Grapevine: Catching the Bouquet

It's crunch time for wedding planners, judging by the invitations in my mailbox. I enjoy going to weddings, for they are events filled with love and happiness and (occasionally) good music. They are also a good excuse to carry my silver flask like some sort of rogue, just in case someone needs help with nerves. And I like checking out the flowers. Standard bouquets? Custom-matched to the dresses? Plastic? Focus on all that flowery delicacy long enough, and a certain thirst develops—but don't worry, I'm not about to recommend what goes with rubber chicken. No, instead I get a craving for flowery whites of the type that will probably not be offered by the caterer. Such wines are not always easy to find, lacking in the popular white-wine traits: oak, butter, jarring sweetness. Nor are they easy to pull off, for they require a balance (between aroma, flavor, lightness, acidity, and restrained alcohol) as delicate as the blooms they emulate. But a craving is a craving, so off into the jardin du vin we go.
Not surprisingly, I struck gold pretty quickly when I examined a couple of recent European offerings. Ostatu Rioja Blanco 2006 ($11, Bacchus Importers, Ltd.) is made mostly from the Viura grape, but there is a dash of the ultra-aromatic Malvasia thrown in that really charms. This is light, lacy, easy drinking wine that, despite its esoteric composition, is plainly delicious. I think it's perfect deck-party wine, because guests won't have a chance to shy away from an unfamiliar offering, and will be engaged by its floral demeanor. (Does serving it make you a petal pusher?)
The Loire Valley town of Vouvray is an easy source for aromatic wine. Too easy. Practically a cop-out. But they are delicious, and I'm a longtime fan. Cool minerality, expressive fruit, and titillating acidity can reliably be found all the time in these Chenin Blancs. Bernard Fouquet's Domaine des Aubuisières Vouvray Cuvée de Silex 2005 ($16, Potomac Selections) is a dandy example. Flinty clay soils make for a wine with a minerality less severe than that in other parts of the region. The Aubuisières offers up a delightful bouquet of peach blossom, orchid, and citrus, and a vein of flint not entirely unlike fresh rain on wet stone. Just the ticket for plump asparagus or lightly poached flounder.
As a counterpoint to all this floral delicacy, it seems fitting that for a red we go in the opposite direction. (After all, trees deserve attention, too.) And California is a great place to look when in search of the antithesis to these traits. But balance is still the most important characteristic in a wine, no matter its origin, and I found it in the Steltzner Claret 2005 ($20, Constantine Wines). Claret is a term favored by our former colonial rulers for Bordeaux, and is sometimes used in the New World to describe a wine blended from the traditional Bordeaux grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot—not necessarily all at once, mind you. The Steltzner is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and its heft shows it. This wine is juicy, soft, broad, and cheerful, taking its weight from the grapes rather than copious oak. It tastes like purple—and it is purple. So it won't show if the groom spills a bit on his cummerbund.