The Future of Wine Is White

Changing tastes and a changing climate see wine regions famously known for their reds producing some spectacular new vintages of white.

Photographer: Getty Images

Under a bright California sun, I’m sipping a crisp, juicy, salty-tasting white, a vermentino with a very seductive texture. On the Italian island of Sardinia, you’d drink wines made from this often-underrated grape with sea urchin or spit-roasted suckling pig on a perfect beach. You get the idea.

But I’m savoring a new Napa Valley version, the second vintage from well-known winemaker Steve Matthiasson. It’s one of several whites in his lineup, which also includes a light, pretty scheurebe, a grape native to Germany.