White On!

Fresher, crisper, and more distinctive white wines have no reason to take a back seat to reds anymore
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It used to be that white wine was considered the other wine, second in quality to red. But white wine, all kinds of it, has undergone big changes, and its status today is very much on par with reds.

Reds have been the Holy Grail of wine, the most expensive, the more dynamic, and they have had the greatest ranges of grape varieties. After all, how many white wines are there that age gracefully and produce the kind of famous old wines that come from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Napa Valley, and Italy’s famed Barolos?

Interestingly, although red-wine consumption has shot up in the United States over the last 20 years, it has never passed the vast white wines in this country. We remain a land of white-wine drinkers even as we bow to the altar of red.

The 2007 projection from U.S. Wine Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast bears out the differences, reporting that Americans would buy 120 million cases of white, 118 million cases of red, and 31 million cases of rosé. The survey projects that the white-wine sales will increase by the end of the decade.

The continued popularity of white wine is due to increases in quality and range of styles across two decades for all kinds of reasons. Among them: better technology, better viticulture practices in the vineyards, better presses, advances in fermentation tanks, more strains of yeast, and greater cleanliness, all of which are now shared across borders and between regions and wineries as never before.

The result means grapes that have more distinct character, and wines that are fresher, crisper, and have more clearly defined character. In other cases, we’re also seeing some of that drift into making many more fresh young reds and even rosé. It used to be you wouldn’t trust rosé much beyond a year. But I’m drinking a three-year-old rosé at the moment that is still as vibrant and delicate as it was two years ago.

The biggest increase in white-wine quality has come not in chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, or pinot grigio, but rather from new regions and once-obscure white grape varieties, or just long-overlooked whites: gewürztraminer, torrontes, albariño, verdelho, and even American native and hybrid grapes such as vignoles, diamond, and seyval blanc.

Nowhere was this quality shift clearer than in the results of the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Cru wine competition in July.

Out of 1,900 wines from around the world, the white-wine sweepstake class was dominated not by chardonnay, but Goose Watch Diamond from New York, Wollersheim Seyval Blanc from Wisconsin, followed by Braganini Traminette from St. Julian in Paw Paw, Mich., and Torrey Ridge Catawba from New York. And, in case anyone doubts the judging of these wines, Jim Trezise, who runs the Uncork New York! wine program in that state, noted that of the 40 judges, 38 were winemakers, retailers, and media types from California. “Over time, people have listened, and have summoned the courage to vote for wines that may not be in the mainstream. They’re simply great wines,” Trezise says. Here are three other unusual whites.

White On!
Photograph by Manfred W. Wenner

2007 Broquel Torrontes ($16): This Argentine dry white has a spicy honeysuckle aroma with traces of apple and melon on the palate, medium bodied, and a soft lingering finish.

2006 Folonari Riesling ($9):
Not what you’d expect from Italy. Pleasant, soft-flower aroma, followed in the mouth by zesty bright fruit and peachy notes. Good balance and finish.

2007 El Coto de Rioja ($12):
A white Spanish grape called viura, from red-wine country: very restrained aromatics, and crisp, soft and green apple and pear notes. Short finish, but a pleasant wine.