For starters, look to Southern Italy, Spain.

By Laurie Daniel


Wine consumers are being confronted with more choices than ever. It's hard sometimes to figure out where to turn. Albarino or Xynomavro? Puglia or Priorat?

Marketers are only too eager to push their ideas about what might be The Next Big Thing. I once got a press release from a California winery touting Sangiovese, the main grape of Italy's Chianti region, as the next Merlot. Well, the shelves aren't exactly lined with California Sangioveses these days. That distinction goes to Syrah. Similarly, Viognier has been promoted as the future of white wine, but it's never really caught on with consumers, many of whom can't figure out how to pronounce it. (It's vee-oh-nyay, not vog-ner.)

With the huge variety of wines in the marketplace, there's probably no one wine variety or region that will take the world by storm the way, say, Merlot-- or more recently, Pinot Noir--did. And while the range of choices can be confusing, it's also great news for anyone who's willing to be adventurous. "It's an exciting time for consumers if they care about wine," says Stephen Singer, the wine buyer for half a dozen restaurants, including Downtown, Lalime's and Fonda. "Better wines are entering the export market ... with flavors that are unmarred by bad winemaking and bad grape growing."

While Singer hesitates to make any predictions, saying that such thinking reinforces "a sense of trendiness about wine that I'm not really comfortable with," he does say that he's particularly excited about wines from southern Italy, Spain and Austria.

"Southern Italy is a great source of lots of interesting and steadily improving wines. I think Spain is, as well," Singer says. Austria, he adds, produces Gruner Veltliner and Rieslings, whites that are "absolutely brilliant, food-friendly wines."

Wilfred Wong, cellarmaster for Beverages & More, which has two stores in the Oakland area, echoes Singer's opinion about southern Italy. In particular, Wong says, Campania, which is the area surrounding Naples, and Sicily. Southern Italy is best known for hearty red wines, and Wong mentions Aglianico from Campania and Nero d'Avola from Sicily, but he's most enthusiastic about Fiano, an aromatic wine white that's been grown in Campania since ancient times. Another white wine that he sees as an up-and-comer is Albarino, a crisp, perfumey wine from Spain's Galicia region.

Southern Italy and Spain come up a lot in my conversations with East Bay wine merchants and restaurateurs. Take Peter Eastlake, co-owner of the Vintage Berkeley wine shop. He's excited by Nero d'Avola from Sicily, as well as Negroamaro and Primitivo (which is the same grape as Zinfandel) from Puglia, the "heel" of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula. As for Spain, he say, "Every time you turn around, there's another $8 Grenache from Spain that's a good, gutsy, everyday wine."

And here's what Jeff Berlin, wine director of A Cote in Oakland, has to say: "There's been a huge explosion here in the Bay Area for wines from southern Italy." Spain, he added, is "waiting to explode." A wine from Spain that's a big seller at the restaurant, he says, is Graciano, "the other red grape from Rioja."

But the excitement doesn't stop with Italy and Spain. Berlin is passionate about wines from some obscure regions of southwestern France. Eastlake mentions the south of France and Argentina, as well as Sauvignon Blancs and Bordeauxstyle red blends from both South Africa and Washington state. Omar White, who handles the wine program at Pizzaiolo in Oakland, thinks German Riesling is ripe for a renaissance. And Wong likes Rhonestyle red blends from just about anywhere (though the most common examples are from France, Australia and California).

It remains to be seen which of these wines, if any, ultimately will be a hit with a broad range of American consumers. Many are likely to remain niche wines with small but passionate audiences. But the choices are nearly limitless.

If you want to try some of these wines and decide for yourself, you'll need to go to a good wine shop or to a restaurant with a creative, eclectic wine list. You're not likely to find many Fianos or Gracianos on the shelves of the big chain supermarkets. Not yet anyway.