International Whites for the Fussy Drinker

Summer is here, and many of us are drinking more white wine.  The trouble is always finding the right white wine.  There are those who drink only Chardonnay, anything but Chardonnay, or Sauvignon Blanc all the time.   For the rest of us, there is a wide range of white wines out there for every palette, meal, and preference.  The usual search can include any or all of the following: not too much acid but not too sweet, sufficient flavor but not oak, and enough weight without overpowering summer food.  The world, especially Europe, has a bunch of white wine alternatives to what California grows, and these are just the beginning!

This white wine is from Umbria, and has sufficient body from earthiness balanced by honey, pineapple, and sage!  It is dry but so full of flavor and body for a white wine.  This is one of my favorite white wines, year after year.

Geek facts about the Grechetto grape -the thick skin provides resistance to mildew which makes it an appealing grape not just for its own wine, but also for blends.  A grape that gained late popularity, when the Assisi area established legal standards for wines, they included Grechetto provisions.

Geek facts about Umbria – in the middle of Italy, Umbria has dry, sunny  summers and cold, rainy winters.  Most vineyards are on hillsides and produces mostly white wines.

This wine is made from the Torrontes grape, which is grown predominantly in Argentina these days.  This is a lush wine full of peach and apricot flavors with floral hints, reminiscent of Viognier.  A wine highly sensitive to the making process, this wine was made from grapes grown on high altitudes.  At three different harvesting times, the grapes are hand-picked and after the wine is made, it is aged in a controlled climate.  Experts say that poorly made Torrontes wine can be very acidic and bitter, although some are also poorly balanced with too much fruit and not enough acid.  The wrong sized harvest yield may also impact the wine quality, usually a larger yield renders a poorer quality grape.  At the end of the day, Torrontes is one of those grapes that needs TLC during the whole wine-making process.  Clearly well-made, this wine is delicious, and an affordable alternative to expensive Viognier wines.

Muscadet wines are very popular around this time of year, and this maker is very popular with Muscadet fans.  The Muscadet grapes are grown between the Sevre and the Maineon hillsides of Saint-Fiacre in accordance with sustainable agricultural methods. The name ‘Muscadet’ is supposedly a reference to a characteristic of the wine produced by the grape variety: vin qui a un goût musqué – ‘wine with a musk-like taste’.  It is strange, because these days, the wine does not taste musky.  This wine is soft and crisp with a fine acidity and soft structure.  Like many white wines, this one is recommended for seafood, especially oysters.  Best of all, it is usually an inexpensive wine!

Picpoul is the grape of this wine, and it has odors of honey, peach, and lemon.  The actual flavor is a combination of the same but with earthy muskiness as well.  For a white wine, it has a lot of flavor and relatively high acidity although the acid doesn’t bother me.  It has some minerality, but not like other waterside white wines like Sancerre.  Picpoul, or Piquepoul, is grown primarily in the Rhone Valley and Languedoc regions of France. It exists both in dark-skinned (“noir”) and light-skinned (“blanc“) versions, as well as an infrequently grown Piquepoul gris. Piquepoul blanc is the most common and tends to bud late.  When drinking the wine, don’t drink it at refrigerator temperature — let it warm up to room temperature a little.  This wine is another inexpensive white, for the thrifty buyer!