Trapped in a heat wave without A/C, there's nothing to do except sit out on the patio and hope for a cool breeze off the water. And drink white wine.
Lots of white wine. Here are a few we had on Wednesday night.
The 2005 Domaine Michel David du pays Nantais Sur Lie is made from a grape called Gros Plant which Garagiste, who I bought it from, describes it as a very fickle grape. I think it's best use might be to add aromatics and acidity to flabby wines in ripe years, because honestly though I liked my first sip of this, after three or four sips I could feel my tummy begging for mercy.
So I emptied my glass onto the rocks and went back to the cellar for a 2007 Villa Maria Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc. This is a very concentrated, intense style of Sauvignon Blanc with that tell-tale cheesey nose and, typical of the Clifford Bay bottling, notes of every citrus fruit known to man. It, and many bottles in previous vintages dating back to my first taste in 2000 when Robin, Sue Courtney and I visited the winery togethr in New Zealand, is one of the biggest, most multi-faceted young sauvignon blancs I've ever had. It was a perfect compliment to our hot day dinner salad-for-two of cooked Oregon bay shrimp and raw diced Ahi with lemon vinaigrette and Chinese chili oil over diced avocado and chopped romaine. So good in fact that when the bottle was done, Bob wasn't quite.
So I went to the cellar for something else to pour as a nightcap, and as a joke since I didn't intend to have any more, I chose a wine I bought earlier that day strictly out of amusement, a 2007 Charles Shaw International Series Chardonnay from Australia. I was totally unaware that TJ's was buying foreign juice for the Shaw brand. At first it had no nose, but as it opened up I was quite surprised to get that same cheesy, leesy nose as we'd experienced on the Sauv Blanc. Can't recall that in an Oz chard before. On the palate, golden delicious apple and star fruit, with both salted butter and vanilla but more the malolactic type than oak. Weird, but not at all unpleasant, and in fact nicely balanced between heft and acidity. I expected to absolutely hate this, and I didn't. Especially for $3. And I'll be quite happy in fact if my friend who buys the vapid, lemon-lime Shaw Sauv Blanc by the case switches over.