Tasty Recipes from Recipe Wizards

New York wines are really nothing new if you take into account an oenological history dating back to the Dutch in the 17th century. But it’s probably fair to say that, although its production is third in U.S. wine production behind California and Washington, many Americans have never had one drop from the Empire State.

Or, if so, maybe the wine was one of the more old-fashioned types made from native and hybrid varieties that both made New York’s wine reputation in the 19th century and hampered it in the 20th.

Try a wine now from New York’s Finger Lakes, one of the state’s most important wine regions. You may be nicely surprised.

“We are an emerging region. Consumers think that means we’re new. Not so, we’re among the oldest,” said Morgen McLaughlin, president of the Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association, a group that makes sure wine is part of the story for the 300,000 to 500,000 people who visit this part of western New York each year.

“There’s an amazing history but one we have to struggle against,” she added. “It’s kind of hard to break through with this new message of world-class wines at incredible value.”

Riesling is generally considered to be opening the door for greater recognition and appreciation of the region’s wine. McLaughlin’s association is sponsoring its second annual Riesling Month in May with a schedule of special dinners and tastings around the Finger Lakes (rieslingrocks.com).

What sets Finger Lakes riesling apart from others is “vibrancy” born of a balanced acidity and pronounced minerality, said Morten Hallgren of Ravines Wine Cellars in Hammondsport, N.Y.

Riesling is the most widely grown vinifera grape in the Finger Lakes. Vinifera is the family of grape varieties from which the well-known wines of Europe have long been fashioned, grapes like cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and pinot noir. Vinifera vines tend to like milder climates – and most experts thought New York state was too cold.

Finger Lake winemakers once used only native grapes such as Concord or Niagara, or cold-hardy hybrids, such as Seyval blanc or Cayuga. Native grapes usually translated into “foxy” or earthy wines. The stuff also tended to be sweet.

Enter Konstantin Frank. Born in Ukraine and armed with a doctorate in viticulture, he arrived in the United States in 1951 and was soon working in the Finger Lakes. He put to use years of research in cool-climate wine grapes to prove that vinifera grapes such as riesling could not only grow in the region, but thrive. In 1962, he started his own winery and led what has become known as the vinifera revolution in New York state.

Today, the winery known as Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars still is operated by the family in Hammondsport, N.Y. With wine available in 33 states, it enjoys the broadest U.S. distribution of any Finger Lakes winery.

“(Native) varieties are still the predominant acreage in New York, but they can be planted anywhere,” said Frederick Frank, the founder’s grandson and winery co-owner. Frank thinks vinifera vines grow best in micro-climates like those found around the Finger Lakes. The depth of the lakes helps moderate temperatures, he said, allowing these tender varieties to grow.

And for Frank’s winery, going the vinifera route has meant gold – dozens of gold medals in competitions. Still, there’s what he calls the “negative” image of New York as only making Concord wines.

“I think consumers are willing to experiment with different varieties and regions,” Frank said. “When they’re ready, our wines are available.”

Riesling is not the Finger Lakes’ only wine card, Hallgren emphasized. “We have a 60-year history of growing pinot noir,” he said. “What’s been going on is a gradual evolution; you can find a little bit of everything here. We have the potential to be the premier cool-weather wine region in the country.”

While the wineries have been selling out from their tasting rooms for 20 years, McLaughlin said there has been little incentive until recently for winemakers to look at national distribution. But now, with more interest in riesling, the wineries are moving their wines out across the country, especially into Florida and California.

“We do riesling well,” McLaughlin said. “We’re able to own that niche.”

BY THE NUMBERS

1829: Year the Rev. William Bostwick plants first vineyard in Finger Lakes region

1982: Year the Finger Lakes American Viticultural Area was established

4,000: Square miles encompassing the Finger Lakes AVA

96: Bonded wineries in the Finger Lakes AVA

2: Number of AVAs inside the Finger Lakes AVA: Cayuga Lake (1988), Seneca Lake (2003).

Source: The New York Wine & Grape Foundation

TOP GRAPES OF THE FINGER LAKES

Vinifera plantings

Riesling

Chardonnay

Cabernet franc

Pinot noir

Hybrid plantings

Aurora

Cayuga

Seyval blanc

Baco noir

Native plantings

Concord

Niagara

Catawba

Elvira

Source: 2006 National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

One of the major differences between American winemakers and their European counterparts is that here wine is largely made and sold based on grape variety rather than a growing area. So, a Californian will make a cabernet sauvignon or a merlot while a French vintner will produce a Pauillac or a Saint-Emilion.

Both winemakers have to deal with regulatory issues unique to their location, but in some ways the French vintner has a little more leeway. A Pauillac or Saint-Emilion is often a blend of grape varieties. The formula can change from year to year, depending on the harvest and quality of the grapes. The Californian, however, can be hamstrung by regulations that require any wine labeled “cabernet sauvignon” or “merlot” to contain at least 75 percent of that particular grape.

American consumers like buying wines by the grape name because, frankly, it’s easier to suss out what one is getting. But American winemakers can and do chafe at being constrained at spitting out bottles that must be at least three-quarters full of just one grape. They want the freedom to blend, to create, as the French and other Europeans do.

For John Williams, founder and winemaker at Frog’s Leap Winery, evoking a sense of the place is what pushed the creation of Rutherford, a red wine named for a region in Napa Valley noted for the quality of its cabs. The wine has ranged from 60 percent cabernet sauvignon to 100 percent cab since its introduction in 1996.

Given that the current vintage, 2006, is 92 percent cabernet – and could be labeled as such – one might wonder why Williams bothers with the Rutherford moniker.

“If this was a Bordeaux wine, it would never have occurred to you to ask the question,” he replied with a chuckle. “The attitude we take with this particular wine is how to make it smell and taste like Rutherford. We consider it the most noble goal to make a wine that smells and tastes like where it comes from.”

Freeing oneself from the constraints of having at least 75 percent of a wine be one variety opens far more avenues for creative winemaking.

“Blends are always more interesting, for me anyway,” said Tim Mondavi, who along with his sister, Marcia Mondavi Borger, is behind Continuum, a red wine blend now entering its third vintage.

“There are so many ways to approach it,” he added. “It’s fascinating to see how different varieties are realized in different soils and different exposures.”

For Mondavi, the policy of blending goes back to Opus One, a joint venture begun by his late father, the legendary Robert Mondavi, with Baron Philippe de Rothschild, and even further to the Robert Mondavi Winery Reserve line, which, although labeled as cabernet sauvignon, features a number of different grapes.

“From 1974 to 2004, I can recall only two vintages (of Mondavi Reserve) that were not blends, and that’s because the cabernet franc and the merlot didn’t do as well,” he recalled. The 2007 vintage of Continuum is 60 percent cabernet sauvignon, 22 percent cabernet franc and 18 percent petit verdot. Mondavi expects the percentage of cabernet franc to grow because it gives silkiness and long aging capability.

Mondavi’s Continuum is not the only example of a proprietary red wine. There are wines like Maximus, Illustration and Seduction, to name a few. Some winemakers call their wines Meritage, a trademarked designation for wines made in a Bordeaux style. To use this term, a winery must join The Meritage Association and follow the association’s rules.

Williams shrugs off any concern that consumers may not buy a wine that doesn’t explicitly call itself “cabernet sauvignon.” Given that the retail price is $75 and the wine is produced in small quantities, Rutherford appeals to a relatively focused segment of the wine market, he said.

“There are a number of us, a growing number, I hope, who want a sense of place,” he said.

STANDING OUT BY BLENDING IN

There is a kindred spirit to these seven wines that goes beyond their Napa Valley address. Cabernet sauvignon is dominant in most, with varying percentages of merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot. All evolved markedly in the glass with time, offering a changing roster of flavors and aromas. Where they differed was on price, ranging from $25 to $140.

2007 Continuum

This proprietary red wine is a sophisticated blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot. There are ripe berries and a touch of smoke on the nose, and a smooth, slightly oaky accent atop the major flavor notes of berry and cranberries. The finish is a bit astringent.

$140

2006 Bennett Lane Maximus

This “red feasting wine” is 65 percent cabernet sauvignon, 20 percent merlot, 10 percent syrah and 5 percent malbec. Colored a dark brick red, with a spicy nose of cinnamon and black pepper, this wine is plush with rich blackberry flavors.

$35

2006 Frog’s Leap Rutherford

Almost completely cabernet sauvignon with just an 8 percent splash of cabernet franc, this red offers bright fruit at first, then an earthy tartness. Look for a black raspberry and graphite aroma.

$75

2006 Hestan Vineyards Stephanie

A blend of 66 percent cabernet sauvignon, 13 percent petit verdot, 10 percent malbec, 8 percent merlot and 3 percent cabernet franc. A deep garnet red, with a slightly fleshy nose, this wine offers plenty of berry flavor with accents of oak and earth.

$60

2006 O’Brien Estate Seduction

Colored a dark, inky purple, this wine is composed of 50 percent cabernet sauvignon, 30 percent merlot and 20 percent cabernet franc. The nose is sweetly ripe, the flavor offers notes of blueberries, plums and violets.

$45

2007 Chappellet Mountain Cuvee

A blend of 51 percent cabernet sauvignon, 46 percent merlot and 1 percent each of malbec, cabernet franc and petit verdot. Plush if a bit jammy on the palate, this red offers touches of cherry, plums, oak and a little stemmy bitterness.

$25

2007 Duckhorn Vineyards Decoy

This wine is made from 43 percent each cabernet sauvignon and merlot, plus 10 percent cabernet franc and 4 percent petit verdot. A bit leathery on the nose with a soft, slightly sweet cherry flavor.

$30

St. Joseph is not the first saint whom American popular culture associates with March, but honoring the husband of Mary on March 19 is a big celebration for many of European descent, especially Italian-Americans with roots in Sicily.

The St. Joseph’s Day dinner is traditionally meatless because the day falls during Lent and often features Sicilian cuisine.

What better wine to raise in tribute to St. Joseph than a Sicilian white?

I’ll admit Sicily is not the first place in Italy that comes to mind when I think of white wine: Alto Adige or the Veneto is where I usually head. But I was pleasantly surprised by five Sicilian whites; all had personality and all were very affordable.

The most widely planted white grape variety in Sicily is catarratto, according to “The New Wine Lover’s Companion.” It is followed by the far more familiar trebbiano. Other white grapes include grillo, inzolia, carricante and muscat.

Most of those names sound unfamiliar but attest to what Jancis Robinson describes as Sicily’s “wealth of indigenous grape varieties” in “The Oxford Companion to Wine.”

Grape growing and winemaking date back well into ancient times, she writes.

Robinson believes Sicilian whites have improved dramatically in recent years.

“Advances in the cellar have ensured that the flavors captured in the grapes are preserved by the use of protective measures such as refrigeration, rather than dissipated or oxidized, as once was the case,” she writes.

BEYOND THE USUAL SUSPECTS

These Sicilian white wines are tasty and inexpensive. The wines would work well with the many seafood dishes of Lent, but don’t forget them afterward. All offer a break from the usual suspects: chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio. All would make refreshing choices for summer entertaining.

2008 Colosi Bianco: Very pale with a subtle green apple nose, this wine is loaded with zippy acids that are balanced by a sensually creamy texture. Floral flavors finish nicely tart. Serve with fish cakes, white pizza with mushrooms and rosemary, shrimp scampi. $10

2008 Curatolo Mulinea Insolia: Easy drinking with some lively tartness; think green plums. Nice citrusy smack on the finish. Serve with egg and pepper sandwiches, cheese ravioli. $10

2007 Ajello Majus: Seventy percent grillo, 30 percent cartarratto, this white has an almost chardonnay-like profile, with a rounded pear flavor spiked with citrus. Serve with fettuccine in cream sauce, grilled calamari, clam linguine. $11

2008 Feudo Arancio Grillo: A slightly grassy nose, very pale color and a subtle yet crisp profile are the hallmarks of this white. Serve with grilled scallops, branzino in butter, fried calamari. $8

2008 Cusumano Insolia: Creamy, soft, subtle. Tasters split on whether the white was too subtle. Naysayers faulted it for having little oomph; supporters thought it rich, even floral. Depending on how you find it: Garlicky scampi or steamed flounder. $10

BY THE NUMBERS

1. Number of denominazione di origine controllata e garantita regions in Sicily. This quality ranking, the highest in the Italian appellation system, goes to Cerasuolo di Vittoria in Ragusa, a region in southeastern Sicily.

2005. The year Cerasuolo di Vittoria received DOCG status

23. Number of denominazione di origine regions in Sicily. This quality level lies below DOCG, but like DOCG, wineries must use only designated grapes and follow certain winemaker rules. Sicily’s DOCs are:

Alcamo or Bianco d’Alcamo

Contea di Sclafani

Contessa Entellina

Delia Nivolelli

Eloro

Erice

Etna

Faro

Malvasia delle Lipari

Mamertino di Milazzo

Marsala

Menfi

Monreale

Moscato di Noto

Moscato di Pantelleria

Moscato di Siracusa

Moscato Passito di Pantelleria

Riesi

Salaparuta

Sambuca di Sicilia

Santa Margherita di Belice

Sciacca

Vittoria

Source: The Italian Trade Commission

You may know it as Grandma’s tipple, but in its native Spain, sherry is the drink of cigar-smoking macho men. In fact, in standing-room-only tapas bars, it is the food wine of choice in all its seven styles, from the driest, briny fino to the sweetest, nuttiest pedro ximenez.

Thanks to adventurous wine geeks and passionate sherry advocates, the fortified wine is gaining buzz. It’s certainly a good time. With the globalization of wine styles, it’s more and more common for a cabernet sauvignon from Chile to taste eerily similar to a cabernet sauvignon from Napa or Australia.

But, sherry, in all its layered complexity, is distinctive and evokes a sense of place, says Kevin Hogan, wine buyer for The Spanish Table in Berkeley, Calif. “For those of us into wine, sherry has become a real revelation,” he says. “There are a lot of wines you can make in a lot of places, but sherry has retained an authenticity and genuine character.”

And, despite the sweet reputation, the majority of sherry produced in Spain is dry.

“We have finally gotten past the blue bottle,” says Hogan, referring to Harveys Bristol Cream, a style of sherry originally created for the British export market. “It reminds me of the Lancer’s reputation that first turned people off dry rose.”

In terms of sherry’s personality, another good comparison is Champagne. Both are grown in chalky, white soils amid extreme temperatures; both are best enjoyed with food and sipped from special, narrow stemware (copitas, in the case of sherry) that emphasize aromas and flavors; and both, to be blunt, are such a pain to make, it’s a wonder the traditions are still alive.

Sherry is the English word for the wines made in southwestern Jerez, along the sea in the province of Andalusia. It starts out as one or a combination of three white grape varieties – moscatel, palomino, and the sweet pedro ximenez, which are harvested, crushed and blended, then fortified with brandy to make sherry. Unlike most wines – and because of the unique way it is made – sherry has little, if any, fruit character.

Basically, the wine is progressively blended and aged in ceiling-high stacks of old barrels, known as a solera. At the very bottom is the barrel containing the oldest sherry. At the top of the solera is the sherry of the current vintage. A small amount of young wine is repeatedly drawn off and added to older wines.

Much like fine Champagne, sherry is not the product of any single vintage. Rather, it owes its complexity and unique, oxidated qualities to blending and the presence of flor, a yellow-foamed yeast that grows on the surface of the wine as it develops.

Yet, unlike Champagne or aged Burgundy, sherry is a bargain. At most wine shops, a good bottle runs $15 to $30. And because the alcohol content is higher (up to 22 percent) than traditional table wines, a little goes a long way.

“It’s one of the greatest values in the wine world,” says Sean Diggins, wine director of Gitane Restaurant & Bar in San Francisco. Gitane specializes in the Basque region, and Diggins has made it his mission to promote sherry and its versatility. He features 30 on the wine list, which can be sampled by glass or flight – and always with food.

Sherry is so food-friendly that Chicago-based restaurateurs Cathy and Tony Mantuano dedicated a chapter of their cookbook, “Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave With Wines to Match” (Potter, 2008) to sherry-loving tapas such as Saffron-Pickled Cauliflower and Falafel Crab Cakes.

Cathy, a wine expert, likes pairing the latter with a manzanilla, the bone dry, straw-colored sherry with the salty, sea flavors reminiscent of the coastal hamlet, Sanlucar de Barrameda, from which it hails. With the earthy cauliflower, she goes straight for a dry, tangy fino, the ultimate “tapas sherry.”

“Fino is easy to drink with a variety of flavors, from fried fish to cured olives and all sorts of vegetables, like roasted and fried peppers, to this Moorish-influenced dish, ” Cathy says. “It is also low in alcohol, another good reason to drink it when starting a meal.”

For people put off by sherry’s oxidated qualities, Diggins skips the dry styles and starts folks off with an amontillado, which is an off-dry, aged fino, or an oloroso, a dark, nutty, and rich sherry that is sweetened with a little pedro ximenez, a grape that doubles as a type of sherry. In Spain, most people enjoy pedro ximenez poured over ice cream, Diggins adds.

Now, that’s something everyone can enjoy, including grandma.

POMEGRANATE-GLAZED SALMON WITH MEJADRA

Serves 4 as a main course

Mejadra is a Biblical dish made with lentils, spices and, typically, rice. Cathy Mantuano suggests serving this with a Palo Cortado Viejo, Hidalgo or Palo Cortado “Peninsula” Emilio Lustau.

1/2 cup dried lentils

1/2 cup long-grain rice

Small pinch saffron threads

Sea salt, fresh black pepper

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

2 tablespoons minced jalapeno pepper

4 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets

1/4 cup pomegranate molasses

1. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the lentils and just enough water to cover by an inch to a boil. Cook until just tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. In another saucepan, bring the rice, saffron, 1 cup water and a pinch salt to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and nearly all the liquid has been absorbed, 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.

3. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger and jalapeno and cook until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the lentils and rice to the pan, tossing to mix. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a large ovenproof saute pan, preferably nonstick, over high heat. Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides and, when the oil is hot, add it to the pan. Cook until the bottom has a toasted brown crust, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn over and brush the fillets with a generous amount of molasses.

5. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook until the fish is opaque throughout when prodded with the tip of a knife, about 4 minutes.

6. Divide the lentils and rice among four warm plates, top with a salmon fillet, and serve immediately.

-Cathy and Tony Mantuano, “Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match” (Clarkson Potter, 208 pp., $27.50)

SAFFRON-PICKLED CAULIFLOWER

Cathy Mantuano suggests serving this with a La Ina, Domecq.

2 cups white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons sea salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 small shallot, thinly sliced

5 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads or 1/4 teaspoon powder

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the vinegar, salt, sugar, shallot, garlic and saffron with two cups water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower florets and cook until crisp-tender, two minutes.

2. Take the pot off the heat and transfer the cauliflower and liquid to a nonreactive container. Season with pepper and refrigerate for at least three hours before serving. Store in refrigerator for up to two weeks.

-Cathy and Tony Mantuano, “Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match” (Clarkson Potter, 208 pp., $27.50)

SARDINAS ASADAS EN HOJAS DE PARRAS

(GRILLED SARDINES IN GRAPE LEAVES)

Serves 8 as an appetizer

Kevin Hogan suggests serving this with a San Leon Reserva de Familia Manzanilla.

8 whole fresh sardines

8 grape leaves, from a jar

4 bay leaves (fresh or dried)

1/4 cup sea salt

2 lemons, cut in wedges

1. Prepare your grill (gas or charcoal) as you normally would. Clean the sardines – remove the scales, innards and gills, but leave the heads and tails on.

2. Sprinkle the salt over the cleaned sardines, making sure to get some salt inside the fish as well as outside. Place half a bay leaf inside the belly cavity of each sardine.

3. Roll up each fish in a grape leaf (use two leaves if they are small or if the sardines are big), leaving the head and tail partly exposed.

4. Grill the wrapped fish over a hot fire for about five minutes on each side. The grape leaves will “shrink wrap” around the fish and prevent them from drying out or burning.

5. Unwrap the cooked sardines, squeeze a little lemon over the top and eat the fish, discarding the bones and the grape leaf wrapper.

-Kevin Hogan, The Spanish Table

Randall Grahm is the legendary founder of California’s Bonny Doon Vineyard, noted for creating delicious Rhone-style wines. He is an innovator not only in the vineyard, where he fearlessly experiments with different grape varieties, but also in the marketplace, where his eye-catching labels and fondness for outrageous punning have long entertained consumers.

Grahm has his opinions, especially about what makes good wine. He has not been shy about skewering the pretensions of California’s wine industry in his writings, a collection of which has just been published under the title “Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology” (University of California Press, $34.95). Here, via e-mail, he answers questions about wine and his career.

Q: Why do you make wine?

A: Good question, and my motivations (as the good Dr. Freud will tell us) have certainly been mixed, if not mixed-up, but, in any event, have continued to evolve. I think that when I first started I was relatively naive about what a winemaker actually did (never imagined there would be so much travel and wine-schlepping). I imagined (pretty correctly, as things turned out), that the “lifestyle” of a winemaker would be attractive, not so much due to the gauzy soft-focus vineyard tableaux (which are in fact quite lovely), but rather because one is asked to draw upon one’s diverse talents, and is always working in a different, challenging capacity.

I make wine these days for two reasons: 1. It is something that I’m capable of doing well (and probably the most efficient way to remain gainfully employed); and 2. winegrowing, sort of by default, has become my artistic/spiritual path; in other words, this is how I will (if I can) bring some beauty into the world and learn how to become more present with myself.

Q: You’ve been in the business a long, long time. How do you think your wines have changed? How have you changed as a winemaker? What has been the catalyst for change in your life/career?

A: Certainly the biggest change in my own wines has been the migration from producing wines that were cosmetically attractive (better living through chemistry) to wines produced in a more hands-off, natural fashion, imbued with greater life force, and ultimately, one hopes, capable of evincing some sense of the place from which they derive. Another way of saying this is that I’ve become aware of the ultimate banality of vins d’effort and of the sublime preciousness of vins de terroir. … For the longest time, I made wines to try to please other people (typically influential wine critics), but I am now making wines to please myself. The catalyst for change in my career has been the gradual apprehension of my own mortality and the desire to: 1. make some sort of real contribution; and 2. leave this earth with minimal regrets for paths untaken.

Q: The wine industry, particularly in California, has often been an object of your scorn. What is the industry doing wrong? What is the industry doing right?

A: The industry on every level has become largely allergic to taking real chances, and from the low-end to the top-end (with a few notable exceptions) has become incredibly cynical and rather formulaic. Rather like big-budget motion pictures, execs are playing it safe, giving the customer what they imagine the customer wants, rather than what the consumer needs (something distinctive and original). What is the industry doing right? Lots of well-designed, clever wine labels, though some of them are just too over-the-top, even for me.

Q: What is your forecast for wine over the next decade?

A: I imagine a number of vineyards and wineries disappearing. The level of competition in the business right now is just absolutely insane and unsustainable. It does appear at least in the near term that wineries that are small and exceptionally well-differentiated as well as those that are monstrously large and fiendishly efficient have the greatest likelihood of viability and success, and virtually everything in the middle will not work so well.

THE WINES OF RANDALL GRAHM

Le Cigare Volant: Flagship Rhone red blend of grenache, mourvedre, syrah and cinsault

Le Cigare Blanc: White blend of grenache blanc and roussanne

Vin Gris de Cigare: Rose blend of grenache, cinsault, mourvedre, syrah, grenache blanc and roussanne

Le Vol des Anges: A dessert wine made from roussanne grapes

Vinferno: Dessert wine made from a blend of roussanne and grenache blanc

Syrah Le Pousseur: A blend of 96 percent syrah and 4 percent grenache.

Ca’ del Solo: A series that includes albarino, muscat, dolcetto, nebbiolo, sangiovese

Telling Mike Janik that his merlot reminds you of cabernet sauvignon won’t exactly break the Washington state winemaker’s heart. For Janik, who produces wine under his eponymous label and for Novelty Hill, believes what sets the merlots of the Columbia Valley region apart from others is their sense of place; these wines have a point of view.

“I think (consumers) think of merlots that are totally fruit forward, soft, without much mid-palate or finish,” said Janik, who has been named one of the world’s “masters of merlot” by Wine Enthusiast magazine. “Our wines have a lot of structure to them.”

Back in the 1980s when the huge Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) was created, some Washington winemakers thought merlot would be their trump card in the wine game. It has been to a degree, but Columbia Valley is home to a number of well-known grape varieties.

Gary Werner, communications director for the Washington Wine Commission, said merlot, riesling, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon run “neck to neck” in the Columbia Valley.

“Given the size of the region and its various microclimates, we can grow just about anything,” he said. “We’re not ones to hang our hat on just one (variety).”

The Columbia Valley is not the soggy Washington state we all picture in our minds. This region lies east of the Cascade Mountains and, in Werner’s words, “is as dry as a bone.” The sun shines 300 days a year, the annual rainfall is only 6 to 10 inches, and the temperatures can fluctuate from winter chill to summer scorcher.

Early winemakers there were worried about the temperature at first. They planted cold-hardy whites like riesling, recalled Coman Dinn, director of winemaking at Hogue Cellars.

“Merlot was chosen primarily because it is an earlier ripening grape compared to cabernet,” he said.

Winemakers began to realize how different climate zones were in the valley. Certain south-facing hillsides were warmer than others, meaning winemakers could plant cabernet and other more cold-sensitive varieties there.

These micro-climates are the reason there are eight sub-AVAs in the Columbia Valley wine region; each has its own characteristics that favor certain grape varieties.

But back to merlot. In the book “Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide,” author Paul Gregutt wrote that Washington merlots “start where most others leave off, with ripe flavors of sweet cherries, and then reach well beyond simple and fruity, adding plush, packed, textured flavors.”

What makes these merlots so good?

“It’s our northerly location and our limited growing season,” said Dinn. “It doesn’t warm up here until late April. Once it warms up, it warms up fast and the days grow rapidly longer and the grapes catch up. By Oct. 15 the season is over. … This keeps our crop load modest. You need a modest crop load to show character and intensity.”

Dinn said irrigation is used to control vine growth and berry size. Want more intensity? Go with a smaller grape. And get sunlight in on the grape clusters, he added, to develop color and flavor.

Janik points to another factor.

“We are one of the few areas where we grow the vines on their own roots,” Janik said. “Nothing is grafted. That more than anything has had a big impact.”

Last, Werner said the small scale of Washington’s wine production plays a role.

“We have to pursue quality,” he said. “To make our mark, we have to let the fruit speak for itself and don’t do a whole lot with it.”

Food pairings

Serve Columbia Valley merlot with grilled wild salmon, prime rib, roast duck, grilled New York strip steaks, roast beef.

Get a taste:

2007 Cadaretta Merlot

-A dark cherry color, with notes of chocolate and black cherry on the nose. Medium-bodied, with a deep cherry flavor, there’s mouthwatering acidity and a nice tannic snap on the end. Good structure. Serve with roast leg of lamb, grilled steak. $35

-2007 Seven Hills Merlot

The wine sports a plummy cherry color with a dash of cinnamon overlaying the fruit fragrance. Black cherry on the palate with touches of cocoa. Velvety mouthfeel. Serve with Chinese duck, roast pork loin with cherry glaze. $28

-2006 Columbia Crest Reserve Merlot

A bright, cheerful wine with its berry flavor plushed with notes of cherry and black pepper. Very smooth. Serve with roast chicken, pate, macaroni and cheese. $24

You want that wine. But your store or area distributor may not choose to carry it. State law may prohibit you from ordering a wine online. What to do? Ask your wine retailer for a wine similar in flavor, style and price. Remember, too, prices vary.

By the numbers

-11.4 million: Number of acres in the Columbia Valley AVA.

-36,400: Number of Columbia Valley acres in Washington planted with wine grapes.

-1984: Year the Columbia Valley AVA was created.

-8: Number of sub AVAs within Columbia Valley.

Sources: USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service; Washington State Department of Agriculture Crop Mapping Services