With spring in place, lighter eating and drinking calls for white wine. There is a chorus of different voices from the vineyard, and some are outshouting Chardonnay.
Chardonnay has baggage. It's often oaky and buttery. It's also associated with liberal snobbery in the United States. If you like white wine, there are other options and most go well with the lighter foods we favor in warmer weather. Sauvignon Blance and Pinot Grigio (also known as Pinot Gris) are well-known alternatives to Chardonnay. Here's a quick overview of some others:
Riesling
This wine is usually sweet but is drier and crisper in the New World. There are excellent producers in Washington State and Australia such as Chateau Ste. Michelle and Yalumba Riesling is also grown in South Africa and New Zealand.
Viognier
This wine is often creamy and rich with surprising hints of toast and tangerine. In France, it;s known as Condrieu and is made in the northern Rhone valley. According to the site EnjoyingViognier.com, the grape is a cousin to the Italian Nebbiolo varietal. Yalumba makes a good value version of this wine and many producers in California,such as theMcManis Family Vineyards. For some, there are few foods that don't go with this one.
Torrontes
This sleeper grape has grown in popularity as more people discover the wines of Argentina. It's full-bodied and aggresively floral on the nose. To some fans, it resembles Viognier. One of its best-known producers is Crios de Susana Balbo. According to Philafoodie.com, it is also the most-planted white wine grape in Argentina—roughly 20,000 acres according to 2001 statistics. This wine pairs well with fish, especially sushi.
Gewurztraminer
Don't be afraid of pronouncing this one. it's easy GUR-WURZ-TRAM-EEN-ER. The Airlie vineyard of Monmouth, Oregon produces an excellent version of this wine priced to sell at $10 a bottle. According to the Professional Friends of Wine, "the dark pink color of gewürztraminer grapes results in wines colored from light to dark golden yellow with a copper tone, depending upon the fruit ripeness. Gewürztraminer is quite full-bodied, more so than most any other white wine type. In fact, the combination of its strong, heady, perfumey scent, exotic lychee-nut flavor and heavy-oily texture can be overwhelming and tiring to many palates. There is a slight tendency to bitterness that seems exacerbated by ripeness, so a light touch is needed at the wine press." However, these qualities make it a nice for spicy foods and some lighter red meats.
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