Guy The Wine

Here Comes The Sun

Even though it’s still February, if you take a moment to notice, you just might start to feel that sun becoming a little bit warmer on your face. Spring is closer than you think and since it’ll be here before we know it, we should take a look at some wines that are great for “welcoming Spring”.

Château de Valmer NV Brut, Loire Valley ,France ($19.99) is a prime example of a perfect sparkling wine to greet the Spring. This wine has texture, freshness and tight acidity. Along with crispness, it offers green fruits, a line of citrus and a final bright, perfumed aftertaste. Like most wines from the Loire, it’s best to drink now.

The Botanica 2019 Citrusdal Mountain Chenin Blanc ($35.99) takes a non-interventionist approach, with natural fermentation in large, old (neutral) vats. It’s an intense, mouthfilling mashup of ripe apple, peach, citrus zest and honeysuckle with crushed rock and pleasant salinity. It’s also a beautiful argument that South African Chenin Blanc can age. Also fermented in old wood vats is the Optenhorst 2018 Chenin Blanc, ($35.99) from Wellington, bone-dry and dancing with delicate fruit—peach, apple, zesty citrus—over complex layers of earth, wild herbs, florals and wet-concrete minerality.

The Mulderbosch 2019 Chenin Blanc, ($14.99) from Stellenbosch relies on a little more wood (barrelfermented, with 25 percent new), for pronounced textures. Tension balances finesse, and minerality cuts a slightly rich palate. As has become one of the signatures of Mulderbosch wine making, the 2019 harvest began as early as possible in order to harness the natural acidity that is so central to the character and freshness of Chenin Blanc.