Did you know that California has almost 90k acres of Chardonnay– the most popular white wine in the world? Coming in second is Sauvignon blanc with less than 17k acres. What about white grapes originally from the Rhône region of France planted in California? Not so many! There’s only 2.5k acres of Viognier, 620 acres of Grenache blanc, and 150 acres of Vermentino grown in California according to the California Wine Institute. If you add in miscellaneous rows of Rhône white grapes, it’s unlikely that there’s much more than 4k total. No surprise Americans are more familiar with Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc than Viognier and other white grapes from the Rhône region– an area of southern France where red grapes like Syrah and Grenache are better known and more widely grown (stay tuned and subscribe for Grenache Day in September!)
With this summer’s record breaking heat, and the dog days of August upon us, we turn to white wines to cool us off. First up, five from Iberia– a region of the world most well known for their red wines. We have two from Spain and three from Portugal — including two Albarino, one from each country just in time for Albarino Day which is today! We paired these refreshing, chill white wines with Spanish style tapas, Mediterranean orzo salad, oysters, and whole grilled snapper for a dinner that keeps the house cool too.
Coming soon: Rhone whites from southern France and Rhone whites from Southern California for Aug 4 “White Wine Day”!
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 