We’ve written before about the number of grape varieties at work in our world — many more than people imagine. Beyond the now thoroughly exploited (and, frankly, rather humdrum) varietals Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Sauvigon Blanc, many hundred of others are regularly used to make wine of varying quality.
We hear less from these often fascinating varietals mainly because of their hyperlocality. Never having become international travelers, like the privileged quartet above, they remain rooted in their respective homelands. Places like Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, Armenia and the Republic of Georgia each have millennia-long histories of viniculture and scores of varietals — among them Mtsvane, Öküzgözü, Melnick and Saperavi — most consumers will never have heard of. Will they ever find a market adventurous enough to warrant export at scale? In many cases, likely not. But that may be just as well.
It is possible to find some off-road East European and Caucasian varietals planted in places like California, where people like to do that sort of thing, but it seems to us that a hankering for Elsewhere can only really be satisfied when the grape and place remain together, so that the wine that emerges is the result not just of a grape but of a culture. Join us Friday when we’ll be pouring three wines that meet that standard, two from Croatia and one from Hungary.
Why stay in Usualopolis when Elsewhere is right on your doorstep?