To many people, if you say you want a white wine, they think Chardonnay. And while the Chardonnays of many vineyards are delightful, light and tart presenting a rich body and smart nose, many others are awkward, sour or overpowering. These latter ones, and the somewhat unpredictability of the varietal has caused me to search for an alternative, a more reliable alternative, to the ubiquitous Chardonnay. I should say here that most California Chardonnays, and some South African ones, are absolutely wonderful, well-crafted wines with nuanced and multi-layered flavors that entertain without overpowering. However, there are those others....
So I began my quest for the Chardonnay alternative. I learned to enjoy Pinot Grigio, which offers a lovely contrast to the Chardonnay grape and intend to write another article extolling its virtues, which are many. The German whites, Riesling, Liebfraumilch, etc. tend to be too sweet for my tastes, though they are very popular and many people find them quite charming. Then a friend encouraged me to try a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I had tried this varietal before, but it was European in origin, and consequently expensive and frankly, I didn’t find it terribly remarkable. But, this friend of mine is rarely wrong in matters of wine-loving interest, so I trudged to the local wine store and positioned myself in front of the New Zealand section. After a few moments, my eye was caught by a label that I felt was light-hearted and interesting enough to merit my attention. The bottle was not terribly expensive at $9, so I snatched it up and dashed home.
It was a summer evening, and that night’s dinner was a light pasta salad with vegetables, feta, black olives and fresh tomatoes in an olive oil and garlic dressing. I had chilled the wine thoroughly, though not overly, and popped the cork expectantly. Pouring myself a small portion, I sampled the nose of the wine and was greeted by the most amazing and almost overpowering freshness of citrus. In fact, not just any citrus, but strong grapefruit. The smell was so specific and strong that I read the entire label of the wine again to make sure that this was indeed grape wine of the variety Sauvignon Blanc with no additives or flavors beyond just the wine. I was startled at the strength of the grapefruit scent and had to know if it extended to the flavor of the wine.
I took a small bit in my mouth and breathed in over it. And while the flavor was redolent with grapefruit, it was not overpoweringly so. In fact, this was an absolutely charming wine with power, nuance, and grace. The citrus quality provided a freshness that I can barely describe except to say that I now enjoy this wine regularly as one of my absolute favorites.
Since then, I have sampled many vineyards’ Sauvignon Blanc offerings, and found them to have varying degrees of success. Frankly, my experience has been that Chile produces drinkable, but inferior bottles of this variety, while Australia and New Zealand seem to have mastered the graces of this delightful grape. South Africa, Europe and California are uneven in their efforts and can range from the masterful to the amateur without any noticeable indication by price or availability.
Frankly, this variety has become my very favorite and I seek it in all its forms whenever I can. I encourage you to try it with a nice, light chicken dinner or avocado salad.
For all the talk what “wine snobbery” does wine expertise come do to? In the end wine is nothing more than simply fermented fruit juice. And “rotten” or “fermented “fruit juice at that. The earliest evidence suggesting wine production comes from archaeological sites in Iran and Russian Georgia, dating from 6000 to 5000 B.C. (Before Christ). Wine has long been used as a safe storage form of precious water for human consumption, and for its use in religious and important cultural mores. Almost every culture and societal group on earth each somehow learnt to make simple alcoholic beverages.
This is no mere accident. Humans early on learnt the psychological effects that alcohol provides . Along the way they learnt to like affect and desired and even craved these effects of alcohol. Wine is even generally considered as a sexual anaphrodisiac among many cultures.
Today many important wine regions in Europe are proud of their wine histories which they date back all way to the early Roman era.
Wine itself in the end can be sourced from any fruit juice – although most commonly known as the fermented liquid of crushed grapes. Wine of course can be derived from grapes, plums, peaches, pears and in the end most fruit juices.
What about the different colors found in different varieties of wines. The color of the wine is the result of the length of time the skins remain with the juice doing the fermentation process. Basically wine comes in three colors- red ( reddish purple to light brown), whites ( whitish pale yellow to amber) and the mid range blush: which is of peach to light pink coloration.
Should wine be sweet or not sweet that is “dry”? Most wines are naturally dry. “Sweetness occurs when the fermentation is interrupted before all of the sugar can be converted to alcohol during the fermentation process. The producer of the wine can also add unfermented grape juice or a sweetener such as liquid sugar to the wine during its manufacturing process.
Most wines do not have extra alcohol added to them. That is they are in their “natural “or “virgin state”. These wines are referred to as not being fortified. That is they contain only the alcohol that was provided for in the fermentation process itself. However there are some wines – for example “Sherry”and “Port” are two wine family products that have their alcohol content enhanced and increased. This can be done in effect artificially and not by the normal standard fermentation process through the addition of straight alcohol to the wine. A kinder gentler means to adding alcohol to wine is to add distilled wine that is brandy to the wine.
Lastly wines can be bubbly themselves or have no effervescence. In the first category are “Sparkling” which have effervescence .These wines are bottled in thick heavy –set bottles with wire bound corks to keep the pressure in , whereas “Still” wines are wines bottled without Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and therefore have no bubbliness or effervesce. Still wines can be found bottled in ordinary bottles with ordinary corks.
In the end though it is safe to remember that wine is nothing more several different types of fruit juices , of different colors that is presented to you in different types of glasses, from different types of storage and transport containers which is presented to you to quench your thirst.
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