Grow white grape varietals in the land of La Rioja? The Spaniards at wine company Vintae may sound nearly as crazy as Don Quixote fighting a battalion of windmills, but what winemaker Raùl Acha has done with Vintae’s line of white wines, Spanish White Guerrilla, is nothing less than impressive. And lucky for us, these tasty – and extremely limited – wines arrived this week in The Lou.
Spanish White Guerrilla includes a collection of eight mono-varietal wines – Albariño, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo, Chardonnay (a steel fermented and a barrel-aged) and Viognier – all of which have been cultivated in Spain’s La Rioja, a region that has heretofore been strictly vino tinto territory. While we give a thumb’s up to all of these wines, both for taste and the very reasonable price point, the champion to our taste buds is the Chardonnay that’s aged for 10 months in French oak. You can pick up a bottle at The Vino Gallery, located at 4701 McPherson Ave., in the Central West End, and also at J. Viviano & Sons on The Hill. Look for other Spanish White Guerrilla varietals at Saint Louis Cellars in Maplewood and at Modesto on Shaw Avenue.
Incidentally, lovers of cool wine labels will also enjoy collecting Spanish White Guerrilla bottles. Each wine sports an illustration of a playful character whose attire and props are inspired by the origin of the grape variety bottled inside: A sassy French mademoiselle for the younger, steel-fermented Chardonnay; a buxom madame for the barrel-aged version; a German blond for the Riesling. You get the idea. Check out all eight illustrations on the company’s website.
This article appears in May 1-31, 2011.