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Wine Details
Price:
$14.95 per bottle
Description:
Cuvee Blanc is a blended, dry white wine composed of Chenin Blanc, French Columbard and Pinot Grigio. You will enjoy aromas of ruby-red grapefruit, lemons, pineapple and hints of butterscotch. The Cuvee Blanc was a Lone Star Wine Competition medal winner.
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Varietal Definition
Chardonnay:
Chardonnay is by far the most widely planted grape crop in California and dominates California’s cooler, coastal, quality wine regions. The natural varietal ‘taste and smell’ of Chardonnay is surprisingly unfamiliar to many wine drinkers, as its true character is often guised with dominating winemaking signatures. Chardonnay’s rather subdued primary fruit characteristics lean toward the crisp fruitiness of apples, pears and lemon, but the variety’s full body is capable of supporting a host of complementary characteristics, such as oak, butter and vanilla. Regardless of what is the appropriate style for Chardonnay, the varietal continues to dominate vineyard plantings in every corner of the world. Close attention to clonal selection has made this broad geographic and climactic range of Chardonnay viable in thoughtful viticultural hands.
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Gewürztraminer:
Cultivated for over a thousand years, this white-wine grape (sometimes referred to simply as Traminer) is thought to have originated in the village of Tramin (or Temeno) in Italy’s Alto Adige region. Gewürztraminer grapes are planted in Alsace, a French region between Germany and France that specializes in excellent dry Gerwürztraminer wines. They’re also cultivated in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Ukraine. Because they perform better in cooler climates, Gewürztraminer grapes have not done well in many of California’s warmer growing regions. However, they thrive in cooler California areas such as Carneros, Anderson Valley, and Monterey County, as well as in parts of Oregon and Washington. The German word ‘gewürz’ means ‘spiced,’ and these wines are known for their crisp, spicy attributes. They’re highly fragrant, with flavor characteristics of litchis, roses, and spices such as cloves and nutmeg. Gewürztraminer wines are available in varying degrees of sweetness -- dry, medium-sweet, and late harvest. Because of the grape’s pinkish (sometimes yellow) pigment, Gewürztraminer wines are some of the more deeply colored of the whites, many have gold or peach tones. The distinctive color and aroma of these wines make them easily recognizable by those familiar with this varietal wine.
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Sauvignon Blanc:
Sauvignon Blanc is widely grown in California — at over 15,000 acres, it’s now the third most planted variety — and often assumes the moniker ‘Fume Blanc’. This popular synonym, credited to Napa’s Robert Mondavi, derives from the grape’s historic home of Pouilly in France’s Upper Loire Valley, where Sauvignon Blanc is the dominant varietal and goes locally by the name of ‘Blanc Fumé’. When treated with respect and afforded suitable growing conditions, Sauvignon Blanc is one of the wine world’s darlings. Steely, racy acidity, green, gooseberry fruit, asparagus and a grassy, herbaceous character characterize dry wines made from this grape.
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Traminer:
Parent grape of the popular Gewurztraminer clone. Still grown in France and in California but almost everywhere has been replaced by its much more intense and spicy offspring clone.
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Colombard:
Better known as French Colombard in North America. Acidic grape crushed by some northern Californian producers and made into a fruity white wine of simple character in both dry and sweet versions. Mainly grown in California to provide acidic backbone for white "jug" wine blends. Still grown in France where it is used for white wine blends known as "Bordeaux Blanc" and is also used for distilling into brandy. Also widely grown in South Africa.
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Pinot Grigio/Gris:
Pinkish-white variety producing a very crisp white wine. Grown in Oregon, the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, and more and more in California, it shows promise for other cool climates. Also known as Tokay d'Alsace in France, Rulander in Germany, and Pinot Grigio in Italy.
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