INSIDER'S PICK: 2022 UNION SACRE GEWURZTRAMINER LOMA DEL REY VINEYARD MONTEREY $22.99

The sweetness of a wine is all about how the grapes are treated and fermented; you can make a wine with any grape, red or white, as sweet or as dry the producer wants to. Certain grapes like Gewurztraminer definitely lean towards making sweeter wines because of their natural aromatics, but that doesn't mean that's the only way they can be done, and done well. For many vintages now this producer has made Exhibit A for that argument, fashioning very atypical Californian wines from very unique out-of-the-way vineyards across the state. The fruit is picked earlier from a cooler coastal site, which allows the wine to have both bright natural acidity and keeping the alcohol lower once made dry. They also allow the juice to stay on the skins longer than usual to pick up more skin tannin texture (and even a slight pinkness in some vintages). The resulting wine is floral and lovely, but also downright refreshing. Cool perfume of white flowers and lime, more minty than warm or tropical though it does get prettier the longer it is opened. The palate is where the real surprise lives, hitting full and juicy at first with lots of lychee and dried pear, but quickly showing the acidity tingle and fruit skin tannins so that the fruit becomes downright tangy, finishing with a pear skin/melon rind dryness. Not a sign of any cloying sugars at all, anywhere. Super fun Summertime wine as a back porch sipper or with zesty seafood preparations.

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