La Playa Panama - Volume 12, January 2014 | Page 4

P. 4 - LA PLAYA

WWW.PLAYACOMMUNITY.COM

The Cellar Door
Anything but Chardonnay
By M. Stefan

with corvina and other lighter seafood
as well as pasta with a lighter sauce.
Good balance.
2012 Marques de Riscal Rueda
$9.70 13% alc. Spain
Made from the verdejo grape. Lively,
crisp with floral flavors. Long finish of
green apples and grass. Would go
well with spicy seafood dishes, curry
and other Asian foods.
2010 Chateau Ste. Michelle
Riesling $11.72 11% alc. Washington State, USA
A bit older than usually found for a
Riesling, but showing a complexity
you don’t get from younger ones.
Well balanced, fruity but not sweet.
Very versatile wine which goes well
with seafood, butternut squash pasta
and other pasta too. Nice round
finish.

A

s the old song lyric goes,
“easy as ABC”. But in the
world of wine, ABC stands for
“Anything But Chardonnay”. And
why would anyone want anything but
chardonnay? Well, have you had
enough of overpriced, over oaked
and over hyped chardonnay? Chardonnay is the 6th most planted grape
variety worldwide, but also the most
overdone.
There are literally
hundreds of other varieties made into
white wine which can be wonderful,
tasty and even occasionally breathtaking. Recently my wife and I
purchased and tasted 7 different

white non-chardonnays which are all
available in Coronado. They range in
price from $5.75 to $25.70.
2013 Trapiche Pinot Grigio $5.75
13% alc. Argentina
Dry, crisp, almost tart but with good
pinot grigio character.
Hints of
lemon, citrus and grass. Best Buy
2012 Villa Antinori Toscana $8.79
12% alc. Italy
A blend of 3 different Italian white
grapes. It is a lovely light yellow color
with a clean, crisp and dry flavor of
citrus and minerals. It would go well

with pastas of all sorts, especially
alfre