My sister only drinks red wine, and when she came to dinner the other night she brought a lovely bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir. It was really nice of her, and we all enjoyed it, but I wonder if a tiny part of her reason was to avoid being “stuck” with the whites I wanted to showcase.
I opened a bottle of mead that I made in the style of a dry white wine, and for some it was the first mead they had ever tried. I can’t really describe what mead tastes like. I wondered about that for a long time, then I finally decided to make some and find out.
Next came a rhubarb wine. I make this every year from rhubarb that I grow in my backyard. It was dry, like the mead, and had the lightest color of the three. Rhubarb was one of the first “country wines” I ever tried, and it opened my eyes to a whole new world beyond grapes.
My 2005 Riesling rounded out my trio – very dry and acidic, but balanced, and it had a great flavor. She asked for a bottle to take home with her, “I didn’t think I liked white wine, but I like Erroll’s white wine.”
I love red wine, but I think a lot of people are missing just how great white wine can be!