Chicago Ramblings: June 2008

Beringer is one of my favorite wines for two reasons.
1) I visited their winery with Mom in Napa 2 years ago
and
2) I think they have some of the most "drinkable" and affordable wines out there.

Beringer is the oldest continuously operating winery in the country. It was started by two brothers (The Beringers) one of which was a wine wizard and one of which was quite good at finance and marketing. The reason it is the oldest continuously operating winery is because it is one of only six wineries in the country to get special dispensation to operate during Prohibition. They produced wines for communion and medicinal purposes.

Anyway, I went to the grocery store looking for a white wine that was light, but not dry and maybe slightly sweet. Originally I was looking for Sauvignon Blanc because I've had some of those that are slightly sweet, but I picked Beringer's Chenin Blanc and read the back label, which said it had a few fruity flavors and also mentioned that if you liked White Zinfandel you might like this one as well.

So it is a very light and crisp, very slightly sweet white wine. It has just the slightest bit of bite on the first sip, but overall is quite smooth. It has good flavor without any of the sourness that is generally associated with Sauvignon Blanc or especially Chardonnay (which I generally don't like, so don't hold your breath looking for a review of one). But the main reason I was looking for such a simple, light wine, is (cover your ears if you're a wine snob) I love putting whole raspberries in chilled white wine in the summer. It's very yummy! :) And since they're in season right now, they're very plump and sweet. If you want to flavor the wine with it, you can even mash some up, but I don't do that. I just drink the glass and then eat the raspberries out of the bottom. So I guess I've just lost all my wine cred now that you all know my deep, dark secret. ;)

Here's a couple pictures of me and Mom at Beringer Winery: