Warming up to a delicious Loire Valley white

When I opened a bottle from France’s Loire Valley this past weekend, Hervé Villemade’s 2015 Sauvignon Blanc, I was reminded of the importance of temperature in enjoying the full spectrum of a wine’s flavors – and that wines without prestigious appellations on their labels can often be delicious values.

What turned out to be a lovely, subtly complex wine appeared at first one-dimensional and enclosed. But within a few minutes, the wine seemed to come alive, releasing wonderful and complex aromas and tastes and reinforcing my confidence that a wine with the broader “Val de Loire” classification could indeed be memorable.

What had happened, simply, was that the wine had warmed up a few degrees or so,  literally taking the chill out of the bottle and allowing the wine to express itself. If you have left a white wine in the fridge for more than an hour so or ordered one at a restaurant, chances are it’s going to be too cold. Tell your waiter to hold the ice bucket and let your wine sit on the table. (Conversely, I often ask that red wines be chilled down a few degrees to bring them to the more expressive and refreshing “cellar temperature.”)

As for the sauvignon, Villemade produces his wine in Cheverny, an appellation that calls for sauvignon to be blended with some chardonnay or a couple of other white varieties. Hence, an all-sauvignon wine must be declassified to the “Val de Loire” designation.

The sauvignon is made from organically farmed grapes (as are all of Villemade’s wines), and shows notes of orange, pear and apricot, a subtle herb touch and a nice mineral edge. The overall impression is generous and round, even with alcohol listed at just 12.5 percent. This is a beautiful wine with a winning price of about $14. It's available at Chambers Street Wines in New York and other stores.

Just promise me you won’t drink it too cold.

In a different league: Grgich Hills 2014 Fumé Blanc

The wine world is awash in sauvignon blanc. The grape is ubiquitous, grown in just about every wine-producing country, from the zippy Southern Hemisphere wines of New Zealand and Chile, to the mineral-driven sauvignons of France’s Loire Valley, to the more opulent wines of California, where one sauvignon blanc is in a class by itself.

That wine is Grgich Hills's Fumé Blanc (another name for sauvignon), and the recently released 2014 vintage is spectacular. This $31 estate wine made from organically grown grapes (as are all Grgich Hills wines), is one of the most balanced and elegant sauvignons you’ll find anywhere. The 2014 vintage is the best I’ve tasted in recent years.

Make no mistake, this is a sauvignon driven by the fruit, and in the mouth there is a lot of it to behold, with notes of pear and apple, some tropical fruit, touches of orange and pink grapefruit, and hints of green apple skin and white flowers. A long, mineral-driven finish gives the wine an attractive “chewiness.” There is an opulence here, achieved in part by the concentration of the fruit itself, but also by the subtle use of oak barrels in fermentation and aging, including six months on the lees. Opulent, but not overpowering, thanks to a good measure of acidity that keeps things fresh.

Many wine drinkers think of sauvignon as little more than cheap and decent wash-down wine, and there is certainly a place for those bottles, whether from Bordeaux or Chile or other parts of California. Grgich Hills brings American sauvignon to a different level and, at $30 or so, the 2014 Fumé Blanc seems like a bargain. (Received as a press sample.)

Beating the heat with these refreshing whites from France's little-known Quincy

It’s mid-August, and with the heat and humidity truly stifling here in New York, I have no use for wines that aren’t fresh and light (while still interesting, of course). Among whites, sauvignon blancs immediately come to mind. For the “interesting” component, my mind -- and palate -- naturally veer toward France’s Loire Valley.

The Loire is sauvignon blanc country, unparalleled in its quality and range of perspectives on the grape, from the racy and relatively uncomplicated wines of the large Touraine appellation, to the complex and celebrated offerings from Sancerre and its neighbor Pouilly Fumé.

Somewhere in between are the wines of Quincy, a storybook village in the upper Loire that lives in the shadow of its

more famous neighbors like Sancerre. I remember thinking the first time I was there that lunch didn’t get much better than a hunk of the local chèvre, a baguette and a bottle of Quincy (although the young woman I was with may have had at least something to do with it).

If Quincy (pronounced can-SEE)  is not a great sauvignon appellation, it is very good, and the prices reflect its less rarefied place in the pecking order. That said, I was reminded on tasting several samples sent to me this summer just how satisfying the wines can be.

Take Domaine Mardon’s 2014 Quincy “Tres Vielles Vignes,” listed online for $15 to $20. Apricot, orange and lime notes are softened by a subtle creamy overlay that also gives it richness. A steely minerality keeps it sharply focused. This mineral component, by the way, is what defines good sauvignon and other Loire wines, both white and red.

Another standout is Domaine Sylvain Bailly’s 2015 Quincy “Beaucharme,” fresh and zingy, light and complex with citrus, herb and subtle vanilla notes. It’s about $16 and available here. The stated alcohol level of both wines is a relatively modest 13 percent.

In an endless winter, wines that will transport you to summer

As I write this, it’s about to drop down to two degrees again here in New York, hardly the kind of weather that brings on thoughts of refreshing summer wines. But as part of my own strategy for coping with this brutal blast of winter we’ve been enduring for weeks, that’s exactly what I’ve been tasting. They're not a substitute for a warm beach, but they've taken some of the chill out of my mind, at least, and given me a jump on some exciting new releases to be enjoyed in the months ahead.

From New Zealand, Mud House’s 2014 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($12) immediately got me in the spirit of spring. This is classic Kiwi sauvignon with delicious grapefruit and gooseberry notes, vibrant acidity and a touch of cream on the long finish. It’s notable as well for its roundness -- there’s nothing strident, as New Zealand sauvignons can sometimes be. Alcohol is 13 percent. Imported by Accolade Wines North America, Napa, California.

I have often said that rosés can and should be drunk through the year, a point reinforced by the first two rosés I’ve tasted this year. They represent two very different styles and both are memorable.

From France’s Loire Valley, Saget La Perrière’s 2014 La Petite Perrière Rosé ($14) is as refreshing a rosé as you’ll find, It is made from 100 percent pinot noir, an under-appreciated Loire variety. I was struck immediately by a liveliness produced by its bright acidity, just the right quality to counteract a deep-winter funk. With its light salmon color its tastes evoke ripe cherry and strawberry with some lemon, orange and a touch of cream on the finish. Alcohol is 12 percent.

In a slightly fuller style, the 2014 Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé ($14) is notable for its minerality that punctuates concentrated strawberry and raspberry notes. There’s a refreshing citrusy finish on this one as well. Alcohol is 13.5 percent. Los Vascos is produced in Chile’s Colchagua Valley and is owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite). Both rosés will be available this spring and are imported by Pasternak Wine Imports, Harrison, New York. All three wines were received as samples for review.

Sips: A visit to the Loire Valley and some first notable wines

For the next week, I’ll be traveling through France’s Loire Valley, trying to deepen my understanding of this large and highly diverse region along with four other American wine writers. As I customarily do on such trips, I’ll begin with a word about how I got here. I was invited to the region by two of its trade organizations, Interprofession Vins de Loire and Interprofession des Vins du Centre Loire, which are paying for my travel to and accommodations in the region. The arrangements were made by a U.S. public relations and marketing company, Benson Marketing Group. There was no agreement with these organizations about my coverage of the wines or the region for either this blog or for my weekly column for MSNBC.com, although I have no doubt that I will have plenty to say about my tastings and travels.

Now, on to some of the first wines I tasted after arriving here. At our first dinner at the Brasserie du Theatre in Angers, we decided to order two very different white wines, as most of us were ordering fish or shellfish. And both were outstanding in their own ways. Domaine Pellé’s 2010 Menetou-Salon “Morogues” is quintessential sauvignon blanc and was wonderful at both the beginning and end of my dinner – with a variety of oysters on the half shell and then with a little goat cheese. There’s lots of gooseberry here, some lime, a bit of cream and a nice smooth texture. I found a briny note as the wine opened up. A balanced, refreshing and fairly complex sauvignon with alcohol at 13 percent. It retails in the U.S. for about $25 or so.

The second white was almost a world away in taste, Eric Morgat’s 2008 Savennières “L’Enclos,” a chenin blanc from this small appellation famous for the variety. I was happy to see at least a few years of age on this one. On first tasting, there was a good deal of wood in the mix, but as it breathed over the next couple of hours and its temperature warmed up, the oak influence receded nicely and its considerable complexity and opulence emerged (alcohol is 14 percent). It had a core of rich pear and apple, some orange and a beautiful (but not cloying) creamy quality. Later in the evening I detected a little licorice on the nose. It had enough backbone to hold up to my main course, an assemblage of salmon and two other local fish, one of them smoked, served with boiled potatoes on the side and over a bed of sauerkraut. Somehow it all worked quite well together. From what I gather, the wine sells for about $40 in the United States.

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Swirls: In a restaurant, feeling like a prisoner of excessive wine markups

How often, when enjoying an evening out, are you distracted by annoying wine issues? For us, a case in point came the other night when friends invited us to dinner at a restaurant in New York’s Greenwich Village. In these budget-conscious times, don’t we all want to believe we’re getting good value when eating out in both food and wine?

But that was hard at this restaurant, where the least expensive white wine on the list was a vidal blanc from the Finger Lakes at $42 and where I ended up choosing a sauvignon blanc from France’s Loire Valley, Domaine de la Chaises’s 2010 Touraine, a wine I had enjoyed not long ago and reviewed here. On one hand, I was glad to see a wine on the list I was familiar with and had recommended, but I winced, then laughed in astonishment, when I saw the price. This very good (but hardly sensational) wine, available at retail for $13, was $48.

When the sommelier, an imposing young man who might have been an actor or model in another life, returned with our bottle, he announced rather ceremoniously in his baritone voice, “The 2009 Domaine de la Chaise.” I wanted to chuckle again. The formality -- and the price – were at odds with the way I thought of this wine, as a fresh and delightful sauvignon that would pair well with a variety of appetizers and lighter main courses, which it did on this evening. When I told the sommelier that I knew the retail price of this wine, he smiled knowingly but withheld comment.

He did, of course, make sure that our glasses were always topped off, even though (in our minds at least) we were certainly going to order a second bottle because we were enjoying it, despite the high price for a relatively cheap wine. And when we did, that brought the tab for two bottles of Domaine de la Chaise to $96. Which takes me once again to the issue of restaurant and wine economics and The Markup. I am keenly aware that restaurants make much of their profit from wine, and I have come to expect the price of wine in restaurants to be about three times retail, which would have put the Domaine de la Chaise at around $39 instead of $48 and would have made the selection more palatable (yes, $9 makes a difference to me).

It’s worth noting as well that the standard markup from wholesale to retail is 50 percent, which means that the cost of this wine to a store or a restaurant is under $10 – and probably even less depending on how many cases are ordered. So the markup (not necessarily the profit) on each bottle of the sauvignon blanc we ordered is around 400 percent, which seems excessive even by New York standards. (The least expensive red, by the way, was a Montepulicano d’Abruzzo from Italy at $44.)

I can’t help but think that if the markups came down a bit and a few more relatively inexpensive wines were offered at this and other restaurants, profit from wine would be the same or even greater. And most of us would feel at least a little more as though we were getting our money’s worth. What do you think? Please share your recent experiences and observations on wine in restaurants.

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Sips: From the Loire Valley, rolling the dice and winning with Domaine de la Chaise’s Touraine

Among the joys in this line of work are the elements of surprise and discovery – taking chances on new wines and seeing what they bring. Sometimes, of course, there is disappointment, as with a simple ‘09 Beaujolais I bought last night. It was imported by a company I respect, which is often a first line of defense when it comes to quality. Alas, the wine was dull and uninspired. Didn’t the folks in the wine shop taste it before buying it? Unfortunately, there are stores whose owners don’t even bother.

But I’m happy to report that I had a far different experience recently with another wine from another store on which I rolled the dice. I often like to begin the evening with a crisp white as I cook dinner and unwind. There were several Loire Valley sauvignon blancs in the cooler – a Sancerre priced in the high $20s, a Quincy in the high teens, and then a Touraine offered at $14. Touraine, you’ll recall, is a very large area and broad appellation in the Loire where both sauvignon and chenin blanc are grown, along with a variety of red grapes.

It turned out that Domaine de la Chaise’s 2010 Touraine is as good a sauvignon as you’ll find at this price from the Loire Valley or elsewhere. Its elegance and superb fruit come across in the first sip with tastes of pear, lime and orange, a little vanilla and subtle herb, spice and mineral notes. Its overall complexity and signature Loire style make the wine a superb value and a top contender for fish and shellfish, simple chicken dishes and as a pleasing aperitif. It would do well in a blind tasting with more famous and expensive Loire sauvignons. A typical case discount will make it even more of a bargain. Imported by Gabriella Importers, Bohemia, New York.

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Sips: Nobilo's wines highlight the freshness (and subtlety) of New Zealand sauvignon blancs

When I think of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, the first word that has always come to mind is “racy,” but at a dinner last night for a small group of wine writers at The Dutch, a lower Manhattan restaurant, some significant stylistic differences were highlighted. Dave Edmonds, the winemaker at Nobilo, New Zealand’s second-largest wine producer and the dinner’s sponsor,  presented three sauvignon blancs along with one of Nobilo’s pinot noirs. The sauvignons, while projecting quintessentially fresh New Zealand tastes, including lime and gooseberry and grassy notes, were subtly different and made for a fascinating comparison. Edmonds cited blending differences that reflected distinct Marlborough vineyard areas as well as vintage variation.

Nobilo’s 2010 “Icon” Sauvignon Blanc, for example, is what I would call a rather typical New Zealand sauvignon in that fresh and racy style, while the 2011 has more concentrated fruit and a richness that reflects a drier vintage. It was my favorite of the wines (and Edmonds’ as well) and demonstrated that ubiquitous New Zealand sauvignons can take on a dimension that goes well beyond their reputation as refreshing wash-down wines. The Icon line has a suggested retail price of $22. Also notable is Nobilo’s 2010 “Regional Collection” Sauvignon Blanc, which is lovely, light and subtle and a good value at $14.

The 2009 Icon Pinot Noir, also $22, packs a good deal of pinot punch for the money, showing dark cherry and spice notes and lots of earthiness. It matched well with perfectly cooked (medium rare) duck and was also a hit during dessert with devil’s food cake. I’d like to try it again in a year or two when the tannins settle down a bit more.

Sips: A sampling of top Long Island wines for summer drinking

When the editors of a new website, Metrofocus.org based here in New York, asked me to contribute a piece on New York wines,  I decided to focus this first article on the wines of Long Island’s East End, particularly the North Fork, where most of the region’s 60-plus wineries and vineyards are located.  The wines, which I have been following closely for many years, are worth seeking out for their elegance and relatively low levels of alcohol. Among others, you’ll find lots of crisp, fresh whites that are perfect for summer drinking. Click here to read my article, which includes a list of five top Long Island wines I found in my tastings. Wines received as press samples.

Technorati Tags: McCall Wines,Long Island wines,North Fork wines,Long Island East End,Edward Deitch,Croteaux Vineyards,Lieb Cellars,Channing Daughters,Jamesport Vineyards,New York wines

Video: Five great summer white wines

Last night I joined Chuck Scarborough on his NY Nightly News program on WNBC’s New York Nonstop Channel to talk about five exciting white wines for summer. For detailed information about the wines, see the post just below this one.

View more videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/

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Sips: Five Top White Wines for Summer

When I was asked to put together a summer wine segment and appear on WNBC’s New York Nonstop channel, I immediately thought of lighter whites that are easy to drink, match well with a variety of simply prepared foods and are good values. Beyond that, I wanted to introduce viewers to some wines they might not have heard about that are very much worth exploring. With that in mind, I chose five wines from five countries, each made from a different grape. What unifies them is that they are refreshing as both aperitif and food wines, especially with fish and simple chicken dishes, and are made without fermentation or aging in oak. Although I have nothing against chardonnay, I decided to keep chardonnay out of the mix this time around because it is so well known and popular. So, enjoy these five whites with your summer dining. I’ll have many more to share in coming weeks.

Channing Daughters 2010 Sauvignon Blanc “Mudd West Vineyard,” Long Island. $20. Light, delicate and elegant sauvignon from this Bridgehampton winery. The wine is made from grapes grown in a North Fork vineyard and shows subtle green apple, herb and citrus notes.

La Cala 2009 Vermentino di Sardegna, Sardinia, Italy. $12. A delicious example of this Mediterranean variety, this is an easy-to-drink yet interesting wine that will pair well with a variety of foods. Pear and apple notes and a good deal of minerality. A natural for linguine with white clam sauce. Imported by Palm Bay International, Boca Raton, Florida.

Domaine Félines Jourdan 2010 Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc, France. $13. One of my favorite wines of the summer so far. Picpoul de Pinet is the name of the grape and it’s grown only in Languedoc very close to the Mediterranean Sea. The domaine, which I visited last month on a tour of Languedoc, overlooks oyster farms, and the wine, in fact, is just perfect with oysters. Very fresh with a little brininess, good acidity and lots of complexity. Notes of lemon, herbs, a little honey and vanilla and a good deal of minerality on the finish. Imported by Gabriella Importers, Bohemia, New York.

Viore 2010 Verdejo, Rueda, Spain. $9. I’ve been tasting a lot of verdejos in the last month or so and was newly impressed with this variety, which is the most important white grape in the Rueda region. This one is quite racy and almost jumps out of the glass. Complex with notes of apricot, tangerine, some herbs and smoke on the long finish. Imported by Vintage Wines, Staten Island, New York.

Trapiche 2010 Torrontés, Mendoza, Argentina. $8. Torrontes has become a new darling among fresh and lively white wines, and I saved this one for last on tonight’s TV segment because it’s the most aggressive of the five whites. The variety is highly aromatic and this one, beyond the flower notes, is like biting into an orange. It’s a warm-weather thirst quencher and a real bargain at just $8. Imported by Frederick Wildman and Sons, New York.

Sips: Mondavi’s Classic “To Kalon Vineyard” Fumé Blanc Reserve

For those who don’t mind spending $40 on an excellent California sauvignon blanc, Robert Mondavi’s 2009 Napa Valley “To Kalon  Vineyard” Fumé Blanc Reserve hits it out of the park. The just-released new vintage of this Napa classic sets a standard for barrel-aged California sauvignon. Extravagant yet beautifully balanced (even with alcohol at 14.2 or 14.5 depending on whether you read the fact sheet or the label). It’s complex yet effortless to drink. Pear, apricot, flower and herb notes are framed in subtle oak with Meyer lemon on the finish. The wine is rich but not overpowering thanks to bright acidity. The blend is 98 percent sauvignon and two percent sémillon. Though 100 percent of the juice was barrel fermented in French oak, only one quarter of the barrels were  new, averting the dreaded sauvignon-dressed-in-chardonnay-clothing quality. A natural with the brininess of Easter hams or richer seafood sauces. Quite irresistible. About 1,800 cases produced. (Fumé blanc, by the way, was the name Mondavi invented years ago for its barrel-aged sauvignons.) Received as a press sample.

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Sips: Bag wine follow-up – tasting month-old sauvignon blanc

Pouring myself a glass of sauvignon blanc from a container that was first opened 30 days ago is not among the more appealing wine images that come to mind. But that’s exactly what I did the other night when I realized that it had been almost a month since I first tasted and wrote about the 2009 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc from Indulge, which is offering a line of California wines in a lightweight bag called an Astrapouch, complete with a little plastic tap with which to pour yourself a glass. At the time, I found the wine attractive and a good value at $20 for a liter and a half, the equivalent of two conventional wine bottles. Marketing of the wine includes an emphasis on its environmentally friendly packaging and the claim that it will remain fresh for up to a month. In fact, the wine was just fine, perhaps not quite so fresh tasting as it was when first opened, but still showing its fruit without any off tastes that would emerge had a regular bottle been left in the fridge for a month. I doubt that many people will leave the wine that long, but it’s nice to know that the system works.

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Swirls: Wine in a bag – ‘Indulge’ line from California make its debut with ‘Astrapouch’ technology

As I write this, I am sipping a glass of white wine that came out of an unusual container. The tipoff when it arrived the other morning was on the shipping box – a big red sticker that warned, “Do not open with sharp object.” Inside, I found what immediately reminded me of an I-V drip bag. In fact, it was a liter and a half of 2009 California North Coast sauvignon blanc from a company called Indulge.  The bag or pouch or whatever it was  appeared to be the grownup equivalent of the ubiquitous little juice containers known as “Tetra Paks.” But instead of inserting a straw in a hole at the top, you break off a hunk of plastic and remove a piece of foil on the spout at the bottom of the bag to dispense yourself a glass of wine. Now let’s take a look at what this is all about.

The bag is called the Astrapouch, or AP. It came out of South Africa a couple of years ago and seems to be a sturdier variation of the bags, or bladders, in boxed wines.  It caught the attention of Pierre LaBarge IV, who wanted to market a line of varietally correct wines in an alternative package that could travel easily – to the beach or an outdoor concert, let’s say -- and was environmentally responsible (the  Astrapouch’s weight is said to be 98 percent wine and just two  percent packaging). The bag,  which purportedly keeps wine fresh for up to 30 days once opened, stands up so it can fit upright in the refrigerator (or on its side if you prefer). It has two sets of holes at the top so it can be carried like the bag that it is or perhaps  placed on a pole and left to hang (I can’t help but think of that I-V image again).

“There’s a paradigm shift occurring in the wine business right now,” LaBarge declares in a press release and then states rather obviously: “Consumers and their taste are increasingly relevant. Scores may still matter, but what matters more is what the consumer enjoys. They want good wine at good prices. It’s that simple.” On that last point, he is absolutely right.

As for his sauvignon blanc, he is right about that is well. It is good wine, though not outstanding. It’s quite racy with green apple and lime tastes and some minerals on the long finish, though a bit leafy as well. At $20 for a liter and a half (the equivalent of two conventional wine bottles), the price should be a draw. The sauvignon and a pinot noir at the same price, which I haven’t received yet, are the first two offerings and are available only in California at this point but will be distributed nationally this summer. Cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and syrah are also in the works. It will be interesting to see whether they rise above so many inexpensive, generic California wines being marketed these days in colorful clothing.

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Sips: Finding excellent value in an easily dismissed French white

We have a French friend who sniffs at the thought of wines from the corner of the country where he lives – the Dordogne in southwest France. When it comes to such local appellations as Cahors or Bergerac, he dismisses them as country bumpkins of  French wine, preferring, among others, wines from Bordeaux, the Dordogne’s illustrious neighbor to the north. He is, of course, entitled to his opinion, and it may have been largely true at one time, but I will suggest to my friend the next time I see him that this is old thinking.

What got me focused on the region once again was a bottle I bought the other night at my local wine store, Martin Brothers on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. I like to start most evenings with a refreshing white while cooking and unwinding, and I find myself chronically short of them. One that will easily fill the void is Grandissime’s 2009 Bergerac, a dry and elegant Bordeaux-style blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon. The $10.99 price will make it easy to keep on hand as an aperitif wine and well beyond. Light but with nice complexity, it shows pear, green apple, apple skin and herb notes. Alcohol at 12.5 percent and little or no oak  make it effortless to drink. Enjoy it with fish, shellfish and simple chicken dishes.

This is the kind of wine that makes me turn to France time and again, especially to the lesser-known appellations that offer some of the best values around. And when my friend is in New York, perhaps I’ll pour him a glass of a wine practically grown in his own backyard. Imported by Gabriella Importers, Bohemia, New York.

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SIPS: An unusual California offering -- white wines from Dierberg and Star Lane released with a little bottle age

Something quite different arrived at my door the other day. As part of a sampling of new releases from a California producer, the two white wines in the shipment caught my eye because of their vintages. One was a chardonnay and the other was a sauvignon blanc. While most chardonnays being released right now are from 2009 or perhaps 2008, this one was from 2007. While almost all the sauvignons I receive are from the ‘09 vintage (some 2010s from the Southern Hemisphere are also now being released) this  one was from 2008. Most chardonnays, of course, will benefit from some bottle age and some of the great ones from Burgundy and California can develop for years. While sauvignon blancs are typically enjoyed young, they, too, can develop in the bottle.

And so it was that I tasted these two wines from Dierberg Estate Vineyards in Santa Barbara County on different evenings. The first was Dierberg Estate’s 2007 Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay. Made in a bright, fruit-forward style, this wine is a model of balance at this point with subtle, well-integrated oak treatment (just 40 percent of the blend was aged in new oak). There’s lots of complexity here with notes of lime and orange, tropical fruit, ginger, vanilla and a nice underlying minerality. Quite Burgundian in character with superb acidity and alcohol of 14.1 percent. The wine would be superb with all kinds of white meats and elegant fish dishes. It was one of my favorite chardonnays of the past year and is well worth the $32 price.

Dierberg’s sister property, Star Lane Vineyard, focuses on Bordeaux varieties in the relatively warm eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley, and its 2008 Santa Ynez Valley Sauvignon Blanc is  also notable for its balanced approach to a variety that often presents itself in extremes – exceedingly racy, as in many New Zealand sauvignons, or as sauvignon hiding in chardonnay clothing, which is sometimes the case with California sauvignons. Star Lane offers a delicious middle ground in this $20 wine with muted notes of pink grapefruit, lemon curd and lime and lots of minerals on the long finish. Acidity is very ample, in this one as well, and alcohol is listed at 13.4 percent.

Beyond modest levels of alcohol and releasing their white wines with a little age, the Dierberg wines are made with an emphasis on native yeasts, all of which combine to make them distinct and memorable.

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The Daily Sip: enjoying a first-rate sauivgnon blanc from South Australia

I’m sitting around on a wonderfully pleasant autumn afternoon, charcoal grill firing up, kids occupied, new puppy calm. I’m having a taste of a mouth tingling sauvignon blanc that I know will match well with the cut-up chicken (from a local farm) that I’m about to grill after marinating it in lemon, white wine, olive oil and herbes de Provence. The wine is from South Australia,  Wakefield Wines’ 2009 Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc. It’s nicely balanced with notes of green apple, lime, passion fruit, gooseberry and a touch of vanilla framed by a “vibrant acidity,” to borrow a phrase from the bottle’s back label.

This one, while on the fresh and racy side, is slightly de-tuned from many New Zealand sauvignons, which should make it broadly appealing to devotees of the grape. It also reinforces what I have known for some time, that Australia is making some first-rate sauvignons that remain largely overshadowed by regions that are better known for the variety. Beyond citrus-marinated chicken, enjoy this $17 wine with simple fish and shellfish dishes and sushi. Alcohol is 13 percent. Imported by American Wine Distributors, South San Francisco, California. Received as a press sample.

del.icio.us Tags: Wakefield Wines,Wakefield Sauvignon Blanc,Adelaide Hills,Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc,South Australia,Australian Sauvignon blanc,American Wine Distributors,Edward Deitch

Sips: an excellent Washington sauvignon blanc

I've been a fan of Mercer Estates, a family-owned winery in eastern Washington, for some time now. The whites, in particular, have jumped out at me. As I looked back through my reviews this  weekend I was reminded that I wrote about Mercer's riesling and pinot gris in the last couple of years in my column on MSNBC.com (I now write for Reuters and this blog). Now I can add to Mercer’s list of winning whites its 2008 Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc,  a beautiful example of the variety in a decidedly American style. I picked up some wet stone aromas; in the mouth the wine bursts with fruit – green apple, tropical fruit, melon, even a touch of strawberry. Some vanilla, cream and herb touches are achieved through partial fermentation; the wood influence is there but muted.  Enjoy it with any number of fish dishes, white clam sauce, grilled chicken, salads and vegetable pastas. The suggested retail price is $14 and 2,395 cases were made. Coming up: a winning Washington chenin blanc. (Mercer’s sauvignon blanc was received as a press sample.)

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Sips: a box-wine bargain with a surprisingly good New Zealand sauvignon

Bringing a bottle of wine to dinner at a friend’s house isn’t usually a complicated affair. I simply ask for a general description of what’s being served, focusing on the main dish, and make a selection. Then I’ll often bring a second bottle, almost always a white, a rosé or a sparkling wine, to serve before dinner with appetizers. But when the dinner is “pot luck” with lots of people bringing all kinds of dishes, choosing a wine becomes a bit more challenging, as it was the other night as we got ready for a Fourth of July pot luck dinner.

But then I thought of a wine I’d been meaning to try, the one in the light blue octagonal box. Yes, box. Until the last few years,  boxed wine was thought of largely as generic and uninteresting – cheap, drinkable stuff that you bought in the supermarket in large sizes that would last for weeks, if need be, after opening. But there have been recent moves toward packaging better wines in boxes, whether they are in the familiar “Tetra Paks,” which don’t preserve wine any longer than bottles but which are considered more “green,” or the larger bag-in-box containers that keep wine fresh for weeks and are more environmentally friendly as well.

The wine I chose fell into the latter category, the 2009 Silver Birch Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand’s Marlborough region. I wanted something fairly bold that would hold up to just about anything served at the dinner, and this one did. The wine, a brand of California-based Underdog Wine Merchants, went well with everything from salmon to chicken to rice pilaf and couscous. It was fairly typical Marlborough sauvignon, though not as racy as some, with notes of grapefruit and lime, an herbal touch and a little vanilla on the round finish. Almost everyone found it pleasing.

The box system, which prevents oxidation and is called the Octavin Home Wine Bar, has a black spout that you pull out from inside the cardboard and then twist to pour yourself a glass. It may have taken a little getting used to for a decidedly non-box wine crowd but proved to be a nice curiosity and a pleasant surprise when folks took a sip of the wine. The box contains three liters (the equivalent of four standard wine bottles) and sells for $24, making it a bargain if you think of it as $6 for a standard a bottle. The labeling claims the wine remains fresh for up to six weeks after opening, though it’s hard to imagine anyone keeping it that long. This bag in a box of wine is good enough to be drained well before that. I’ll plan to review other Octavin offerings in future posts. (Wine received as a press sample.)

del.icio.us Tags: Silver Birch,Edward Deitch,Underdog Wine Merchants,New Zealand sauvignon blanc,Siliver Birch Sauvignon Blanc,Marlborough sauvignon blanc,Octavin,Octavin system,box wine,boxed wine

Sips: “Sancerre and Friends” – some top Loire Valley whites

Sancerre is arguably the most well-known white wine of France’s Loire Valley, the benchmark sauvignon blanc appellation by which other examples of the variety in the Loire – and throughout the world – are  judged. And so it was with a good deal of anticipation that I attended a superb dinner last night that was dubbed “Sancerre and Friends,” the friends being the nearby appellations of Pouilly-Fumé, Quincy, Menetou-Salon and Reuilly in the so-called Centre Loire, as well as the larger  Touraine appellation to the west. The wines are known for their distinctive minerality, which is achieved by the soils in which the grapes grow (primarily chalk and flint for Sancerre, limestone, flint and clay for Pouilly-Fumé, for example), and this gives them a signature, an originality, that is achieved nowhere else. You can see a good example of the rocky soils of Sancerre in the photo, which I took on my visit to the region in February.

We tasted a dozen wines at The Modern, which is attached to the Museum of Modern Art and which, in just a few years or so, has become a landmark on the New York restaurant scene. The dinner was built around fish because the wines are in their element with seafood. The pairings were, for the most part, right on target, especially the two centerpieces, a Maine lobster salad with roasted beets, black truffles and goat cheese followed by  a gorgeous “dorade royale” with a nasturtium flower broth and Swiss chard. The latter was one of the more exciting fish dishes I’ve had in recent months, the subtle broth, golden in color, providing a perfect accompaniment to the mild and beautifully textured fillet, which should boost the status of the local porgy, a dorade relative.

As for the wines, we’ll stipulate that the last two in the tasting were the top wines, as well they should be at $65 and $120 respectively. The first was Domaine Vacheron’s 2007 Sancerre “Les Romains,” a wine of beautiful balance and great length with citrus, apple and vanilla notes; the second was Didier Dagueneau’s 2007 “Silex” Pouilly-Fumé, which showed extraordinary fruit, notably apple and apricot with a rich, round mouthfeel.

Other notable wines were:  Domaine de Chatenôy’s 2008 Menetou-Salon, $20, which won the prize as the evening’s most unusual offering – an elegant and zesty wine with orange, grapefruit and green apple tastes and a flinty backdrop; Gerard Boulay’s Sancerre ‘Les Monts Damnés,” $41, a generous, rounded wine with layers of spicy pear and vanilla; Domaine des Caves du Prieuré’s 2008 Sancerre, $23, a classic Sancerre with lots of minerals and notes of green apple and a touch of brown sugar on its long finish; Claude Lafond’s 2008 Reuilly “Clos Fussay,” $19, which is on the simpler side with lemon and lime notes that almost demanded a dozen oysters or clams; and the bargain of the evening, Domaine Duret’s 2009 Quincy, $13, elegant and reserved with minerals, tropical fruit and lime.

These wines reminded me that when it comes to sauvignon blanc, there is the Loire Valley and then all the rest; the wines, with their distinctive terroirs and varied styles, are unique and compelling. (Dinner and wines presented by Loire Valley Wines.)

del.icio.us Tags: Loire Valley,Loire Valley wines,Loire Valley whites,Edward Deitch,Sancerre,Pouilly-Fumé,Touraine,Quincy,Reuilly,Manetou-Salon,Claude Lafond,Domaine Duret,Domaine de Chatenôy,Centre Loire,Domaine des Caves du Prieuré,Gerard Boulay,Domaine Vacheron,Didier Dagueneau,The Modern,Museum of Modern Art,Wines under $20