One massive change in the range of wines available today is the proliferation of grape varieties, even when compared with 10 years ago. Indeed, nowadays I often attend professional tastings at which there isn’t a single Cabernet Sauvignon on the table, and only a handful of Chardonnays.
Among better-known alternative varieties, Malbec has had its years in the sun thanks to the skill of Argentina’s wine producers. Uruguay has done the same for Tannat. Grenache/Garnacha has become far more respected and popular than it used to be, as witnessed by the fine examples now being made all over Spain and in Australia where there is also considerable experimentation with the lauded grape of Barolo and Barbaresco, Nebbiolo.
All over Europe, local grapes are being substituted for the international darlings Cabernet and Chardonnay. Austrians, for instance, are now intensely proud of their Grüner Veltliner, Blaufränkisch and even Zweigelt. Throughout Italy the country’s myriad indigenous vines, notably but by no means exclusively Sangiovese, are being re-evaluated, and all those Supertuscans based on Bordeaux varieties now look rather old hat. French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc that might once have been regarded as “second tier” are getting the respect they deserve and can be found well outside their stronghold, the Loire Valley. Hotspots include the higher reaches of Mendoza in Argentina for Cabernet Franc and many a South African wine district for Chenin Blanc.
Sauvignon Blanc is now more popular in many quarters — including Napa Valley — than the world’s most-planted pale-skinned grape Chardonnay, and its relative Sauvignon Gris has become a regular blending partner with it in dry white bordeaux. Galicia’s Albariño and Godello have proved that Spain can produce top quality dry whites as well as reds, and their names are increasingly found on labels around the world — not just locally.
But how about more obscure grape varieties? Here are a few of my current favourites, more whites than reds.
Greece is an extraordinarily fertile hunting ground. Few wine drinkers who spend any time on the popular holiday island of Santorini fail to fall for its leading white wine grape Assyrtiko (sometimes blended with the equally local Aidini and Athiri). Peter Barry of Jim Barry Wines in South Australia’s Clare Valley was one of those tourists. After years of plant quarantine, he began producing creditable Australian Assyrtiko in 2017. The grape is brilliantly suited to warm or even hot climates as it retains its refreshing acidity, as well as a beguiling sort of lemony pungency. It is one of the most successful “Mediterranean” varieties imported into South Africa by leading Swartland producer Eben Sadie for his Sadie Family Wines.
The island of Crete has its own special, acid-retaining grapes, of which Vidiano is probably the most promising but unlike Assyrtiko it doesn’t seem to have travelled very far — yet. Like so many of these lesser-known grapes, it almost became extinct when the world grew obsessed with a handful of “international” grapes. (Even a variety as popular today as Viognier was in danger of disappearing altogether from its home in the northern Rhône in the 1960s.)
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