CSWS

With the ensuing warmer weather rapidly approaching, we sell more and more white wine.  Does this mean that red wine does not have its place at the patio table or picnic blanket?  No, however, we are here to more directly address the red wine drinker who will not, if their lives counted on it, drink a white wine.  Oh do tell!  Cool Springs Wines & Spirits has the skinny on whites.

Come on, switch from red to white wine when it's 100 degrees outside.

Switching from red wine to white wine in the warmer months makes as much sense as switching from hot tea in the winter to iced tea in the summer.  However, so many wine drinkers we speak with are adamant, almost militant, in their dislike for white wines.  They are concretely red wine drinker until death do they part.  Why?

Red wine drinkers like the aromatics, the flavor and to a certain degree the grippiness of red wine tannins.  Red wine drinkers dislike the super fruity, high acid levels and low aromatic levels of white wines.  What?  What have you been drinking?  Pssst, come here.  At CSWS we have really good white wines, hey, tell your friends too.

There are so many good to great white wines at CSWS.  Believe it or not there are amazing Savignon Blancs from all over the world, New Zealand as well.  Think Cloudy Bay – oh yeah.  Chile – yes, Chile has wonderful Sauvignon Blancs that won’t break the bank and some of these are really dry, aromatic, and balanced.

Believe it or not there are incredible Rieslings that are semi-dry to fully dry.  CSWS has Rieslings that reveal their respective terrior’s minerality.  Acidity is balanced with fruit and the aromatics, ah, the aromatics reveal seductive points of interest.

Everybody knows Chardonnay, right?  Hmmm.  So many available, but wait, what is this white Burgundy stuff doing in the Chardonnay section?  Chardonnay originally comes from Burgundy.  The white Burgundies are 100% Chardonnay and they can be VERY different from what 99% of middle Tennessee wine drinkers know.  Try them, they are great.  Yes, dry, yes different acidity presentation, yes terrior present in the sense of the chalk and limestone soils giving these wines a wonderful mineral base.  Some, like those from the Maçonnais area of Burgundy are not oaked.  Yes, stainless steel or vat fermentation, with only the grape in its wonderful, natural self is present in these wines.  CSWS stocks the #1 selling imported French white wine in the US, Charmes’ Maçon-Lugny.  Macon tells a potential buyer this is from the Maçon AOC in Burgundy and Lugny is the specific village.  It’s dynamite.

Where is the Macon? There, home to great white wines.

Don’t like Chardonnay but curious about France?  Good.  There are so many whites and white blends in France you can literally spend an entire summer drinking nothing but different French whites every week.  Try Rhône valley blends up to the ethereal Chateau Neuf de Pape Blanc.  There are grapes like Picpoul de Penet that are blended into CdP Blancs but are great by themselves and don’t cost a Prince’s ransom.

Bordeaux offers many bone dry Sauvingon Blanc offerings plus Semillon.  Other parts of France including the Loire valley offer their take on this great grape, Sancerre anyone?

In the Languedoc-Roussillon region white and blends are delicious and readily affordable.  A number of Rhône varietals take on another world like presentation.  Provence has not only some of the best Rosés around, but captivating whites.

Spanish and Portuguese whites, yes indeed.  Doesn’t matter is it’s the super light and sometimes effervescent Vino Verde from Portugal or the delightful Albariño from Spain’s Rias Baixas region, you get fabulous white wines from the .Iberian peninsula

Italy, yes, don’t forget Italy.  With over 1,000 registered varietals you will find at least 3 Italian white wines you like.  Most wine drinkers know about Pinot Grigio so will only point out that this grape grown in Sicily is very cool.  What about Arneis, Vermentino, Vernaccia, or Grechetto?  Oh yeah, you have got homework to do.  However, this type of homework involves a corkscrew and a glass.  Sauvignon Blancs from Italy are also way cool.

Torrontes, did someone say Argentina?  Bright, beautiful and full of flavor this wine white is as refreshing as a hot summer day is long.

We are just scratching the surface with this posting’s references to white wines.  Bottom line is that there are so many, many, many great white wines for all of us to enjoy, including red wine drinkers.

Family, friends, great food & white wine - summer pick nicks at their best.

Bottom line, cool to cold wine when it is 90+ degrees outside and humidity levels that are near those of a Turkish bath beg for white wine.  Let our extremely knowledgeable staff at Cool Springs Wines & Spirits show you what we have, which is a staggering selection of white wines from all over the world.  Enjoy!