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| Sep 09, 2010 - 02:59 PM |
Queen City News - Helena's FREE Weekly Newspaper |
Helena, Montana |
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Here are some more summertime wines for your enjoyment. I’m writing this column in late July and it’s almost too hot today even for these wines. They are all whites. Last night we bagged the wine entirely and went for some good, cold, local beers. Ah, Helena, what a place to live!
Reviews
Cline 2005 Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay blend. California (white). Rating: Good. Cost: $12. Alcohol: 14 percent.
This is a rather unusual blend. You don’t see this one very often. In fact, you don’t see a whole lot of blends with Chardonnay in them at all. I would venture to guess that is because Chardonnay is usually overpowering enough that other varietals get lost in the shuffle. That almost happens with this blend as well. Pinot Grigio is a dry, crisp, wine, usually with a very light body. (Pinot Gris is made from the same grape as Pinot Grigio but is heavier and more buttery.) This blend has 62 percent Pinot Grigio and 38 percent Chardonnay, and the Pinot Grigio is still almost lost.
The Pinot Grigio is most apparent right up front when you first take a sip of the wine. You have a very short shot of light citrus (pineapple maybe?) but that is quickly overshadowed by the heavier, buttery oakiness of the Chardonnay, which was obviously made in the Australian-U.S. tradition. To its credit, the wine is quite smooth.
I believe those of you who drink Chardonnay quite a bit will really like this wine, especially if you’re looking for a little twist on the usual Chardonnay. Those of you who like Pinot Grigio quite a bit but aren’t Chardonnay fans may not care for it. If you like both, you’ll probably like this wine. My recommendation is to have it with anything you’d ordinarily have a Chardonnay with (cream sauces, things that go good with butter, etc.), but you can also try it with salads and other light meals. I suggest that you chill this one a little more than you might ordinarily chill a Chardonnay.
Mirassou 2003 Sauvignon Blanc. California (white). Rating: Fair. Cost: $8.29 (on sale). Alcohol: 13.5 percent.
I was really disappointed in this one. Mirassou was once a very respected name in California wine. A few years back, after going into a decline, the label was bought by E. & J. Gallo. At that time, I was afraid that might be the death knell of Mirassou but kept up hope. Admittedly, Sauvignon Blanc wasn’t one of Mirassou’s previous specialties, so maybe it’s unfair to use this one as a bellwether, but it’s hard not to.
Mostly, I found the wine to be just simply blah. It was almost full-bodied, and I think Sauvignon Blanc should be on the light side of medium-bodied. Not much of a bouquet (pretentious wine term meaning smell). I almost wonder if Gallo had some leftover Sav Blanc that they were ashamed to put the name Gallo on, so they put it in here. Yikes!
My wife liked it more than I did. She liked the tanginess of it and the pineapple citrus flavor, but she also didn’t like the bouquet and said she probably wouldn’t buy it again.
Villa Maria Private Bin 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. New Zealand (white). Rating: Very Good. Cost: $13. Alcohol: 13.5 percent.
Now this is what a Sav Blanc should taste like. Tart, a bit of pineapple and honeysuckle, on the light side of medium-bodied. This one is almost a tad sweet even though the wine is completely dry. (Remember that dry is the opposite of sweet.) There are lots of things that can make a wine taste somewhat sweet besides sugar, so it’s not a complete oxymoron to say that a dry wine has a sweet side to it. In fact, this wine is almost rich in the same way that some fruits can be rich. Too much of it and you might get a stomach ache. Really good, ripe cantaloupe is rich, for example.
Chill this one well before serving 30-40 minutes in the freezer.
(Keith Lavender, aka, “The Wine Guy,” is a computer systems analyst and IT project manager with Northrop Grumman in Helena. His column appears in the Queen City News every other Wednesday.)
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The Queen City News is published every Wednesday in Helena, MT, by Mossback Media, LLC.
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