This month for our New Product Introduction Program we have two white wines, one Rose and a South African red wine. This week I've featured all but the red wine. Next time I'll talk about it, but in the meantime you might want to try one of these three, especially with this beautiful weather we've been having.
Fancy Pants
2012 Pinot Grigio (792788)
U.S.A.
$15.99
The wine estate that is now the Trinchero Family Estate had its first grapes planted in 1875 by John Thomann, a Swiss-German immigrant to the U.S.After his death, another Swiss family, the Leunbergers, bought the estateand renamed the winery Sutton Home and continued on until the alcohol prohibition in 1920. The winery sat idle until 1948 when brothers John and Mario Trinchero bought it.
Sutton Home may sound familiar to you - maybe it was the wine you, like many others, cut your wine-drinking wine teeth on? The sweet White Zinfandel was so popular in the U.S., and I'm sure Canada, that the Wine Spectator gave Trinchero a Distinguished Service Award for having introduced more Americans to table wine than anyone before them.
We have more than a few of their wines on the shelf, including Duck Commander and Menage a Trois, as well as some more serious wines from this Napa Valley estate, like Joel Gott and Trinchero.
Their latest venture has been this wine called Fancy Pants 2012 Pinot Grigio. They claim it is the perfect wine for those occasions when the dress code is not too fancy or too relaxed. In the glass, the colour of this wine is a crisp, pale yellow with green highlights. On the palate, I found it had light pear aromas with citrus fruits like orange and lemon - It is dry and crisp with a light to medium body. This is an ideal summer wine when lighter meats are being grilled and served along with a salad.
Kono
2013 Sauvignon Blanc (58032)
New Zealand
$15.99
Since the 1990s New Zealand has had a growing reputation for wines made from the Sauvignon Blanc grape, and especially wines from the South Island, and an area called Marlborough in particular. Kono is from Marlborough and has many of the characteristics that have made wines from this area so popular.
Kono is made from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown in three different valleys of Marlborough: the Awatere, Waihopai and Lower Wairau. The one thing I find the Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand have in common is their herbaceous quality.
The colour of this wine in the glass is pale yellow and like the last wine has some green highlights. This is perfectly natural after smelling the wine. Often these wines are described as having gooseberry and asparagus aromas and this one lives up to that reputation. Beyond those you'll find a tropical fruit and citrus presence. In the mouth, it is a clean and crisp wine that has a medium body, delivering very pleasing tropical fruit and vegetal flavours. For these warm evenings when the sun is still high in the sky, I don't think you'll find a more appropriate wine to end the day with.
Les Fleurs Du Mal
2013 Rose (360073)
France
$14.99
Rose wines have always been popular in Europe, but in North America they have been slower to catch on. Maybe we associate pink wines with the sweeter White Zinfandels we cut our wine drinking teeth on but have since moved on. Most of the Rose or blush wines we have on the shelf now are dry without any sweetness. These are perfect summer wines because they have some of the red wine qualities but, unlike red wines, are best served chilled.
Les Fleurs Du Mal is a French Rose with a difference. The winery owner and winemaker Maurice Barnouin has made a Rose that is a bit unusual. His winery is in the Cevennes region in the larger Languedoc area and is a Vin de Pays, which means he hasn't followed the norms of the region. This Rose is made from six different varietals with all but one having French connections. Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache Noir and Mourvedre are of course French, but he has thrown in a little Italian, Sangiovese.
The colour of this Rose was just that but with a tinge of orange. It has plenty of aromas you would associate with a red wine but with a lighter quality. Cherry, strawberry and plum - not the black plum, but a lighter variety - are the fruits I noticed. In the mouth, it is fresh and lively in a medium body. The fruit flavours are present but in a milder form. No tannins and a crisp mouth-watering finish make this Rose a perfect accompaniment to lighter meat dishes and probably not for slab of barbequed beef steak. If you're not used to drinking Rose wines, you should try this one.
Al Spoklie is a product consultant at the BC Signature Liquor Store at Pine Centre Mall.
