Berger: Lighter, fresher wines on the rise

The styles of wine we have come to see filling stores shelves are changing, and not always perceptibly.

The labels look pretty much the same, with a few exceptions, but in general wines are getting lighter, less complex, lower in alcohol, and in many cases sweeter. And many of the wines that we once routinely saw with oak are being made without the use of any trees.

For one thing, oak is being used less and less as a flavoring element in chardonnay and many red wines. Some wineries are addressing this proactively.

Kendall-Jackson's Avant line of wines is a fast-growing success.

Moreover, chardonnays made with no barrel contact at all (the famed unoaked or unwooded styles) are as popular now as ever. Morgan in Monterey County, Iron Horse in Sonoma County, Chehalem in Oregon, St. Supery in Napa and a handful of Australian wineries pioneered no-oak versions of chardonnay more than a decade ago.

Most unoaked wines are less expensive than the oak-aged versions, partly because of the cost of barrels ($100 or more for a single French oak barrel) and the added time it takes to make an oak-aged wine.

With un-oaked chardonnay, there is no reliance on oak flavors to 'help' a wine, so the fruit has to be very good for the wine to be a success.

In recent years, more consumers are seeking fresher, lighter wines, evidenced by the fact that Americans now buy more pinot gris, Riesling, dry rosés, and sauvignon blanc than ever, very few of which are aged in barrels.

The Riesling phenomenon is that dry and medium-dry versions are doing well in Asian-themed restaurants. Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and other Far Eastern restaurants have recently discovered how well these Rieslings work with their food.

Moscato, which was a short-lived fad three years ago, has declined rapidly from a peak in 2011 and 2012, but the category remains alive.

Screwcaps are increasing in use, too — mostly used for early-drinking whites that have lower alcohol levels than in the past.

The majority of red wines sealed with screwcaps also are made to display the wines' fruit qualities, not their age-worthiness.

As for reds, lightness is also in. J. Lohr's delightful Valdiguie is a sort of Beaujolais effort that works great when chilled.

In another vein, many new, lighter red blends that are actually sweet have hit store shelves. And they're selling.

Some wine marketing people disparage buyers of such products, saying they aren't real wine lovers.

But they are buying wine, though not a type of wine we even had a category for just two years ago.

Dan Berger lives in Sonoma County, where he publishes 'Vintage Experiences,' a weekly wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com.