The Prices Aren’t Right For Some Wine

Stop the insanity!

My trusty wine merchant called a while back to ask if I wanted to be put on a waiting list for Leonetti Cellars’ latest reserve wine. At 55 bucks a pop.

Hello? Sorry, but that’s out of my league. I’m just a poor wine columnist, trying to save for my kid’s college education.

This development makes me sad, though. It seems like only a few years ago, Leonetti Cellars wines were $20, tops. Unless I win the lottery, I guess I’ll no longer be a bottle-holding member of the Leonetti fan club.

I like Leonetti owner Gary Figgins and I think he puts out a world-class product in his Walla Walla winery. I don’t begrudge him getting any price the market will bear.

He’s committed to keeping production small, so he can carefully handcraft his wines. In recent years, his star has risen thanks to gushing reports in national wine publications. His merlot was declared one of the Top 10 wines in the world last year by The Wine Spectator. That’s the wine world’s equivalent to winning an Oscar or bagging a seven-point elk.

Naturally, this kind of attention makes Leonetti Cellars wine about as rare as a liberal voice in the new Republican Congress. Thus the waiting list. And unless you have been a loyal Leonetti customer, the wait could be mighty long.

Unfortunately, this kind of hoopla further enhances wine’s reputation as an elitist drink for the privileged few.

For a startling contrast, just look at how the designer beer industry has taken off. In the past few years, the market for fancy brew has exploded. Go into the supermarket and you’ll find all manner of ales, weizens and stouts.

Why?

Because beer is somehow more approachable than wine. Maybe it’s price - the best brew tops out at around $8 a six-pack. Maybe it’s beer’s working-class image.

Of course, some would argue that comparing beer and wine is like talking apples and bananas. Fine wine is poetry and beer is a Hallmark greeting.

But, as a consumer on any kind of a budget, you have to wonder whether any wine is worth $55. There are certainly plenty of people willing to pay that and more for wines from California and France. Washington should be proud to have a wine of this caliber.

Still, it burns me when hype drives up the price.

Easy on the budget

Fortunately, many wines are still within reach of us working stiffs. Here are a few highlights from tastings over the past few months. Most are in the $10 neighborhood; some cost a little more, others considerably less.

Dry whites: Hogue chardonnay, Corbett Canyon central coast classic chardonnay, Sterling Vineyards sauvignon blanc, Argyle chardonnay, Paul Thomas chardonnay, Waterbrook chardonnay, Arbor Crest sauvignon blanc, Chateau Ste. Michelle sauvignon blanc, Hogue semillon and Columbia Crest semillon-chardonnay.

Reds: Meridian cabernet sauvignon, Sebastiani cabernet, Villa Mt. Eden cabernet, Fetzer merlot, Waterbrook merlot, Covey Run merlot, David Bruce pinot noir, Gallo (North Coast) zinfandel, Louis Martini Primitiva (zinfandel), Seghesio pinot noir, Kendall Jackson zinfandel, Ste. Chapelle canyon merlot, Caterina merlot and Arbor Crest cabernet-merlot.

My two cents

Another way for wine to shake its highfaluting image is to make it more practical to serve.

I would love to see more quality wine come in those three-liter boxes. The premium stuff is sold in these handy containers in Europe. Why not here? Enjoying those two glasses a day would be much easier if all you had to do was open the fridge or the cupboard and open the spigot.

The boxes do a nifty job of keeping oxygen out and extending the life of wine.

French 101

To prove that French wine goes with food other than foie gras, a marketing arm of that country’s wine industry has produced a free brochure offering advice on food and wine pairings.

The 32-page booklet covers unexpected ethnic foods such as Chinese, Cajun and Italian. It gives tips on selecting and serving wine, along with “amusing wine anecdotes.” Like the one about the winemaker from Nantucket.

To receive this guidebook, call (800) 522-9463.

Special dinners

Chateau Ste. Michelle’s resident chef, John Sarich, will lord over a series of festive dinners held at the Woodinville winery’s elegant manor house.

The meals, which will be accompanied by complementing wines, are limited to 42 people and the cost is $95 a person.

Each dinner has a special theme. Upcoming events include a spring celebration, showcasing new releases, on March 17; a meal mixing eastern and western cuisine on April 21 and a dinner showcasing older reds from the winery’s library on May 19.

For additional information, or for reservations, call (206) 488-3327.

Lighten up

Clos Pegase winery is once again soliciting jokes for its annual “grapes of laughs” contest. The top jokester will get a lunch for four at the Napa Valley winery (you provide the transportation, unfortunately) and a six-bottle collector set.

Send your yuks - but keep ‘em clean - to Clos Pegase, P.O. Box 305, Calistoga, CA 94515 by March 1.

Hot off the press

Yakima Valley’s official 1995 wine tour brochure is just out.

In addition to listing the region’s wineries, the guide contains restaurants, lodgings and other cultural attractions. Like the Columbia Center Mall.

To receive the guide, send a selfaddressed, stamped envelope to Wine Tour, P.O. Box 39, Grandview, WA 98930.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Leslie Kelly The Spokesman-Review