Name for a rock band - The Obscure Grapes. Well, maybe not now that I see it in print. A healthy hobby perhaps? You must be joking - 'nerd' comes to mind. Pretending to learn....you know, enlightenment and all that in an ever increasing world of uniformity, where Cabernet threatens the very existence of obscurity in the future! Wha, is this an ad. for a science fiction novel??
I follow Obscure Grapes. There. I've said it. I'm out. Is there anyone else out there?
(Follow this image and others through delongwine.com)I go to wine fairs and sneak off to look at Tannat from Uruguay; Sagrantino from Montefalco and if I'm very lucky Ribolla and Schioppettini from the Friuli. And Many Others.
I'm not a 'grape collector' in the sense of. 'Well, How Many Grapes Have You Tasted Your Way Through Then, Son?' No, I follow odd grapes because it's easier to follow wine making changes, vineyard practices etc with something in short supply than it is with the main line stuff. Maybe then I'm just lazy and this is the easy way out? Maybe. I prefer to view this as a 'focus exercise'. It is simply not possible to do an honest days work and follow what's going on with Cab Sauv or Chard all around the world. There just isn't enough time. But if we take Albarinho we can follow how the Aussies are getting on, the multitude of styles ex Galicia and a few other brave souls in a few other countries. See what I mean?
Albarinho and Gruner Veltliner are sooo main stream now that I have dropped them from my 'obscure' list. (Gruner of course was only ever obscure to the patently blind members of the trade..)
So when they get the tannins under control in Montefalco and we 'find' aromatics yet 'undreamed ' of in Peruvian wines you can say you heard it first here. Or is that nerd it first?
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