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As wine quickly edges out beer as the top alcoholic beverage of choice by Americans, depending on your source, it seemed only natural to add a wine column into our mix of other food and drink related topics. Every other Wednesday, to mirror Eating In, we will bring you information on wine trends, news, events in the area, and any other pertinent information to your ever-increasing wine consumption. For our first installment we want to keep it simple with an introduction to who we are, and four of our affordable picks for summer that you can find in the area. There’s nothing worse than reading about a wine that sounds good and not being able to find it anywhere nearby.
We know the last thing you need is another wine snob telling you things like "taste the terroir" and boasting about over-priced, big name wines. So we’ll just say now that here at DCist we are not wine snobs, only wine lovers. As for credentials, Ben is a wine consultant at Schneider’s of Capitol Hill and Amanda is the General Manager of Best Cellars in Clarendon; prior to coming to Washington, we both trained at the Culinary Institute of America, where we learned about wine in between being yelled at for broken hollandaise sauces.
Without further ado, we bring you four picks that fall under the reasonably-priced, sit outside on a hot day, no food necessary refreshing summer wines category. First up is Tohu Mugwi Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand ($22). This wine will be your best bet for pleasing multiple people at the same time. It has some tropical fruit notes without being too fruity (which is good for Chardonnay drinkers) and is balanced with a clean acidity (for those who prefer Pinot Grigio).
If a wine with more weight and less fruit is your preference, check out Hunold Vourberg Grand Cru Pinot Gris from Alsace ($25). This wine has more body--how the wine feels in your mouth, to put it succinctly--to it than Sauvignon Blancs and Pinot Grigios. It's less on the fruit-forward side, and has more mineral and floral notes. This one's more interesting than your average Chard.
Photo of Ardeo's wine rack by Kyle Gustafson.
Our next choice is great for parties because it is not only inexpensive but it also comes in a 1-liter bottle, as opposed to the standard 750ml! Koster-Wolf Muller-Thurgau from the Rheinhessen in Germany ($11) is a bit more off-dry, meaning it is sweeter than our other selections. Muller-Thurgau, being the varietal, is a cousin of the Riesling grape. So this wine has Riesling characteristics such as apple and pear flavors, without being as sweet or dense.
Last, but not least, we couldn’t have a complete summer wine list without a rosé. Why you ask? Well, because roses are very versatile: they're great to have with food or with just a good friend. Château de Lancyre Pic St. Loup Rosé from the Languedoc region in Southern France ($12) represents everything we love about traditional rosé. It is light, with refreshing strawberry notes and finishes dry (not sweet). This wine is the anti-White Zinfadel.
If you can’t find these specific wines, check out your local wine shop and ask for their suggestions on wines from these regions. And until next time, cheers.
Our Wine To-Do: Check out Vintage Virginia Wine Festival happening this weekend at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, VA. This wine festival will host more than 50 local wineries, regional food vendors, and a craft fair with music by The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Tickets are $20 in advance online or $25 at the door. There is also a “No Worries” shuttle pass available for $16, which will run hourly between the festival and the Vienna Metro Park and Ride; there are few things more fun than a drunken shuttle ride.
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If you're recommending a $22 Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, you're already outside of the reasonably priced zone (although I can't recall any Tuho at $22 - did you mean $12?). The Kim Crawford Savingnon Blanc from New Zealand is a great deal for $12.99 at Costco, as is the South African PineCrest for $10.99 at Calvert Woodley.
Ben, glad to see your bringing your knowledge of vino to the blogosphere.
Tohu makes a great sauvignon blanc that is priced at 12 dollars. Tohu Mugwi is a single vineyard that shows a bit more citrus and mineral taste and not so much tropical fruit as the regular label.That is why it costs a bit more. Both are a great wine for the price.
Thanks for the recommendations though. It is always good to have more options, but don't knock Tohu Mugwi until you try it. Also just because 22 dollars is outside your reasonably priced range doesn't mean that someone else would't mind trying a more expensive sauvignon blanc. Besides Loire Vally Pouilly Fume can get into the $50+, and don't get me started on how much people pay for ho hum Napa Sauvignon blanc from showy names.
fantastic new segment! pics of bottles and local vendors would help. there - that's my feedback.
good idea, chiclet. I added in the links I could find that showed the labels.
Ahhh wine!! My other favorite thing besides dirty bathrooms. Over the last year I have been having a love affair with New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. Personally, I don't think $22 is unreasonable for a good bottle of wine. At Harris Teeter there is wonderful bottle of NZSB at $10.99 by the name of Spy House...it's a perfect summer wine.
Wine noob here, so I have what might be a fairly noobish question for Ben: why are Napa Sauvignon Blancs ho hum and would you say most are? Thanks-Jerome
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Jerome, don't get me wrong there are some fantastic California Sauvignon Blancs out there but they can get pretty pricey and in my opinion will never match up to New Zealand or Loire Valley Sauvigon blancs. I beleive that is your spend between 10-25 dollars on a savignon blanc you'll be happier with the quality from those regions over Napa.