Wednesday is the day that most major metro newspapers publish their culinary sections. The Wednesday Wrap is a round-up of this week’s wine notes 

Recently a fan mailed and asked a question about wine and health. He said he had an issue with “carbonated” drinks and was wondering if there were any wines besides those that were clearly sparkling wines and Champagnes he should be careful to avoid.

While sparkling wines have bubbles, most are not exactly “carbonated” in the way that soda pop is carbonated. The bubbles in decent sparkling wines come from a secondary fermentation process. This can occur either in the bottle (Méthode Champenoise) or in bulk vats (Charmat). Only very cheap sparkling wines are made using carbon dioxide injection.

In any case, our bubbly-challenged pal should avoid anything labeled:

• Asti
• Cap classique
• Cava
• Champagne
• Crémant
• Sparkling wine
• Sekt
• Spumante (or Asti Spumante)

These are all very clearly bubbly wines with a high C02 content. (For more on sparkling wine, click here.) But what about others? Well, there are a few wines out there that seem like they are “slightly effervescent,” though they contain little C02. Among these are some white wines made with the Arneis grape of Italy. These have been favorites for a long time. We love the way they feel — not bursting with bubbles like beer, but just sort of tickling the tongue with their crispness.

It just so happens that this week’s Wine of the Week from the LA Times is the 2006 Vietti Roero Arneis. The Vietti, says the Times, is “crisp and light, with a touch of grapefruit and earth… tremendously food friendly. It plays well with prosciutto and other salumi, with cheeses, seafood and poultry. Need something to drink with linguine and clams? Or with fried, stuffed zucchini flowers? Try Arneis.”

If you would like to try this Arneis, click on the label below.

A vignette used to be a short story, so we’ll see how long Vignette Wine Country Soda lasts. According to Amy Scattergood of the LA Times, a Berkley-based company has produced the Vignette soda pop,  which is made from either Pinot Noir or Chardonnay grapes and “offers floral notes of the grapes, but none of the tannins or woody notes — and none of the alcohol.”

Our first response is unprintable. Our second is that the grape glut must be pretty bad if Pinot Noir has to be made into soda pop to turn a profit. Our third is to keep an open mind and try if for ourselves. (Note to our bubbly-challenged pal: Avoid this artificially carbonated product.)

Meanwhile, Eric Asimov of the NY Times has posted an interesting piece on the Carmenère-based wines of Chile and their history by way of getting to his weekly recommendations. These included:

The 2005 Viña MontGras Reserva ($9)

2003 Clos Apalta, a rare Chiliean Bordeaux-style blend ($70)

Photo courtesy Gaetan Lee via Flickr