Cool Wines For The Hot Days Ahead

My favorite summer wine is a gin and tonic.

Just joshing. It can be a challenge, though, to find a wine as cool and refreshing as an icy G-and-T.

So, I checked my notes, asked a few local wine merchants, read some recent reviews and came up with a list of suggestions that should work for those warm evenings on the deck, or with the season’s fair-weather food.

Italian whites are a great way to chill out, with their lively fruit and lip-smacking tartness. That crisp acidity makes them good candidates for matching with cold chicken, grilled seafood and pasta salads.

I’m especially fond of a line called Vivace, which is distinguished by by having a touch of effervescence. One semisweet white, the Primo Amore, is made with moscato, the same grapes used to produce the famous sparkler, asti spumante.

The Vivace chardonnay trades the buttery quality typical of that varietal for a light, tropical fruit flavor. The splash of citrus gives the wine a nice balance.

There’s even a red, a merlot, that has a bright raspberry quality. It can be served slightly chilled.

All these wines are around $10.

A couple of affordable pinot grigios come from producers such as Kris, Zenato and Torre di Luna, all around $11. The latter has a creamy, almost chardonnay-like quality. Come to think of it, I have yet to run into any pinot grigio that’s a complete stinker.

Loris Stupel at The Spokane Wine Company said she likes to turn people on to some of the more obscure Italian varietals such as the Argiolas Costamolino ($13), which is made with vermentino grapes.

“It’s just off-dry whites with a touch of muscat,” she said.

She also sells a lot of a bone-dry white from a California producer that’s a natural for summer meals.

“I hate to tell people that the Chappellet Old Vines Cuvee is chenin blanc, but it’s fermented bone dry and tastes nothing like you would expect,” she said.

John Allen at Vino is an advocate of some of the fruitier chenins, especially the Kiona.

“It’s smooth and crisp at the same time,” he said.

And it’s just $6.

One step further into the sweetness zone is muscat canneli, a real fruit salad in a glass. Gorgeous versions of that wine come from Arbor Crest and Latah Creek.

This time of year, Allen also points customers in the direction of Oregon pinot gris from producers such as King Estate, Eola Hills and Foris, where Spokane native Sarah Powell is the winemaker.

And when you’re talking about summer wines, it would be snobbish not to mention the pink stuff.

In a recent blind tasting of white zinfandels, Allen said, Charles Krug ($9) came out on top with everyone who sampled.

“It had more complexity, flavors all over the place, not just a spicy-sweet,” he said. “It was quite lovely.”

Stupel favors a grenache rose ($12) from McDowell Valley Vineyards out of Mendocino.

“It’s crisp and has a lot of body, so it can be served with things you might normally pour red wines with,” she said.

So happy summer sipping.

Impressive awards

Cheers to Worden Winery for winning the prestigious Governor’s Trophy at the recent Central Washington State Fair Competition.

It picked up the best-of-show honors for its ‘95 gewurztraminer, and also won a gold medal for its ‘94 cabernet-merlot.

Tefft Cellars was awarded the Governor’s Trophy in reds for its ‘94 cabernet sauvignon.

Other gold medal winners were Bonair Winery for its ‘96 dry Johannisberg riesling; Bookwalter for its ‘95 vintner’s select chardonnay; Columbia Winery for its ‘95 Wyckoff vineyards chardonnay and its ‘94 cabernet franc; L’Ecole No. 41 for its ‘95 merlot and its ‘94 cab-merlot; Hogue Cellars for its ‘96 fume blanc and its chenin blanc; Thurston Wolfe for its ‘96 reserve semillon and Whidbey Island Winery for its ‘95 lemberger.

Look for them at area retailers, so you can taste the gold for yourself.

It’s crystal clear

Can a glass make a difference in the way wine tastes?

I was skeptical when attending a demonstration of crystal stemware from Riedel. The company’s literature promises “to turn a sip into a celebration.” Sheesh.

These glasses come in various shapes and sizes that are designed to show off the best attributes of different grape varietals. For instance, the big deep bowl of the cabernet sauvignon glass is shaped to propel the wine into your mouth so tannins are softened and fruit accentuated. The sauvignon blanc glass acts to take the edge off the acidity and make the fruit more vibrant.

And, as hard as it was for me to believe, there really was a difference. When tasted against a standard restaurant glass, the wines seemed more fragrant, smooth and fruity.

The only drawback is that I am loathe to wreck my budget on these glasses. There are three levels of stemware produced by Riedel, with the mid-level Vinum series priced between $20 and $30. The handcrafted sommeliers’ selections go for $50 and up.

I might someday splurge for a set, but until then I would love it if some upscale eateries with impressive cellars stocked some of these beauties for their upper-end wines. Why not?

Refresher course

It’s perfectly legal to bring your own bottle of wine to a restaurant, according to Washington liquor laws.

I was emphatically told otherwise at a small restaurant in a rural Eastern Washington town.

The provision, made in the late ‘80s, said businesses with beer and wine licenses, or licenses to serve cocktails, may allow patrons the option of bringing in wine. They also may or may not charge a corkage fee.

The key word is that restaurants “may” allow this; it’s completely up to the business. If the server had said it was against the restaurant’s policy to bring in your own wine, that would’ve been fine.

To be safe, I almost always call ahead to ask the restaurant’s corkage fee. It’s usually between $5 and $10. Most places are completely cool about this.

And while a few grumpy people might think it eats into their bottom line, this is the way I look at it: If I can bring my own wine, it makes dining out more affordable, so I do it more often.

, DataTimes MEMO: Grapevine is a monthly feature of IN Food. Write to: Grapevine, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5486, fax 459-5098 or e-mail to lesliek@spokesman.com

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