Petite Arvine 2007

I think I waited a year too long to open this but it was still surprisingly good.  Since I have never heard of the grape before...I did not even know this was a white wine until I opened it.  It's from Switzerland.  Who knew Alpine regions grow grapes?  Okay, wine enthusiasts know that.  I'm new at this.


Thinking about it, I would have thought this would be a light wine: thinking cooler mountains, higher elevations - again, without looking up specifics.

It was a deep yellow in the glass with no change in color at the edges.  It smelled of pineapple and alcohol.  Oh it was so good.  It went down so easily and lightly.


An amazing thought: Switzerland which would not have known about pineapples without help from imports grows a grape which gives them some of that same great taste (but without the excessive juicy sweetness of an actual pineapple)


On the second day it was no longer pineapple: it was pink grapefruit.  I like pink grapefruit.  It's regular grapefruit I don't much like.

Harmonie 2009

Muscadet de Serve et Maine sur lie. 

First sip is EEEEEEYOOOOOWWWWWW  sharp.  That's what happens when you just can't wait a little bit for it to open up and calm down.  


A short time later:  very light citrus on the nose.  Taste was smoother, maybe some light peachy type taste with just a touch of citrus, nice citrus but not grapefruity citrus.  Not exactly peachy but sort of peachy.  There was a hint of effervescence with every sip which dissipated almost before you knew it was there if you weren't looking for it.  I was looking for it.  I was curious about the 'Sur Lie.'  Yup, there's tiny bubbles at opening sip.  Short finish.

It was lovely.  A lovely summer wine.  

Due Uve 2009

 50% Pinot Grigio, 50% Sauvingnon Blanc.


I am not a fan of most Pinot Grigios or Sauvingon Blancs.  I am not a fan of grapefruit juice, alcoholic or not, not to mention the stink of cat pee on the nose which describes most Sauvingon Blancs from New Zealand in my experience.  This was from Veneto so I felt a little safer in this choice.


The Due Uve was nicely aromatic (apricot?), not too tart, not too sweet, and very refreshing.  Light color.  The second day was as good as the first.  Works against an array of summer picnic type foods.

Rosemount Chardonnay 1999

You heard me: 1999.  I had 3 bottles from a move a long time ago.  I drank 1 a couple of years ago it wasn't bad.  It was fuller, richer tasting than I thought it would be.


I wasn't so lucky this year.

My first clue that I was too late was the orange wine inside the glass.  It wasn't just a deep gold.  It was ORANGE.  I should have taken a picture of the glass of wine.   No worries.  I have that one other bottle.  I may save that for a demo.  I will take that picture.  I have never seen orange wine.


It had a vinegary tartness in the nose and yes, on the tongue.  I did take a sip just to test, which I promptly spit out.  Definitely gone.  Gone!  This is one reason I am using this summer to clear out the accumulated white wines from who knows when and where.  That and the consistent heat.

Macon Villages "Grand Elevage"

Also known as Chardonnay from Burgundy.  

  One sip is enough to tell me that this isn't from California (at least what I can usually afford from California) and definitely not Australian even if I couldn't read the label, which I can and this one doesn't even have that many French words in it.

Curiosity about French wines is a good reason to start refreshing all those years in Jr High/High School French from back in the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Way back when I first started to drink some wine here and there I liked Chardonnays.  Flash forward to  a couple of decades later when I returned to drinking wine I discovered I didn't like Chardonnays.   What happened in the intervening 20 years?  What happened was I drank French Chardonnays when I first started drinking - there wasn't much to choose from from California (at least at prices I was paying - somethings are consistent across decades).  20 years later there were more inexpensive Chardonnays available and they were not the type I remembered loving.   I ultimately learned there was a difference between wine regions (duh!), in many cases a big difference.  This was one of those cases. 

I tend to love more French Chardonnays and Chablis than Californian or Australian within the same price range.   I have tasted some $60 California Chardonnays which I have loved but unless they are selling for $20 or under I won't be having more than a taste.  That said I do have one squirreled away that might be making its appearance here before the summer ends.  It was a sale price I could not refuse.   But I digress.

Back to the Macon.  Another very light colored wine.  A floral nose with flowers I can't identify other than knowing it smells more flowery than citrusy -  another improvement over the basic 'yummmmmmm.'  Crisp.  Refreshing.  Tastes more citrusy than it smells.    It seemed to have more body last night than it does tonight.  It has a screw top so it couldn't have had THAT much oxidation but a little bit went a long way to giving it a more tartly acidic edge on the second day.

Works more as an aperitif for me than an accompaniment with the random accompaniments that came after another long hot sweating workday: a romaine, onion and pickle salad with ranch dressing and a handful of grated romano cheese.   You can tell it's been a very long time since I was a dedicated foodie.  Today's food choice was a peanut butter sandwich an hour ago.  I don't think that counts so it is aperitif night tonight.  The Auxerrois from the other night also had a screw top.  MMMMMM That Auxerrois was sublime both days.  Maybe I will have to break down and get some more before I swill my way through my already cellared whites.

I have to get back to opening up my older wines.  I was trying to alternate more recent acquisitions against the archeological ones which really have to be opened, drunk or tossed creating new cellar space to repeat this fun next summer with all new whites or maybe just chilled light reds.   I already miss my reds.

Adelsheim Vineyards 2009 Auxerrois

I don't know how it is pronounced but it is a wonderful light white.

In the glass, it is nearly colorless.  The nose is of peaches?  And some other nice things.  Really nice.

First sips: slightly peachy but not sweet.  Light with nice finish, a short finish.  Some write ups list this as a great wine with oysters.  I don't happen to have oysters handy.  A fast dinner after a day at work, on my feet, in very bad to nearly nonexistent AC during 90F July day... fast, light and late dinner: 1 chicken-feta-spinach sausage with yellow mustard on a hotdog bun.  The wine worked well with something as pedestrian as that.

The peach was no longer on the tongue.  It tasted more 'winey.'  It tasted a little fuller with food, with a longer finish.

There are some press type notes here .  Lovely, lovely wine.