We don’t often talk about white wines, mostly because we drink predominantly red and also because the name of the website is, after all, Red Wine Please. Clearly the world is full of excellent white wines as well. When we started our wine journey all those years ago it was with whites, Johannesburg Riesling to be exact. That was preceded by a graduation from Riunite, which I’m not sure qualifies as wine. As we made the migration to red wine the whites were still there, just not as frequent. Now we still pop open a bottle of white, especially in the warmer months. One nice aspect of white wines is that it is the color wine that New England wineries do best with from estate grapes, and we like to support the local vintners. Our son, Alex, is just starting his wine journey, and he is firmly ensconced in Riesling right now. This all seems very familiar.
So we grabbed some rieslings and assorted other whites over the past few weeks and here are some of them. On a warm summer day a chilled white can be great. When push comes to shove I’m generally going to choose a prosecco, but these are a worthy choice as well.
Wine: Blufeld 2011 Riesling Winery Location: Mosul, Germany
Tasted By: Alex and Neil Date: July 2013
Tasting Notes: Fruity nose with some citrus. On the palate basically the same with a nice clean finish. This is quite good.
Price Point – ~$9-$10
Would We Buy It? – Yes. This was tasty with some nice, clean citrus flavors. It was not as good as the next wine, however.
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Wine: 2011 Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling Winery Location: Washington State
Tasted By: Alex and Neil Date: July 2011
Tasting Notes: This is really nice. It is incredibly crisp and clean. Lot’s of citrus on the nose and the palate, it is off dry to semi-sweet and finishes beautifully. It reminds me of a really good asti spumanti without the bubbles. Very nice and almost ethereal in it’s lightness.
Price Point – $7-$8
Would We Buy It? – Absolutely. This is a very crisp and clean riesling for very little money.
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Wine: 2011 Smoking Loon Steelbird Unoaked Chardonnay
Winery Location: California
Tasted By: Everyone Date: July 2013
Tasting Notes: Light straw in color, this has some nice flavors. It’s not quite as crisp as you might expect from an unoaked chardonnay, and it is bone dry. Definitely serve this nicely chilled. Cheri had it with fish and pronounced it excellent. I also liked it very much. Alex not so much, but he prefers his whites on the sweeter side and this is very dry.
Price Point – ~$8
Would We Buy It? – Yes. Cheri and I both liked it very much. It’s a little unusual for an unoaked chardonnay, and is reminiscent of a sauvignon blanc. This is an excellent wine to serve with seafood.
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Wine: 2010 Columbia Crest Two Vines Riesling
Winery Location: Washington State
Tasted By: Alex and Neil Date: July 2013
Tasting Notes: Also straw colored, this has nice fruit with citrus and a semi-sweet finish. It’s not quite as clean as the Chateau Ste Michelle but it’s close. Overall this is quite good.
Price Point – ~$9
Would We Buy It? – Yes. This is very good and reasonably priced. It has a nice clean finish, which we like in a chilled white wine. Not quite as good as the Chateau Ste Michelle, but worth buying.
There it is, four white wines on Red Wine Please!. This is a strange day.
But seriously, for a good summer sipping wine you can’t go wrong with these four, and there are countless others in this price range that will drink well. Also remember your local wineries, as they tend to do well with their white wines and blends. Not always however, and we’ll report on a recent wine tasting in Connecticut that proved less than pleasant very soon. Taste before you buy if you can, and drink what you like!
A votre sante!
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