Describe sexy. It's one of the most elusive wonders.
You know it when you see it, and you surely see it when you taste it. Whether it's the body of a car or the body of a wine - there's something arousing about certain exposures. With summertime around the corner, warmer weather traditionally means less coverage. So if naked is to sexy as unoaked is to white - well then open your mind and pour yourself a glass, and let's see where desire ranks among these sultries.
Ryan Patrick Vineyards 2007 Naked Chardonnay offers a steely lightness rimmed with caramel-drizzled apple. As it touches your tongue nervously, an explosion of fresh orange peel lights up the night, as you plunge deeply into fresh-cut citrus, lime and green apple. Very crisp, very sexy.
Along the same line, Desert Wind Winery's 2006 Bare Naked Semillon offers grapefruit on crack, twisted with melon and tropical fruit. Steel in character with delicate sighs, the wine surges with lemon to a clean finish.
Next up: If this is the consequence, I'll gladly accept my punishment. Nefarious Cellars 2009 Consequence is a wicked blend of all things white - Sauvignon Blanc, Aligote and Viognier. It starts with a brilliant puncture of dusty tree, mowed grass and green apple. The ivory velvet converges and BAM! A deep, cold peach-skin ripeness pulls you in. Its off-dry style shows up in layers of cotton candy and honey - neither sweet, nor cloying. Its clean, geranium finish is very sexy indeed.
I'm told that this wine is intended for fun and pleasure, and since I'm a big proponent of both, I was ready to have my socks knocked off.
Big Daddy 2006 Cab-Syrah rocked the house with intensity - juicy spice and dirty cherry. Super-sized tasters of sweaty blackberry, firm structure and healthy tannins, shows subtle, yet perplexing sarcasm. Bearing a vast similarity to that guy in the corner - the one sporting gold chains on a hairy chest - for some, there is nothing sexier.
In the end, you may not want to spend the rest of your life with Big Daddy, but if you have the next 10 minutes to get your socks rocked, it'll be worth your while - wild and sexy!
Speaking of wild, lunacy laughs in the shape of a wine bottle and - a little crazy can be verrrry sexy. With Basketcase 2006 Syrah (grapes from Washington, made in Oregon), yours may not be the only voice you hear. The drama runs high, but it's all in the name of liquid love, and that my friend, is very sexy. Basketcase exhales bright cherry and dusty cocoa. Radiant red fruit goes to dark then fades to black for a lingering, uncomplicated finish. Crazy is humanity's common denominator, and just because you talk to yourself doesn't make it so. This wine celebrates "differences," and I'm all for that. Sexy.
Darby 2007 The Darkside may be the savory difference one wishes for among the appeal of sexiness. Delving deep into the bowl, I lift my nose with the daunting scent of pulsating corn nuts – hard and salty and corny. This wine is all about the roasted salt of night with bursts of soy sauce, tanned leather, black currant and black pepper. It unfolds in a mysterious black thread of rich, dark salted chocolate with a puckery middle and a black licorice finish. Very dark. Very sexy.
And then we're back to naked - in a much bigger way.
In the over-the-top power-hour, Naked Winery and Orgasmic Wine Co. in Hood River, Ore., walks the ledge. We're not only poised for the promise of foreplay, but also the pledge of penetration. So quickly, so much could go wrong here, which makes me painfully intrigued, knowing it's a thin line between sensual pleasure and a ho bag.
While these wines run a high risk of not living up to their promises, a pleasant surprise is revealed in Naked Winery's 2007 Foreplay Chardonnay. It's elegant in its hollow whiteness, squeezed with fresh drops of lime and lemon, wrapped in a rage of flinty walnut. It resembles something of a good Burgundy, Montrachetesque with the essence of banana, coconut and silky oak smoothness. The finish is slight, but remember, this is simply Foreplay, and impressive at that.
Onward!
Naked Winery's 2004 Penetration Cabernet Sauvignon is ruby red full of rosy spice, cinnamon and milk chocolate overtones. "All the better to pour over you, my sweet," said the Wolf. This wine proposes its mood upon you, whether YOU'RE in the mood or not. Thrusting ribbons of raspberry, blackberry and cherry-ability bounce on your tongue, enrobed in rich leather, chewy tannins and tobacco. No doubt, you're left thirsting for more to come. As the label says "open up, relax and get penetrated tonight." Sexy? You decide.
I'm not sure what's exactly happening in the world of wine, but Hard Row to Hoe, just said they're sending me a bottle of Nauti Buoy and I can't wait!
Cheers!
With sass and attitude, Teri Citterman is a Seattle dweller and an eager wine enthusiast. She is the author of the latest edition of Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest and the Northwest Wine Journal. She also was the winner of the Napa Valley Wine Writers Editor's Choice Award in 2007. She contributes to Seattle Metropolitan and writes An Urban Sip Wine Blog www.anurbansip.com.
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