For instance one of the best white wines  from Italy is a wine called Vernaccia di San Gimignano.  Most people think of Tuscany for it’s big, high-end reds such as Brunellos and Supertuscans.  But among all of those important red wines is a little grape called Vernaccia that holds its own.  It grows in the town of San Gimignano which is very near Siena in Tuscany. The town is VERY famous for it’s many medieval towers. Historically, this wine was associated with pilgrammages to Rome especially in the dark ages. The wine expresses sweet white flowers, herbaceousness, and underpinnings of minerality.  It has a light to medium body and offers quite a lot of dimension for an inexpensive white.  At Harry’s Farmer’s Market we carry one of the best Vernaccias exported from Italy, and it is made by a winery called Mormoraia.

Another overlooked white wine is from the Loire Valley in France and it is called Muscadet.  Commonly people think of this wine as sweet because they associate its name with the Moscato d’Asti or Muscat varietals which are often made into dessert wines.  However, Muscadet is a dry style wine which is made from the varietal Melon de Bourgone.  It expresses fresh D’Anjou pear with pleasant acidity has a dimensional mineral quality.  This wine comes from the far west end of the Loire Valley.  It is traditionally paired with oysters due to its proximity to the Atlantic coast. This wine as well as other Loire Valley whites are very popular in Paris in the summertime.  At Harry’s we have the Vallee de Loire label which is specifically from the Sevre et Maine appellation. This appellation really one of the best the best and most well known appellations in Loire for this wine.  It is also produced “Sur Lie’ which means that the wine is bottled from barrels where the lees (coarse sediment) is not drained.  This process gives Muscadet a creamy and pleasant yeast character.

An interesting white wine that we are featuring at Harry’s right now is a white wine from Navarra, Spain which is a blend of Viura and Chardonnay.  Viura is a varietal that is grown all over Spain, but it is mostly used as a traditional grape to make Cava. Cava is Spain’s sparkling wine.  Another name for Viura is Macabeo.  The Viura in this wine expresses fresh yellow flowers and a clean acidity.  The chardonnay is added to give the wine a bit more body and roundness and weight on the tongue. Together these two varietals create a very pleasant summer wine that is easy and fun.  Navarra is an exciting wine region for Spain.  It is located in the Pyrenees on the French border.  Geographically this wine region sits in between Rioja and Bordeaux actually!  Wine has been made here since before Roman times and is definitely the region to watch for Spain.

So these three wines are being featured at Harry’s right now and we are very excited to show them to you.  We actually have many more interesting and delicious choices for you to try this summer as well.  So please come in and see us.

***Don’t forget the 20% off Case Wine Sale, August 15-20.  Mix and match 12 bottles and get 20% off.***

It turns out that the region I lived in, Savoie, is famous for this white wine, Apremont. Simply put, no one really finds the need to drink much else.  Savoie is the heart of the French Alps and has pristine, snowy mountain tops, lush grasses dotted with wildflowers and the best skiing in the world.  Steven Jenkins, the cheesemonger who wrote “The Cheese Primer”, says “Savoie is so beautiful it hurts.” It is easy to see why the Savoyards have a contentment and find almost no need to drink anything from outside their region.

Apremont is made from the Jacquere grape.  This is indigenous to France and almost grows exclusively in Savoie.  The wine is known for having a touch of lemon and a layered minerality.  Some people compare it to Vinho Verde from Portugal when describing it’s light refreshing style.

But I cannot talk about Apremont from Savoie without discussing cheese.  Of course the other thing that the Alps are famous for is cheese!  The cows in the Alps can be breeds that are 10,000 years old.  Their milk is hearty, lush and considered the best in France.  The environment these cows live in is abundant with mineral rich grass, chamomile and clover that the cows feast on every day.  You can actually taste these floral notes in the cheese! The sweetness of the creamy, lush milk comes through in the aging of these cheeses such as Comte, Gruyere, Appenzeller, and Tomme de Savoie. 

The strange thing is that I would think that a complex cheese like these “should” be paired with a red wine.  But in Savoie, they drink it with Apremont.  It turns out that the pleasant acidity in the wine cuts through the fat of the cheese and clears the palate for the next bite.  It actually makes the cheese taste as if every bite is your first!  It’s a cool thing.  

So the next time you want to feel like you are in the middle of the Alps, come by and get some Apremont ($16.99/bottle) and 15 month Hand Selected Comte cheese ($18.99/lb).     

                                                                                                                                       - Jenny in Wine