by Fredric Koeppel
The Commercial Appeal The wines you need this week are not Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir. They are, instead, made from a dozen other grapes that you ought to try so you can expand your vinous horizons.
Wine exists beyond the familiar Big Five; let's give the others a chance. All these products are recommended, and the emphasis is on redolence and flavor.
Cabernet franc
The Gundlach-Bundschu Cabernet Franc 1997, Sonoma Valley, is bright, vivid and intense; wild berries, smoke, dried violets, earthy touches of leather and mushrooms, a dense and chewy structure of polished grainy tannins make for a cushiony and delicious wine. About $16.
Chenin blanc
Not many wines are cleaner or fresher than the Hogue Chenin Blanc 1999 from Washington's Columbia Valley. It's a wine of hints and touches: a touch of green apple and citrus, a hint of orange blossom and almond, a touch of ripe sweetness, a hint of leafiness. It's crisp and lively but round and almost silky. A great bargain at about $8 and a Pick of the Week.
Malbec
Typically blended with cabernet sauvignon and merlot (as is also the case with cabernet franc), the malbec grape takes the leading role in R.H. Phillips Toasted Head Malbec 1997, Dunnigan Hills. Abundant vanilla, minerals and spice float from the glass, all supporting vibrant blueberry and black raspberry scents; in the mouth, this delightful and polished wine offers a firm structure of dusty oak and tannin and tasty cassis and raspberry flavors. About $17.
Muscat Canelli
Ineffably delicate, the Robert Pecota Moscato d'Andrea 1998, Napa Valley, is a real sweetheart of a wine that's prettily wreathed from green apple and orange blossom, white peach and pear, apricot and honeysuckle; crisp acid and a stony element provide backbone. Drink it by the thimbleful. About $11 for a half-bottle.
Muscat de Frontignan
Unlike the previous wine, notable for delicacy, the Antigua Muscat de Frontignan, nonvintage, made by Merryvale Vineyards, is amber-colored and quite sherrylike and powerful. It's a savory blend that tastes like almonds, orange zest, toffee and brandied raisins with a back-note of caramel-pecan ice cream and a touch further back of bittersweet chocolate. Once sold only at the winery, this luscious after-dinner sipper is available nationally at about $22 for a stylish half -bottle.
Petite sirah
Which is not the syrah grape: The Mirrassou "Dedication Bottling " Petite Sirah 1997, Monterey County, is charming in the nose and serious in the mouth. Ripe and spicy, surpassingly smoky and roasted and featuring intense scents of blackberry and boysenberry with huge whiffs of freshly ground white pepper, the bouquet leads to a whopping portion of underbrush and foresty qualities that nonetheless displays sufficient flavors for balance. Still, it could age two to four years. About $18.
Pinot gris
"Entrancing" is the word for the Domaine Schlumberger Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive 1996, Alsace. From its limpid golden-yellow color, to its bouquet of pears and apricots, honey and honeydew and summer flowers, to its slightly viscous texture and lightly sweet and delicate peach and apricot flavors spiced with cloves and vanilla, it's irresistible. About $65.
Sangiovese
The noble red grape of Tuscany is occasionally made into a great wine in California. An eminent example is the Shafer Firebreak 1997, Napa Valley, a blend of 85 percent sangiovese and 15 percent cabernet sauvignon. A lovely wine that flexes muscle in the glass, it opens with a beautiful bouquet of black pepper, black cherries steeped in strong black tea, lavender, violets and smoky plums; it's dense and gripping in the mouth, though within the grainy, chewy tannins you taste the shapely plum-raspberry flavors. Give it two or three years. About $30.
Semillon
Though blended with sauvignon blanc in Bordeaux's Graves region and with chardonnay in Australia, the semillon grape, handled carefully, can make a good wine on its own. Among the best is the Penfolds Adelaide Hills Semillon 1997, a sumptuous and expansive wine endowed with abundant figgy, leafy citrus scents and flavors with hints of camellias, dried flowers, if there were such a thing as gardenia potpourri, and a lovely lush, plush texture. About $27.
Silvaner
Boy, what a powerful expression of the grape this extraordinary wine provides. The Louis Guntrum "Penguin" Eiswein Silvaner 1997, Rheinhessen, incredibly overripe to bursting, offers scents of roasted peaches and apricots with a bananas Foster and honeysuckle background; nectarlike viscosity coats the mouth with honeyed spiced peaches, glazed apricots and baked pineapple. A soupcon of acid and latent weediness provide balance in a wine that's tremendously sweet without being cloying. The frozen grapes for this wine were actually culled from the vines in January 1998. About $33 for a half-bottle.
Syrah
Which is not the same as petite sirah but is called shiraz in Australia and, for some reason, increasingly in California: Robust but smooth and drinkable, the Clos du Bois Reserve Shiraz 1997, Alexander Valley, is quite peppery, touched with dried herbs and creamy oak and deliciously endowed with blackberry, black currant and plum scents and flavors; it's dense and dusty with tannin, but no forbidding edges detract. About $16.
Zinfandel
Bring on hearty steaks and roasts and grilled red meat to match the St. Francis Old Vines Zinfandel 1997, Sonoma County. Its full complement of vivid blackberries-and-cream fruit and rollicking spice is toned by toasty oak and vanilla, black pepper and an undertone of coconut and prunes; it's assertive, full-bodied, lively and chewy. A bit of petite sirah and the rare alicante bouchet grape complete the blend. About $25.
(E-mail koeppel@gomemphis.com or write The Commercial Appeal, PO Box 134, Memphis, TN 38101.)
)
