2008 Meditazione is composed of 27% Sauvignon Blanc, 27% Chardonnay, 16% Tocai Friulano, 16% Muscat Ottonel and 14% Pinot Grigio
Christopher Tracy incorporates some uncommon grapes in his white wine blends. The result is more than innovative: it’s exceptional wine. But then, many things about Tracy and Channing Daughters Winery are unusual, not least the fact that the name of the winery appears only on the back label of its bottles. But there is a paradoxical advantage to this: you don’t need to see the name to identify the bottle as Channing. If you drink Long Island wines, as most of us in the Hamptons often do, the recognition is immediate.
I went to the Channing Daughters winery in Bridgehampton yesterday afternoon to sample some of the recent releases with Tracy and Allison Dubin, who is the general manager of Channing and also his wife.
I was particularly interested in tasting the 2008 Meditazione, an“orange” wine. The description applies not to the grape type but to the production method, where the freshly crushed juice of white grapes is left to macerate with the skins. This is common for red wines but unusual for white, and the addition of tannins and astringency from the skins can be quite tricky for a winemaker. When it works well it delivers loads of flavor and texture. Meditazione is a deep golden, rather than orange color, aromatic, complex and concentrated, an entirely successful example of an ancient, now revived, wine production technique.
The 2008 Meditazione costs $40, a reasonable price for an outstanding quality wine--simply one of the best whites you'll find.