Dressing Up The Summer White Wines List

Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio. The White Wine Big Three can be found in every wine shop and on most restaurants’ wine lists. However, we want to be cool, hip, and fresh. Who wants to order the same wine as that boring couple at the other table?

Your first stop on the hip wine express is Viognier. Although this wine is basically impossible for any non- speaking French person to pronounce, you do not have to be French to drink it. Aromatic, crisp and dry, Viognier is a perfect warm weather white wine. It drinks exceptionally well with summer salads.

George Duboeuf’s Viognier is quite inexpensive and a perfect way to try your first Viognier. (By the way, it is pronounced “vyon-yay.”) If you are serious about Viognier, a French white wine called Condrieu is one of the world’s great wines made from Viognier.

Although I did not initially plan it this way, another tasty summer white is also very hard to pronounce. Gewurztraminer is grown in Washington state, California, Germany and France’s Alsace region. The less expensive wines are soft and a little fruity. They are perfect picnic wines and are also great apertifs.

Some of the more expensive ($15 and up) Gewurztraminers can be seriously great wines. They offer flavors and complexity that are not found in many white wines.

If you find yourself in a white wine rut, shame on you. There are many excellent white wines available. All it takes is a little courage to try something different. By the way, did I mention Picpoul de Pinet, Semillon, or Grillo?

(Steve Small is a Newtown resident and wine enthusiast.)