2009
~ No. 8
Summer Quaffing List
This
is the grown-up version of the summer reading list we endured
in high school. Don’t worry – there won’t
be a quiz later.
It started with my cousin, who emailed a wine recommendation
to add to my “professional arsenal of ‘everyday
drinkers.’”
I was going to just pass his suggestion straight on, but
got curious: What do other people enjoy quaffing on a hot
summer day? The call was put out and, wow, did people answer!
Take this list for what it’s worth: an easy way to
stretch your palate and make summer a little more enjoyable.
The Unusuals
My key takeaway is this: lesser-known white grapes make refreshing
wines and offer great value. And there are a LOT of them out
there!
Let’s kick this off with my cousin Ian’s favorite,
an unusual grape (silvaner) from an often-overlooked region
(Germany). The wine is the Gysler
Silvaner Halbtrocken. It is juicy, perfumed, charming, crisp
and as Ian puts it, “yummy.”
Along
those same lines, the gruner veltliner grape gets high marks
from Brett Davis, a Master Sommelier who works with Vintner
Select in Louisville, Kentucky. While the grape is traditionally
Austrian, Brett “recently ran into one from Oregon made
by Daedalus
Cellars that was quite impressive.”
And don’t forget gewürztraminer, the quirky grape
from Germany. Marlene Rossman, an instructor at the University
of California-Irvine Extension wine program and former sommelier,
loves that the wine is “light and floral. It can be
drunk as an aperitif or is good with shellfish or ceviche.”
She recently tasted the “marvelous” Keuka
Spring Gewürztraminer from, interestingly, New York’s
Finger Lakes.
Pat Smith, a self-described “dedicated wine drinker”
raves about lightly sparkling Vinho Verde wines from Portugal.
She says it “has captured my attention by the case.
[It’s] very refreshing.” As a bonus, you can usually
find a bottle for about $7.
Semillon from Australia’s Hunter Valley is “not
widely known,” says James Gosper, Director of North
America for Wine Australia, without a hint of irony. The grape
is important to white Bordeaux – particularly Sauternes
– but “has been grown in Australia for over 150
years,” according to Gosper. “It is made simply
but is extraordinarily minerally, crisp and lemony.”
Brands he recommends include Brokenwood
and Tyrrell’s.
The current fashion for Argentine wine is captured by Richard
Peck, the Wine Director at Devereaux’s in South Carolina.
He recommends the
Bodegas
Sur de los Andes Torrentes, noting that “the restaurant’s
guests rave about this grape. The wine is crisp and dry with
summery honeysuckle aromas.”
And if you really want to go off the beaten path, Bertil
Jean-Chronberg, General Manager and Wine Director at Boston’s
The Beehive restaurant, suggests a wine that “exudes
exotic happiness” for lunch or late afternoons at the
beach:
Chateau Indage’s The Mist of Sahyadri 2006, a chenin
blanc from India.
French
Classics
It’s impossible to go wrong with
a French wine, the oenophile’s little black dress.
Patrick Cappiello, Wine Director at GILT in New York, is
a huge fan of Chablis, the white Burgundy crafted from chardonnay.
“They are unique from any other chardonnay made anywhere
else on earth,” he says. How much does he love Chablis?
He’s planning to more than double the number of them
on his wine list over the next six months.
On the other hand, Aimee Tang selects Sancerre, sauvignon
blanc from the Loire Valley. “It’s perfect slightly
chilled, served on the patio once the afternoon heat disperses
and accompanied by d’Affinois triple-cream cheese,
Waterwheel thin crackers, dried apricots and pleasant conversation.”
Kind of makes you wish she’d invite you over.
Sunshine
in a Bottle
Wine
in Italy is all about pleasure, fun and food. Often light
and deceptively delicious, it’s no wonder these wines
are so well suited to languid summer days.
Coastal Italian whites are Derek Todd’s favorite
choice for summer. The co-owner of Wine Geeks in Armonk,
NY, loves “wines where you get a whiff of sea air”
and suggests looking for bottles from Sardinia or Sicily.
Diane Gross and Khalid Pitts, who opened Cork Wine Bar,
Washington DC, are “drinking anything white from Italy
that we can get our hands on.” Verdicchio from the
Marche is a particular favorite, as “it is bright
and crisp with exotic fruits [and is] lush and full-bodied.”
Valerie Bryce told me about something I’d never heard
of before: sparkling Pinot Grigio. Made in the Veneto by
Voga,
she likes it because it’s “fun and not as sweet
as Prosecco.” It sounds like a great alternative!
Of
Course They Love Their Own Wines…
But for this article, I wouldn’t let winemakers or
those directly associated with importing, selling or promoting
a wine comment on their own product. Two gentlemen gamely
went along with this and suggested their second favorite
summer wines.
Chuck Mansfield, a winemaker at Sonoma’s Hop Kiln,
enjoys Argentinean malbec as his summer sipper. Its “undertones
of campfire smokiness hold their own with the smoky flavors
of barbeque, one of the quintessential summer activities.”
Mark Gonsalves, Managing Partner for The Sopranos Wines,
notes that picking one favorite wine for summer “is
like asking Willy Wonka to name his favorite candy!”
He gives a “double thumbs up” to pinot grigio
(“It’s light and easy to drink.”) and
rosé (“Definitely a crowd pleaser!”)
Zippity
Do Dah
Riesling is one of the world’s greatest white wine
grapes, though it is highly undervalued by the drinking
public. Crafted in a range of styles, the best summer rieslings
are light, dry and quite zippy.
“Affordable, crisp, bright,” is how Wine Australia’s
James Gosper describes the grape. Some of the best come
from the Claire or Eden Valleys and are “brilliant
with seafood.” Labels to look for include Yalumba’s
Y Series, Pewsey
Vale, Peter
Lehmann or St.
Hallett for everyday and Kilikanoon
(pictured) or Grosset
for occasions requiring a splurge.
Washington riesling is a favorite of Celebrity Chef Kathy
Casey, who recommends Covey
Run. “You can enjoy it with your favorite salad
or on its own when you hang out with friends.” Kathy
has also been known to use the wine to make white Sangria.
With its lower alcohol content, Marlene Rossman suggests
a German Kabinett, a basic style of riesling that is perfect
when “it’s hot and you want to glug!”
Riesling “works great in hot weather,” agrees
Mary Watson-Delauder, Chief Wine Officer and Global Wine
Director at Benchmark Hospitality International. It’s
“great for just hanging out on the deck or for picnicking,”
she says.
The
Quintessential Quaff
With
its crisp texture and summer-fruit flavors, sauvignon blanc
is the grape most associated with summer. And lots of people
offered their particular favorite.
The staff at The Vine Bar in Coral Springs, Florida, collectively
suggest the Spy
Valley Sauvignon Blanc, noting that its “ripe
grapefruit and citrus nuances slice through the summer heat.”
Pair with cool salad or pasta dish.
Glazebrook
Sauvignon Blanc is Hope Roberts’s favorite. It’s
“crisp and delicious,” she says, with “vibrant
tropical fruit and herbal flavors.”
While the above wines are classic New Zealand style, California
sauvignon offers a more restrained take on the exuberant
grape. Molly Mulloy, an “enthusiastic novice with
about 200 bottles in my basement” recommends the Page
Mill Winery Saugivnon Blanc as “smoother and less
citrusy than most.”
Think
Pink
Rosé wines have their spiritual home on the sun-drenched
Mediterranean coast of France – and it’s no
question that a good bottle can transport you to an open-air
café overlooking the azure water. Is it any wonder
it has so many fans?
Among
them are Olivier Flosse, wine director at MARC Restaurants,
who loves the wine because “it’s the perfect
combination of red and white. You get all of the flavor
without heavy tannins. It’s the wine you have at 4
p.m., between the dry white for lunch and the red for dinner.”
The styles of rosé are enormously varied.
Dr. Sandy Strick, Director of Graduate Studies in the School
of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management at the University
of South Carolina, is a purist who loves rosé from
Provence. “They are wonderfully dry while still being
appropriately light for the hot summer temperatures and
the foods we love during these hot days.” Her pairing
suggestions include Niçoise salad, grilled fish and
tapas.
Another French option is the Lucien
Crochet Sancerre Rosé, crafted with pinot noir
from the Loire Valley. It’s a favorite of Cork Wine
Bar’s Diane Gross and Khalid Pitts who describe it
as “delicious and complex with great fruit.”
Leah Kolt, editor at Wine County Gourmet, loves the Vina
Robles Roseum, which combines French grapes (grenache,
syrah, mourvedre and viognier) with a California sensibility.
She calls it the perfect cocktail wine for a summer evening
and, at about $13, a “gift from the grape gods!”
To really perk things up, go for a sparkling rosé.
Molly Mulloy gives props to Gruet
Rosé, “a fabulous and affordable sparkling
wine made in New Mexico, of all places!” It seems
an odd location until you know that the family that started
the estate makes Champagne as well and was simply looking
for a new winemaking challenge!
Really?
Red?
Like the outdated white with fish, red wine with meat adage,
the notion of reserving white wines for summer and red wines
for winter is also increasingly passé. The trick is
in selecting the right red.
George Miliotes, a Master Sommelier and Director of Beverage
& Hospitality for Seasons 52 restaurants loves zinfandel
for the grill, suggesting Ravenswood,
Seghesio,
Rosenblum,
Ridge
and Rafinelli as labels to look for.
Miliotes
also gives chilled Beaujolais high marks for being a refreshing
choice that’s lower in alcohol.
Olivier Flosse of MARC Restaurants goes bold with his red
wine selection: Lucente,
a sangiovese, merlot and cabernet sauvignon blend that is
good with “an evening barbeque or even as an aperitif.”
Last but not least, the staff at The Vine Bar gets the final
say: Lyeth
Pinot Noir. They love it because it’s “versatile
and can pair with many dished that are generally considered
white-wine matches.” For best results, they say, serve
the wine slightly chilled.
Happy drinking!
