Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

Nielson by Byron Santa Barbara County Chardonnay ($13)

This Chardonnay out of Santa Barbara County was an unexpected delight. While being a great value, it is lightly oaked so as to not be over-powering and lets though the wonderfully bright fruit flavors including fig, honey and brown spice. But what makes this Chardonnay unusual is it's minerality that is most often found in French wines.  You may also find this one with "Byron" as the main name on the label. Which ever way, this is a Chardonnay well worth trying.

What Wine Goes Best with a Traditional Thanksgiving Meal?

If you are serving the traditional turkey dinner this Thanksgiving, you might think that serving a white wine is the right thing to do. While most white wines do go well with turkey, there are plenty of other options. 

Traditional white wine choices include:

• Gewürztraminer - One of the Thanksgiving favorites. This is a highly aromatic wine with floral touches and spice notes such as cloves and nutmeg.

• Riesling - This has spicy, fruity flavors with touches of peaches or apricots and a floral fragrance that compliments the meal well.

• Sauvignon Blanc - Light and crisp, with grassy or herbaceous flavors and higher acidity.  This wine goes well with all the rich foods on the table.

• Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris) - Light and zesty with flavors of lemon, melon and peach.

• Chardonnay - A common choice, but it's best to go with the lighter and fruiter un-oaked versions that work best with all the flavors on the Thanksgiving table.

Also, don't forget that sparkling wines go well with almost any meal and are a natural pairing with turkey. And, a dry rosé will work quite nicely with your turkey meal as well.

But turkey, by itself, is a pretty neutral meat.  And therefore, you should actually focus on pairing your wines with all the fixings that go along with the turkey. It may be a bit surprising, but a red wine will often work exceptionally well with your meal.  Just as cranberry sauce goes well with the turkey, a fruity red wine is also a great choice.

Some red wine options include:

• Beaujolais - Light, dry and fresh with fruity flavors. And you can serve it chilled.

• Pinot Noir - A light bodied red with flavors of cherry, raspberry and strawberry. In the French wine section at your store, this is called a red Burgundy. And this too can be served slightly chilled.

• Carignan - This red wine is a bit higher in tannins and acid, and has flavors of dark and black fruits, pepper, licorice, and spicy, savory aromas.

• Rhône Blends - Rhône wines focus on Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre grapes, producing medium-bodied blends.

• Zinfandel - This medium bodied red wine can really work with a Thanksgiving meal. It has characteristics that include plummy, jammy flavors with spicy or peppery notes.

Avoid the dry and highly tannic red wines (e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah) which can get lost in the presence of all the fruit, sugar, and salt on the Thanksgiving table.

But, as always, ensure that you drink what you like. That's most important. Enjoy your Thanksgiving. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

Kenwood Russian River Pinot Noir ($13)

The Russian River Valley is home of some of the greatest Pinot Noir to be found. This one from Kenwood is a very nice example and a great value. With red fruit flavors of raspberry and cherry along with hints of vanilla from being aged in French oak barrels, this Pinot Noir is delicate and smooth. Give this one a slight chill and enjoy with most foods, especially grilled salmon.

Are Red Wine Blends Any Good?

In years past in the U.S., red wine blends were sold by the jug as "Red Wine" or "Table Wine."  These were inexpensive wines that were blends of grapes, vineyards or even vintages. So, today, blends are often disregarded as being of poor quality.

But we only need to look to France, home of some of the world’s best wines, to see that blends are nothing to turn your nose up at.  France's famous region of Bordeaux produces red blends almost exclusively.  Depending on which bank the wine is from in Bordeaux, it will be a different blend. The Left Bank is known for its blends based on Cabernet Sauvignon while the Right Bank blends are Merlot based. These blends may also include Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec.

Other famous regions known for their blends include the Rhône Valley that uses Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre and the so-called Super Tuscans from Italy that may include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and others.

The main reason that winemakers produce blends is to make the best wine possible. Blending different grape varieties is useful in accentuating a particular grape's virtues. But winemakers have also learned never to blend an inferior wine with a good wine because the result is usually an inferior wine. Again, the goal is to produce a wine that is actually better than the sum of its parts. And blending allows for wines that are well balanced and complex in their aromas, flavors, colors and textures. The blended grapes can add layers of flavor that will change through the process of taking the first sip, letting it sit on your tongue and then as you swallow.

Another thing you may not realize is that most wines labeled in the U.S. as single varietals are actually blends.  The laws state that for a wine to be labeled as a single varietal, it must contain at least 75% of the noted grape. But that leaves the other 25% for the winemaker to be creative and generally to blend in other grapes that results in their best possible wine.

So don't turn up your nose at red wine blends.  These can actually be some of the best wines in the world. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

2015 Justin Sauvignon Blanc ($12)

This Sauvignon Blanc from Justin in Paso Robles CA is very nice one. Loaded with bright, crisp fruit flavors of lemon, green apple, white peach and guava. At 14.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) it is quite dry (not sweet). This one is great with cheeses, seafood or appetizers.