish can change a lot with the sauce, but simply deglazing the pan with wine, then reducing the wine a bit is one of my favorites.  Too much oak in the wine can dominate the fish, but I think a subtle touch of oak adds some complexity and body—hopefully just enough to complement this wonderful fish.  This is also the style of wine I like with most seafood bisques and other cream-based soups.

And speaking of cream, and, yes, butter, I can’t say no to a good Lobster Newberg.  Rich in flavor and texture, for me it calls for a full-throttle, oaky, buttery chardonnay, an increasingly difficult style to find.  Younger readers may not have had this classic combination yet, which means you’ve got something to look forward to.

Another style of chardonnay, found in many Central Coast offerings, has tropical fruit notes that pair well with fruit salsa’s. The combination of sweet and spicy is great on swordfish.

And, for us red wine lovers, it’s hard to beat tuna steaks and pinot noir, preferrably one that emphasizes cherry-like fruit flavors over toasty oak and puckery tannins.

California Karma Chardonnay is made with Monterey County grapes, where cool ocean breezes help the grapes retain their crisp, tart, palate-cleansing acidity. 70% unoaked, this is the style I like with sautéed grouper and seafood bisques.  It retails for around $13-$14 a bottle.