Good wine: Warm up to light whites for warm weather sipping

People ask me all the time, “What's your favorite wine?”

I hesitate naming one wine, but my favorite style is clear: light, dry-ish and minerally whites.

While others enjoy the bombast of red and richer whites, my mouth and mind are thrilled by these delicate wines. With no oak to mask off flavors, winemaking must be pristinely clean. With the sweet-tart balance of nearly-ripe fruit and aromas evoking a mountain stream, the wines make lively complements to a range of lighter dishes including salads, pasta and rice preparations, seafood, poultry and lighter meats. With low alcohol, I'm comfortable enjoying a glass while cooking and more at mealtime (depending on any driving necessity, of course.)

If pressed, I will single out the wines below. Freshness is key, so look for youngest vintages, some just entering our market in time for Spring.

2013 Kerner, Abbazia di Novacella (Alto Adige, Italy. $19): Enticing stone fruit aromas introduce round, texturous palate accented by “nervosite” — an excitement of acidity and minerality. Kerner is a white grape, the result of the genetic cross of Trollinger (a red variety) and Riesling, bred in 1929 to withstand Germany's frigid winters.

This Kerner is produced by the Augustinian Canons Regular monastery, Abbazia di Novacella, established in 1071. The monastery maintains itself through cultivation and sale of agricultural products including grapes (such as Kerner, Veltliner and Gewürztraminer), culinary herbs and fruits.

Clinging to Alpine slopes at elevation near 3,000 feet, the mineral-rich vineyards, cool climate and long growing season that extends into warm autumn, express opulent flavors and racy acidity.

Alto Adige is Italy's northernmost province, also called South Tyrol. Regarding the region's unique personality, one local explained, “When I love, I am Italian; when I do the books, I am German.”

In its homeland, Kerner is enjoyed with savory dumplings filled with cheese, leek and speck (air-dried bacon), or asparagus with bolzano sauce (similar to hollandaise). In my home, Kerner makes an elegant aperitif and complement to smoked salmon.

2014 Albarino, “O Rosal”, Bodegas Terras Gauda (Rias Baixas, Spain. $18): A blend of indigenous grapes Albarino, Loureira, Caíno Blanco and Treixadura, “O Rosal” offers round flavors of nearly ripe nectarine, accented by finely-ground white pepper, firm minerality, steely acidity and the exotic aroma of white flowers.

The vineyards of Rias Baixas, located in northwest Spain, received official recognition 1988, based on the near cult-status of its primary grape — Albarino. The region is woven with estuaries that carry a bounty of seafood within minutes of market. Scallops are a local specialty and international symbol of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Other shellfish and fresh fish (including tuna, sea bass, sole and sardines) abound, to be grilled or tossed in a pot for arroz marineiro (seafood paella.)

Along with your own paella recipe, “O Rosal” can be paired with Chicago's international cuisine including sushi, grilled calamari and veggies with dip.

2014 Pinot Gris, Ponzi Vineyards (Willamette Valley, Oregon. $17): Dick and Nancy Ponzi are Oregon wine pioneers, establishing Willamette Valley vineyards in the 1970s. Their calling card was Pinot Noir (relatively unknown before 2004, when the movie, “Sideways” brought the grape into America's active vocabulary) and the even more unrecognizable Pinot Gris, the French moniker of Pinot Grigio (long before the grape soared to top-sales status, just after Chardonnay, in the new millennium.)

In cool Alpine Italy, Pinot Grigio is light, dry and lemony. In France's sunny Alsace region, Pinot Gris ripens to rounder stone fruit flavors. Ponzi's Pinot Gris sits in between, with creamy texture, flavors of lemon curd accented with white tea, white pepper and zesty finish.

Oregon has its own regional cuisine, combining local ingredients with the international flavors of Portland and Seattle populations. Serve Ponzi Pinot Gris with grilled or smoked Pacific Northwest salmon, sturgeon and trout, oysters, salads sporting fennel, sorrel, pea shoots, kale and fiddlehead ferns and wild mushroom risotto.

• Write to Advanced Sommelier and Certified Wine Educator Mary Ross at food@dailyherald.com.

Ross' choice

Moscofilero

Peloponnese, Greece

Skouras

2013

• Availability and suggested retail: $15.99 at wine and liquor shops (distributed by Heritage Wine Cellars, Niles)

When tasting a lot of other wines, I wish they tasted like Skouras Moscofilero. With its aromas of delicate white flowers (not oak), lively minerality (not cloying fruit), it's a light-alcohol refresher not a headache looking for a place to happen. And what other wine underscores dramatic food flavors — such as garlic (as in Greek skordalia and Italian linguine aglio e olio), “fishy” seafood (taramasalata, grilled calamari or fried smelts) and international salads — as comfortably without losing its own identity? Once Americans get used to asking for it by name, the grape Moscofilero (moe-skoe-FEEL-air-oe), may be our next spring-to-summer-to-all-year-around sensation. Chicago is lucky to have a few excellent examples. My favorite is by Skouras.