Widen your WINE HORIZONS
The very best way… is to taste for yourself. And it’s so easy to do, what with local wine shops featuring weekend tastings, and wine bars that offer discoveries through tasting flights.
CRU, for instance, a delightful venue offering a dozen or so flights of three 2-ounce servings of wines from Italy, France, Spain, California and a few other global hot spots at their restaurant/wine bars in Dallas, Austin, Atlanta—and Cary, NC. I’ve visited Cru in Cary’s Fenton complex a number of times over the last year to sample the varied flights created by Cru’s wine team.
A month or so ago—when temperatures were cooler—I was particularly pleased with a flight of Cabernet Sauvignons that included Jordan Vineyard’s current release, Jordan 2021 Cabernet. It’s not often one gets to sample a Cab of this caliber. What a treat! Teeming with supple blackberry fruit, accents of black cherry and currant, a subtle hint of tobacco, it’s easy to see why Jordan Cabs grace fine wine lists around the country. It’s so balanced, the tannins silky, making it more accessible than most young Cabs—a great choice with beef or lamb dishes.
Tasting flights at Cru range in price from $13 to $25 (Benchmark Cabs). A flight of interesting Chardonnays ($16) included Chards from Russian River Valley, Burgundy, and Santa Barbara County. The sauvignon blancs ($14) were from Sancerre, Sonoma and New Zealand; Pinot Noir from Oregon, Russian River, and France ($18); a trio of succulent dry rosés from Provence, Tavel and California’s central coast ($14).
It's useful to be able to compare wines—and styles of wines—against one another and note their differences, which ones we find more appealing. And it’s just as important to know what we don’t like as it is to know what we do like. Mainly, though, it’s the best way to discover wines you haven’t tasted, and help in choosing wine on restaurant wine lists or at wine shops.
Savory platters of cheeses and smoked meats are available at Cru, as well as lunch and dinner. A flight of sparkling wines would be a good start to the meal!
Cru is at 9 Fenton Court, Cary NC 27511, (919) 377-2079.
And check out weekly free tastings at Wine Authorities in Durham and Raleigh, The Wine Merchant in Cary—or wine shops in your neck of the woods. They abound in cities nationwide.