5 GREAT VARIETALS YOU MAY NOT HAVE TASTED

It doesn't take an expert to recognize that retail store aisles and restaurant wine lists are dominated--absolutely dominated--by Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Cab and Zinfindel. There are perfectly good reasons for this--including the high-quality wines these grapes can produce in the right hands, the high yield internationally, the many possible food pairings they offer, and the availability of decent and inexpensive vintages to retailers, who, after all, rely on the markup for their profits.

The problem with this, of course, is that while selling fifteen different Chardonnays and eighteen different Cabernets helps keep bottles moving off the shelf and cash coming in, how is anyone short of a wine geek supposed to find out what other of the world's great varietals appeal to them? Well, it has to be a conscious choice, a decision to seek out something different, even if just once or twice a month.

To that end, here are five tremendous--and usually affordable--varietals that can help you enjoy well-made wine for many, many years...but that you won't find at your local grocer, convenience, or liquor store, along with at least one recommended producer to try. Look for these fantastic wines at wine speciality stores and online (listed here in no particular order):

VARIETAL: VERDEJO (Spanish White Wine) - Citrus, grapefruit, pear, green grass, crisp and refreshing, pleasant but not too much sweetness, great summer wine

Rueda Naia (by Bodegas Naia - Vina Sila)
$17.99
Gio's Rating: 95 pts
The BEST verdejo I have ever tasted. Cool, crisp and refreshing up front, with just the right amount of sweetness and fruit (along with hints of just-mown grass); on the back end, long and so smooth. One of the best wines I've ever had. Tasted it for the first time at La Sala at La Valencia Hotel, on our spring 2009 trip to La Jolla, CA. This is one of my favorite wines. Available at Whole Foods for a few dollars less than above, too.

Monte Palma Verdejo (by Monte Palma Winery)
Espana: Rueda (Segovia)
$11.99
Gio's Rating: 89 pts
Lincoln Park Market began carrying this Verdejo, recently, and we picked up a bottle there to share with family on Father's Day...and I'm really glad we did. At $12.00, this is a very nice find. This wine has a beautiful straw color with hints of green. The bouquet is exceptional, with a delightful citrus aroma that seems to jump from the glass upon the slightest twirl. The taste begins with grapefruit, and finishes with pear, offering a complexity not common to wines in this price range. This wine is made to be consumed upon production, but setting aside a bottle or two for a year may be interesting. Even now, this is a nice affordable verdejo, a great summer wine for sipping on the deck, at the pool, or with appetizers or white grilled meats (I'd even say regular pizza, too). Not as remarkable as the Naia (rated above), one of the best wines I've ever tasted. But for $12.00, as an everyday wine that goes great with a lot of different foods, or alone--if Spanish whites were a baseball team, I'd want the Monte Palma Verdejo to be my shortstop.

VARIETAL: TOURIGA NACIONAL (Portuguese Red Wine) - Blue or black berries (can be jammy), tobacco, spice, some floral flavors, dry

Tradicional (by Quinta Do Alqueve)
Portugal: Ribatejo
$11.99
Gio's Rating: 90 pts
Bought at Sam's Wine Club April 2009; Vaynerchuck says Portugal is producing tremendous reds at cheap prices, and if this wine is any indication, he's right on target. This is a delicious wine, with some decent complexity for the price: up front fruit (jammy, with berries on the nose), and yet some rich tobacco taste, too. Nice finish. But VERY dry, almost like cotton in the mouth. I like that, but it's probably not for every taste. Color is almost like a Pinot Noir. My first experience with the Touriga Nacional grape (this is a blend, though), and I'm certainly pleased with it. A nice wine for $12.00. Just had some with Dana's fajitas...excellent (there's not much spice in this wine, and so I find it pairs well with spicy food). Will definitely keep some on hand for what we'll call 'future exploration.'

VARIETAL: GRUNER VELTLINER (Austrian White Wine) - Minerality, pear, apple, dry, great with a variety of foods, not overpowering

Fred Loimer Gruner Veltliner "Lois" (by Fred Loimer)
Austria: Kamptal Region (north-northeast of Krems)
Gio's Rating: 90 pts
$10.99 (sale) - $13.99 (regular)
Two for two with Gru-Vee! The Loimer Gruner Veltliner Lois, for my palette, is a Must Try for four simple reasons: the balance this wine strikes between fruit and minerality is fascinating and delicious (mostly pear, some apple, and then heavy minerality on the back end); this crisp light-to-medium bodied Austrian white, with just a touch of sparkle, feels great in the mouth; the length of the Lois is outstanding; and at $11.00 to $14.00 a bottle, this is a great bargain. Tastes great, feels great, lasts long, affordable and multi-dimensional. I think it's a hair less satisfying than the Fass 4, rated below at 90+, but the Lois is also $3.00-$6.00 cheaper per bottle. This is a wonderful wine.

Gruner Veltliner Fass 4 (by Wiengut Bernhard Ott)
Austria: Wagram (14 miles NE of Vienna)
Gio's Rating: 90+ pts
$17.00
I ordered this Austrian white a few months before our first trip to Austria--let's call it legitimate research--from Gary Vaynerchuck's Wine Library for $16.98: Wow. Have had a few other Gruner Veltliners (a grape native to Austria, accounting for 37% of the total vineyards there), and while they've generally been pleasant and well-suited to food (light bodied, with very subtle hints of minerals and citrus), I've found them almost too subtle, nearly without taste. But this is most certainly not the case with the Fass 4 by Ott winery. This wine has a nice nose, a lot of tobacco, which I always enjoy (in wine, that is), along with the customary GV hint of citrus. And the taste profile is just wonderful. I get nice apple, along with pear, with a very pleasing undercurrent of tobacco, to match the nose. And it's a more full-bodied wine than the other GVs I've tasted. As for length...the pleasant taste (which finishes with some of the minerality common to the region) lingers for minutes after swallowing, almost making one salivate. This is a refreshing white wine great with or without food, with a delicious yet multi-faceted taste and an outstanding finish--all at a very reasonable price. This one's a MUST TRY for me, maybe even the white wine for summer 2010. Not at all surprised to see that Wine Library has added this one to its best summer wines under $25.00 promotion. Highly recommend you give the Gruner Veltliner Fass 4 by Bernhard Ott a try...and soon!

VALPOLICELLA (Italian Red Wine) - Cherry, red berries, light, pleasing touch of acidity, easy drinking

Buglioni Valpolicella Classico (by Buglioni Winery)
Italia: Veneto (foothills of the Italian Alps, just west of Verona)
Valpolicella is a Blend: Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, Molinara (red)
89 pts
$15.99
Earlier this week wandered into Dunlay's on Clark with Dana, and saw this Italian red on the D.O.C. wine list for the first time, and so I ordered a glass--wow! While I didn't find the nose appealing at first--had a candy-sweet scent to it that seemed artificial, reminding me of plastic somehow, or pre-sweetened Kool-Aid as a kid, with way too much powder added--I found the taste of this wine to be very satisfying, with a rich dark cherry flavor that lingered with a wonderful finish (especially in the lower part of the mouth), and nice tannins, too. The hint of acid provided, at least for me, more balance than I expected. I highly recommend this wine, especially if you enjoy cherries. Knew nothing about Valpolicella, and so did some research when I got home. Seems that this Italian blend is native to the north, west of Verona, near the mountains, and that its reputation has been damaged severely over the years due to poor production methods and little attention to quality. This is a light, everyday kind of wine--not really a special ocassion wine--although like I said, it tasted really good in my mouth, and what more can one ask from a wine? Adam at Dunlay's told me it's meant to be drunk young, within about 2-3 years of the vintage. The light red color toward the top is common for its age. One thing that surprised me about this wine is that while it's fruity and young, I found the tannins (the pucker quality) very nice, just the same. $10.00 a glass at Dunlay's or, if you can find it, just over fifteen bucks a bottle. Available on the Internet. I say give this one a try!

VARIETAL: TREBBIANO D'ABRUZZO (Italian White Wine) - Apple, green grass, dry and fresh, almond hints

Barone di Valforte (by Tenute Barone di Valforte)
Italia: Abruzzo (Teramo Hills)
Trebbiano D'Abruzzo is made of Bombino bianco or Trebbiano Toscano bianco grapes, blended with small quantities of local grapes
89 pts
$15.99
This is an outstanding Italian white: it's loaded with flavorful fruit (apple mostly), with hints of green grass. A rich, delicious, and crisp wine, and on the dry side (fruity, but dry, not too sweet), perfect for my tastes. Have read that this varietal (Trebbiano d' Abruzzo) is traditional and ancient, referred to in imperial Rome as "the soldiers' wine" because it was so popular with Roman troops. To me, this proves what I've always suspected: while soldiers through history have eagerly consumed just about any alcoholic beverage available to them (and who can blame them, with long periods of boredom interrupted only by moments of shear terror), they also learned to recognize a good vino when they get their hands on one. This wine also has a personal connection for me, in that my grandmother Elizabeth Zappacosta (Durkin), who emigrated to the US during World War II from Ontario, Canada, had her Italian roots--and thus to an extent, my roots--in the Italian region of Abruzzo. I picked this wine up at a neat little shop called The Gourmet Grape (3530 N Halsted, Chicago), and Dana, me, and our friend Scott tasted it together. Scott picked up on the apple flavor immediately, I recognized the fresh, grassy taste, and Dana really liked the fruit level. Not a cheap wine at $16.00, but well worth the price tag. The only reason I haven't awarded this wine 90 points is the finish--it has a good length, but just short of what I expect in terms of finish from a 90 point wine. Still, I highly recommend you give this one a try.