Posted on: Wednesday, January 2, 2002

Vintages
There's lots more to white wine than chardonnay

By Randal Caparoso
Special to The Advertiser

When I first began to enjoy wine, it was still available in any American restaurant — from the most casual spaghetti house to the finest French restaurant — in only three flavors:burgundy, chablis and rose.

Brand didn't matter much back in the early '70s, because each was as good, or as bad, as the other. You ordered burgundy, chablis or rose by a thick-lipped six-ounce glass filled to the top, or by a one-liter carafe or half-carafe. It was easy to get these carafes for your own "fancy" home service, since Paul Masson sold wine in these bottles, which could be reused. And no less than Orson Welles would come on television to tell us that at Paul Masson, "We will sell no wine before its time."

It's only been about 15 years since most Americans first began to order chardonnay rather than chablis, cabernet sauvignon or merlot rather than burgundy, and white zinfandel rather than rose.We've also become much more comfortable with the role of food as it relates to wine in our lives.In the '70s, you may not have heard of risotto or arugula, much less viognier and weissburgunder. But now you're rattling off the names of Mediterranean herbs and Chinese cabbages like a pro, and wines such as Le Cigare and Tempranillo like the names of cars and cigarettes.

But have you reached the point where merlot and chardonnay no longer excites you? Join the crowd.And as you might expect, wine producers, retailers and restaurants around the world have been rushing to fulfill your need for something new, different, and better than what you enjoyed before.And why not? What's the use of having a 21st century if not for doing better than what we had in the 20th?

The following is a description of select wines that, for me, represent significant changes in the way many of us will be thinking about fine wine in the years to come.Some of these wines are rare, but you will be able to find suitable substitutes if you look hard enough; or if you do the simplest thing, which is to ask your retailer for recommendations. Today, we'll cover white wines; look for a continuation of this column in next week's Taste section, covering red wines.

• Bonny Doon, "Critique of Pure Riesling" (Washington state) — The goal of Santa Cruz's Randall Grahm is a 100 percent riesling that takes you somewhere between the Yakima Valley, Alsace and the Mosel: a wine of complete dryness, capturing an exhilarating acidity with perfect roundness (abetted by finishing fermentation in the barrel) and sense of fullness, plus the grape's natural wildflower perfume lit up by a minerally spark.

Does he achieve it? Amazingly, yes; and in doing so, creating one of the most food-versatile white wines you'll ever find.

• Anselmi, "Capitel Croce" Soave Classico (Veneto, Italy) — The knee-jerk "terroirist" (from terroire, the French term for land or place of origin, meaning those who hold traditional treatment of vineyards and winemaking practices most sacred) would say that white wines from soave should not see French oak.

But what's wrong with that if it expands the flavor of the grape (the native garganega variety) and makes it that much more of a delicious wine?

There is, of course, no resemblance between this single vineyard bottling and the sea of ordinary soaves except for the ease of drinking. This is a "Big Ease," for all its toasty, richly creamy flavors (resulting from the barrel fermentation) that complement round, stony, crisp pear and appley qualities that flatter and freshen the palate.

• Weinhaus Heger, Pinot Gris (Baden, Germany) — Joachim Heger is not the only winemaker crafting beautiful pinot gris these days. There is a legion of them across the river from him in Alsace, France, and certainly Oregon has grown in leaps and bounds.

But Heger is one of the few who throws 99 percent of his efforts into meticulous vineyard practices; and, once the grapes are in the winery, wise enough to leave well enough alone. Here, the distinctive varietal spice and minerality sings and whistles clear as a bell — you begin to truly sense the grape's long-ago origin as a mutation of the pinot noir grape — and the puristic, no-oak treatment gives vibrantly fresh, floral qualities, and lush, lively flavors of full intensity but incredibly nimble, airy, silken lightness.

My all-time favorite dish for this wine, one that expands its fruity minerality, is Chinese-style steamed white fish (Chilean sea bass, snapper or mahimahi), finished with sizzling hot peanut oil laced with garlic, ginger, fresh cilantro and soy sauce.

Will pinot gris be the chardonnay of the 21st century? Perhaps not. But irresistibly fine versions like this are bound to make it a wine of great and enduring significance.

• Verdad, Santa Ynez Valley Albarino — This white wine, produced by Qupé Vineyards' Bob Lindquist under a new label (Verdad), represents the first successful California bottling of the albarino grape, which originates in Spain. The wine is dry and zesty, in the tradition of the finest Spanish-grown albarinos (such as Lusco, Morgadio and Paso de Senoran), wonderfully light and scented, and suggestive of honey, wild flowers, and flinty smoke.

Try this with your next shrimp cocktail, bucket of clams, plate of ceviche, oysters or sashimi — foods that we'll be always be eating while food fashions come and go. Because it is so fresh, light, fine and zingy, California-grown Albarino may very well become our first choice of white wines of the future.

• Kim Crawford, "Unoaked" Marlborough Chardonnay (New Zealand) — New Zealanders are quite proud of their unrepentantly herbaceous sauvignon blancs, and they are now bragging about with pinot noir. But where their cold climate conditions really excel are in chardonnays, which are intensely fruity enough to stand completely alone, without the benefit of oak barrel fermentation or aging.

Outside of Chablis in France — known for steely, unfruity chardonnay-based wines — nowhere else in the world is this truly possible except in New Zealand.

The Kim Crawford is one of the better examples of this uniquely pure, stainless steel-fermented styles; a white wine that charms rather than attacks the nose and palate, entering with a naturally creamy, sweet apple/pear fruitiness, and finishing with palate freshening crispness, a lacy texture, and soft, easy finish.

•Pojer e Sandri, Trentino Traminer (Italy) — Few wines fell as far out of fashion in the 1990s as gewurztraminer, which is a shame. Perhaps it's because the top Alsatian producers, greedy for 95 point scores from Robert Parker, began to make the type of thick, honeyed, bitter-edged high alcohol gewurztraminers that taste no good with anything but themselves, or plates of German-style sausage.

But gewurztraminer doesn't have to be like that.

This version from northern Italy is neither sweet nor alcoholic; just light, easy, full of grace and all the positive things about the varietal fragrance: the white peppery, peach and lychee-like fruitiness, blossoming in the glass. Despite its dryness and soft acidity (also the nature of the grape) the wine is smooth and silky enough to handle any Asian, Pacific Rim or even Indian seasoned dishes with aplomb, even when punctuated by chutneys or fruit infused sauces.

At some point, more producers around the world will feel the urge to highlight the grape's fresh, friendly, fruity exuberance, rather than sheer, raw power. A number of California producers (such as xHandley, Storrs and Thomas Fogarty) are already doing it, and the Germans (especially in the Pfalz) are certainly capable. Hope it's soon!

• Next week: Red wines

Randal Caparoso is corporate wine buyer for Roy's Restaurants; his column appears every other week in the Taste section. Contact him at taste@honoluluadvertiser.com.