“Let those love now who never loved before; Let those who always loved, now love the more,” Thomas Parnell, 1679-1718, Translation of Pervigilium Veneris.
Back in the late 1800s, a Swiss-German immigrant (I presume it was legal then) named John Thomann established a small winery in the center of the Napa Valley and presided patiently over its slow and steady growth. The winery is now owned by the Trinchero family who, in the quest for more entrepreneurial growth possibilities, took their staple Zinfandel in the early 1970s and started tinkering. By lightly pressing the fruity and deeply red grape, they were able to extract lightly tinted, delightfully fruity juice that tended toward pink rather than full-bore red. Thus began White Zinfandel, which helped propel Sutter Home into a solid slot as the second-largest independent, family-run winery in the United States, much to the sneering criticism of the rest of the industry.
While touring the Napa Valley in the early 80s, I was most impressed by the winery’s gleaming and fetchingly homey hospitality center and began to keep an eye on the winery and its products. Of late, I’ve been noticing its four-packs of 187 ml. plastic bottles of sundry wines in various wine shops, usually retailing between $5.69 and $5.99.
What a clever idea, I thought! Then, I recoiled in horror over the fact that I was purchasing and drinking wine out of plastic bottles, the same substance that many maintain causes cancer as it leaches into products.
It turns out that my initial sense of deep unease was premature, as Sutter Home was a step ahead of the market. In further researching their modus operandi, I discovered that the winery worked with Ball Corporation to develop a cutting-edge, micro-thin glass coating that was applied to the inside of the plastic bottles, thereby eliminating direct contact with plastic. “Eureka, saith I – comfort and security!” The other reason that the winery’s 187 ml. bottle is smart, I thought, is that one can consume a part of the bottle, then reseal it. Better yet, it’s perfect for cooking, as one doesn’t have to go through the bother, expense and complication of opening a full bottle of wine in order to add a dimension of intrigue into a sauce or casserole.
One of Sutter Home’s competitors, Gallo, also bottles wines in 187 ml., in this case, glass containers. At least two dozen calls that I made to various Gallo reps to inquire about packaging, quality and possible future columns were not returned. To me, that alone seems to indicate a bit about that goliath’s true confidence in their own products.
The Trinchero family has extensive holdings in a panoply of other labels such as Folie a Deux, Fre (non alcohol), Napa Cellars, Newman’s Own, Angrove, Bandit, Menage a Trois, Montevina, Trinchero Napa Valley, Trinity Oaks, Sycamore Lane and Terra d’Oro.
I recently tasted through the generally available line of most of Sutter Home’s 750 ml. wines. Here are my tasting notes, using my customary “A”-“F” scoring:
1. 2009 Sauvignon Blanc – California, $4.99: Barely off-white color with lightish body. Faintly fruity and flowery nose with light complexity. In the mouth, it was quite light and pleasant, with a slightly zingy finish. Good with chilled chicken at a picnic. B+
2. 2009 White Zinfandel – The Original, California, $4.99: Light, alluring rose color with medium body. Clean nose with perfumed notes of strawberries. Lightly fruity in the mouth, with a clean, barely acidic finish. If I’d had a bag over my head, I may have thought it was a New York State Catawba (sorry, SH!). Nice with lobster pasta salad on a sweltering summer day. B+
3. 2009 Chardonnay, California, $4.99: Light straw hue with medium body and somewhat complex nose with hints of vanilla. Notes of butterscotch carry into the mouth and the wine finishes with a whisper of teasing acid. A-
4. 2009 Merlot, California, $4.99: Pleasing purple hue with medium to heavy body. Plums and jam on the nose with nicely intense depth. On the palate, it was lightly and pleasantly fruity with soft complexity. Nice, easy finish that almost begs for quaffing. A
5. 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, California, $4.99: Dark ruby with heavy body. A passing sniff revealed medium deep fruit with hints of brooding berries. In the mouth, it strutted medium-complex berry notes and finished nicely. One half hour later, it rewarded a wait. A+
All of these wines were pretty nice, but if I had to pick a winner, I’d give a respectful nod to the Cabernet, then to the Merlot, followed by the Chardonnay.
Today’s Wine Trivia Tidbit, submitted by a friendly reader, was evidence that the earliest chemical evidence of grape wine dates back 7,400 years to Iran.
Cheers!
