Unfortunate white wines

It was a good night for salmon, but a bad night for white wine.

I took three white wines from the refrigerator _ Beringer's Alluvium 2001, Knights Valley (about $18); the Simi Sendal 2000, Sonoma County (about $21); and the Stags' Leap Winery Viognier 2001, Napa Valley (about $25). Each had the potential to be delightful, but each was throttled with oak. They were as unpleasant to taste by themselves as they were to try and drink with the salmon.

Alluvium 2001 blanc is a blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon grapes, which are barrel-fermented and put through malolactic fermentation (transforming crisp malic acid to creamy lactic acid) and spend nine months in barrel again. Added to the blend is 8 percent barrel-fermented chardonnay. The wine can't absorb that much oak; it feels stiff and woody. Sendal is a blend of 78.5 sauvignon blanc and 21.5 semillon; it spends nine months in oak. This wine, too, couldn't absorb that much oak: You could feel the wood on the teeth and tongue.

Viognier _ poor viognier! _ was an obscure grape grown mainly in the tiny appellation of Condrieu in the northern Rhone Valley. The chief characteristics of wines from Condrieu are an intense floral nature, fruit in the range of peaches and pears, and a waxy, lanolin-like quality. They are beautiful wines, intended for immediate pleasure, and they do not age well.

The general popularity of Rhone Valley grapes in the past decade brought viognier out of hiding, and now the grape is grown all over the place, whether the soil and climate are appropriate for it or not. And the tendency in California is to give a wine "all the bells and whistles," as I keep reading in press releases. Stags' Leap Winery subjects its Viognier 2001 to barrel fermentation and malolactic fermentation, and if ever a grape didn't need that treatment, it's viognier. This one, sadly, was awkward and unbalanced.

What a shame, but as I have said before, overuse of oak is the most crucial issue in the California wine industry. Occasional uncooperative weather or flooding, pests such as the glassy-winger sharpshooter and phylloxera, the increasing concentration of wine production in a handful of global conglomerates _ all these problems pale before the conscious decision of winemakers to manipulate their white wines with barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation and extended barrel aging to render them stiff, strident, sugary and unpalatable, believing, sadly and mistakenly, that they are adding depth, power or sophistication to their wines.

By the way, the meal was saved by the ubiquitous Macon-Lugny 2000 from Louis Latour, an unpretentious $12 chardonnay that tastes like, you know, chardonnay.

Here are brief notes on some other recently tasted white wines that I found as undrinkable _ a harsh word, but true _ as the three already mentioned.

Dry Creek Valley DCV4 Chardonnay 2000, Dry Creek Valley. Brassy and buttery, stridently toasty, burnt sugar and a weak finish to boot. About $22.

Franciscan Oakville Estate Chardonnay 2001, Napa Valley. Oak coats the tongue; very dry, austere, astringent. About $18.

Fess Parker Viognier 2001, Santa Barbara County. Tastes like a woody blend of riesling and sauvignon blanc. About $22.

Freemark Abbey Carpy Ranch Viognier 2000, Napa Valley. Too much bitter grapefruit, too dry and austere. No pleasure here. About $25.

Frei Brothers Reserve Chardonnay 2001, Russian River Valley. Oak sticks in your teeth. About $20.

To show you that I'm not a complete curmudgeon, here are some chardonnays to prove my belief that when California winemakers concentrate on purity and intensity, they produce some of the finest chardonnays in the world. These rate Excellent unless otherwise indicated.

Large-framed and many-dimensioned, the Bouchaine Chardonnay 2000, Carneros, drapes satiny texture around lovely pineapple-grapefruit flavors infused with spicy oak and limestone, striking resonantly to the heart of the grape. About $16, a Great Price.

Lush, ripe and rich, the Burgess Triere Estate Vineyard Chardonnay 2000, Napa Valley, gathers a limestone perimeter around intense and luscious pineapple-grapefruit flavors and a dense chewy texture. About $19.

The Chateau St. Jean Robert Young Vineyard Chardonnay 2000, Alexander Valley, is a superb example of the grape, handled with art and craft and displaying all the class and breeding, all the balance and integration of which it is capable, offering profound depth and balletic elevation. Exceptional. About $28.

I was pleased that the Clos du Val Chardonnay 2001, Carneros-Napa Valley, was gentler and more spare, better balanced and integrated than the rendition of 2000; this one is classic, rich, vibrant and resonant yet elegant. About $22.

Boldly rich, smoky and spicy, the Cuvaison Chardonnay 2001, Carneros, also displays rippling largess of flint and limestone for balance and integration. Luscious pineapple-grapefruit flavors with hints of mango and honeysuckle lend a gorgeous touch. About $22.