Zacharias Bergweiler Prum Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett 2005 Mosel, Germany

  Riesling with bright minerality and acidity. With a low alcohol level of 8% it’s perfect for summer cook outs or deserted-island fare! (With low alcohol, it’s easier to drink in hot weather than some higher alcohol wines!) 

 Very refreshing when that deserted tropical islandheat gets ya!

 

Silver Beach Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Marlborough, New Zealand

 This tropical-aroma styled Sauvignon Blanc brings ripe pear and apricot together, along with the typical flavors of Marlborough: passion fruit and grapefruit. This would be my “sit-n-sip under the swaying palms” wine, if I were stranded. Pairing this wine with food will be easy on my island, as it would pair nicely with the abundance of shrimp, lizards and duck-billed platypus.

 

 

Chateau de la Negly “la Falaise” 2005 Coteaux du Languedoc, France

  This 92 Parker-rated red wine could be labeled a “fruit-bomb” with its creamy rich black fruit and lush sweet finish. Its impressive texture and perfume, as well as the absence of heat or overt oakiness make it the ideal red wine for a desert island dinner of spiced, barbecued wild pig.  As I am a red wine lover, I’d have to have a six-pack of this wine to keep me happy!

 

 

 

 

  The Dampt Chablis is about as thirst quenching/refreshing as a white can be. Bright acidity, loads of crisp citrus fruit and typical Chablis minerality, this wine would fight the heat, as well as pair wonderfully with just about anything that washed up from the sea (or maybe anything I caught from the sea; washed up seafood might not be so fresh?)

 

 The St Pierre de Mejans Rose not only pairs well with many of the same fish and seafood, but has the added weight to hold up to those monster tuna and salmon known to cruise the islands in search of my bait. After a brief struggle, the tuna would be covered in sea salt, coarse pepper (I remembered to pack this before my ship sank) and garlic, which grows wild on this island. Seared and savored, and served sizzling with the rose….yummmmmmmm.

 

 In case it gets chilly at night, I may require a light-medium bodied red which delivers plenty of flavor and yet manages to complement that 100-lb King Salmon which, oddly enough, fell overboard from a passing cruise ship, which failed to notice my smoke signal….Oops, I was enjoying the rose so much, I must have neglected to light the fire!!! Salmon on the hibachi (also fell from a ship and drifted ashore) on the cedar planks which grow wild on the island (cedar planks don’t fall from cruise ships)

 

 

 

  For openers: Côtes du Rhône Rosé from a good producer like the Cave de Rasteau or Domaine Jaume – fresh strawberry aromas and flavors with a dry finish.  It’s very refreshing.  The white wine from Cave de Rasteau is also a good sipping wine with melon and pear aromas and bright acidity.  I would hate to be without Sancerre for years.  Domaine Cherrier is a solid producer.  If I have to be marooned, make it with some top Champagne like Laurent – Perrier Brut or Rosé.

 

  Some reds to go with Friday’s (ref Robinson Crusoe) cooking: Strade Vecchie, the 90% Sangiovese / 10% Cabernet Sauvignon Super Tuscan, is a good match for red meats as is Bravante Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain in Napa. 

 

  Dessert in the desert: Two of the best spots on earth for sweet wines balanced by minerals and acidity are Bonnezeaux in the Loire Valley and the Mosel Valley in Germany.  Bonnezeaux is made from Chenin Blanc grown on mostly flint soil and Château de Fesles is the classic example while Riesling grown on the slate of the Mosel yields honeyed wines with firm structure that can age for decades.  Joy Beerenauslese is the perfect match for everything from pies to pineapples