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Whether we like it or not, winter is on its way and will be here rather soon, and I believe that before it arrives, wine dealers will attempt to decrease their stock of the lighter summer wines to make room for the red wines of winter by reducing some prices.
This should develop into a buyer's market for the white and rosé wines because of the current economy, resulting in some extra special buys.
I again remind you that the prices I show are the manufacturer's suggested retail price, and even a few moments of searching should result in more attractive prices. With that said, I recently found some very interesting white wines that stray from the “usual suspects” and make for pleasant and interesting wine enjoyment.
Cline Viognier 2024 ($17)
Pronounced vee ohn yay, this is a grape variety that has found its place among the most popular white grape varieties, selling at an affordable price.
The wines of Cline Viognier have never failed to impress me as a terrific value for the money, and their affordable price masks some excellent wines. Cline Viognier 2024 Viognier continues that tradition. It is a golden-colored wine with an intensely floral aroma, which is accented by apricots and pears. The flavor of this medium bodied wine is a never-ending display of flowers and fruit, which carry over to finish which is equally as fruity and exceptionally long lasting This is an exceptional wine, and if you are looking for a change from the ordinary and the common place, I can recommend this wine to you without question and if I am ever asked to name my favorite white wine varieties, Viognier would be at the very top of my list.
Hugel 2023 Classic Riesling ($24.99)
It was Will Rogers who said that “I have never met a man he did not like.” I have never sampled a Hugel wine that was anything less than exceptional. Picking out a German Riesling wine, however, can prove to be a daunting adventure as a German Riesling comes in many levels of sweetness from bone-dry to teeth-rattling sweet.
While a course in the German language is not necessary to pick out the right Riesling, a few words are necessary. If you prefer a dry wine, look for the word Kabinett on the label, which indicates a totally dry wine; anything else would be a trip through an ever-increasing sweetness as well as a steady price rise.
Another way to determine the sweetness of a German wine is that the longer the name, the sweeter the wine. While Hugel is a French wine company located in the province of Alsace-Lorraine and shares its eastern border with Germany, its handling of this variety is almost legendary. This wine displays a delicate spicy fruit aroma dominated by grapefruit and elderflowers. The flavor mirrors the aroma with the addition of the sensations of tangerines. None of the flavors are directly up front but mingle with each other to produce a mélange of the most elegant summer fruits. This wine represents the absolute pinnacle for both the excellent variety and the winemaker.
Hugel 2022 Gewürztraminer ($22.99)
Any mention of Alsatian wines without including Gewürztraminer would be tantamount to heresy, and should probably be punished in the same way, as there is no Gewürztraminer like an Alsatian Gewürztraminer.
While there are some very nice wines made from this grape around the world, none can approach the magic that the Alsatian soil and climate impart to a wine.
While the wine is dry and very flavorful, it’s the intensely perfumed floral aroma that is the true beauty of the variety. It is universally acknowledged that an Alsatian Gewürztraminer has the most perfumed and intense aroma of any other wine in the world.
When the bottle is opened, the room is instantly filled with the aroma of freshly cut wild flowers. The Hugel 2022 Gewürztraminer is a picture-perfect example of an Alsatian Gewürztraminer, and I can recommend it to the reader without any hesitation.
Bennet Bodenstein is a wine enthusiast and book author whose column appears in publications throughout the country.
