Other Whites

These are either blends, obscure wines that don't fit into other categories, or wines whose grapes I cannot identify!

Cantina Bolzano Müller Thurgau 2003. About $12 at Central Market. 13% alcohol. This is from the Südtirol-Alto Adige, Bolzano, which is the border city between Italy and Austria. (Südtirol was once part of Austria.) Müller Thurgau is a cross between Riesling and Silvaner, named after a Dr. Müller from the Swiss town of Thurgau who came up with the variety in the late 1880s at Geisenheim in Germany. This grape is widely planted in Germany and produces a dry to off-dry, aromatic wine. It is a medium yellow color with a fresh aroma of apricots, baked pears, something spicy, and then something stinky. For some reason, I expected this to be bone dry, but it has some residual sugar. It is medium-bodied, fruity, nutty, bitter, and sweet. Long fruit and then dry, tart finish with some bitterness. At the very end, it tastes like a strange, foreign cookie. It feels full in the mouth and has a long finish. It is a great sipping wine, except that you can drink it too fast. In some ways, it reminds me of Albariño. I think this wine would be good with Cheddar and some northern Italian types like Montasio.

Cantina Bolzano Müller Thurgau with Emmenthaler. Mild, nutty, sweet Swiss. Bitter together, and the wine overpowers the cheese. At the end, there is a rotten taste. Overall, it's not so bad, but I would never pair these.

Cantina Bolzano Müller Thurgau with Fleur Vert. I had high hopes for this, but it was not good at all. A strange anise flavor comes out in the cheese and something tastes bitter. The wine and the cheese cancel each other out, or at least just cancel out the good things in each other.

Cantina Bolzano Müller Thurgau with Idiazabal. Smoky, rustic sheep's milk cheese from Spain. Bad. It tastes like a pear that has been sitting out for too long and turned a little bit. After the rotten taste is done with, then all you taste is salt from the cheese. It is a completely imbalanced pairing.

*Cantina Bolzano Müller Thurgau with P'tit Basque. Basque sheep's milk cheese. This is good at first, and then it tastes like something unspeakable, like body crevices. Still, it's good. I like this pairing better than anything else so far. What is nice about it is that the textures are so similar. The wine is silky on the tongue. The cheese, while not a soft cheese, registers as soft in the brain. Together, they feel full and creamy. The fruit sticks around in the wine, and the cheese just won't leave. Creamy taste at the end.

Cantina Bolzano Müller Thurgau with Tomme de Savoie. Nutty, earthy, cow's milk cheese. At first, it was wonderful, the bright wine with the tangy, creamy, cheese, but then it tasted a little rotten. I liked it at first and put a star next to the pairing. Then, I went out side to talk to a neighbor. While we were talking, the sour rotten flavors of the pairing crept up on me. I had to come in and cleanse my palate with a light beer.

Casa la Luna White Wine 2000 (tasted in 2004) $5.29 at Grapevine. 12.5% alcohol. This is from Spain and is made from Viura and Sauvignon Blanc. Crist, who works for a distributor, said that Viura is Spain's main white grape.The producer of Casa La Luna is Avelino Vegas. It is fermented at a controlled temperature (16ºC for whites) and then filtered and stabilized at a cold temperature. Castilla y Leon, where the vineyard is, is the oldest part of Spain, in the Center North not far from Madrid. The Duero river is nearby, and in its vicinity are many vineyards that average25 years old. Our climate is very hard. The winters are very cold winters (-7ºC) and the summers are hot (over 40ºC) with not very much rain, so that there is not much production. Somehow this wine is still cheap, which is why I bought it. 

Due Uve, Bertani 2001  (Tasted in 2004)  $12.49 at Tuscany Market. 12.5% alcohol. This is a blend of Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc from Negrar, Verona, Italy (Veneto). "Due Uve" means "two grapes," as in "two grape varieties in the wine." It is a split 50/50 blend. It smells like asparagus and grass. Vegetal. It is fruity, like maybe apricot or peach. It is a little sweet (possibly from the Pinot Grigio?) and tastes high in alcohol. It is bitter on the finish. It needs to warm up to get all the flavors going. It also tastes spicy, like maybe ginger. Very dry, acidic, lightly floral. At the end, I taste lemons, peaches and apricots, and then there is a sharp bitterness. It is good, but it tastes more like a food wine. Once it warms up, it shows off lemon, peach, perfume, and almond flavors.

Due Uve with Caprino. Creamy, tangy, lactic, but also very fatty-tasting fresh goat cheese from Italy. Good together, but I think this wine may be too bitter. The cheese brings out the fruit in the wine. It's nice and light together. It definitely works, though I can't say it's my favorite in the world. Actually, it's pretty good. I like the way the tangy, odd taste in the cheese lingers on. It is different from what I am used to from France -- both the wine and the cheese.

Falanghina, Taburno 2004 (Tasted in 2006) $16.25 at Austin Wine Merchant. 13% alcohol. From Marc de Grazia. This wine comes from Campania, just south of Rome, where Naples is located. I was looking for something to go with a Lazo Pecorino Crotonese and some Mostarda. Hopefully, this will fit the bill. The label has two naked cherubs on it pouring wine out of an amphora-style wine urn. This wine is straw-colored with hints of green. On the nose, it is floral and earthy. For a second, I thought I had a corked bottle, the aroma was so different. Then I tasted it, and even as light as it is with its splash of acidic citrus and salty minerals, it has a rounded out mid-palate and full, Viognier-like flavors of melon and honey. The finish is smooth and nutty with a faint hint of bitter hazelnuts. It's a good wine. Falanghina is an ancient species of grape. The Romans, who probably brought it in from Greece, gave it a name close to our "phalange," meaning "tied to the pole," describing ancient practices of cultivation to make vines grow. This wine likes a warm, dry climate. It's also used in the blend to make Falerno.

Falanghina with Azeitão. Not so horrible, but not great. I liked the floral aspect of the cheese with the like-minded wine, and I also liked how the tingly, acidic wine cut into the creamy cheese, but the cheese tastes earthier than I would like for this wine.

*Falanghina with Fol Epi. Very light Swiss style from France. Better, though the wine takes some sweetness away from the cheese and then there is a distinct bitterness on the finish.

Falanghina with Pecorino Crotonese and Mostarda di Pere. It was great with the pear mustard, but horrible with the cheese! It tasted like dead fish. When I put all three together, it was better, but the fishy cheese/wine taste still managed to creep in.

Falanghina with Piave. The best so far, but not really ideal. There is something about the hard texture of the cheese with the bright, tangy wine that is not going so well for me. Still, they don't clash.

Falerio dei Colli Ascolani.  Dry white wine made mainly from Trebbiano.  It is blended with Verdicchio and sometimes Passerina, Pinot Bianco, and Malvasia.  This wine zone is the entire province of Ascoli Piceno in the Marche in Italy.   

Falerio with Boursin.  OK.  A little bitterness.  It blends fairly well.

Falerio with Piave. OK, but I think that the sweet, buttery flavor (I thought this was a dry wine?) fights with the cheese.  Maybe I meant the butter in the cheese fights with the wine, not vice versa.   

Falerio and Cravanzina.  Awful!  It tasted like licking a tire.  This wine makes the cheese taste like dirt.

Fâmega Vinho Verde  $5.99 at Whole Foods 9.5% alcohol. This wine is Portugal's most famous white. Crisp, floral, light, and almost salty tasting. It goes down way too easy. It was almost like drinking mineral water. I like how it has a light effervescence.

Fâmega with stuffed peppadew peppers. These are small, red, pickled sweet peppers stuffed with goat cheese and mascarpone, and then piped into the peppers making them look almost like little cupcakes. Finally, they are dusted with a smoked pimenton powder. They are sweet and tangy. I thought this would be the perfect match, but no, the peppers overpowered the wine and took away all the subtle floral aromas. It made the wine taste more like Apollinaris mineral water. It wasn't horrible, but a better match would have probably been the Ferrari-Carano Fumé Blanc.

Feudo Arancio Grillo 2002 (Tasted in 2004). $9 or so at Grapevine. 13.5% alcohol. Ike had suggested that I try a Sicilian white wine with my cold cuts and cheese, so I chose this. Grillo is a Sicilian grape. The label says it has a bouquet of nettle, green pepper, and jasmine. It pairs well with seafood, pasta with vegetables, white meats, and roasted fish. It smells very fruity and floral. Very floral. It is has that honey/apply smell. It is delicious. It is a dry, full-bodied, and tart. It reminds me of Sémillon. 

Feudo Arancio Grillo with Mortadella and Asiago. Nice, but the wine seems kind of crazy and floral. It's still ok.

Huxelrebe Köster-Wolf Kabinett Heimersheimer Rotenfels 2002 (Tasted in 2004) $7.99 at Central Market. 10% alcohol. From the town of Albig in the Rheinhessen. This is a Central Market Selection wine, imported by Glazer in Dallas. Brown bottle. This winery was founded in 1684 and is managed by the 11th generation. Huxelrebe is a Riesling style of seedless grape that is resistant to illnesses -- a cross between Gutedel/Chasselas and the French table grape Coutillier Musqué. This wine is named after Fritz Huxel who created this grape in the 1950's in Rheinhessen. "Rebe" means "vine."

Huxelrebe Weingut Unckrich Kallstadter Saumagen Beerenauslese 1999 (Tasted in 2004) Central Market, imported by Glazer's. 9% alcohol. My first Beerenauslese! My friend Steve brought this over. Honey-colored. Honey taste, good acidity, vivacious. Lemon tones underneath honey, nuts, citrus. Very well-balanced, especially considering how much residual sugar is in here. Fresh on your tongue.

*Huxelrebe Weingut Unckrich Kallstadter Saumagen Beerenauslese 1999 with a 2 year Black Wax Gouda. Nutty and salty cheese. You still get the sugar, but the acidity is wonderful.

Huxelrebe Weingut Unckrich Kallstadter Saumagen Beerenauslese 1999 with 5 year Gouda. Great, but the salt overpowers a little and interferes.

Llano Estacado Signature White (chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc, and chardonnay) with Palhais fresh goat’s milk cheese from Portugal.  I threw these two together because they just happened to be in the fridge at the same time.  The wine is a little sweet, and the cheese, salty, light, and fresh.  They are perfect together.   

Llano Signature white (Chenin blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay) with Tomme de chèvre.  It was pretty good together.  I thought the wine was a little sweet for me, but it worked.  The goat cheese took the sweet edge off, and the minerals blended nicely.  It reminded me of a Riesling with a cheese.  Sometimes I’d rather the Riesling be less sweet.  This was good, though.

Lugana Zenato 2002 (Tasted in 2004) $11 or so at Grapevine. 13% alcohol. This was a wine they were demoing. It is from San Benedetto in the region of Lombardy -- Peschiera, Italy. San Benedetto di Lugana is a town near Lago di Garda. This is made from the Trebbiano di Lugana grape. It has a straw-yellow color, floral nose, and aromas of yellow fruit like peaches. It is dry, fresh, and light. This wine is yellow, smooth, not too tart, light (almost watery at times), with a hint of Granny Smith apples. It is very floral. When I breathe out, I feel like I have perfume in my mouth. Bitter finish, but not too bad.. 

Lugana with Caprino fresh goat's milk cheese from Italy. I didn't like these two together at first because they seemed bitter together. I was hoping they would work because I wanted the fresh, tangy pastoral flavor of the goat to make friends with the floral wine. They are ok, but get a little bitter. Still, this is good and I would definitely serve it at a party, especially since it's been hard for me to find an Italian white to pair well with Caprino.

Lugana with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Not so great. It's harsh and bitter, but not too bad. The cheese was too earthy and strong for this wine.

Manzoni Bianco 2001 Conte Loredan Gasparini. Tasted in 2004. $14.99 at Whole Foods. 12% alcohol. The wine lady recommended this. It's made from a hybrid grape of Pinot Gris and Riesling. It is very much an Alsatian grape, but done in a more southern style. It is supposed to be dry, but with some almond and melon flavors. She said it would be dryer than a Soave. It is from Venegazzù del Montello in Italy in the Colli Trevigiani in the Friuli-Venezia area. It is very fruit-forward. It smells very tropical. It is a medium yellow color. It does smell a little like almonds. Very interesting taste. It is a little tingly on the tongue. It tastes very strongly of melons, I think. It smells like a weird fruit and maybe even tastes like flowers. It is a taste that I don't experience very often. It has a nice dry finish that also reminds me of powdered sugar. It is medium-bodied. The fruit is very prominent. Then again, I'm tasting this barely chilled. This is supposed to be good with fish. 

Manzoni Bianco 2001 Conte Loredan Gasparini with Asiago Fresco. This cheese is mild, smooth, bouncy, and a little tangy. It tastes very milky. The fruity wine overpowers it. They don't compliment each other really, but they are ok together. 

Manzoni Bianco 2001 Conte Loredan Gasparini with Capra goat cheese with honey. Yuck. I tried to describe the goat cheese to the woman at Whole Foods and she thought this might work, but no. It's not so good together. The cheese is very sweet and the wine is too dry. The fruit tastes just kind of crazy and bitter up against the honey cheese. 

Manzoni Bianco 2001 Conte Loredan Gasparini with Pecorino con Peperoncino. I like this together. The cheese is nice and spicy. It burns my mouth a little bit. It stands up to the strong fruit of the wine. I like it because I first taste a lot of tropical fruit in the wine. Then I get some nice milk and then some spicy peppers.  This is a little like having a mango salsa. It is fruity, tart, and piquant all at the same time.  

Manzoni Bianco 2001 Conte Loredan Gasparini with Pecorino Bigio with Ash. This cheese is very waxy. The mixture is sweet. Sugar comes out when I taste these together. It is interesting how the wine changes the flavor of this cheese, and vice versa. They do interesting things together. Brad hates this cheese, but loves it with the wine. I think it's good because the wine brings out a nut flavor in the cheese. It also feels good in the mouth. The cheese is kind of crumbly and waxy, but with the tingly wine, it balances out. 

Müller Thurgau Cantina Bolzano 2003 (Tasted in 2004) Südtirol - Alto adige. $10.99 at Central Market. 13% alcohol. There is a pen and ink style painting of a church with a mountain in the background. I have been through Bolzano (Bozen in German) and it was beautiful. The shelf-talker said that this wine was light and crisp. It is a hybrid of Riesling and something else. It is like Muscadet with a lot of minerality. Flavors of kiwi, white flowers, key lime, soft minerals, and starfruit. The wine guy said that it was electric tasting.

Obsession Symphony 2004 (Tasted in 2005) $6.99 at World Market. 12% alcohol. By Ironstone Vineyards. This wine comes in a bottle almost like a Riesling, but clear. It is made from the Symphony grape, which was developed in California in the 1960's. It is a cross between Muscat of Alexandria and Grenache Gris. It is supposed to be fragrant and fruity. The grapes are picked at 22 brix and fermented in stainless steel to let the fruit flavors show through. It is best drunk young. http://www.ironstonevineyards.com It is from Murphys, in Lodi, which is inland CA, but at about the same latitude as S.F. This wine is very interesting. I bought it because it was inexpensive and also was such a strange grape. It is extremely fragrant, reminding one of a Gewurztraminer. It has a little bit of fizz in it, even on the second day. Nice minerality on the finish, like a fun saltiness. There is also a bitterness on the finish that is pleasant, especially since the wine has some residual sugar. Very floral. A little sweet and also salty. Fruity, like, as stupid as it may sound, white grapes. Maybe some white peach and tart apples. I tried this with Asian food and it was great. This wine is dangerous because it is regular alcohol, but it is really too easy to drink.

*Obsession with Grafton 1 year Cheddar. Of course, everything seems to go well with this cheese, but it's really good with this wine. Nutty and salty plus slightly sweet. The textures are ok. Even though the wine has good body, I could stand for the cheese to be a little lighter, but it's still really good. It's a pretty light Cheddar. What is nice is that both the wine and the cheese finish with the same light bitterness. Boy is this good. If I could have this every day for breakfast, I never would get out of bed.

Obsession with Neufchatel and mango pepper jelly. Very good. I happened to have some leftovers of a combo I like to serve with Texas Moscato Bianco, and it was very good. The fruits blended well together and the wine's sweetness was toned down, but wasn't inappropriate with the jelly.

Orvieto Classico Campogrande, Antinori 2002 (Tasted in 2004) $8.49 at Grapevine. 11.5% alcohol. Dry, light, slightly bitter, and tingly. It has a citrus smell. It is really good. It is citrusy and very fresh-tasting. Floral, too. It has good minerality and also nice acidity. I love this wine and it is so cheap. Orvieto is made in Central Italy, in Umbria. The town of Orvieto lies on a rocky hill between Florence and Rome autostrada. Orvieto is one of Italy's most famous white wines. The Orvieto wine zone is a large area in southwest Umbria. The best Orvieto originates in the classico sub-zone. The special chalky limestone soil, called tufa, which predominates in the classico area, along with ancient remnants of volcanic soil, gives a unique character to Orvieto Classico. In the Middle Ages, Orvieto was a sweet, golden wine. In the last 50 years, Orvieto has been made secco. Orvieto is a blend -- at least 60% Grechetto 15% Trebbiano, plus other local white varieties including Verdello, Canaiolo Bianco, and Malvasia. With this mixture of grapes, producers can make the wine in varying degrees of richness. Grechetto gives the wine fruitiness and weight. Orvieto's acidity and minerality give it enough strength to stand up to cheeses and meats. The acidity will cut into the fats and oils.

Orvieto and aged Provolone with Prosciutto Crudo. Nice. The Provolone isn't too aged this time. Salty ham. It reminds me of a ham sandwich with the Provolone. The textures are good together --slick meat and solid, firm, pasta filata cheese. The Orvieto is nice with this. It cleans the palate. There is a pleasant balance of acidity, salt, and oil. 

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre 2002.  (Tasted in 2003) 12.5% alcohol.  Under $10 (I think) at Grapevine.  This is from Pomerol.  I love the name of this grape. It  is grown on the Mediterranean coast in the Coteaux du Languedoc area.  It is a Picpoul Blanc variety.  It is supposed to be a fruity, yet dry, wine.  Ike at Grapevine recommended it to go with some Spanish cheeses instead of an Albariño.   It is the color of Sauvignon Blanc, like watery pee.  It smells like Sauvignon Blanc -- kind of grassy, citrus, maybe minerals.  I smell tart apples and pineapple.  Maybe grapefruit or something citrusy.  It is not as dry as I expected.  It is very fruity tasting.  I get minerals in the finish.  It is also a little herbaceous and vegetal.  It is also bitter in the finish.  It is making me want to eat some creamy goat cheese.  However, after tasting, it seems like this cheese is going best with harder, tangy cheeses.  Some soft cheeses don't work.

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, and Brin d'Amour/Fleur du Maquis sheep from Corsica.  It is really herby.  The rind is coated in rosemary and juniper berries.  This is such a great cheese.  It is pretty good with the wine.  It fights a little bit and causes bitterness. I like the styles together, though.

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, and Campo de Montalban.  This is good together.  I like the acidity of the wine with the rustic, creaminess of the cheese. 

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, and Crottin de Chavignol.  This is not so great, but not so bad.  It makes a mayonnaise taste in my mouth, and I don't like mayo.  This wine seems too crisp for this thick, nutty cheese.  Maybe I would like this better if I liked mayonnaise.  They don't fight much, though.  I feel like the wine is sort of light for the cheese, even though the wine was great with an aged goat.  For being a creamy cheese, it is too nutty.  Maybe this wine is best with hard, nutty cheese or creamy non-nutty cheese.  I think I am being a little too picky since Crottin is my favorite cheese.

*Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, with Garrotxa rustic Spanish goat cheese.  Yum!  These two are good.  They are both very herbaceous and taste a little wild.  There is a little bit of bitterness, but it's not too bad.  The cheese is salty and lightly goaty.  You can really taste the shrubs in the cheese.  The wine is similar with it's grassy flavor.  The fruit is an added bonus.  It is great.

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, and Montenebro goat cheese from Spain.  This cheese is really salty, tangy, and aged tasting, though it is fairly young.  This is kind of weird together.  Yuck. I tasted broccoli at first, and then...gross!  I don't know what it is.  It is the weirdest bitter, foul taste I have ever had.  It was really really bad.  I'll never do this again in my life.  I won't even take a second bite to make sure I don't like it, it was so bad.  It's one of the worst pairings I've ever had.  Patrick tried it and said, "Oh, god, somebody has farted in my mouth!"  I think this was so bad because it looked so innocent -- light, ivory colored cheese with no odor plus a fresh wine.  At least with the stinky cheeses, you know it's coming.

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, and Murcia al Vino.  This goat cheese was soaked in red wine.  It's ok, but not great.  It was really good at first, and then kind of disintegrated into a mess, but it was not bad. 

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, and Roncal sheep from Spain.  These go pretty well together.  I really like the salt and the fruit.  The cheese brings out an intense apple flavor in the wine, and the wine makes a flavor of herbs.

Picpoul-de-Pinet, Domaine Saint-Peyre, and Selles-sur-Cher French ashed goat cheese.  This is really good.  They are both so light.  The wine is very grassy with this cheese.  They do blend well, but this wine tastes a little wilder than the goat cheese.

Pinot Auxerrois Gray Monk 2002 (Tasted in 2004) VQA Okanagan Valley. This is from British Columbia. $17.99 at Grapevine. 11.5% alcohol. They were demoing this one Saturday. I really liked the Pinot Blanc that this winery makes (very fruity and floral like a Semillon), but I got this because it was lighter and seemed more cheese-friendly. From the graymonk.com website: "The Pinot Auxerrois grapes were primarily grown in our own Gray Monk vineyards. The grapes were harvested at perfect readiness and great flavours. Pale lemon in colour, this wine has a fruity aroma with muted notes of lime. The complex layers of fruit flavour suggest peaches and sweetened rhubarb with a refreshing underlying acidity. Served chilled, this wine is delicious on its own, with salads, seafood or poultry." Pinot Auxerrois is often grown in Alsace. I picked up this wine at the demo. Then I put it down on the cheese counter. The cheesemonger walked by and his hip knocked it off and it broke on the floor. They gave me another one for free. I thought this wine was good. The Pinot Blanc was what I remember, but I got this  and liked it. It is sweet, fruity, tingly, and medium-full-bodied. I taste some apples and maybe apricots. It reminds me a little of a Riesling. It has a dry finish, at the very end, that just drops off dry. It's very fruity, and then suddenly it's slightly dry. I like this wine a lot. 

Pinot Auxerrois Gray Monk with Irish Dubliner Cheddar. Floral, herbaceous Cheddar with extra nuttiness. A very dense cheese. Yuck! They taste like fish together. This is foul. I'm very surprised. After the fish taste, it's like melting rubber. 

Pinot Auxerrois Gray Monk with Dill Havarti. This is a creamy cheese with dill flavors. This is nice together. The finish is kind of crazy and tastes like metal, but I like how the cheese works with the sweetness of the wine. I also like the acidity with the dill. The textures are nice as well. 

Scheurebe Halbtrocken Gysler Weinheimer Hölle 2002 . $11.25 at The Austin Wine Merchant for an entire liter. 11.5% alcohol. This wine is from Rheinhessen, Germany. The Scheurebe grape is a clone from the Riesling and Sylvaner grape varieties. Riesling has good acidity and lots of character. The Sylvaner is soft and gentle. It is supposed to be up-front racy with a little apple and a soft finish. This wine is excellent, and so cheap! It is light yellow in color, smells very crisp like green apples and minerals, and has a little bit of effervescence. It is everything I've always wanted a Riesling to be, and more. It is very zingy with apple flavors. It is dry with a floral finish. I can't tell if the finish is soft. 

Scheurebe Gysler with 3 Peppercorn Chèvre by Redwood Hill. Creamy, luscious, tangy goat cheese with a sharp little bite at the finish, which I assume is the peppercorns. It is a little bitter. The tart cheese brings out a fruitiness in the wine. Still, the finish is a little weird. It is too bitter, though the goat started out a little bitter. This might be better with a hard cheese. 

Scheurebe Gysler with Crottin de Champcol. This Crottin is a little bit more bitter than I am used to. It seems to have developed a sticky, crinkly rind and has a pronounced, nutty goat flavor. It is alright together at first, but then the wine feels too acidic. I do like the bitterness of the cheese with the minerals in the wine, though.

Silvaner - halbtrocken, Ernst Gebhardt Franken Sommerhäuser Ölspiel 1997. (Tasted in 2004) On sale for $9.99 at Whole Foods. 10.5% alcohol. From Germany. I bought it because the bottle was so weird. It is flat, like a short flat teapot. This winery was founded in 1723 and is the most awarded estate winery in the Franconia area of Bavaria. The bottle style is called Bocksbeutel and has been used for 400 years. I didn't take good notes on the wine, but it was sort of dry, but also fruity, like overly ripe apples and pears. 

Terlaner Classico Alto Adige 2003 (Tasted in 2005) $15.79 at Central Market. 13% alcohol. This is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, and Riesling Italico. The label says that it is "a rich, round, and beautifully balanced wine with tiers of fruits and floral accents which remain pure and clean on the wide open finish." It should be good as an aperitif or with greens and fish dishes. 3200 cases made. I was hoping this might go with goat cheese. It is a golden yellow color. It is very aromatic. The taste is fruity and dry, with a slightly bitter, alcoholic finish. It definitely has the flavors from all three grapes in it. It is super tart, but very rich.

Terlaner with La Tur. Way too bitter. The cheese is too funky for this pretty wine.

Terlaner with Pecorino Toscano. Pretty good. I almost think that this wine would go well with Piave or Montasio. The cheese is a little overpowering, but it works.

Terlaner with Valençay Pyramide. Very good. The cheese almost seems too light for the wine. I would like to try this with Caprino.

Tocai Friulano with the Montasio cow’s milk.  The cheese and wine are made in the same region. 

Tocai Friulano with Gorgonzola Montagna.  The blue cheese makes the wine taste very slightly sweeter.  It also even went well with red meat.  It seems like a very flexible wine.

Tocai Friulano Beltrame 2001 (Tasted in 2004) 13% alcohol 100% Tocai Friulano. From http://www.mondovino.com. The website says that it has a delicate bouquet with hints of vanilla, honey, and exotic fruits. It tastes soft, dry, well-balanced, with a bittersweet aftertaste of peach and toasted almond. All stainless steel. This is supposed to go well with light antipasti, fish soup, or risotto. Nose of pine and honey. Tastes like apples, pine, mint, very fresh. It's very much an Italian Sancerre, like some of the Sancerres with more fruit, but a piney, woodsy flavor. Unripe strawberries, sour strawberries, like just where it's near the stem. It reminds me of a cross between a Sancerre and a halbtrocken Riesling -- my two favorite whites. I really love this wine.

Tocai Friulano with Caprino. I have tried so many wines with this cheese. This pairing is good, though not as perfect as some of my French goat/Sancerre pairings. Since this wine already reminds me of a full Sancerre, it seemed fitting to put it alongside a full fresh goat. They sit next to each other well, but don't necessarily blend together. Still, this is very good. I had had this pairing about 2 years ago and liked it, and my tastes haven't changed. The cheese makes the wine sweet and super-fruity. The cheese doesn't get wiped out by the wine. I still taste the salty, tangy goat. Tingly, fruity peachy wine. They are good strengths for each other. I really really love these two together. Some bitterness from the alcohol.

Torbreck Woodcutter's White 2002 (Tasted in 2004). $13.75 at Austin Wine Merchant - demo wine. This is from the Barossa Valley. It is 100% Semillon. 13.5% alcohol. I had never had a 100% Semillon before. It was nice and light, floral, and fruity. The woman doing the demo suggested a softer sheep cheese to go with it. Semillon is supposed to have flavors of fig, honey, lemon. It's low acid and full bodied. Usually it is blended with Sauvignon Blanc. The guy who made this wine had worked as a lumberjack, hence the name -- Woodcutter's White. It is supposed to be a refreshing wine to drink after a long day of cutting wood. On the label, it says, "This is the kind of wine that I like to drink after a hard day's work in the vineyard. Slàinte Mhath." Slàinte Mhath means "cheers" in Irish. Slàinte is pronounced "slunch-uh." From http://www.guyduvin.com: "The name Woodcutter's stems from when David Powell (the winemaker) spent several years working in the Scottish Highlands as a lumberjack in the Torbreck forest.  
The Woodcutter's White is a satisfying medium to full-bodied wine that combines fresh citrus fruit characters with a faint nutty richness obtained from barrel fermentation. This wine is delicious right now, but please keep some aside if you feel so inclined. Australian Semillon is known to age well and you'll be pleasantly surprised!" Honey, floral, with a bitter finish. It reminds me of kiwi. Very fruity. It has a bite, but it is supposed to be low acidity. It is nice. I like it best after it has warmed up. 

Torbreck Woodcutter's White with Grafton 4 Star Cheddar. OK. It is still very bitter, but the cheese and the wine both have a bitter aftertaste, so it's to be expected. The wine makes the cheese taste like wood, but in a good way. It's nutty and fruity together, both the cheese and the wine. I think a younger Cheddar or Double Gloucester would be better with this. 

Torbreck Woodcutter's White with Pecorino Marzolino. Someone suggested soft sheep's milk cheese with this wine. I couldn't find any soft-ripened, but I thought this might do. It tastes kind of gross. It has a mayonnaise taste with bitterness on the finish. Very creamy. It is not too great together. Bitter and vomity. Maybe a different sheep would work better. 

Torbreck Woodcutter's White with Reblochon. Rich, creamy, salty, sliceable cow's milk. Awful! I am not having much luck. This was disgusting. It is bitter and foul with this wine.

Torrontés by Las Marías 2003.  From Argentina.  $7.49 at Grapevine.  13% alcohol.  A fruity, aromatic dry white with grape flavors and fresh acidity.  This grape originated in Spain.  It is herbaceous with a bitter finish.  It is very aromatic -- floral and green apples.  It is dry, minerally, acidic, and lightly fruity.  It is a little fruity and bitter like Viognier is to me.  It seemed weird at first, but then was very drinkable and refreshing, even in the middle of winter.

Torrontés and Garrtotxa.  Good.  This Garrotxa was old and a little bit moldy, so it was extra spicy, but it was still good.  The herby goat stood up to the strange wine and the cheese tamed the acidity of the wine.

Torrontés and Ibores.  This goat cheese tastes a lot like olives and herbs.  Yuck.  This does not work at all.  It tastes like rotten fruit, but in a bad way.  The wine is too acidic for this robust cheese.  It makes a mess.  

Torrontés and Monte Enebro.  This cheese is extra salty, goaty, tangy, and firm, but still creamy and crumbly.  It's not so bad together.  I was scared this was going to be as bad as the Picpoul de Pinet with the Monte Enebro, but no.  It's ok.  It is a little bitter, but not bad.    

Torrontés and Sweet Grass Tomme, cow's milk from the state of Georgia.  These two are great together and I don't know why.  I taste so much floral when I have these two together, maybe because the cheese is a little grassy and the wine is floral  The wine is just acidic enough to cut into the smooth-tasting cheese and let itself be known -- without overpowering.  

Torrontés and Valençay.  I really like this.  It leaves a little bitterness at the end, but in the middle, the cheese is smooth, tangy, yet almost sweet.  Same for the wine.  The cheese brings out a lot of fruit in the wine, but still balances well with its acidity.

Torrontés by Lo Tengo 2004 (Tasted in 2006) $7.99 at World Market. 12.5% alcohol. Made by Bodega Norton, who is well-known for Malbecs. From Argentina. The label is like a hologram with a couple doing "El Tango" on it. When you move the bottle, the people dance. The wine smells and tastes extremely floral and fresh. I taste something almost like watermelon rinds, apricots, and weird little country flowers. The bottle says it's crisp and dry with lush tropical fruit flavors. I guess that about sums it up. It tastes a little salty, like it has some minerality to it.

Torrontés by Lo Tengo with Fleur Verte. I thought this would be a no-brainer. They are pretty good together at first, and then they taste a little fishy. I don't think the wine can handle the herbs in the cheese. A plain goat cheese would be better.

Ugni Blanc, Domaine de Pouy 2003 (Tasted in 2004) $7.99 at Austin Wine Merchant. 11.5% alcohol. This is a Vin de Pays from Gascogne in southwestern France. It is made from the Ugni Blanc grape, which is the same grape as Trebbiano. This wine is mostly made from Trebbiano, which produces neutral dry whites, sometimes used for distilling. Ugni Blanc is also often grown in the Bordeaux region. I got this because it was cheap and I had never had Ugni Blanc per se.

Velletri White Wine 2002 (Tasted in 2004) Terre dei Volsci. $14.99 at Grapevine. This was one of the wines they were demoing that day. 13% alcohol. It is from Lazio in Italy. It comes in a Freixnet-looking clear bottle with fog on the outside. It also has a strange shape. The guy doing the demos said the crooked neck was to keep sediment out of the glass. There is also a dimple in the back of the bottle. Rumor has it that this was an imperfection in the original bottles. The first vintage, the town was so poor that they had to bottle the wine in the faulty bottles just to keep from going under. It turned out that it was their best-selling vintage of all time, so they kept the dimple in the back for good luck. There is another rumor that the girlfriend or wife of the winemaker had a dimple in her lower back, so they made the wine to look like her -- but with tiny sediment-catching boobs. This is almost all Trebbiano grape, which is the major white grape in Italy. This wine has a honey nose. It is supposed to go well with a peppery cheese. Velletri is one of the ancient cities of the Castelli Romani, a town whose chief industry is winegrowing. You can write them about your opinion of their wine at CO.PRO.VI. Via Pontina Km. 55,400  o4010 Campoverde (LT) Italy or info@cantinecoprovi.it. Nuts, honey aromas. Honey color. It is a pretty wine in an interesting, frosty-looking bottle. It tastes full -- fruity, apricots, apples, almost Riesling aromas, some bitterness at the end. Delicious honey finish. It really coats the tongue. The smells and flavors really remind me of Riesling. It also seems to have some minerality at times. Lots of honey and apples.

Velletri with Asiago. Creamy, mild, cow's milk cheese. OK, but not as interesting with the Caprino. The cheese is delicious, but so mild. The wine is nice and apply and tart. It's ok. They blend well together, but I lose the cheese. Still, it's not so bad because the milky flavor in the cheese is long and subtle. I think I'd like this better with a slightly more aged Asiago.

Velletri with Caprino. Italian fresh goat cheese. This is very good together. Smooth and fruity with creamy, milky cheese. The wine is stronger than the cheese, but it's still nice. Mellow cheese and smooth wine. The cheese adds a note of lemon to the apply wine. This is very nice. It's kind of that taste of buttery apple pie with melted Cheddar on top. Tart and fruity, but also with a lot of dairy flavors. I think this really works because this cheese has an almost sickeningly creamy taste.

Velletri with Gorgonzola. I forgot whether this cheese was Montagna or Piccante, but it is ivory-colored, fragrant, and heavily marbled with blue. For a split second, it actually tasted good -- kind of apples, honey, and spice -- and then it just rotted in my mouth.

Velletri with Pecorino Toscano. I tried Pecorino and Trebbiano before and it didn't work. I don't know why I bothered again. It was not the end of the world. Actually, this wasn't so bad.

Verdicchio Verdicchio comes from the Marche region of central Italy, situated between the Appenines and the Adriatic Sea. This landscape includes sea, hills, valleys, mountains, and rivers. Verdicchio is a grape variety that produces a varietal of the same name. Some wines allow as much as 15% of other whites such as Trebbiano or Malvasia to be blended in. The grape is a rapid-growing, high acid fruit that thrives in drained sand and limestone. Verdicchio, is slightly green-yellow in color and has a delicate bouquet. It is medium bodied with surprisingly strong flavors, a crisp acid balance and a slightly bitter finish. It is best consumed within the first two years from the vintage date. One style of Verdicchio is the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi.  It is supposed to be a clear and intense wine, pale yellow with greenish tones, with a rich and delicate bouquet, full-bodied and savory, with the typical slightly bitterish aftertaste. Read more about Verdicchio wines at http://www.verdicchiowine.it. Smells tart, like apples and pears. Floral, tingly, and a little effervescent. Almonds. Bitter aftertaste. Dry. Bitter finish. Sour. 

Verdicchio with Pecorino Re Nero. Olivey cheese, creamy. OK at first. Then it tastes putrid. The wine overpowers the cheese and they don't complement each other at all. 

Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Apollonia/Baroncini 2001 (Tasted in 2004). $12.79 at Grapevine. 12.5% alcohol. I bought this to try with some salami and other Italian cold cuts. the family has been making this wine for over 500 years in Tuscany, surrounded by the "magical towers" (see entry below) of San Gimignano. Very dry, light yellow, mineral flavors, a little bitter, with a sharp, yet honeyed finish. 

Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Apollonia/Baroncini with ...I hopefully have notes somewhere for this. 

Vernaccia di San Gimignano Geografico 2002 (Tasted in 2004). $12.99 at Grapevine. 12.5% alcohol. It has a blue label with some shields on it. Vernaccia is made from 100% of the Vernaccia grape. It is one of Italy's most famous white wines. The label says that since the Renaissance, this smooth, tasty wine brought visitors to the hill town that it is named after. It is supposed to quench thirst and stimulate appetites. It is supposed to be good with grilled fish, shellfish, pasta with marinara sauce, and white meats. http://www. chiantigeografico.it, imported by the Matt Brothers. Very light, citrus, has a bite. It is not too sharp. Is it oaked? I can't remember if they said it was oaked or not. It doesn't taste oaked, but it just tastes fuller and fruitier. They told me that it was newer world style, so it's not so much like what the Italians usually drink, but something that appeals more to the rest of the world. It seemed fruity and more like it was just drinkable by itself, rather than being something that really needed to be drunk with a meal. I thought it might go better with cheese. It is a little fizzy, not so sharp and dry as other Vernaccias. Good summer wine. Tart apples.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Geografico with Caprino, Fresh. Very good. It's a little bitter together. The cheese seems a little wild with this wine. It's kind of an earthy, barnyardy goat. It's not as smooth and mellow as some of the other Chèvres. The cheese is too animaly for this wine. It's ok, but the cream and goat flavors are too strong with the wine. 

*Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Geografico with Palhais, fresh goat cheese from Portugal, marinated in olive oil and herbs. Great! I like the bite in the wine with the peppercorn. I taste citrus, herbs, tangy pepper, and vinegar. This cheese goes really well with crisp, dry wines. I think what I also like is that the dry wines really cut into the olive oil that the cheese is marinated in.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano Teruzzi-Puthod 2001. Tasted in 2003. $12.79 at Central Market. 12.5% alcohol. I bought this to try with maybe a Tuscan cheese or a Montegrappa, but I lost it. I got it because it had a medieval drawing on the label and some Latin: "Et hic episcopus cibu et potu benedicit." I can't remember my Latin, but I think it has something to do with a bishop blessing the food and wine. In fact, there is a bishop in the picture and people eating and drinking. San Gimignano is a Tuscan medieval town famous for its towers. This is Tuscany's finest white, and has been for seven centuries. It is mostly from the Vernaccia grape. It is fairly full-bodied, dry, soft, white, with honey, mineral, and earthy flavors. It is supposed to have more character than other white wines in central Italy. It is very pale and almost green-tinted. I smell green apples, citrus, and maybe flowers. It also stinks a little bit like yeast or something sour or dirty, like dirt. It has a lot of smell. The taste is much different. It is tart. The finish is full and fruity, and then bitter. Then, after I relax for a minute, I taste some honey, too. Maybe the bitterness is the mineral quality. It's an interesting wine. I like it, but it really is awful with just about every cheese except for the Meadow Creek Shitake Leek. Maybe I should try a goat cheese with it, but I am scared to after my bad luck.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano with Triple Crème Cream Cheese from Mozzarella Company. This cheese is sour. It's better than the choices below, but still not very good. It's ok, though. It doesn't fight so much as with the hard cheeses.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano with Cheddar, Extra Sharp, from HEB. When in doubt, I put this cheap cheese with wines and it usually works, but no such luck this time. It's foul.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano with Drunken Goat. This may be too bitter for me. The cheese is tangy and creamy-tasting. It tastes ok at first with the wine, and then gets icky. It is a bad taste at the back of my tongue.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano with Meadow Creek Shitake Leek. This cheese is creamy-tasting, earthy, and a little oniony. I seriously doubt it will go with this wine, but what the hell. It happens to be sitting on my desk. It's not perfect, but much much better than any of the others. I think the onions balance out the bitter flavor in the wine. The wine wipes out some of the flavors of the cheese, but they don't fight.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano with Pastore Sini. This cheese is grassy, salty, and a lot like Piave and Montasio. It is better than the Drunken Goat with this, but I still get a horrible vomity bitter aftertaste on the back of my tongue. Maybe this wine doesn't work too well with cheeses.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano with Roncal. I didn't have any Pecorino Toscano on hand, so I tried it with a Spanish sheep. I still get a horrible aftertaste. I think this wine just doesn't like cheeses too much. Yuck. I thought maybe it would be ok with this because this cheese is more aged and flavorful and the wine is pretty interesting.

Vinho Verde Arca Nova 2002 (Tasted in 2004) $6.99 at Grapevine. Crist picked this out for me when I was looking for a cheap white. 10% alcohol. From Valongo, Portugal. Vinho Verde is the classical white wine of Portugal. It is good with seafood. It has a soft aroma and clean, crisp lemon flavor that is good with fish, poultry, or flavorful white meat. I bought this just for sipping. This wine has medium alcohol and great digestive properties. The malo-lactic fermentation gives it a distinctive taste and personality. These vines grow well in severe conditions. Vinho Verde is a region, not a white (or green) wine. This region also makes a light red. It is usually made of native varietals (80% Loureiro grapes and 20% Trajadura grapes). I have seen it suggested with fresh Buffalo Mozzarella in a Caprese salad. This tastes like Band-Aids. It is very light and almost green. It also tastes a little yeasty and toasty in the way that Champagne does. It's very crisp and dry, very refreshing. It is really bone dry. I taste very very light apple, and then some bitterness on the back of my tongue on the finish. It's a strange wine. It is so light, it almost seems like something is missing. It grows on me after a while. I like it because it is so bare, but it took a little bit to get used to. I think this would be really good with Lebne, olive oil, and mint. 

Vinho Verde, Arca Nova with Lebne Middle Eastern yogurt cheese from Phoenicia Bakery. This is a soft, creamy cheese that is best with a little olive oil and dried mint. I thought these two might go together since they are both so tart and lemony. The wine is stronger than the cheese, but the wine shines through. I thought with the other two pairings, even though they were all good, the wine got lost a little bit. With this cheese, nice apple and tart fruit in the wine comes out. Then I taste mint. Then, afterwards, the cream in the cheese shows up again. It's really nice together. I love how these are both so light. I don't think there is any other wine out there that would go with this cheese since it's so light and tart. 

Vinho Verde, Arca Nova with Palhais marinated and herbed Portuguese fresh goat. Perfect! I got this cheese at Whole Foods. They don't always have it, but it is excellent with this wine, though it does overpower the wine a little. Still, the acidity in the wine is good for cutting into the olive oil marinade, and I like the lemony wine with the tart, salty cheese. Also good is the sharp little tingle in the wine. It really brings out the Mediterranean herbs. This is all very acidic and sharp. It's good for people like me who like a lot of acid.

Vinho Verde, Arca Nova with Varé. Hard, salty goat's milk cheese from Spain. Very nice grass flavor. Very good together. Even though the cheese is aged, it doesn't overpower at all. I like the light floral flavor on the finish that comes from both the wine and the cheese. I like this even better than the Palhais. The bitterness in the wine is nice with the sharp salt and rustic feel and taste of the cheese. It tastes just perfect together. The cheese is salty and aged, but it's still such a very light pairing. 

Vinho Verde Branco Santola, $5.99 at Central Market. 9% alcohol. This is from Portugal. It has a picture of a crab on the label, presumably because it is supposed to go well with seafood. It is very light-colored. It is lightly frizzante, citrusy, and crisp. 

Vinho Verde with Queso Doble Crema. This fresh wine was nice with the fresh, creamy tasting semi-soft cow's milk cheese. Both are very light and faint. 

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