By summer's end I find myself eager to explore and ready to move beyond my usual and familiar white wines. With the many white wine styles available there are lots of options.
Chenin blanc is often described as having a split personality. This can be attributed to the various techniques used by winemakers such as stainless steel vs. barrel maturation and whether or not to allow lees contact. Styles can range from bone-dry to lusciously sweet. The dry style from France's Loire Valley tends to have a distinct mineral taste but other chenin blanc from the same region can be an extraordinarily sumptuous, honey flavored sweet wine. Chenin blanc from South Africa has a tendency to express tropical flavors of pineapple and melon. California, Argentina and Australia generally use chenin blanc as a blending partner for white wines.
THE VALUE
2012 Dry Creek Chenin Blanc, California (about $14 retail)
THE SPLURGE
2012 Champalou Vouvray, France (about $26 retail)
Viognier is known for being difficult to grow and temperamental. In the early 1990s it was a fashionable white grape variety on most wine lists around the world. Today, people seem to pass it by unless they are familiar with its refreshing light-bodied style. It's most famous for its home in the French Rhone appellation Condrieu. If you are lucky enough to find a bottle from Chateau-Grillet, the only other all viognier growing region in France, it is extraordinary. It's generally a deep yellow medium-bodied wine with spectacular aromas of apricots, peaches and blossoms.
THE VALUE
2012 Cline Vineyards Viognier, California (about $12 retail)
THE SPLURGE
2012 Calera Mount Harlan Viognier, California (about $38 retail)
Along with Riesling, Semillon is one of the unsung heroes of the wine world. Known for its unchallenged taste in the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac, it can also be a refreshing dry white wine. It has a fresh pineapple flavor and can even taste of roasted nuts as it ages. In the classic Bordeaux white wines it is used as a blending partner with sauvignon blanc, softening the high acidity this grape demonstrates. There are many values to be had in Australia and the United States, where Semillon is usually used in blending with other white grapes, primarily chardonnay.
THE VALUE
2012 Chateau Bonnet, France (about $15 retail)
THE SPLURGE
2012 Spann Vineyards Betsy's Backacher Semillon-Chardonnay, California (about $20 retail)
Lorri Hambuchen is a member of London's Institute of Wines and Spirits. Contact her at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or email:
uncorked@thewinectr.com
Food on 08/20/2014