This week, I’ll be highlighting wines from family-owned projects, each from a different wine-growing region of the world.
This topic has been on my mind for some time as I have witnessed artisan wineries being purchased by larger corporations, and longtime neighborhood eateries and stores closing throughout our state. I’m all for progress, but isn’t there still room for the small guys, too?
It also seems that store wine shelves are becoming more crowded with bottles that are more about eye-catching packaging and enticing marketing jargon than what’s inside the bottle. These wines are geared to create an image consumers will buy into.
In comparison, think of a true farmers market, where the people selling the produce are the same folks who work the land 365 days a year.
I could easily say the same of the winemakers and vineyards I typically visit. I rarely go to wineries, preferring to walk vineyards with winemakers, really coming to understand them and the grapes they’re using.
Few of these smaller projects spend much time or energy on marketing (read: stylized packaging and slogans), or even price points. I don’t imagine the farmers at farmers markets do much of that, either.
These wines from across the globe are worth checking out:
>> 2016 Hybrid Chardonnay “Lodi” (about $12 a bottle): It makes sense to start with a Californian, a highly popular category. The Schatz family purchased and planted this estate vineyard in 1954, and today the third generation is running the operation. This vineyard is one of the first in the area to be certified as sustainable.
Located in the lesser-known region of Lodi, plus the fact that the family has owned the land since 1954, it’s less likely that a mortgage affects the cost of the bottle. In fact, this refined, uplifting, refreshing and totally gulp-able chardonnay is one to search out, especially considering the price.
>> 2016 Chateau de Lascaux Rose (about $18): The rose category is booming and is especially “in” at this time of year. I was at a large “box” store recently and saw at least 10 pink wines among the 50 or so selections — that means roughly 20 percent of the wine selection was pink!
A few hailed from Provence; others originated in other parts of France. Some were in highly stylish bottles, and one was even from a world-renowned couple. Having tasted them all, I can say I prefer the Lascaux rose.
Lascaux vines grow in a unique limestone soil that creates a riveting minerality and mojo, making it ethereal and uplifting. Jean-Benoit Cavalier is of the 13th generation to own and work the 28 hectares of remote vineyards, surrounded by nearly 300 hectares of forest and countryside.
>> 2016 Domaine Dupeuble Beaujolais (about $16): I sometimes wonder if I’ve gone overboard in my zeal for this estate and its Beaujolais. I can’t really help myself. This is one of my favorite wines of all time, in all the world.
Why? It is earnest, wonderfully delicious, light on the palate and incredibly food friendly. The Dupeuble family has been making wine for more than 500 years, and its heirloom vines, 50 to 100 years old, are organically and biodynamically farmed, with passion. No sulfur dioxide is used; instead, the family uses native yeasts with no additives or gases, then bottles the wine unfiltered.
>> 2017 Sigalas Assyrtiko (about $35): While the previous wines listed here are rather “country” and “cafe” in style, this wine is more out of the box. We need wines like this now and then, just to remind us there is a whole wide world out there to explore.
This white wine hails from the isle of Santorini in Greece. The grape variety is the indigenous assyrtiko; the winemaker is the legendary Paris Sigalas. Subjected to heat and severely pounded by winds, the 80- to 100-year-old vines are koulara- trained, meaning they are woven into what look like small bird nests, offering better wind protection.
Sigalas brought Greece back into prominence in the world of wines. His assyrtiko is a dry, highly masculine and mineral-driven white with a distinct saline edge, which is creating quite the stir among sommeliers across the U.S. (If you go to Santorini, pay a visit not just to Sigalas, but also Art Space. Owner-winemaker Antonis Argiros is a true artisan; his assyrtiko is so naturally produced, it cannot travel).
Chuck Furuya is a master sommelier and a partner in the DK Restaurants group. Follow his blog at chuckfuruya.com.
