One of my go-to whites is the CHateau Ste Michelle Eroica. A nice crisp, bright, but not too dry/not too sweet reisling.
Not to mention they are expensive, especially Zind Humbrecht, Kuentz-Bas, Weinbach and the like because of very low grape yields and Grand Cru vineyard designations. Alsatian Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris tend to be the cheapest (along with blends like Edelzwicker), and the Rieslings and Gewurtztraminers quite expensive, especially if it’s one of their Grand Cru or SGN dessert wines. I love Alsatian wines too, they are awesome.
Sauvignon Blanc is everywhere these days, and I agree about Kim Crawford being too expensive due to exposure. There are many, many other Marlborough producers making very good SB’s for half the price of Crawford. Another place for good Sauvignon Blanc is from Sancerre, France, although those can be pricey too and have a completely different flavor and aroma profile. Pouilly Fume is generally cheaper and almost as good from reputable producers.
YES! Argentina has made great strides in the last 10-15 years with Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, particularly. There’s a producer called Catena that I am particularly enamored with that produces awesome wines in the mid-ish price range (around 20-25 buck s a bottle).
Eroica is one of the best American Rieslings, but to really get the flinty minerality of a truly awesome Riesling you just have to go German. Unfortunately for the layman, German riesling labels can be hard to decipher, which is why the advice of a reputable wine shop is always a plus. Tell them what style you like (IIRC Eroica is about $20-25 a bottle and has only a hint of sweetness) and they can guide you. There is literally nothing like the terroir of a high-quality Mosel riesling. There’s a reason Riesling is considered by purists to be “the most transparent grape”…which means that it transmits elements from the soils it was grown in into the finished product, and in the case of Mosel wines, that would be soil with an extremely high shale content, which in turn imparts a wonderful minerality to the finished wine. In addition to the fruit flavor and scent inherent to the grape, you get aromas and flavors of wet stone, smoke, flint…in a pleasurable way.
They are by far some of my favorite wines. If you enjoy white wines, you are doing yourself a disservice by not trying them. And the best part is that the bad rep that German Rieslings get due to swill like Liebfraumilsch is a total illusion. Not all German Rieslings are sweet, many are quite dry, and there are a wide variety of sweetness levels in German Rieslings too, and they have a very crisp acid profile to cut right through any sweetness you get anyway.
OK, enough about German Riesling. I’ve got to go to the wine store now, I’m drooling for my peachy nectar!
Now you’re talking. I drink very little wine because of the migraine problem, but I love me some Riesling.
If the alcohol in wine is what’s causing your migraines, Riesling is a good choice because they tend to be lower alcohol wines, even moreso the sweeter ones, as the fermentation in those wines is either arrested to leave some sugar in the wines, yielding less alcohol, or there’s just so much sugar present in late-picked (spatlese, beerenauslese, etc) wines that the yeasts simply cannot convert it all into alcohol.
Most slightly sweet Rielsings range about 9% alcohol/volume, whereas, say, a dry American Chardonnay can be around 13-14%, depending on how ripe the grapes were when harvested. It’s a huge difference. You get to drink more!
Edit: the other thing that may be causing your migraines from wine is sulfites. Some people are pretty allergic to sulfites and can have a variety of reactions to them. IIRC Rieslings (and white wines in general) have less sulfite content than red wines. I think. I need to check that. But pretty much ALL wines have some sulfites, as it is a byproduct of fermentation, and they are added to a lot of wines as a preservative.
Yes, it’s the sulfites. All wines have some sulfites; I look for wines that have no added sulfites. They are hard to find, but a good, well-supplied wine vendor should have some and a knowledgeable clerk.
Man, that sucks. I don’t know how I’d deal with that allergy, given my fondness for all well made wines of the world. I bet if you look for organic and/or biodynamically grown grapes you’ll find wines without added sulfites. I think that by definition that organically grown wine grapes cannot have added sulfites.
The most prominent example I can think of off the top of my head is the Bonterra winery. They have a cool website, too, you should check it out. I can’t recall if they make any Rieslings or not, but their wines have a generally good reputation and you can drink their other varieties of wine due to a lack of added sulfites. I can’t remember how pricey they are either, but I think they are middle of the road expense-wise.
Here: http://www.bonterra.com/
I’d serve a Liebfraumilch. A moderately priced wine, its characteristics might actually go well with the overtones of this particular menu- Feta, Onions, Asparagus, Almonds, Basil, and Brie. It’s a nice “peasant” wine that goes with the flavor plays and the acidity profile of this particular meal. I think Liebfraumilch has a bad rap, generally being considered a “cheap” wine, but it has its moments.
Please, no offense intended, but this is exactly the type of German wine you should avoid when there are true QbA and QmP wines available for only a few dollars more a bottle that are pure Riesling and not blended wines that are generally the wineries’ cheapest offering.
Liebfraumilch isn’t terrible, per se, but it is indeed the equivalent of White Zinfandel in the USA, mass produced, mass appeal. My motto is always drink what you like of course, and I apologize if I am coming off as a snob, but truly…much better German wine can be had for a fraction more, and why not try new things, eh?
Well, I was specifically thinking Blue Nun, but according to that Wikilink, Blue Nun is no longer considered a Liebfraumilch, it has actually been ranked a Qualitaetswein, and lost the association. Nonetheless, there are still some decent liebfraumilchs out there, at least in Germany.
He asked what would go with the menu, I told him. Nothing wrong with a decent liebfraumilch.
Or hell, serve something sparkling, this Blue Nun sparkling wine sounds interesting, unless you can afford a bottle of good champagne, then I’d go with that. I like a Korbel Brut or Dom.
I’m pleading with the OP to seek a better alternative that doesn’t cost much more. That’s all.
No offense, but Liebfraumilch kinda sucks. It’s quality is extremely variable due to it’s nature, and the quality of even the next tier of German wines (QbA’s) is regulated by government decree. They almost always without fail are quite simply better wines, and they aren’t expensive.
I’m sorry, devilsknew. I am not trying to shit on you nor your preference. I encourage you also to branch out. You’ll see.
I’ve had many quality German wines, pretty much sampled the Mosel and Rhein, the wines you suggest are great, but the ideal match for this meal is some yet undiscovered Liebfraumilch. Maybe get it straight from the Kloister.
Drink what you like, OP. It’s the bottom line WRT wines.
Without being snarky, I don’t think there is such a thing as an “undiscovered Liebfraumilch”.
You’d have to be in Germany to experience the “good” ones, and the rest of it is exported to foreign markets as stuff like Blue Nun, which I have to say, isn’t very good wine at all. Liebfraumilch tends to be very consistently bad in the export market. It’s a homogenized style of simple, syrupy wines that in my mind give foreign consumers a false impression of the true greatness of German Rieslings.
Blue Nun is not at all syrupy, it’s a rather dry German white wine of quality. Much less sweet than any riesling. There are other wines of similar quality devoleped for the Napoleonic influence.
No kidding.
One of the most lasting memories of a trip to Alsace a few years ago was sampling 3 different Rieslings, all from the same producer, same year, same method. The only difference was the vineyard. Anyone who doesn’t believe in terroir needs to do this - the 3 wines were markedly different.
Alsace… I need to go back. It’s such a pity that it’s so hard to find decent Alsatian and/or Mosel wines in the US. They just blow away every other white in my book. Eroica just doesn’t do it for me, nor does any other new world Riesling (much less Pinot Blanc, Gewurz, etc). They just haven’t figured it out yet.
But lucky me has 2 cases coming in the next few weeks. Aaaaah my precious, precious Alsatians, you are so worth every damn penny I spend on you…
I read the menu and immediately thought “New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc” too. I don’t know what they cost in the US but here in the UK they’re affordable so you should be alright.
As for what to try: I’m a big fan of Chilean wines, which can be quite robust in flavor. Try a Carmenere or Merlot for a red (or, indeed, a Sauv Blanc for white).
You’re lucky that you live in a place where wineries can ship wine to you. Stupid silly little Indiana…you’re missing out on a lot of tax revenue!
And don’t get me started on not being able to buy beer in a store on Sundays…and on every other day of the week, beer in grocery stores is sold WARM…and the only place to buy cold beer outside of bars is from sanctioned liquor stores that charge a premium for the privledge of refrigeration…grrrr…