Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, and then there’s more Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  And yeah, there’s the occasional Riesling or Viognier to take a break from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  But isn’t there more to fine white wine than the hegemony of the usual triumvirate?  And what are some other great white wines?  The world’s full of fine white wines that don’t receive the attention they deserve.  For starters, how about Falanghina?  Don’t try to pronounce it.  Even in Italian, the name Falanghina (an indigenous grape variety of Italy’s Campania) doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.  Bright, fruity, soft, seductive, yet dry and refreshing, a growing number of first class Campanian producers are sending Falanghina our way.  Try it!  The same can be said for Greco and Fiano di Avellino, two super premium grape varieties from Italy’s alluring Amalfi Coast.

Greco and Fiano di Avellino are truly beautiful white wines that drink well alone and with food, especially seafood.  Verdicchio is another crowd pleasing white wine from Italy that is now better than ever.  Gruner Veltliner, Austria’s iconic white grape variety, also deserves to be better known.  It makes a wonderful aperitif, and it pairs beautifully with Asian and Fusion cuisines.  Gewurztraminer is another unsung hero.  It’s one of the few white wines that can hold up to heat and heady Asian stir fries as well as rich pâtés and smoked meats.  Gewurztraminer is never outclassed by the food, and it can be enjoyed as an aperitif or in place of dessert.  And these grapes are just a few of the great white varietals that abound.  So, why not really step outside of the Chardonnay/Sauvignon box?

A votre santé
Don Lahey

For more than a century Zinfandel has run the gamut in California from boom to bust and back.  Brought to fore during California’s Gold Rush, the hills of Amador County still yield plenty of  the luscious, spicy, often chameleon-like grape we call Zinfandel.  Zinfandel is widely believed to be descended from Primitivo, a European varietal now cultivated in Italy, which happens to be identical in DNA to the ancient Croatian varietal Crljenak Kaštelanski.  This DNA match up confirms Zinfandel as one of the oldest continuously cultivated grape varieties in the world.  Yet, it wasn’t until Zinfandel traveled to America that it found its true home – California.  Although the first definitive California plantings of Zinfandel took place just prior to the middle of the 19^th century, it didn’t take long for Zinfandel to gain favor in America, first with the 49’ers and then with the waves of Italian immigrants who made their way west.

Today, Zinfandel is widely acknowledged as America’s Heritage wine with more than 50,000 acres under cultivation, nearly all of it in California.  Although most important grape varieties have their reference points in Europe, Zinfandel bills itself as an American success story, and its history reads as the classic rags to riches tale. What has no doubt made Zinfandel so popular in America is the grape’s ability to adapt to different climates and treatments.  Zinfandel is a grape capable of producing rich intense red wines of more than 15% alcohol as well as light fruity “blush” wines.  What more can one ask for?  How about a glass and a bottle of Terra d’Oro’s 2010 Amador County Zin?

Salud!
Don Lahey

Where do you find the world’s best wine values?  I think that depends on one’s tastes and how adept a person is at ferreting out wines from relatively unknown viticultural areas.   It never ceases to amaze me how much good wine remains undiscovered and appreciated, simply because they hail from relatively obscure wine regions and undiscovered wineries and wines makers.  Many of the world’s good wines, even some of the world’s great wines, flow from places not exactly on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

Let’s take Uruguay for example.  Yes, I do mean that tiny prosperous South American country with a stable democratic government, a temperate climate, and a centuries’ old tradition of winemaking – all of which remain hidden from most wine lovers in North America.  Why?  Two reasons appear as culprits.  First, the folks in Uruguay truly enjoy wine and drink most of what they make themselves and secondly, we in the U.S. tend to be mistrustful or at least oblivious to anything we haven’t seen highly advertised or rated by a dozen or more critics, whom we tend to believe are more adept at determining our tastes than we are.

Happily, Uruguay is no longer content to keep its best wines to itself.  And Artesana, an ultra-premium producer from Uruguay, is another example of a very good wine producer from a relatively obscure locale.  Artesana recently featured some of their estate wines at the International Wine Bloggers’ Conference to considerable acclaim.  Artesana’s 2011 Tannat/Merlot comes across as a crowd pleaser, though the winery’s more traditional and tannic 2011Tannat (a French grape, which lends its name to the word tannin) shows well, too.  And Artesana is just one of a growing number of producers of fine wines from Uruguay whose wares can now be found in the U.S.  Artesana’s wines are well worth seeking out.

Cheers!
Don