Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [89]
Petite Sirah There isn’t much grown, but there are some delicious ones. This grape has no relationship to the Syrah grape, and is believed to be Durif, a lowbrow grape from the south of France. In any case, Stag’s Leap Winery, Ridge, Bogle, and Concannon all make bottlings worth trying. Turley also makes a sought-after version (really intense, like its Zinfandels). Petite Sirah is an inky-dark wine, with lots of body, jammy fruit, and tannin.
All fifty states now produce commerical quantities of wine—so, just like the Europeans, we all have a “local wine” tradition to enjoy. Check yours out! For decades, most American farm wineries focused on native American grape varieties such as Catawba and Delaware (the species called Vitis labrusca that is better suited for making jelly) or French-American hybrids such as Seyval Blanc and Baco Noir, which range from mediocre (usually) to quite good. But nowadays more and more states are having success with the classic European grape varieties, whose species name is Vitis vinifera. In researching and shooting a “Fifty Wines, Fifty States” one-hour special edition of my Fine Living Network TV Show Simply Wine, I turned up an impressive list of new bright spots on the American wine map for classic Vitis vinifera wine grapes, from Cabernet to Viognier. They include: New York (Finger Lakes and North Fork of Long Island AVAs), Texas (Texas Hill country AVA), Idaho, Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. As wineries continue to experiment, new AVAs in California and elsewhere will make their way onto bottle labels. Even in places like Napa and Sonoma, the exploration and discovery have just begun.
Chile
Although Chile’s wine industry dates from the arrival of French vintners, grapes, and techniques in the 1650s, in my opinion progress on the quality front has been slow. The good news for buyers is the plentiful land and low labor costs help keep wine prices for the major brands quite attractive. Production is dominated by the Big Four wineries—Cocha y Toro, Santa Rita, San Pedro, and Santa Carolina, whose quality standard for the money is pretty good.
The future looks brighter than ever. Over the past two decades, top European and American vintners scoped out the potential, liked what they saw, and established vineyards and wineries:
The Central Valley (Valle Central) is Chile’s major growing area, extending from slightly north of the capital city of Santiago to 250 kilometers south of the capital. The subdistricts most commonly seen on wine labels are Maipo (a river valley in the environs of Santiago), Rapel, Curicó, and Lontue. Casablanca and Aconcagua are two up-and-coming regions north of Santiago. Although there are now some very upscale, expensive wines made in Chile, I still think the optimal buying strategy is to focus on the value category. Here are some of the best:
CHECK OUT CHILE’S SIGNATURE RED
If you are looking for something different, but not too far afield from the Big Six, try the Carmenère (car-muh-nair-eh) grape, a Bordeaux import that was originally misidentified as Merlot in many Chilean Vineyards. Its smooth texture and plum fruit are framed by an exotically meaty-smoky scent. Yum!
Argentina
The famously flavorful gaucho-tended Argentinean beef cattle share their acreage with vineyards—lots of them. Argentina ranks fifth after Italy, France, Spain, and the United States in world wine output, most of which is consumed on the home turf. But exports are growing rapidly, led by the signature red varietal Malbec, brought to Argentina from Bordeaux. Argentinean Cabernet Sauvignon is also very good, and a local specialty white grape called Torrontés, with a distinctive pineapple-cream flavor, is well worth trying as a “cheap but good” offering.
Mendoza is Argentina’s (and the Western Hemisphere’s) largest growing region, often listed on the label along with the varietal name. If not, one of these subregions may be: Agrelo,