The Big (Red) Chill

Three California wineries are hoping they have discovered the trick to increasing American’s red wine consumption. They’re selling it in white wine’s clothing.

What we’re talking about are light red wines that are slightly sweet and best served chilled--quite literally red wines that have the texture of white wines, with very little of the astringent tannin that marks most red wine.

The producers say these products represent a new category of wines--chillable reds--that they hope will become a major national trend. But not, they admit, without consumer education.

The first products in this new niche, all from the 1991 vintage, are Soleo from Sutter Home Vineyards ($5); Fresco Rosso from the Louis Martini Winery ($6), and Berryessa from Heublein ($6). All are discounted, so may be found in the $4 price range, and all offer more flavor than those ubiquitous blush wines.

Sutter Home, which started the White Zinfandel craze, has very quietly shipped 250,000 cases of 1991 Soleo almost without promotion. In 1992, they’re upping production to 600,000 cases. A Heublein spokesman says it has shipped all 33,000 cases of Berryessa, which came out just three months ago. Martini made 5,000 cases of Fresco Rosso in 1991 and at least 15,000 cases this year.

Of the three, I prefer Soleo (which is 47% Zinfandel, 22% Barbera and 31% other grapes). It has a spicy-fruity aroma and taste and a residual sugar (1.5%) low enough to match well with many foods.

Berryessa, a stand-alone brand from the firm that owns Inglenook Vineyards and Beaulieu Vineyard, is a Gamay Beaujolais-type wine with good fruit and a tad more sugar than Soleo. Fresco Rosso, sweeter still, is a Gamay blend, but the aroma is a little too subtle.

“Everyone in the industry thinks this will probably go, but the only people who really matter, the consumers, well, they aren’t sure yet,” says John Hawkins, executive vice president and group marketing director for A. Racke, which markets the Martini wine.

“We carried Berryessa and we found that it’s a hand-sell item,” says David Dobbs, wine buyer for Red Carpet Wine and Spirit Merchants in Glendale. “People didn’t know what to make of it, but when we explained it, they took it home and liked it. But we didn’t have a lot of repeat buyers.”

One reason for this is that chillable red wine has yet to be defined properly for the consumer. For example, restaurants have been slow to pick up on chillable reds, fearing that customers have been too ingrained with the idea that red wines should only be served at room temperature.

“Like any new category, it needs to be explained,” says Hawkins, adding that the category of chillable red wine needs a name, “something that expresses the characteristics and the typical usage of the wine.”

Sutter Home president Bob Trinchero agrees: “We have to convey that this is a casual wine, a wine for outdoor dining, and a wine that’s best when chilled.”

Trinchero says he is searching for a name for the category. “We need a phrase that not only names the category, but also tells you the best place to serve the wine, at picnics, barbecues.” (If you have an idea, drop a note to Stan Hock, Sutter Home, P.O. Box 248, St. Helena, Calif. 94574.)

Not coincidentally, sales of Beaujolais-style wines, which are red wines that are traditionally served chilled, are jumping. Beringer Vineyards, which two years ago sold fewer than 40,000 cases of Gamay Beaujolais, will make 80,000 cases this year as well as 30,000 cases of a nouveau-styled Gamay. (The nouveau wine will be released the first week of November.)

Glen Ellen Winery made 50,000 cases of Gamay Beaujolais in 1989 and will make 80,000 cases this year. Fetzer Vineyards increased Gamay Beaujolais production 5,000 cases this year to 30,000. Production of J. Lohr Winery’s Wildflower Gamay, which was just under 8,000 cases in 1990, is 15,000 cases this year.

One wine that’s in limited supply but that hits this mark perfectly is 1991 Amity Vineyards Oregon Gamay Noir ($9), an intensely fruity wine with an exotic cinnamon/clove spice component and a trace of residual sugar, which softens any tannins.

And new Lockwood Vineyards in Monterey County, which made only 700 cases of its light red, Refosco Alfresco, in 1991, said sales were so brisk it will make 5,000 cases this year.

In addition to Beaujolais-style wines, serious dry roses, which are also served chilled, are making a comeback, including such excellent California wines as 1991 Grenache Roses from Joseph Phelps Vineyards ($9) and McDowell Valley Vineyards ($8); Cline Cellars’ Angel Rose ($7.50), and 1991 Heitz Cellars’ Grignolino Rose ($4.75).

Even some dry imported roses are selling well, including 1991 Bandol Rose from Domaine Tempier ($16) and a 1991 Bardolino Rose from Chiaretto ($11.50).

Of course, this revolution away from white wine and toward lighter, softer reds without tannin doesn’t surprise wine industry watchers. These wines have always been popular in this country--wine spritzers, wine coolers, sangria and the one that took America by storm in the 1970s, Lambrusco.

Wine of the Week

1991 Greenwood Ridge Riesling ($8.50)-- Rieslings are hard to sell these days because people tend to think of them as too sweet to go with food. But one sip of this amazingly fresh, off-dry wine and you may become a convert. It is wonderfully floral and spiced (not unlike carnations), so it is perfect as an aperitif. Yet it has such good acidity that it will match with a wide variety of spicy foods.