Vacation confirmation and indications

We traveled to Hilton Head, South Carolina last week, a chance to stay with and see friends and family who have relocated to the area. Like most trips, though, we also took the chance to check out wine shops and restaurant wine lists to see not only confirmation of the trends we see in our home market of North Idaho, but indications of what might happen next.

The community of Hilton Head is a better destination than many to do this. About the same population as Coeur d'Alene, no huge cities nearby, although Savannah, Ga. is about an hour away with a population of about 140,000 - a bit smaller than our neighbor Spokane. There is no large-scale wine producing area as close as those in Washington state and southern Idaho, like there is here.

Overall, I was impressed with the wine scene and selections. Like our market here, we were pleased to see the confirmation of the trend in availability of well-priced international wines. In both retail and on restaurant wine lists, we enjoyed seeing whites that included Picpoul, Grner Veltliner, Albarino, and white blends from Europe in multiple selections at very compelling prices. In reds, we were just as thrilled as we were with the whites, finding a nice selection of both blended and 100 percent varietal wines and affordable prices from Europe.

Interestingly, for being clear on the other side of the country, Northwest wines were well represented. While we did not see any new names or ground-breaking additions to what we already have access to here, we can be proud to know that the great wines made in Washington and Oregon are available and obviously appreciated in more far-flung places like South Carolina.

In all markets, there are distributors that have a larger presence than their competitors, which many times explains the trends you see in wine availability. A couple of noticeable names that seemed dominant were the wines from Dave Phinney. We saw many different Phinney wines just about everywhere we went.

Another dominating presence that we saw was the selection of wines from South Africa. We have seen more wines from South Africa showing up here in North Idaho, but nowhere near as many as we did there. We hope this is a trend that will continue here the way it has there. The South Africans we tried while there were delicious and affordable - an indication, we hope, of things to come here.

There are now bonded wineries in all 50 states, and while those in the Southeast don't approach the numbers in the Western U.S., we were thrilled to try some wine from North Carolina. We saw on the lists mostly whites, and the ones we tried from Shelton Winery and Mountain Brook Winery were both delightful. The dominance of our great Northwest wineries makes it unlikely that we will see much from North Carolina and other less prominent wine-producing states here, but while travelling, if you see the wines, they are well worth the try.

Indications of things to come are continuations of trends that we are seeing take hold here already. Wine consumers can continue to anticipate broadening of choices internationally. Whether it be whites, reds, or sparkling, France, Italy, Spain or Portugal, what we saw in South Carolina is likely indicating that we will continue to see more choices at great prices.

Also likely to continue is the strengthening of prices for domestic choices. Our wines here in the Northwest continue to earn justifiable notoriety and praise, and along with that, we will likely see the domestic productions continue to move to the super premium price categories.

Varietal trends that we saw while travelling show that Cabernet and Chardonnay still remain the biggest sellers based on the number of entries on lists and in retail stores; however, they are not enjoying quite the dominance of previous years. Both white and red selections that tend toward lighter body and higher acid are gaining traction and slots on shelves.

For wine consumers who prefer Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and the aforementioned Picpoul and Grner Veltliner, you will find more and more choices. In red, Pinot Noir, Grenache and Grenache-based blends, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, and other lighter reds will be more available. We find all these trends to be good news, and look forward to ever-improving wine choices based on our recent travels.

If there is a topic you would like to read about, or if you have questions on wine, you can email [email protected], or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party, a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George has also worked as a judge in many wine competitions; his articles are published around the country and is the wine editor for Coeur d'Alene magazine www.cdamagazine.com. You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles, as well as other great wine tips, by friending us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.