Interesting Whites
Now that spring is teasing us with some warm weather, Mother’s Day is this weekend, and last week we focused on Big BBQ Reds last week, I think it’s time to give the white wine world some love! Personally, I love awesome whites. But my cellar is mostly red, but not because I like red wine more, or because white wine can’t age as well (not true!) but because I drink all the whites!
This week I’m going to purposely steer clear of all the usual suspects like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, or Pinot Gris that everyone knows and loves and get a little off the beaten path and focus on some favourite white varietals or styles you may not be as familiar with. We won’t get too crazy or funky with it, just stepping a little outside of the box.
Drinking Basa with Telmo Rodriguez outside his winery.
OK, full disclosure: this is my favourite white wine under $20 in our portfolio. I hate to be so biased and choose favourites (sorry other white wines!) but I’ve been buying this wine for at home drinking for years and I always go back to it because it’s just so dang good. It’s 90% Verdejo and 10% Viura from the Rueda region of central Spain. It’s called Basa because it is the ‘base’ or foundation of Telmo’s whole operation. It was the first wine he ever made, when his original motivation was to showcase Spain as a legitimate white wine country. Too many people think Spain is only good for serious red wines and that’s simply not true. And here’s a very serious Spanish white for under $20! Click here to read more on Telmo and his traditionalist revival, aka crazy heroic viticulture.
A buddy of mine recently asked for a white under $20 with “a bit of resistance.” He meant something that was fresh and easy drinking, but not just fruity and straight-forward. Something with a little kink to it, that gives you pause or makes you think in addition to just being delicious. Immediately I thought of the ‘Basa’, and also knew that I would be stealing that term to describe it. Think tangy, lychee fruit and melon, mixed in with some lime pith or lemon zest and a bunch of nice minerality for texture, complexity, and freshness. It’s the old friend I always go back to, and it might just be your new best friend. Click here to check out the story of Basa, the spec sheet, and some stunning pictures from Rueda where these grapes come from on Telmo’s website.
Albarino label, with a map from Cluny to Lagrasse.
This is almost like traditional Spanish Albariño and Chablis had a baby. And I love Albariño but Chablis is my spirit animal. This is a dynamite wine for $19. Albariño is most famous from northern Spain in the Rias Baixas region of Galicaia, but it was originally brought to Spain by French monks from Cluny. Even the name Albariño literally means white grape from the Rhine “(Alba” = White, “riño” = Rhine) which means it would have come from Germany before that. And in 2009 when Laurent found a particular parcel of land in the Lagrasse area of Languedoc on a 350m hilltop, with limestone soils, warm days and cool breezy nights, he decided to repatriate the grape to this microclimate and pioneer a revival of Albariño near it’s historic home. And Laurent Miquel is one for history. His farming family acquired some excellent old vineyards after the French Revolution and over the following 7 generations built an amazing grape growing business amassing vineyards throughout the Languedoc-Roussillon in the South of France. Today the winery is run by Laurent, farmed organically and certified sustainable. All their grapes are estate grown, they don’t buy anything, controlling the quality from start to finish.
Like the Basa, this Albariño also offers a bit of resistance. And its clear that this beauty is grown on limestone in a cooler climate, offering hints of Petit Chablis-like character with it’s layered mix of grapefruit, zippy lemon/lime citrus character, but also a slightly richer creamy texture from time aging on the lees (the dead yeast cells after fermentation) which impart a richer texture and nice mineral complexity. Another easy drinking wine with more to it than initially meets the eye. If you’re new to Albariño this is a great one to try, if you’re already a fan of the Spanish version, this will be a really interesting comparison!
Karoline Walch, showing me around her family’s mountain-side Gewurztraminer vineyards in Tramin, Alto Adige.
Gewurztraminer can be a bit polarizing. People who love Gewurztraminer love it’s complex intermingling of spices, floral characteristics, and textures. People who hate Gewurztraminer usually do because it can sometimes be overripe and sweet without enough acidity to balance which can sometimes be cloying, flabby and overly perfumed. Whether you love or hate Gewurztraminer, this wine is for you. It will either introduce you to a beautiful new expression of the grape you may never had, or it will change your mind and make you a fan. This one is bone-dry and really really good. You don’t often find great examples of dry Gewurz, but Elena Walch has built a reputation as “The Queen of Gewurztraminer”…in Italy of all places! Here’s a great little article on her in The Wine Spectator for some context.
Most people also think Gewurztraminer is from Alsace, but it’s actually from the small idyllic mountainside town of Tramin in northern Italy where the Walch’s are located. The grape name literally means “spicy grape from Tramin’. Their winery and vineyards look like a castle out of a ferry tale, and the women who run this winery are it’s Queen and Princesses…but a super cool Queen and badass Princesses who actually work the vineyards themselves, not the pretentious aristocratic kind. Click here to check out their website and beautiful property. I just cracked a bottle of this over the weekend to re-acquaint myself with it and introduce it to my wife and neighbours who approved immensely (from a safe social distance, of course). With this wine, expect something elegantly aromatic, but not the overly perfume-y or potpourri that Gewurz can sometimes be. Look for lychee, melon, roses and balanced acidity with an unctuous texture that makes this a fuller bodied wine with no oak and very little residual sugar. An awesome wine to pair with richer seafood (sauteed or grilled prawns, scallops, lobster), foie gras, or just flip flops on the back deck.
Jean-Francois Bourdy in his family’s medieval wine cellar.
Jura has been one of the most under-rated wine regions for decades, if not centuries. This is some of the most traditional wines still being made on the planet, almost identically to how they were made several hundred years ago. The Bourdy family has been making wine in the same space since 1475. Since the middle ages!! Think about that, that’s like knights in armour times! They’ve worked in the same cellar of the same house, in the same way, for 17 generations! And they still have wines for sale as far back as 1781 to prove it! For more context on this, check out this post from my visit to the winery a few years ago. Jura itself is a bit of a time warp. And Jura wines are very possibly the most age-worthy wines in the world. This $40 Cotes du Jura Blanc will outlive your grandchildren, I don’t care if you’re 25, it will still outlive your eventual grandchildren.
While this Cotes du Jura is 100% Chardonnay, it’s not your typical Chardonnay. Do not expect California and do not expect Burgundy either. Even though Beaune is only an hour drive to the west, Jura’s blue marl soils coupled with the intentionally oxidative winemaking in Jura creates something entirely unique to themselves. In a blind tasting you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a nutty Fino Sherry or a really good Burgundy that had been left open a few days. It’s definitely a bit funky, but in the absolute best way. It can often seem a bit overpowering on the first sip or two but the rich, baked apple, bruised orange, nutty, earthy, mineral and slight sherry notes all blend together and make outstanding pairings for Comté cheese (also made in the Jura!), mushrooms, roast chicken, coq-a-vin, oily fish like Mackerel, and even oysters. A super versatile wine. Very much worth exploring!
What heaven must look like…
If you’re looking for a really nice Mother’s Day gift, look no further. And at the risk of disclosing too many personal favourites in a single email, Domaine Weinbach might be my favourite winery of all time. I don’t think I’d offend too many other wineries by saying that, as they’d probably agree with me! This is not only one of the best wineries in Alsace, it’s one of the best white wine houses in the world, full stop. My ‘pilgrimage’ to Domaine Weinbach in early 2014, still remains one of my most memorable winery visits and a highlight of my career. Domaine Weinbach was originally a Capucin monk Monestary that was later turned into a winery and acquired by the Faller family. When Theo Faller died in the 1970’s it was left to his wife Collette and daughters Laurence and Catherine to take the reins. Today seeing women running wineries is an increasingly common scene, but in the 1970’s-1990’s it was not. Under the direction of the Faller women, Weinbach rose to the highest levels of prominence in Alsace. They also pioneered biodynamics in the region when it was a fringe philosophy, before it had amassed the respect it has now. Long story short, Weinbach is about as good as it gets if you love Alsace, or just Riesling in general. Check out this post for more details on this amazing family.
This Riesling is elegant, delicious now, but also very much worthy of time in the cellar. We don’t often have this in stock, so it’s good to take advantage when we do. Right before the pandemic hit I was sampling this wine with some restaurants and at one meeting, the restaurateur’s eyes started to tear up when she saw me pull Weinbach out of my bag…that’s just to say that it’s not only me who wells up for Weinbach. This is a dry Riesling, so don’t expect a big mixture of sweetness and acidity. This is incredibly elegant and nuanced, but on the crisper, more balanced side of things. They own a number of Grand Cru vineyards that make some incredibly expensive wines in the $200-$300 range, but this comes from their home estate, the original walled-in monastery, Clos de Capucins. While it’s not a crazy-expensive Grand Cru site itself, it’s their special home vineyard and a cuvee that is named for their late father, Theo. Look for notes of lime, chamomile, celery, citrus peel and flowers with a long mineral saline finish and hints of the petrol notes it will develop over time in the cellar. Highly recommended!
Please let me know Wednesday by noon if you’re interested in anything for Friday delivery! Otherwise we can get them to you for next week. Stay safe!