For this Saturday’s free “Try Before You Buy” tasting, we’ll be pouring a couple of exotic white wines from the southern regions of France. In “winespeak”, exotic usually refers to wines made with obscure or esoteric grapes and those with intense aromatics and flavors. Common descriptors would be honeysuckle, beeswax, honey, tropical fruits, white peach and on and on. In a nutshell, these are wines that boast bouquets and palates outside the range typically found in Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio, the three most popular white wines on the planet.
The first wine hails from Gascogne and is made entirely out of the Gros Manseng grape. Deep and textured, with notes of flowers, white peach, melons and candle wax, this is a unique and singular white wine that we have great success with. The second wine comes from France’s Languedoc zone and is based entirely on Viognier. With aromas of ripe peach and honeysuckle leading into a lush palate of orchard fruits and fresh flowers, this is a great rendition of Viognier that sells for a song. Both of the wines would make great back porch, aperitif sippers, but each would work equally well with rich seafood dishes — think crab cakes, scallops or lobster. Yum!
All tasting wines are 10% off by the bottle or 15% off if you buy six or more of them.