A Quick Intro to the World of White Wine

If you’re just beginning to explore the wonderful world of wine, you may find yourself confused by the vast variety of wines – reds, whites, blends, bubblies – and the many choices within each of those wide categories. We’ll focus on just one of those for this brief intro – white wines. We’ll give you a short tour of the most popular varietals (types of grapes), tell you what to expect from each and what distinguishes them from each other.

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is certainly the most consumed white wine in the U.S. – in fact, it’s claimed to be the only white wine many wine lovers consume. Chardonnay is very often the first white wine a new wine fan will discover, largely because it is so easy to enjoy. Chardonnay tends to be on the dry side, meaning that it’s not very sweet, and it usually has flavors of tropical fruit, apples, vanilla, and butter, and degrees of oak, depending on how it was produced. “White Burgundy”, from France, is almost always all Chardonnay. Many other wine regions throughout the world produce Chardonnay, among them Australia and Chile. It’s fairlyeasy to obtain good choices of American Chardonnay available for under $20. Popularand consistently good producers include Beaulieu Vineyards, Columbia Crest, and Chateau St. Michelle, and others.

Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc, also known as Fume Blanc, is another extremely popular white wine. Sauvignon Blanc is often described as “freshly mown”, indicating that it reminds the drinker of freshly mown grass. It is a medium-bodied white wine with fruity aromas like peach, grapefruit, and melon, and is dry and refreshing with medium acidity. Sauvignon Blanc is a great summer wine, especially good with seafood and it’s one of the best all around matches for appetizers and picnics. Babich (New Zealand) produces a very nice Sauvignon Blanc for under 15 dollars.

Pinot Grigio

Pinot Grigio, also 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 typically somewhatbland. Pinot Grigios are easy to drink, because they have a crisp, light taste. Oregon’s Pinot Gris tend to have more character, offering medium body, with more readily noticeable fruit and more acidity. Higher quality bottles have fruity flavors of apple, pear, honeydew and a touch of spice. Two very nice Pinot Gris from Oregon, available at between $12-$18, are Chateau St. Michelle and King Estate, among others.

Riesling

Riesling wines are probably 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 harvested. Kabinett signifiesnormally ripe grapes, and is a light to medium-bodied, mostly dry wine. You’ll oftenfind the word “trocken” on a bottle of Riesling, which is German for “dry”. “Spatlese” is made from grapes picked when riper, and results in a bit richer, somewhatsweeter, wine. “Auslese”, which means late harvest, is made from an even riper grape, and is often verysweet. Rieslings are typically fruity, with peach, honeysuckle, and apple flavors and floral undertones. Rieslings are relatively inexpensive – you can find excellent bottles for under $10. One consistently goodchoice is Strub Niertsteiner Riesling Kabinett, in addition toChateau Ste. Michelle Riesling.

Gewurztraminer

Gewurztraminer is another very well-knownGerman white wine, while also being produced in Australia, New Zealand, France, and the U.S. Gewurztraminer is also availablein both dry and sweet styles. Gewurztraminers have a brash, full-bodied taste, much more so than most other white wines. 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 determine your preferencesin white wine is to just pick out a samplingof bottles, and just try them. For each varietal, you’ll want to choose a bottle that’s typical of the style you’re investigating. Websites such as Wine.com can be very helpfulwith finding solid, yet inexpensive choices. Once you find a varietal and producer you like, you might want to buy a case to have handy for entertaining, or to just enjoy at home. Most white wines don’t improve with aging, so you won’t want to keep them around for years. However, you dowant to be careful to properly store your wine, so they maintainthe wonderful flavors and aromas you appreciate. You might want to investin an inexpensive wine chiller, to keep all your wines at their best.

White wines are best served chilled, so you may want to refrigerate them beforehand, then take them outabout 15-20 minutes before serving. Better yet, you may want tobuy an electric wine chiller, which will chill (or warm) a single wine bottleto the best temperature automatically – just set the pre-programmedwine varietal, insert the bottle, and the chiller will cool your wine to the right temperature, and keep your wine at that temperaturethroughout your wine tasting.