Summer’s Best Wines
As tastes shift toward lighter, less alcoholic whites, especially for summertime, refreshing wines from places like Spain’s Basque country and Australia’s Eden Valley are turning up on more store shelves. Here, 10 of the best, plus a fizzy, cooling drink made with white port (right).
10 Crisp, Light Whites
2008 Valentin Bianchi Elsa Torrontes ($9)
Torrontés, Argentina’s most interesting white grape, tends towards melon and citrus notes and a flamboyant aroma. This bottling is made without using oak, which helps keep its flavors bright and lively.
2007 Domaine de la Batardière Muscadet ($10)
Muscadet, from the western part of France’s Loire Valley, is a summer classic. Its citrusy character pairs ideally with seafood, particularly raw oysters.
NV Broadbent Vinho Verde ($11)
Vinho Verde—a pale Portuguese wine named for its youth rather than its color—should be crisp, tingly and full of lemon and seashell nuances. That aptly describes this bottling from importer Bartholomew Broadbent.
2007 Riff Pinot Grigio ($11)
This graceful, peachy white wine is made with grapes from Italy’s informally designated “Tre Venezie” region—Alto Adige, Trentino and Veneto. Its musky finish gives it a complexity missing from many Pinot Grigios.2008 Kung Fu Girl Riesling ($12)
Washington-state winemaker Charles Smith earned his reputation with some formidable (and fairly expensive) Syrahs, but lately, he’s been focusing on a line of quirkily named, inexpensive wines. This floral, slightly off-dry Riesling is one of the best.
2008 Domaine Labbé Abymes Vin de Savoie ($14)
The Jacquère grape is obscure, as is the Savoie region near the Alps in eastern France. But this light-bodied wine (only 11 percent alcohol), full of clean citrus fruit and chalky mineral notes, deserves to be better known.
2008 Peter Lehmann Eden Valley Riesling ($16)
The lime-zest and mineral characteristics typical of dry Australian Rieslings are amply present in this brisk bottling from South Australia’s Eden Valley, one of the country’s best Riesling regions.
2008 Saracco Moscato d’Asti ($16)
Moscato d’Asti, the off-dry, lightly sparkling wine native to Italy’s Piedmont region, is exceptionally light in alcohol: usually only six percent or so. This graceful, tangerine-scented bottling from a top producer would be great either as an aperitif or with fresh fruit for dessert.
2008 Ulacia Txakolina ($19)
Txakoli, the white wine of Spain’s Basque region, has a light effervescence and a green apple–citrus flavor that is extraordinarily refreshing. This zippy rendition comes from a family-owned winery founded in the 1940s.
2008 Long Boat Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($20)
This white from Marlborough, New Zealand’s most famous Sauvignon Blanc region, is herbal and peppery, but those flavors are balanced by juicy passion fruit notes.
