Three Easy-Drinking White Wine Grapes to Know (and Love)

I completely understand if oaky Chardonnay (or buttery), tart Sauvingon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio that tastes of alcohol aren't your thing. They’re not my thing either. Before I give you some grapes to try instead, let’s talk about why we don’t like those wines in the first place.

Balanced wine = Good (usually), Unbalanced wine = Bad (always)

If there is a predominant flavor in your wine and it’s not fruity, earthy, or mineral, there’s something wrong with your wine. Here are the ways that wine is most often out of balance:

• Alcohol. This is the number one sign you’re drinking a bad wine. There is a really famous Pinot Grigio, you know which one I’m talking about, and I would rather abstain than put it in my mouth. It tastes mostly of alcohol. Ick. That’s not refreshing or enjoyable.
• Acid. Acidity goes by many names: tart, bright, bracing, vibrant, brisk, crisp, fresh, and racy are common ways to describe it. It’s a very necessary component to wine, especially wine you intend to drink with food. But when all you get is overactive salivary glands, the wine is out of balance.
  
  Some other things about acidity: not enough and the wine is flabby or flat, acidity is necessary to take sweeter wines from cloying to delicious, and acidity is one of the hallmarks necessary for aging wine.
  
  This last one is important to this conversation because most people drink their wine young. So if a wine was built to age and it’s really bracing at bottling, it might be too acidic to drink young (in a pleasing way). I like my originally-bright white wines at 3-5 years old, your mileage may vary.
• Oak. There are legit reasons why so many wines Americans drink are heavily oaked, but if you’re spending less than $25 on a bottle it’s a pretty good sign that oak bomb is covering the taste of mediocre-quality grapes.
  
  Guess what? Even without that oak you probably wouldn’t want to drink that wine! Oak should be present (when used), but not dominant. Especially with Chardonnay which has such beautiful fruity characteristics all on its own.

Okay, so what should you drink instead? Aromatic whites!

Before I jump into my recommendations, I want to explain “aromatic white” as a wine term because it’s the wine thing I want you to learn about first in this article and second in your mouth.

Aromatic as a descriptor usually means the wine has great aromas to smell and enjoy even without sipping. The most common smell and tastes for aromatic white wines are tropical fruits (pineapple, guava, melon), tree fruit (apple, pear, peach, apricot), white flowers (jasmine, orange blossom), and citrus (lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange). In my world, that’s the good stuff.

I assume that if you’re reading this you don’t have a favorite white wine grape or style, you know what you don’t like, and that you’re looking for an easy-drinking experience. If this seems like you, super! If not, you may find something you want to try anyway.

Disclosure: I’m only recommending wines available via my wine marketplace (i.e. Wine.com, Total Wine, Wine Access, and a handful of others). That also means if you buy something based on a recommendation here, I might earn a commission.

There are plenty of other variations to try and I encourage a stop at your local wine shop to look around (and ask questions). Pick a decent wine shop for a better selection of these wonderful white wines: Chenin Blanc, Riesling, and Albariño.

White Wine #1: Chenin Blanc

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why our white wine aisles aren’t overrun with Chenin Blanc. It’s (usually) a light-bodied, fruity, bright, food-friendly wine, and goes especially well with seafood, grilled vegetables, and chicken. It can be made into sparkling wines or presented off-dry and even in a dessert style wine.

Chenin Blanc’s ancestral home is the Loire Valley in France. When it comes from that area, it’s usually called Vouvray, and it grows along the banks of the Loire River in the Touraine wine region.

It’s also grown in great quantities in South Africa and it’s starting to be grown more in California. South Africa probably offers the best value in general for Chenin Blanc.

Chenin Blanc from each of these regions shares traits, and differs a bit based on geography and style.

Common Chenin Blanc tasting notes: a honeyed texture, white flowers (jasmine and chamomile), peach or apricot, tropical fruits, and sometimes citrus. Chenin blanc should taste fresh (acid) without being overwhelming and is great for sipping.

Personally, I love the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier blend. If you have had viognier and don’t get it (it’s an acquired taste which I acquired long ago), that’s cool, it’s a small part of the Pine Ridge Chenin experience and adds a bit of body and depth to the final blend. Note: this wine is a touch sweet, but well-balanced.

In addition to enjoying this uncomplicated wine with many foods, I enjoy drinking it on its own. And I absolutely love its $12 price tag. A tremendous value, from northern California, this wine’s Chenin grapes come from the Clarksburg AVA (a great one to know) and the Viognier comes from Lodi (there are some great wines coming out of Lodi these days, and this example just proves what the fruit there can do).

White Wine #2: Riesling

Sommeliers have forever been trying to convince Americans to drink more Riesling. To no avail. That’s not gonna stop me from jumping on that somm bandwagon! But why don’t we?

Well, like some of the aforementioned styles of wine that are out of balance (and therefore not worth drinking), Riesling is often made in a sweeter style for the US market and most of us have been brainwashed into thinking good wine must be “dry.”

I’m here to tell you that wines that aren’t totally dry contain a small amount of natural grape sugar (not added, and not the equivalent of those misleading wine glasses filled with sugar cubes). And they are often delicious! Especially when they have the proper amount of acid to balance that sugar, giving the impression of a fruity, dry wine. So branch out!

Riesling is another example of an easy-to-drink white wine that’s food friendly and good on its own. It can be made in many styles from bone dry to dessert wine and when done right is a delight whatever its sweetness.

Its ancestral home is Germany, from regions like Pfalz, Mosel, and Baden. These wines are usually low alcohol (not a bad trait) and often come in 1L jugs instead of the standard 750mL bottles we expect. These wines are light, bright, and slightly fruity. Better quality Riesling often has notes of “petrol” (oil) but that’s not a bad thing. And Riesling is the best white wine for aging (when it’s of excellent quality and has the necessary acidity).

“New World” Riesling (the Americas and Australia to put it broadly) is often made in regions which grow Chardonnay and in styles that are on the sweeter side, but not in a style made for aging, it’s made for drinking young. Washington state is known for making sweeter, ready-to-drink Riesling. I recommend exploring the German stuff first.

I had an interesting exchange on Reddit with a woman who wanted recommendations for dry Rieslings and then proceeded to list off some off-dry wines she likes — Kung Fu Girl Riesling from Washington State and Clean Slate. She thought these were dry because in comparison to “syrupy sweet” Rieslings she’d tried, they seemed dry. She deleted the post or I’d share it with you.

My husband’s grandfather’s favorite is called Relax. It’s readily available in both Canada (where he lives) and the US and is a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

White Wine #3: Alvarinho or Albariño

When a wine grape has many different names, it’s often a sure bet that it’s both good and under the radar. The different names come from being grown “natively” in different regions — a sign it has universal appeal. The different names also make it harder to market these wines, so they’ll cost less than similar wines of similar quality but made of more familiar grapes.

Case in point: Albariño. This delightful grape is often bottled on its own and sometimes shows up as Vinho Verde. It is typically well-balanced, bright, and fruity. Some are made in a more restrained style, some are in your face, and sometimes I find them to be “weak sauce.” But honestly, I’ve never had a bad one.

This is a super food-friendly wine which goes great with fresh vegetables, white fishes and shellfish (especially sushi), and anything rich or savory that isn’t red meat (like paella or brie).

Albariño primarily comes from Rías Baixas in Spain, and Vinho Verde in Portugal. Not every wine labeled Vinho Verde is Albariño! Some are blends of other white grapes like Loureiro. While not EVERY wine from Rías Baixas is Albariño, it does represent 96% of plantings, so it’s a safe bet that anything labeled Rías Baixas has Albariño in it (probably at least 70%).

While its ancestral home is the Iberian peninsula, it is now made around the world and its presence in California vineyards is growing. It must be super trendy right now because Wine on Sale has a ton of it.

“Let me explain! No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

Hopefully by this point you’ve realized that an off-dry wine with the right amount of acidity makes for an approachable, enjoyable, light white wine experience.

And that you shouldn’t avoid white wine because you don’t like the bad examples you’ve been exposed to. Oh, and one quick tip… if you need to grab a cheap white wine and you’re at a supermarket or a big box store, grab one from Josh Cellars — they’re all pretty decent.