White Wine Summer

Katie here. The classic Kansas hot July temperatures are back again, and as a result, I have discovered a real love for cool white wine. To be honest, until this summer, I've never been a real lover of white wine. I'm much more of a red wine person. And while we studied for our certified sommelier exam, we really concentrated our tasting of white wines to only potentially testable wines, so I never explored the world of white wine much. But you know what? Cool white wine just hits right on these really hot summer days.

Over the past few weeks, with the help of family and friends, I've been on a mission to try new white wines! As I've mentioned in a past post, I've really discovered a love of California Sauvignon Blanc, which to me has the tropical fruitiness of New Zealand Sauv Blanc without as much of the green flavors (like celery, green bell pepper, etc), and even some creaminess to them that you don't tend to find in other Sauvignon Blancs. They're something special. So I've tried a few more of those, but I also sprinkled in some other white wine options I found intriguing!

I'd like to share my new discoveries and encourage you to cool off this summer with some of these great wines!

First up:

Seaglass Sauvignon Blanc, Central Coast, 2022

This is a light and very refreshing Sauvignon Blanc! It reminds me of key lime, and lemon bars, with a little herbal character to it like lemongrass. It's simple but satisfying, and it's a real smooth wine. Just look at that bottle, too. You feel like you should be sitting on a beach, lounging in a chair, looking at the waves and enjoying the breeze off the ocean.

This wine sells for $13 at Jacob Liquor.

Another great option:

Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Sauvignon Blanc, California, 2022

Get your nose in this one: to me, it smells like yogurt! It's so interesting! Beyond that, it also has notes of green apples and ripe pineapple and maybe some lemon curd. It also has a hint of grass to it--there's that herbal green character that is common to the Sauvignon Blanc grape. Though it smells like yogurt, it isn't quite as creamy as some of the other California Sauvignon Blancs I've tried, like the Emmolo Sauvignon Blanc I reviewed a few weeks ago (see previous blog post--that's another fantastic wine). This was very enjoyable, especially on my deck on a hot night after I put the kids to bed.

This wine sells for $12 at Jacob Liquor.

Moving away from Sauvignon Blanc:

Kings Ridge Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

(I forgot to take a photo of this one! 😱 so here’s a photo from Google)

Dad and I and our friend Mark drank a lot of Pinot Grigio from Italy while studying for our certified exam, and none of us particularly love it. It's kind of like alcoholic lemon water. Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are the same grape, but the first is its Italian name, and the second, its French. However, as noted above, the same grape grown in different places can be very different, and I wanted to give this grape another go. This Pinot Gris from Oregon reminds me of pears, green apples, and a little hint of lime. It definitely has more going on than most of the Pinot Grigio wines I've had from Italy (no offense, Italy). This is still somewhat more simple of a wine compared to the Sauvignon Blancs I tasted above, but it was refreshing and nice for a warm day. And it's always fun to break out of your typical box and try something new! You can be so surprised!

This wine sells for $16 at Jacob Liquor.

Speaking of that, I come to my last wine of this post:

Willamette Valley Vineyards White Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

My friends are currently touring Willamette Valley, checking out the wineries there, and I am very jealous. Their updates make me so badly want to travel to Oregon myself and go on a wine tour (heads up: Bart is actually headed to Oregon TOMORROW and will hopefully have some fun updates for us over the next week!). One of the things that caught my attention, however, was their comment on how much they enjoyed trying WHITE Pinot Noir. Yes, I'm talking about the red Pinot Noir grape that makes well-known red wine. In this case, however, the winemakers harvest the grapes and immediately press them and remove the skins, so the red color of the skins doesn't get into the juice. And voila--you took a red grape and made white wine (in case you didn't already know, many Champagne producers use Pinot Noir in this exact way to make your well-known white Champagne).

I've never had a white Pinot Noir, however, so I decided I must find one. And so I did. This was a fun wine to try, partly due to the novelty of it! This wine reminded us of white peaches, oranges, and green apples. It's a little creamy with almost just a touch of bread characteristics to it, which is likely due to the winemakers letting it age on the lees (it ages with the dead yeast cells still present, which makes it creamier). This was a tasty little wine, and we enjoyed the experience. I will be very excited to try more white Pinot Noirs in the future!

This wine sells for $26 at Total Wine.

Happy summer, everyone. Keep cool if you can, and enjoy some delicious white wines! Let us know your favorites!