2009 Chamisal Vineyards Stainless Chardonnay Unoaked
Central Coast, California
Suggested Retail Price $18.99

What a lovely, expressive Chardonnay thankfully free of clumsy, masking oak flavors! Chamisal’s 2009 Stainless Chardonnay is fermented and aged in stainless steel (hence the name on the label), capturing the flavors and aromatics of what chardonnay is like when grown in the cool, foggy conditions of California’s Central Coast, whose vineyards lie south of San Francisco Bay and extend down to Santa Barbara County.

Oak — especially new, highly toasted oak — can mask Chardonnay’s character by adding a heavy overlay of spicy vanilla flavors which really have nothing to do with the intrinsic flavors of the grape. It’s like adding too much garlic or salt to a dish.

Chamisal’s home vineyard dates to 1973 and was the first planted in Edna Valley since the 1800s. Today the vineyard extends to 80 acres, primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The grapes for the “Stainless Chardonnay” bottling come from nearby vineyards planted to a traditional California selection — the famed Wente clone — as well as a newer clone (UCD 4) that bring bright tropical fruit to the blend. After hand-harvesting, the grapes are whole-cluster pressed for the finest, most delicate juice, then fermented in stainless steel. Only about 25% of the blend is allowed to undergo a softening malo-lactic fermentation in order to maintain crisp and vibrant acidity.

This youthful 2009 Chardonnay shows a bright, brilliant light yellow color with green highlights. The bouquet is filled with scents of spicy green and golden apples, the classic varietal signature of Chardonnay grown in a cool climate. On the palate, the wine is supple and full-bodied, juicy and succulent with refreshing acidity for balance and length. There’s just a subtle hint of a bread or brioche note on the complex mid-palate that comes from aging the wine on its lees, the sediment of yeast cells that fall to the bottom of the stainless steel tank once fermentation is over. Fresh and sprigthly, this is a Chardonnay to match with seaffood such as ceviche or Gulf shrimp or flounder sautéed with lemon and garlic.

Grans-Fassian Trittenheimer Riesling Kabinett  2007
Mosel, Germany

Grans-Fassian Piesporter Riesling Kabinett 2007
Mosel, Germany
Suggested Retail Price for both wines $25.99 each

These are two Rieslings grown by the Grans-Fassian family (whose 24-acre estate dates to 1624) in two different villages about three miles apart along the steep slopes of Germany’s Mosel river. Same vintage (the fine 2007), same grape, picked at same ripeness by the same grower and wine maker, but — in the end — they are not the same wine. Here’s a chance to explore the differences found and expressed in wines of the concept of terroir, a term that simply means that all the environmental factors in a particular locale will have an effect on the flavor character of the grapes grown in that location and thus on the wine produced, all other variables being equal.

So to the differences and similarities… The Trittenheimer Kabinett has more of a green apple aroma combined with the delicate wild flower fragrance, the vivid and tangy citrus sherbet found in Mosel Rieslings. The Piesporter Kabinett has that too, but it’s an accent behind, so to speak, the intense black currant and peach aromatics that are full and center in the wine’s bouquet and fullish, supple palate flavor.

People are often surprised that a white wine can express black currant, an aroma more often found in ripe Cabernet Sauvignon. But it is found so often in fine Piesporters that it’s considered one of the village’s traditional identifying aromatic markers. And in addition to these aromatic fireworks there is an elegance and fineness that speak to how special the wines are from this great wine village. And in order to find them in your glass you have to make sure you have an estate that is actually growing vines on Piesport’s steep hillsides, because the sad fact is that far more wine is labeled as coming from there — such as Piesporter Michelsberg — than is ever actually produced from the 300+ acres of steep slate hill sides that surround the village. You need to look for the term weingut (wine estate) and look for the logo formed by the outline of an eagle whose body is a grape cluster and has the initials VDP, which stand for “Association of German Quality Wine producers” (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter). Out of nearly 50,000 wine producers in Germany only about 200 are members of the VDP. Any estate can join, but you have to agree to abide by more stringent and exacting rules in wine growing. I like to say that just as the BMW and Mercedes-Benz logos indicate what degree of automotive excellence you can expect in their cars, so the VDP logo indicates an estate at the top of wine-growing excellence.

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2008 Mönchhof Robert Eymael Riesling QBA
Mosel, Germany
Suggested Retail Price $16.99

There’s hardly as refreshing a wine for our Texas late spring and summer as a fine Mosel Riesling with its lower alcohol, brilliant acidity, shimmering minerality and vivid fruit. And add to those characteristics the quality of the classic 2008 vintage and you have a uniquely expressive wine.

The Mönchhof estate dates from the 12th century when it was founded and cultivated by Cistercian monks, hence the name which means Monks’ Manor. Fast forward 700 years to the early 19th century when Napoleon’s conquest of this part of Germany led to the secularization of all Church lands. Then in order to finance his continuing wars Napoleon auctioned off all these properties, which was when current owner Robet Eymael’s ancestors bought the estate in 1804.

Based at the village of Ürzig upstream about five miles from Bernkastel, the key vineyard here that dominates the estate’s wine character is the famous Würzgarten, or ‘Spice Garden.’ The vineyard is famous for the intensity of its almost tropical fruit and spice character that Riesling achieves here on reddish slate and volcanic soils. Wines from adjacent vineyards on the usual black Devon slate show more of a green apple character, a difference that is a perfect example of what is meant by terroir, the idea that the sum of all local factors in a vineyard will have a definite flavor impact on its fruit.

The 2008 Mönchhof Riesling QBA shows the vintage’s finely etched flavors and aromas. Pale green straw in color, the bouquet is an intense mix of stawberry fruit along with hints of pear and apple: no surprise as the fruit for this wine comes from both the Würzgarten but also vineyards in Erden and Zeltingen. Fullish and supple at the edges, the wine shows the vintage’s bright, crisp acidity that provides a refreshing lift and tingle especially on the wine’s long, savory and mineral-tinged finish.

Great served on its own, the wine will also match a wide variety of dishes from grilled sausage served with mustard to salads and especially spicy Asian seafood dishes.

This wine is selected and imported by Dan Kravitz of Hand-Picked Selections who has built a reputation on discovering distinctive wines of value and quality throughout France, Spain, Greece, Argentina, and California.

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2008 Verdemar – Montecillo Albariño Rias Baixas DO
Spain
Suggested Retail Price $11.49

2006 Montecillo Crianza Rioja DOC
Spain
Suggested Retail Price $11.99

Two fine values representing the new and the classical of vinous Spain. Bodegas Montecillo was founded in 1874 in Rioja Alta, the center of what was to become Spain’s most famous red wine style: complex, delicate, fragrant and elegant wines with more than a passing resemblance to fine Bordeaux. No surprise in the resemblance as it was refugees from Bordeaux fleeing the devasting phylloxera epidemic in the third quarter of the 19th century who brought Bordeaux’s techniques in wine making to bear on the different grape varieties grown in northern Spain.

Forward more than a century to Spain’s Rias Baixas, in Galicia, whose bracing and tangy Albariño finally gives the country a non-fortified white wine that is wildly popular at home as well as throughout Europe. The Verdemar — or Greensea — is made by Montecillo’s head wine maker Maria Martinez-Sierra from the Albariño grape, the same grape grown across the border for Portugal’s Vinho Verde. Picked at a riper level, Albariño from Rias Baixas is a fuller-bodied wine than Vinho Verde, just as dry, with a deeper more emphatic register of minerality and bracing crispness. The 2008 Verdemar Albariño is a sleek, racy white wine with a savory saline accent that makes you think of the sea and — of course — plates of the freshest seafood to go with it.

Back to Rioja with Montecillo’s Crianza 2006. Made from northern Spain’s indigenous Tempranillo, a Crianza is aged for a minimum of a year in small oak barrels, then another year in bottle before release. In the case of Montecillo, its Crianza is made with fruit from vines at least 25 years old and is 100% Tempranillo aged in French oak, unlike the more usual American oak widely used for Riojas red wines. But, this is classical Rioja with its medium deep ruby color, and its bouquet that suggests cedar cigar-box, truffled earth, soft, ripe red fruit framed by subtle spice. With its slightly austere quality, this is Rioja to match with grilled or roasted lamb or other red meats or with some Manchego cheese.

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2009 Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Private Bin
Marlborough, New Zealand
Suggested Retail Price $13.99

2008 Villa Maria Pinot Noir Private Bin
Marlborough, New Zealand
Suggested Retail Price $18.49

Villa Maria is New Zealand’s largest family-owned winery, founded in 1961 by George Fistonich with just a little over 1.2 acres of vineyard. Only a year later in 1962 he won his first wine award at the New Zealand Easter Show. Today, the winery has certified sustainably grown vineyards in most of New Zealand’s major wine growing areas from Auckland, Gisborne, and Hawke’s Bay in the North Island to Marlborough in the South Island. The wines made are grouped into, at the top, single vineyard expressions of a unique combination of variety and a vineyard, then into wines expressing regional characteristics. The Private Bin wines offer great value especially in the two varieties most associated with New Zealand: Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.

2009 Sauvignon Blanc Private Bin is made from fruit grown throughout Marlborough’s valleys, picked at differing ripeness levels to contribute flavor and structure. Fermentation uses both neutral and cultured yeast for extra aromatic complexity and nuance. The result of this cool fermentation is a citrus-dominated Sauvignon Blanc showing both piquant lime and grapefruit characters on a supple, taut, mineral base. Fresh, vivid and tangy the 2009 also shows classic herbal gooseberry notes.

The 2008 Pinot Noir Private Bin is from vineyards on both sides of east-west running Marlborough: Awatere Valley on the south and Wairau Valley on the north side. After a cold-soak pre-fermentation maceration, and a warm fermentation, the wine goes into a combination of oak barrel as well as neutral tank where it ages on its lees before that portion going into barrel as well. The result is a particularly graceful, elegant red wine. It shows Pinot’s classic light ruby-garnet color, with a bouquet of roses and spicy red fruit suggesting cherry and raspberry. The texture is fullish and supple, with a long spicy red-fruited finish that has just a trace of tannin for focus to the flavors.