Food

"So much wine, so little time." Not my quote, but certainly my sentiment. As wine sales continue to grow and wine distributors emerge to take care of these increased sales, wines that hither fore would not have made it to our area are increasingly abundant in local wine stores. Each week opportunities present themselves to taste an array of wines previously unknown to me. Such is the case of the wines from Fritz Winery located in Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma in arguably one of the best spots on the globe for growing premium grapes.

Jay and Barbara Fritz purchased the property on which Fritz is located in 1970 as a retreat from the hustle and bustle of their San Francisco life. They planted grapes and in 1979 constructed a winery on the property. Their story is not unusual to this point, but when deciding to build a winery, they elected to erect a three-story underground winery.

Underground wine caves are not new. For centuries the French have stored their champagnes in crayères, caves, made by Romans when excavating for building materials. In the United States wine cave construction dates to the late 1800s. Jacob Schram, a German immigrant built a cave at his Schramsberg Vineyards in 1862 using Chinese laborers who had worked at hollowing out tunnels for the transcontinental railroad. Beringer Vineyard's caves in Napa also date to this period. The tunnels at both properties are still in use today.

With the advent of Prohibition the wine business virtually died in this country as did wine cave building. Wine caves would not see a renaissance until the early 1970s. By that time those in the wine business were looking for more economical operating methods. It made sense to build wine caves for at least partial operation of a winery if for nothing else than to age wines.

Underground wine caves maintain constant humidity levels that impede loss of resting wine to evaporation. They require less energy for cooling and heating. Once constructed they last forever and require minimal renovations or upgrading.

Today it is estimated there are some 150 wine caves in the wine country of northern California alone ranging in size from a few hundred square feet for wine storage to thousands of square feet where all winemaking activities occur underground. Many caves feature underground dining rooms, tasting rooms and other facilities.

In the case of Fritz basically the entire winemaking operation occurs underground at this gravity flow three-tier winery. Grapes come in to the top floor of the winery where they are gently pressed, from there the juice flows into fermenting tanks on the next lower level and once fermentation is complete, the wine flows to the third level for aging.

A gravity flow system allows for minimal handling of grapes. Such a system allows juice to flow naturally from one stage of production to another without using pneumatic hoses to transfer wine from one container to another thus preserving the integrity of the fruit.

Alan Epstein, National Sales Manager for Fritz and Cyndi Askins of Key Selections, a wine distributing company based in Huntsville, came to Tyson Art and Frame a few weeks back to pour an array of Fritz wines for the Tyson weekly Thursday evening wine tasting. Local wine tastings at both Tyson Art and Frame in Golden Springs and at the Wine Cellar on Quintard Avemue in Anniston provide excellent opportunities for trying an array of wines.

Try these award-winning wines now available at Tyson Art and Frame.

Fritz 2007 Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc. $19.50. Crisp, refreshing, citrus flavored wine. Fruit forward minus some of the herbaceousness found in most sauvignon blancs. Great with roasted chicken and unadorned seafood.

Fritz 2005 Chardonnay Russian River Valley. $23.50. Creamy with hints of vanillin and peaches. Medium body. Should pair well with an array of foods.

Fritz 2006 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. $27.25. Old World style pinot. There is an earthiness and subtleness to this wine. If tasting blindly, I would have pegged it to be from Burgundy.

Fritz Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley. $25.50. Good but not my favorite zinfandel lacking some of the boldness and jamminess of other zins. Should go well with roasted meats.

Fritz 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Dry Creek Valley. $31.25. Dark and dense with flavors of dark berry fruit. Not a big as some California cabs, but nicely balanced and elegant.