INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Outstanding specimens

Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations offer such a wide variety of flavors and textures that it is impossible to match a single wine to either meal. Instead, here is a broad range of suggestions, any of which would complement these festive dinners, depending upon your personal taste. Traditionally, beaujolais nouveau, which is released the week prior to Thanksgiving, is the most commonly recommended wine for this occasion. Bottled and shipped just a couple of months after harvest, beaujolais nouveau is produced at the southern end of France’s Burgundy district and is made from the gamay grape. What distinguishes beaujolais nouveau from regular beaujolais is its method of fermentation. Without going into too many details, the process involved in the production of beaujolais nouveau enables rapid conversion of sugars into alcohol and an equally rapid extraction of fruit flavors. The result is a wine often full of banana-flavored esters and a bright, bubble-gummy character. These wines almost never last more than six months after harvest and you should only buy enough as you need to keep you going through the end of the year. Almost 50 percent of beaujolais’ entire production goes into this frothy, lightweight and fruity wine. Over 50 percent of that is produced by Georges DuBoeuf. Although I have nothing particularly against the wines of Georges DuBoeuf in general, or beaujolais nouveau in particular, there are a number of other producers worthy of attention who make wines in an unmanipulated and natural style. These include Diochon, Thievin and Domaine Calot. What separates these producers from other, more mainstream houses, is that they possess a greater depth of fruit and often taste more like a fine pinot noir from Burgundy than what we now commonly accept as beaujolais. The very best of these are wines capable of aging 10 to 15 years under the correct conditions. Although harder to find, these outstanding examples, particularly from 2002, are well worth seeking out. Should your tastes tend towards beaujolais nouveau, ask your retailer for the always exuberant bottling by Kermit Lynch. It is consistently head and shoulders above its more commonplace rivals. What would the holidays be without sparkling wine? The big brand names, always sound, are becoming increasingly expensive but are not improving sufficiently in quality to justify their price hikes. Several outstanding bottlings to look for in the under $20 range would include northern Italy’s Prosecco from Zardetto, Nino Franco and to a lesser extent Mionetto. These are all light, frothy, gulpable bottlings in the $10 range, which can be drunk from breakfast through dinner with impunity. In the more full-bodied category, look for the surprisingly fine champagne-style wine from Gruet. This New Mexico winery is producing sterling-caliber bubbles in the sort of price range that was occupied by California five years ago. The Blanc de Noirs is especially fine. As far as champagne is concerned, there are many small, fine producers on the market these days. I would have to single out the wines of Gosset-Brabant and Egly-Ouriet. These exceptional bottlings are in the same price range as their big brand name cousins, but there is no comparison in terms of quality. Those who prefer somewhat sweeter bubbles might care to try one of the several excellent sparkling moscatos from the Asti region of northwest Italy. With a legally prescribed 5.5 percent alcohol, these delightful wines are lighter than many beers and, when properly chilled, just as refreshing. Top producers include Cascina Castel’T and Saracco. With lovely aromas of peaches and stonefruit, these succulent, medium-sweet bubblies offer a lovely balance of ripe fruit and tingly acidity on the palate. Surely there is no better wine with a brunch of pastries, smoked salmon and Eggs Benedict. For those choosing to drink white wine throughout a meal, one grape variety springs immediately to mind. Much maligned and misunderstood by those who, for whatever reason, despise sweeter wines, the riesling grape produces, without doubt, the noblest and most versatile while wines on the planet. Ranging in style from ethereally light and transparent to full-bodied and bone dry, not to mention decadently sweet and intense, riesling produces wines to suit every occasion. These days, I hear so many complaints from customers and colleagues alike that chardonnay is too oaky, too full-bodied and that sauvignon blanc is too one-dimensional, that riesling has become the natural default grape. The past two vintages in Germany (2001 and 2002) have been extolled by critics as amongst the very finest of all time, and with prices still ludicrously low even for the better producers, there has never been a more propitious time to stock up on these beauties. Although the Indiana market is not too well-served as far as riesling is concerned, you might want to look for bottlings from the following great estates: J.J. Prüm, Dr. Bürklin-Wolf, Dr. Loosen and Gunderloch. Exceptional in both vintages, you will find outstanding specimens from all of these producers for under $20 a bottle. If drier riesling is more to your taste, there are some fine and full-bodied examples available from Australia. The best include Pike’s and Leeuwin. Equally fine from New Zealand is Jackson Estate. First-rate dry riesling is also to be found in France’s Alsace region. Good locally available producers include Trimbach, Hugel, Kuntz-Bas and Schlumberger. When it comes to sweet, dessert-style riesling, you can go to Alsace for wines known as Selection de Grains Nobles. Only made in the finest vintages, these wines are a decadent sweet treat, almost a dessert in their own right. Those with a taste for spicy, soft, low-acid whites might wish to explore two lesser-known grape varieties: gewürztraminer and viognier. Of the two, the former is generally considered more versatile and can offer incredibly intense aromas of rose petals, stonefruits and spices. Exotic and slightly off-dry at its very best, gewürz finds its best expression in Alsace. Top producers include Ostertag, Zind-Humbrecht and Kuntz-Bas. As far as viognier is concerned, this grape is extremely fickle and hard to grow, but a very good value priced rendition is available for around $10 from Georges DuBoeuf. Floral and slightly oily on the nose with a fat, low-acid mouth feel, this is an ideal wine for those who are thoroughly sick and tired of chardonnay. When choosing a fuller-bodied and more versatile red, it is important not to get hung up on the usual cabernet sauvignon and merlot bandwagon. To start with, there is a lot of merlot out there that is frankly not very interesting and cabernet sauvignon, for its part, unless it happens to be a mature and well-aged bottle, is generally too tannic and acidic to be really compatible with a lot of Thanksgiving and Christmas fare. There are many grape varieties which combine economy and food-friendliness without delivering the massive one-two punch of a California cab. Much overlooked but very food-friendly is Italy’s barbera grape from Piemonte, the same region that gives us Asti. Barbera produces wines that can simultaneously deliver bags of fruit and a nice lip-smacking burst of acidity. I find these wines drinkable from beginning to end of a diverse meal. Excellent examples under $15 include Villa Giada “Suri Russ” and Silvio Grasso. As far as domestic producers of barbera are concerned, few can equal Renwood, whose luscious, fruity and highly extracted red offers more body than the Italians but a similar range of flavors. Those searching for versatility might also choose to look in the Southern Rhône Valley. Here, the grenache grape reigns, producing wines of relatively low acidity, big, ripe, spicy fruit and relatively high alcohol. I find that these wines glide easily over and around the most demanding of dishes. Good, easily available wines from the Southern Rhône include Côte du Rhône from Chateau Trignon, Guigal and Perrin. More expensive, fuller-bodied and more complex wines are also produced in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas. Expect to pay upwards of $30 for the former and $20 for the latter. As far as vintages are concerned, anything from ’98 to 2001 will be of above-average quality. Warm Mediterranean varieties such as grenache and syrah also flourish in South Australia. I have written extensively about this area in the past so I will not bore you with it here. To end the perfect holiday meal, one of course should not overlook the traditional vintage or tawny port, which when properly mature is a heady, decadent and luxurious dessert in its own right. For those who may prefer slightly less than 20 percent alcohol in their dessert wine, I recommend trying one of the several outstanding fortified wines, also known as “stickies,” available from Australia’s Rutherglen in Victoria. The very best of these liqueur muscats are made by Chambers, Campbells, Yalumba and Bueller. With aromas and flavors of roasted nuts, caramel, toffee and butterscotch, the best of these decadent sweets are almost impossible to put down after the first glass. Bottlings from these producers are available for under $20 for 375 ml. Check your local fine wine outlets, including 21st Amendment, Kahn’s, John’s Hamilton Beverage, Grapevine Cottage and Deano’s Vino.