Somehow over the years it became fashionable to look down your nose at white wine if you fancied yourself a wine lover. While it’s not for us to pass judgment on anyone’s taste when it comes to the fruit of the vine, we can’t help wonder if there isn’t a bit of pretension at work in that bias – which is precisely why we devoted our June 29 World of Wine Tour class to the wonder of vino blanco.
Under the tutelage of Brad Cowan, our wine instructor from local distributor BRJ, we worked our way through six wines, along with Brick Oven Bistro hummus, quiche, cheeses, fresh veggies, and generous helpings of triple fudge brownies. The countries represented during the course of the evening were Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, New Zealand, and Spain – all of which know a thing or three about producing great tasting white wines.
Brad Cowan gets his game on
We started our evening with Twin Vines Vinho Verde, a wine that comes from the Jose Maria Fonseca winery of Portugal. The name, which translates as “green wine”, refers not to the wine’s color, which could be described as “straw”, but to the Vinho Verde region of Northern Portugal, a coastal area whose soil was once an ancient seabed. The Alberino grapes grown there produce a wine that has both spicy and mineral notes. Low in alcohol, this is a great patio wine that is best served well chilled. You can have some fun with it by adding slices of lemon or lime, or even some raspberry puree. Think of it as a Portuguese summer cocktail.
Rose never seems to get the respect it deserves, so it was appropriate that Brad selected one from Provence, the Sables D’Azur Rose – a wine that makes you feel sophisticated just saying the name correctly. Made with Grenache and Syrah grapes, the wine has a pink apricot color and is bone dry with floral notes. It was easy to see why Brad considers Provence his favorite place in the world for rose – and why this particular vintage is seldom in stock after July. We enjoyed it so much that we are now serving it at the restaurant by the glass or by the bottle – so keep that in mind the next time you order a Bistro Club Salad.
We made yet another visit to New Zealand with our next wine, which was a Walnut Block Collectibles Sauvignon Blanc. The Walnut Block winery is located in Marlboro, at the north end of South Island in New Zealand – an area well known for the quality of its wines. This straw colored wine has a slightly citrus and herbaceous nose that makes it sweet but not syrupy.
We moved on to somewhat more familiar white wine territory with a Spanish Quarter Chardonnay – a fruit forward wine made from 60% chardonnay and 40% albarino grapes fed by the waters of the Pyrenees Mountains. With notes of ruby red grapefruit, this is a sweet wine that you can chill and enjoy on a warm summer afternoon.
Next up was a sparkling wine from Germany, a Henkell Trocken. Similar to Italian prosecco but sweeter, this is an off dry wine that drinks smoothly, with what Brad described as a “fine rain of bubbles”. Now that’s poetry, my friends.
We finished up the evening with a Zonin Primo Amore Juliet from Italy, where vino and amore go together like Romeo and…well, Juliet. This was a delightful wine that was smooth and sweet, with mellow pear notes. Like the other wines we tasted during the class, this is a wine made for summer, a season of light and sweetness when less is more, and the weightiness of a bold red wine is not such an appealing companion to summer salads, cheeses, light pasta dishes, or simple grilled chicken or fish.
These are wines that cool your palate like a soft breeze, and make the heat of the day worth getting through to enjoy a simple repast outdoors. These are wines that celebrate not just summer, but la dolce vida – and at a sweet price as well. Amazingly, all of the wines we sampled during the class were light on the pocketbook at under $10 a bottle.
We’ll see you on July 27th for our class on Spanish wines!
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