White Body
White Wines for Beginners
For those who are just beginning to delve into the wonderful world of wine, you may well be confused by the amazing variety of wines reds, whites, blends, bubblies and the many, many choices within each of those wide categories. We’ll select just one of those for this intro white wines. We’ll provide a short tour of the most well-known varietals (types of grapes), tell you what you might expect from each and what distinguishes them from each other.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is absolutely the most popular white wine in America in fact, it’s quite commonly the only white wine many wine drinkers buy. Chardonnay is commonly the first white wine a new wine explorer will sample, largely because it is so accessible. Chardonnay is typically on the dry side, meaning not very sweet, and it usually has flavors of apples, tropical fruit, vanilla, and butter, and a varying amount of oak, depending on the winery where it was produced. White Burgundy, from France, is nearly always all Chardonnay. Many other wine regions around the world produce Chardonnay, including Australia and Chile. It’s quiteeasy to find good choices of American Chardonnay available for under $20. Popularand reliable producers include BV, Chateau St. Michelle, and Columbia Crest, and others.
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc, also known as Fume Blanc, is another very popular white wine. Sauvignon Blanc is quite often described as freshly mown, meaning that it reminds the drinker of freshly mown grass. It is a medium-bodied white wine with noticeably fruity aromas like grapefruit, melon, and peach, and is dry and refreshing with medium acidity. Sauvignon Blanc is a wonderful summer wine, especially good with seafood and it’s a great match for appetizers and picnics. A very nice choice, for under 15 dollars, is offered by Babich (New Zealand).
Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio, sometimes referred to as Pinot Gris (the actual grape’s name), is Italy’s most popular white wine, and is popular throughout the world, although the Italian Pinot Grigios are a littlebland. Pinot Grigios are easy to drink, due to their crisp, light taste. Oregon’s Pinot Gris tend to have more character, offering medium body, with more pronounced fruit and more acidity. Higher quality bottles have fruity flavors of apple, pear, honeydew and a bit of spice. A couple of very nice Pinot Gris from Oregon, available at between $12-$18, are King Estate and Chateau St. Michelle, among others.
Riesling
Riesling wines are generally considered the most popular German wine, and they are produced in two extremely different styles dry and sweet. Rieslings are categorized by the ripeness of the grapes when they’re picked. Kabinett indicatesnormally ripe grapes, and is a light to medium-bodied, mostly dry wine. You’ll oftensee the word trocken on a bottle of Riesling, which means dry in German. “Spatlese” is produced from grapes picked later, and results in a bit richer, somewhatsweeter, wine. Auslese, which means late harvest, is made from an even riper grape, and is typically verysweet. Rieslings are typically fruity, with apple, peach, and honeysuckle tastes and floral undertones. Rieslings are relatively inexpensive – you can find excellent selections for under $10. One reliably very goodchoice is Strub Niertsteiner Riesling Kabinett, along withChateau Ste. Michelle Riesling.
Gewurztraminer
Gewurztraminer is another popularwhite wine from Germany, while also being produced in the U.S., France, New Zealand, and Australia. Gewurztraminer is also madein both dry and sweet styles. Gewurztraminers have a brash, full-bodied taste, considerably more so than most other whites. Typical aromas found inGewurztraminer are rosewater and lychee nuts, and its flavors include apricot, honeysuckle, and honey. A nice, inexpensive Gewurztraminer is available fromTrimbach (France, under $15).
A final note
The best way to figure out your own preferencesin white wine is to just pick out a samplingof bottles, and give them a try. For each varietal, you’ll want to choose a bottle that’s typical of the style you’re investigating. Websites like Wine.com can be very helpfulwith finding solid, yet inexpensive choices. Once you find a varietal and producer you find particularly enjoyable, you might want to pick up a case to have on hand for entertaining, or to just enjoy at home. Most white wines won’t improve with aging, so you won’t want to keep them around for years. However, you dowant to be sure to properly store your wine, so they keepthe wonderful flavors and aromas you appreciate. You might consider investingin an small wine chiller, to keep all your wines at their absolute best.
White wines are best served moderately chilled, so you might want to refrigerate them beforehand, then take them outaround 15-20 minutes before serving. Better yet, is topick up an electric wine chiller, which will chill (or warm) a single wine bottleto the perfect temperature automatically just select the pre-programmedwine varietal, insert the bottle, and the chiller will cool your wine to the best temperature, and keep your wine at that temperaturethroughout your wine tasting.