While Chardonnay is still the most popular American wine and Sauvignon Blanc is a solid second, many wine consumers are showing more interest in a diversity of flavor profiles from other grapes. Generally, you should find the wines in this column are bright, food-friendly and meant to be enjoyed at any time but especially with food. A surprisingly winning array of wines, even though mostly unfamiliar grape varieties
Let’s begin with chenin blanc, which originates from the Loire Valley where it makes fascinating, complex, luscious (dry or sweet), yet underappreciated wines. It also has been increasingly successful in South Africa. In California, it used to be produced in a fruity, slightly sweet style, though a few brave souls now make a dry style inspired by the fine wines of Savennieres.
The 2019 Aperture ($30), sourced from a seventy-year-old, dry farmed Sonoma vineyard is barrel fermented, resulting in succulent apple, pear, peach and citrus fruit with an intriguing herbal note.
The 2019 Chappellet “Molly Chappellet” ($38), with grapes from the winery’s Pritchard Hill estate, rewards with a concentrated complex of lively apple, tropical and stone fruits, and mineral notes.
The 2020 Dry Creek Vineyard ($16), a fine value and a perennial favorite from Clarksburg in Lodi, is aromatic, with juicy apple, peach, pear and honey.
Next, pinot blanc, a mutation of pinot noir, is more common in Alsace than Burgundy. It also is found in Austria (weissburgunder) and Germany (weissburgunder) and Northern Italy (pinot bianco). It tends to offer peach, pear, lime, melon and apple and present with have good weight.
The 2019 Ram’s Gate Estate ($38) with sustainably grown Carneros grapes, is crisp, full-bodied, with green apple, pear and melon. A fine value, the organic 2020 Girasole Mendocino ($14) is lively, with luscious peach, citrus, and pear. It also is vegan.
Another mutation of pinot noir, pinot gris also is more prominent in Alsace than Burgundy. It produces good wines in Germany and Austria (where it is known as grauburgunder or ruländer), and, of course, Italy (where it is known as pinot grigio). It’s the leading white variety in Oregon (though chardonnay is gaining) and increasingly popular in California. Also, its name refers to the greyish color of its skin and generally is noted for stone fruit, melon, and citrus.
The 2019 Balletto ($20), with estate-grown Russian River Valley grapes, offers delicious lemon, orange and apricot with baking spice.
I find the grapes of southern France, especially intriguing. Take grenache blanc. A mutation of the red grenache grape, it is widely grown there, although it originated in Spain. It produces fuller bodied wines with intense citrus and melon.
The 2019 Priest Ranch “Schrader Ranch” ($22) with its juicy estate grown Napa Valley fruit also offering pear and stone fruit, with a steely quality.
One of the lesser-known southern France grapes, though common in the Languedoc, picpoul is being given some interesting treatments in California. The 2020 Bonny Doon Beeswax Vineyard ($15), from the Arroyo Seco region in Monterey, sports high acidity with citrus, pear, peach and herbal notes.
And Rhône Valley varieties – generally, various combinations of viognier, roussanne, marsanne and grenache blanc – flowery lend themselves particularly well to blends.
The 2019 Sosie “White Blend” Rossi Ranch ($35) combines organically grown roussanne, grenache blanc and marsanne with native yeast fermentation to yield appealing green apple, pear and lemon.
The 2020 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier ($16) is a unique and innovative blend, Clarksburg chenin blanc supplies crispness and honey; Lodi viognier contributes intense apricot, apple and viscosity. Viognier once upon a time was quite rare but is now the most-planted white Rhône variety in the United States. It produces wines with intense aromatics of peach, apricot, apple, and floral notes, as well as viscosity and lushness. This wine successfully combines these two disparate grapes into a very good value.
The 2020 Bonny Doon “Le Cigare Blanc” ($15) blends 60% grenache blanc, with 32% vermentino and 8% clairette blanche from Central Coast vineyards for delicate yet flavorful of melon, peach, orange, and peach.
Although it still has a reputation of being only a sweet wine, riesling – the iconic grape of Germany – regularly is fashioned into wines that delightfully balance residual sugar and bracing acidity. But more and more, dry or off-dry Riesling wine is taking its place at the table. The best wines are delightfully juicy, dramatic expressions of green apple, grapefruit or peach (and sometimes peach or apricot) with crispness, occasionally with steely, mineral components.
The 2017 Smith Madrone Riesling Napa Valley ($34), from a dry-farmed estate vineyard on Spring Mountain, is an exemplary example with fruity flavors and a lively palate, with a slight stoniness.
Finally, most dentified with northwest Spain and northern Portugal (where it is known as alvarinho), albariñocan make invigorating, floral and citrus-flecked wines. There also are some interesting, successful examples in California, notably in the Central Coast region. The sample in my tasting, an unoaked 2020 Mettler Albariño ($20) was vibrant, yet rounded, with succulent apricot, orange, apple and peach. Just delightful.