What’s your White Wine Personality?
It may seem silly, but there’s some sense to the notion of a wine personality or maybe it’s a changing wine mood you have? If you’re preferring a white wine, are you a crisp and clean type, aromatic and fragrant, oaked and buttery or earthy and minerally? Wanting a red wine? Are you in the mood for playful and light, bold and spicy, soft and fruity or rich and powerful?? Knowing your wine personality or mood for the moment can help you make the right selection at the liquor store or from the wine menu at dinner.
In this post I’ll take you through white wine personalities or mood types and the types of wines and flavours that fall under each. Tell the restaurant sommelier that you’re in the mood for a crisp, clean and racy white… it’s sure to put a smile on their face and you’ll be speaking their language!
White Wines
Crisp, Clean and Racy White Wines
Crisp is a wine term used to describe a dry white wine and it’s level of acidity. Racy is a wine term used to describe a light-bodied white wine. This is a general umbrella wine description that can apply to many types of white wines and other wine personalities. For example, dry and minerally wines are also crisp and racy.
Wine Regions and Grapes Used:
Crisp white wines are often produced in cool climate regions with the Sauvignon Blanc grape from New Zealand and Chile or with the Pinot Grigio grape from Italy. Crisp and clean, racy white wines are usually produced in stainless steel tanks as opposed to oak barrels in order to maintain the acidity and crisp, sharp fruit flavours in the wine.
You might also like Chablis from northern Burgundy in France made with the Chardonnay grape aged in stainless steel tanks. Even though Chablis wine is made with the Chardonnay grape, there is no oak used in its production – the taste is dry, crisp and often minerally.
Taste:
Crisp white wines taste of citrus fruit and leave a feeling on your mouth similar to that of drinking fresh lime or lemon juice mixed with water. You feel the acidity on the sides of your tongue with a bit of pucker in your mouth and little lingering fruity taste.
These wines are full of citrus, green apple, gooseberry, grapefruit, and sometimes mineral aromas and flavours. Crisp, dry white wines make a great pairing with seafood and are great for sipping on hot summer days. See my post on What Wine to Buy Instead of Chardonnay for crisp, clean white wine suggestions.
Wines to Try
My all-time favourite in this category is Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.
Dry and Minerally White Wines
Mineral and herbaceous are terms used for white wines to describe aromas and flavours in white wine that remind you of earthy minerals and green herbs. Minerally and herbaceous white wines are generally not oaked so as to retain the fresh mineral, flinty and delicate herbal characteristics of the grapes and terroir (land on which the grapes are grown).
Wine Regions and Grapes Used:
Dry and minerally white wines tend to come from old-world regions (meaning old wine-producing countries mostly in Europe). These are the opposite of fruit-forward wines because the dry minerality aroma and flavour is more pronounced. With that said, there is loads of lingering fruit flavour in the earthy and herbaceous whites.
Try Chablis again here because of it’s high mineral aroma and flavour or a dry Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre for it’s high minerality or a dry German Riesling or Verdichio from Italy.
Taste:
The predominant aroma and flavour is mineral, chalk, flint, slate, wet stones, and gravel. You can also detect vegetal aromas (think green peppers, asparagus) and herbaceous (meaning herbal aromas of lavender, pine, thyme, fresh cut grass etc). The less pronounced fruit flavours are similar to the crisp and clean whites: green apple, grapefruit, peach, lemon and lime and gooseberry.
Aromatic and Fragrant White Wines (My favourites!)
Aromatic wines give off lots of combined aromas of fruits, flowers and herbal notes. White wines in this category give you aromas of blossoms and flowers first rather than fruit or minerals. You’ll detect aromas of honeysuckle, spring blossoms, violet and flower petals followed by fruit aromas of apricots, peach and pears. Some have a little spice to them with notes of ginger.
Wine Regions and Grapes Used:
My favourite white wines in this category are wines made with the Viognier grape from Condrieu in the northern Côtes du Rhône region or Languedoc-Rousillon in France. I recommend wines in this category in my post titled What Wines to Buy Instead of Chardonnay. I would put Sancerre wines in this category too.
Taste:
Fragrant wines made from the Sauvignon Blanc grape in Sancerre, France are dry, crisp, minerally and fragrant. Aromatic Riesling wines can give floral and flinty aromas with pear and nectarine flavours. Viognier can offer aromas of honeysuckle, pear and peaches. See my post on What Wines to Drink Instead of Chardonnay for more about these types of wines.
Aromatic and fragrant white wines are perfect to enjoy with grilled fish including salmon, trout sea bass or haddock or with roast chicken or turkey and of course with cheeses – especially goat cheese, brie, camembert and feta.
Try the following:
Torrontés: Santa Balbo Crios from Argentina, $11.95
A dry white wine with aromas of apricots, rose petals, lemon zest and peach. It’s a dry white wine with some minerality and a nice citrus fruit aftertaste. A very easy, refreshing, crisp white wine at a great price.
Viognier 2014, The Y Series, Yalumba, Australia white, $16.95
This is a really lovely aromatic and acidic white wine at a great price offering a nose of honeysuckle and pear with some peach and hints of pineapple.
I’m really enjoying this Riesling and I haven’t had one for a while. It offers a lovely nose of fresh cut limes with flinty, chalky floral aromas, pear and nectarine. At first sip there might be a bit of effervescence on the tongue. It’s well balanced with a nice lemony dry finish. Warning: It’s very easy and enjoyable to drink!
Oaky and Buttery White Wines:
Fans of oaky, buttery white wines tend to love Chardonnay, white Burgundy wines and Chardonnay wines from California.
The green Chardonnay grape is one of the most popular grape varieties used to make white wine in countries all over the world. It originated in Burgundy, France and the regions of Chablis, Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault, Macon, Macon-Villages, Pouilly-Fuisse in Burgundy produce some of the most famous Chardonnay wines. Other famous Chardonnay-producing regions include California, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Chile and Argentina. Each wine can taste quite different depending on where it comes from – the climate, the geography of the location and the way in which the wine is made.
In more moderate climates like Burgundy, you might detect aromas of “stone fruit” including peach with citrus and melon aromas. If you’re choosing a wine from the warmer regions like California and Australia you might like the aromas of peach, banana, pineapple, mango and possibly fig.
Chardonnay wine that has been stored in oak barrels before being bottled develops additional flavours of wood, vanilla, butter, caramel and baked apple pie – flavours that come from the oak being in contact with the wine. The wine may also appear more golden in colour. The oak can give the Chardonnay a creamy, smooth texture.
If you like toasty.oaky, creamy, full-bodied white wine, try Decoy Chardonnay, La Crema Chardonnay, Simi Chardonnay all from California or try some French white Burgundies which are more expensive but so spectacular including Meursault (pronounced Mer-so) and Puligny-Montrachet (pronounced Poo-lee-nyee Mon-ra-shay). My favourite producer of both is Maison Joseph Drouhiin Burgundy.
Stay tuned for my next post on red wine personalities and moods.