SUMMER SIPPING
We all have our “go to” wines for the summer….sparkling, rosés and lively whites. I would also expect that most of us tend to buy the same wines we are accustom to purchasing. Sometimes too many choices can steer us, myself included, to those wines we have bought before and have enjoyed.
I would like to suggest that we step outside of that comfort zone and discover some other options for your summer sipping!
My partner in crime Natalia, has been assisting me in finding some interesting and different white wines to enjoy this summer. The perks of planning a ladies summer sipping party!
For this tasting I was able to find all I was looking for at the LCBO. I drove to the LCBO on Cornwall St in Oakville because I think they have the best selection of wines other than the Summerhill LCBO in Toronto.
Natalia and I chose 6 wines to sample for our evening of tasting. We decided to keep the pairings simple to demonstrate that a get together with friends doesn’t have to be challenging. Sometimes a bag of popcorn is all you need!
Here’s our list of wines in the order which they were served
1– Vinho Verde-Maria Papoila- – Portugal – 2022-11.5% – $17.95 Grape Varietals- Loureiro, Alvarinho
Soil is Granitic Sand, from cooler region hence a “green wine” and less ripe style. Vinho Verde wines are produced in the Minho region of Northern Portugal and are influenced by the cold Atlantic Ocean.
Viticultural Practises-Organic Farming. Hand Harvesting.
Great value, made with indigenous varieties.
Alvarinho is the star, also known as Albariño in Spain. Other common varieties are Loureiro and Arinto, which can be blended with Alvarinho.
100% Alvarinho wines are usually more complex, and some can age as well as great Chardonnay. Look for subregions such as “Menção and Melgaço” on the label for this style.
Wines are fresh, high in acidity (fresh), and sometimes with a little residual sugar. If the alcohol is around 8-10%, the wine will have more sugar and probably some fizziness. It’s a simpler, traditional, inexpensive style. An example of this style you might like to try is Aleveda which is, $13 and only 9.5% alcohol! Wines with 12% vol. or more will have more complexity and will be dry. This is the style we tasted together. We found this wine to be bright with grassy notes, lime zest and great acidity. I think all of us really enjoyed this wine and it was a great choice to start off the evening!
Paired with popcorn and I thought both the herb and spicy version worked, complementing and contrasting the wine’s characteristics
2– Sancerre – Domaine Bonnard – France – 2022 – 12.5% – $32.95 Grape Varietal – Sauvignon Blanc which is the main variety in Bordeaux whites but shines in the Loire Valley. Sancerre and Touraine are the main subregions in the Loire Valley specialized in this style. It is also popular in New World regions such as New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. The French Sauvignon Blanc is usually more subtle or elegant than new world wine regions. This is because the winemaking styles and viticulture techniques in these New World countries tend to enhance greener aspects of this grape variety, usually described as gooseberry, grass, and asparagus. French Sauvignon Blanc will usually have notes of passion fruit and green apple.
Notes of fresh-cut grass and flinty minerality were noticed in the Sancerre we tasted. I am not a fan of Sauvignon Blanc but I love Sancerre! The minerality and more subtle aromas just do it for me and the Sancerre we tasted didn’t let me down. I loved it! I only wish the winery had a website so I could have learned more about this wine.
Niagara makes great cool climate Sauvignon Blanc! Featherstone has one of Natália’s favourites, and it’s really inexpensive.
Paired with goat cheese and pesto to accentuate the herbaceous of the wine
3– Chablis – Domaine Louis Moreau Valmur Chablis Grand Cru – 2020 – 13% – $105 Grape varietal – Chardonnay Cool climate and kimmeridgian soil containing fossilized ocean life helps to create the flinty characteristic Chablis is known for. – A great article for a deep dive into Chablis – Click here.
The winemaking style enhances fruit characteristics, therefore the use of oak in order to extract flavour is kept to a minimum. Complexity (and price) goes up in this order: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru, Grand Cru. The higher the rank, the more specific and special vineyard the grapes are selected from. Burgundy also makes exceptional Chardonnay, with more use of oak. Burgundy deserves time (and tastings!) to understand better, but this is a good introduction to this wine region: https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/guide-to-burgundy-wine-with-maps/
You absolutely do not have to spend over $100 for a Chablis but it was also interesting to taste a $105 Chablis! I’m glad we did because it was lovely and if I had money to burn I’d drink this every day!
Niagara makes world-class Chardonnay. A few to taste are Bachelder, Le Clos Jordanne, Domaine Queylus, Westcott, Tawse, Hidden Bench, 13th Street, and the list goes on and on…. Paired with sushi but a classic pairing is with oysters
4– Chardonnay – Kistler Les Noisetiers – Sonoma – 2022 – 14.1% – $139.95. Chardonnay is the most cultivated white grape variety in the world. Its neutrality in aroma and taste provides a blank canvas for its sense of place and the winemaking techniques used. During our tasting, besides the oak flavours (vanilla, toast, smoke, caramel, butter), it was also mentioned some tropical fruit notes, such as pineapple .This definitely was the most “oaked” wine of the night and not surprising as it is very common to have this style of Chardonnay from California. This wine is made using 25% new French oak barrels for 11 months – click here to learn more about Kistler Vineyards.
The Judgment of Paris changed the route for California wines in the 1970s. Read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine You could also watch the movie Bottle Shock to learn about one of the most famous Napa Chardonnays, Chateau Montelena 1973.
5– Riesling – Wegeler Slate Mosel Trocken – 2022 – 11.5% – $26.95. Riesling is a cool climate grape and is difficult to grow in warmer climates as it needs a cooler climate to produce higher acidity. Young wines have medium-intensity aromas of lime and honeydew, sometimes with slightly reductive smells of plastic or mineral notes. As wines age, they reveal high intensity aromas of honey, apricot, Meyer lemon and gasoline (petroleum). Click here for some extra reading on Riesling wine
Riesling is a cult favourite of sommeliers because of its complexity and food friendliness.
The Slate Riesling we tasted had petrol and citrus on the nose. Lime is particularly noticeable, along with delicate yellow fruit notes. Soil in Mosel is slate which produces a minerality in these wines. Terraced vineyards take advantage of the sunshine. click here to learn more about Mosel and these amazing Riesling wine.
Many consumers are afraid to buy riesling because they “sweet” but that is not always the case. The Riesling we tasted had 8 g/l of residual sugar which is great for a dry Riesling as the high acidity in this wine needs the sugar to taste balanced. If the sugar was any lower you would have a wine that would be too mouth puckering! Pairing of salami style meat but Rieslings are great with spicy foods such as Indian and Thai.
6– Chinon Blanc – Bruce Jack – Western Cape, South Africa – 2023 – 13.5% -$14.95. A French grape from the Loire Valley, Chenin Blanc nowadays calls South Africa its new home with over 50% of vineyards worldwide. Chenin Blanc is a very versatile….flat to sparkling, dry to sweet, oaked or unoaked. The wine we tasted was dry and as many wines done in this style from South Africa, there can be tart fruit characters as well as high acidity. Aromas of quince, yellow apple, stone fruit, chamomile and honey are also common. The winemaker’s notes were short and sweet, “peaches and cream with a bit of vanilla” We picked up on the stone fruit characteristics and with the fresh acidity, this is a great wine to drink poolside but is also food friendly. Paired with Brie cheese and tapenade, the bright acidity of the wine cuts through the richness of the cheese.
Whether these wines were familiar to you or not, it’s still fun to check out some new and interesting varietals and styles. Natália loved the Chablis which needs no explanation! I also really enjoyed the Vinho Verde especially the Aleveda that I discovered after choosing the wines for our wine tasting. I will definitely be drinking some of my new discoveries poolside and everyone is invited to join me!
