Oregon to Virginia, brews to chocolates, big reds to light whites, and at least eight bargains, starting at less than $10 – there’s plenty of variety as winter readies its concession and the grapefruit and cactus leagues get going.
It makes you want a fresh beer, a ripe wine, a classic cocktail, and some time to enjoy them. Maybe near a never-forgotten beach or an undiscovered hilltop. Spring beckons.
CELEBRATING PINOT AND PONZI
Ponzi Vineyards in Oregon is nearing 50 years of making imbibers happy. The winery earns its candles.
This is a top-tier, essential producer of pinot noir, plus other varietals.
Winemaker Luisa Ponzi’s current repertoire includes the standout 2016 Ponzi Reserve Pinot Noir Reserve (★★★★ $65), a complex, aromatic choice, with spice and floral notes as well as suggestions of dark chocolate. A thread of citrus, candied variety, runs through it.
Rich and ripe: the 2017 Ponzi Avellana Vineyard Pinot Noir (★★★★ $105), a silky, earthy, minerally beauty that announces itself with blackberry and black cherry, assorted spices and nuts, and mild pepperiness. Expect it to be uncorked at festivities, in Oregon and elsewhere.
And a lively, distinctive wine in the portfolio is a rare white. The 2018 Ponzi Arneis (★★ $27) brings a taste of Piedmont in northwestern Italy to the Pacific Northwest. The ancient grape delivers floral, melon, apricot, apples, and citrus in a bright and balanced package. Medium-bodied Arneis is known best from producers such as Vietti, Bruno Giacosa, Michele Chiarlo, and Ceretto. Here, add Ponzi.
GOLDEN STATE, PLATINUM WINE
La Crema has been making vibrant wines for 40 years. Pinot noir and chardonnay define the winery. Among La Crema’s best are three single-vineyard pinots.
The 2016 La Crema Shell Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir (★★★ $60) is a Sonoma Coast winner, heady with blackberry, plum, spice, and tantalizing hints of orange and anise, all leading to a long finish.
There’s a harvest of raspberry and plum in the fruity, delicate 2016 La Crema Saralee’s Vineyard Pinot Noir (★★★ $55), an appropriately elegant expression of the Russian River Valley. La Crema’s winery and tasting room and in the vineyard built by the late Saralee Kunde, who envisioned what the region would become.
For an example of the varietal from a warmer part of the Russian River Valley, look for the 2016 La Crema Fog Veil Vineyard Pinot Noir (★★ $65). It rolls in with boysenberry and blackberry, lively acidity and soft tannins. Versatile and very satisfying.
MODEST PRICES, BIG RETURNS
Searching for bargains is a profitable exercise. Here are seven that are well worth the effort.
Mendoza, Argentina is the source of the 2017 Septima Cabernet Sauvignon (★★ $14), a buoyant, fruity, and aromatic wine. It’s an unfussy, well-made red. Uncork Septima when you’re going to serve grilled beef, burgers to steaks.
The 2016 Falesco Vitiano Rosso Umbria IGP (★★ $17), plummy, smooth, reliable. The fruity, harmonious ruby-hued red is almost equal parts merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and sangiovese. It’s an ideal Italian accompaniment with antipasti, light red-sauced pastas, pizza, more.
From northeastern Spain comes the 2018 Los Dos Red (★ $9), a fruity and smoky Garnacha that goes with everything from burgers and pizza to skirt steak and ribs.
Castilla-La Mancha brings the 2016 Volver (★★ $16), a fragrant and full-bodied, single-vineyard tempranillo that’s a match for grilled red meat.
Lighten up with the 2018 KRIS Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC (★★ $15), a white that’s an ideal sipper, citrusy and easygoing, as well as the right accompaniment for grilled pork, fish from fluke to salmon, pasta with pesto, and salads from seafood to green, Caesar to Greek.
The 2018 Ponga Sauvignon Blanc (★ $13) arrives from Marlborough, New Zealand, refreshing with peach and citrus. It’s fruity and to the point, crisp and uncomplicated. Try this one with shellfish cocktails, raw oysters, or on its own.
Food-friendly and fresh, the 2018 Clean Slate Riesling (★★ $10) is a peachy, balanced selection from the Mosel River Valley. You’ll enjoy it with cuisines as varied as Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Cajun, Tex-Mex, and, of course, German. Or just contentedly sip away.
WHEN BUD LIGHT WON’T DO
Thomas Boswell, the stellar sportswriter for The Washington Post, titled a collection of baseball essays “Why Time Begins on Opening Day.”
But you could add that sometimes it starts when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
Even before you respond to the in-the-stands call of “Beer, here!,” you can get an early taste making your own.
Brewferm, which has been in the home-brew market since 1972, will spur you to “Brew Your Own Belgian Beer,” with a starter’s kit. Brewferm provides the equipment to clean, ferment, and cap. Add sugar and water and patience.
Since Belgium produces some of the planet’s best beer, you’ll be ready from the first pitch. The starter kit is $89; the deluxe set, $99. Play ball. Available on Amazon.
OLD DOMINION, NEW TASTE
Virginia’s wine industry keeps growing. It’s especially appealing when channeling southwest France. Try the 2016 Michael Shaps Petit Manseng (★★ $30) Petit Manseng is a dry white, with traces of tropical fruit and a domestic trip to Jurancon.
Also from Virginia: a light, rose-style apple cider, Potter’s Craft Cider’s Cider Nouveau (★ $18). It will prepare you for bridging seasons.
BREAKING NEWS…
HALL Family Wines is respected for its high-end, dependably first-rate cabernet sauvignon.
Megan Gunderson, who started at HALL as an enologist in 2005, has been promoted to director of winemaking. Gunderson was the winemaker.
She’s now responsible for all wines under the HALL, WALT, and BACA brands. WALT is the Napa Valley winery’s pinot noir brand; BACA, its zinfandel brand. Gunderson was an intern at the Robert Mondavi Winery, and laboratory manager at St. Supery and Dominus.
COOKBOOK LIBRARY, VOL. 1
America’s Test Kitchen has been on PBS for two decades. The educational and entertaining show has been mandatory viewing year after year.
So, welcome “America’s Test Kitchen Twentieth Anniversary TV Show Cookbook” (America’s Test Kitchen, $40). It contains 580 recipes, from New York bagels to Paris-Brest; chicken, kung pao to fried crisply; caldo verde to pho; Sicilian-style pizza to baked Alaska.
And probably what you want to eat tonight, tomorrow, and the rest of the year. An essential addition, well-written, illustrated, and, most important, beginning each dish with “why this recipe works.”
DARK DELIGHT
Vosges Haut-Chocolat specializes in truffles. The current favorite: the Exotic Dark Chocolate Truffle Collection.
These are made with ingredients far different from, for example, that Baby Boomer masterpiece, the Chunky chocolate bar, a trapezoidal treat with nuts and raisins that went for a nickel.
The Vosges exotica includes truffles made with balsamic vinegar, Café du Monde chicory coffee, horseradish, freshly grated wasabi, Hungarian paprika, kirschwasser, Tuscan fennel pollen, Guajillo and Pasilla chiles, Chinese star anise, Sri Lankan cinnamon, and absinthe. They’re 62 to 75 percent cacao. Bittersweet, deeper than sweet.
As Arnold Stang used to say, “Whatta chunka chocolate.” The handsome purple box with16 pieces is $48; the 9-piece box, $32. vosgeschocolate.com
ABOUT THE BLOGGER
For 34 years, Peter Gianotti reviewed wines, spirits, restaurants, and books at Newsday. He twice won Press Club of New York awards for food writing. Before he became a food critic, Gianotti was a Washington correspondent, a financial writer, and New York City reporter for the newspaper. His books include “Food Lovers’ Guide to Long Island” and “A Guide to Long Island Wine Country.” Gianotti received his B.A. from Fordham University, where he taught journalism; and his M.S. from Columbia University, where he also was a Bagehot Fellow. Harry, his Creamsicle-hued assistant, prefers the bouquets of riesling and pinot noir.
PG RATED 