Vin Blanc Apologetics
2022 Year of Aesthetics Series №32 June 28 2022
“I only drink red wines!” ~ The Pork Chop Express
“Pork Chop is wrong.” ~Trishank
“I won’t apologize for drinking whites.” ~ Me
The several myths that whites are lesser wines than reds persists, yet I often prefer whites to reds and always have.
Whites are often peoples starting point into wine, this gives off the connotation that whites are for beginners and that reds are for the more sophisticated, if you have had a good bottle of Chablis Premier Cru you may have a hard time making this case. I find mineral rich Boudreaux, Fume Blancs ethereal and complex yet subtle. I love mineral content in wine and whites allow the earth and mineral tastes to shine.
When drinkers start drinking anything they usually go for price rather than quality, so as they start to like wine they start experimenting with reds which they start paying a bit more for reds so the impression is the reds are better but they are paying more. The impression that whites are lesser sticks. This is folly as I learned from dining with the best around the world. I have found good whites around the world and enjoyed dinners on every content (sans Antarctica). Whites from certain country stay regional most good whites (mother wines) don’t leave their region of Italy. Whites are worth paying for yet good whites on a wine list are often less pricy than the reds.
Whites only go with fish and chicken is just a lie, (I do have robusto reds with steak and lamb ) but I have served cassoulet, pork, pate, steaks, burgers with whites as well as reds.
Whites are often served chilled, often overchilled especially at bars and restaurants which often like to push economic whites. This can often over emphasize citrus and fruits tastes of cheaper wines. Red will be served a room temperature even if the room is 100 degrees. I often pop reds in the fridge for a minute or two since they are best between 60 and 75 F. So having to chill a white may make it more work or fridge space or they will be put on ice and this can make them sharp and less complex if over chilled. I like whites to be consumed slowly and they develop as they warm. Very good whites such as burgundies can suffer from over chilling and are good at 50 to 60 F. Having a wine chiller or a little extra room in your fridge or a wine fridge so you serve all your wines at a reasonable temp are good alternatives. We have a half fridge for beverages where we chill whites and cool down reds when needed. My wine chiller is my great grandmothers farm coffee pot, I feel very posh every time I have a bottle chilling in it.
Whites have a longer shelf life under vacuum seal than reds especially if put in the refrigerator, I find this a great advantage when I don’t want to drink wine several days in a row I can let a white set 2–3 more days.
Very good and exceptional whites are also lower price point to comparable reds. I find it more economical to have whites in your inventory or cellar ( I float about 40 bottles so no cellar, yet). I also like to start white and move to red in big dinners giving people a choice of red white or both. If you open up the white first often we don’t get to the red as often their is calls for another bottle of the same, but it adds a bit of variation and sophistication to have a bottle of red and white at the table. I often bring whites to dinner parties Gruner Veltliner’s of late, the two below are Austrian magic.
I liked whites early on when I first tasted white from Graves, Alsace and Boudreaux. They had a clean and direct subtlety that reds sometime lacked. They were excellent cold on a hot day. The first wine I loved was Chateau Graville-Locoste Graves, (very affordable and available) an exceptional clean crisp bottle of white.
I recently shared a peach pear rich Bread and Butter Chardonnay with my Aunt in California, better than all the Bread and Butter reds. I remember whites at glass of Chenin Blanc in Sidney Harbor with green Mussels, I still love them and love M.A.N offering from South Africa. Vermentino in Sardinia, at dinners ending in the AM. But there were the dinners with Ken at French restaurants with Alsace’s wines that made me fall in love with them. My best friend Linda drinks mostly whites and good ones so I had a wide sampling with her.
The best bottle of wine I had was a Chablis Premier Cru on my 42 birthday. I cooked a 5 course meal for friends and had a joyous time we finish a bottle a person. I was decompressing from the party, and found in my great grandma chiller a 3/4 bottle. My wife went to bed. I had a mound of dishes (no dishwasher at the time. ) I was about to dump it, when I realized I had not tasted it. I was amazed stunned, and over-whelmed and over-joyed. Don and Linda had brought the best and Christ like saved it until the end of the party. ( I later found a second empty. Nice to have generous friends.) I took two hours to finish off the bottle as I cleaned up countless plates but I relived the best dinner party I ever gave with the very best bottle I ever drank.
