Not The Usual Suspects – Alternative Grape Varieties
Are you tired of Pinot Grigio or cheesed off with Cabernet? Do you find Merlot mundane, or that Sauvignon isn’t your scene? In which case, why not broaden your vinous horizons? But wait – many wines featured on these pages are not these usual suspects.
Estimates say that up to 10,000 different grape varieties can make wine, each capable of producing distinct and identifiable styles and flavours. Yet only about 1,500 grow commercially; of these, only two handfuls dominate modern wine growing.
The commonest include classics such as Cabernet Sauvignon (#1), Merlot (#2), Chardonnay (#5) and Sauvignon Blanc (#8). Throw in a few others that also have established international recognition, like Pinot Noir (#10) and Syrah (#6). These and a few others account for most wine made and sold: 1.
Over time, wine-growing has become reliant on ever-fewer varieties – the top 16 most popular varieties account for more than 50% of the world’s vineyards.
The Internationals – Round Up the Usual Suspects
Of course, those few varieties that have achieved global domination (oft referred to as the Internationals) have done so with good reason. They are responsible for some of the world’s truly great wines and usually have a long and prestigious track record.
Frequently, they were European varieties taken to what was then the “New World” by settlers and colonists. These are also comparatively easy to cultivate and reliably crop well and may also improve blends – all sound commercial reasons.
And, as these varieties have adapted to new homes with different soils and climates, they have developed differences in taste and flavour. For example, while the apogee of Pinot Noir is still seen as being Burgundy, there are world-class yet distinctive examples from Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa, to name but three. Or take Syrah, the French Rhône grape that became Australian Shiraz and a very different stylistic proposition.
However, the pre-eminence of the Internationals is accelerating because of globalisation. Moreover, fashion plays a part, for example, Pinot Grigio’s meteoric rise from #78 in 1990 to #18 today. It has joined the usual suspects. What will replace that grape variety if boredom sets in? Fashions are notoriously fickle.
The Big Losers
Indeed, for every winner, there’s a loser. In particular, the world has fallen out of love with Airén and Rkatsitelli, both white grapes. Airén was the world’s #1 and is still #4, even though it’s nearly all grown in Spain! This is in decline because it was principally grown for Brandy, with Tempranillo often replacing it (see below). Rkatsitelli, once #3 in 1990, is now #14; this fall was primarily due to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Not the Usual Suspects
Sadly, dominance by the few means that hundreds of other worthy grape varieties get left out. Often, these remain native to a specific region, little known outside their immediate locality.
While a few might be poor quality, others may have been tried in new climes but have failed to shine or are too capricious or unreliable. When Phylloxera drove many varieties to near extinction, International varieties often replaced them.
Yet many rare or obscure vines can make excellent quality wine of distinctive character and flavour, so they deserve discovery by wine lovers. There are rich pickings for the curious, but frequently, their names will be unfamiliar and, in some cases, possibly unpronounceable.
It’s worth noting, too, that even now, the rediscovery of grape varieties continues. These might be indigenous, local or native varieties, but the most accurate word is autochthonous.
More Numbers
Italy has over a thousand indigenous varieties; Georgia has perhaps five hundred more. There is an abundance in France, Portugal, Spain and Eastern Europe. Not all are rare – the Spanish white grape Airén is at #4, Spanish red Bobal is at #12, while Tempranillo has risen since 1990 from #24 to #3! Meanwhile, Malbec has increased from the relative obscurity of #54 in 1990. Argentina’s signature red grape is now at #14.
Many unfamiliar varieties have an essential role as a blending partner because they may have a significantly beneficial trait such as colour, tannin or acidity. Suppose you enjoy world-famous blended wines from regions like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Chianti or Valpolicella. In that case, you may have encountered Counoise and Vaccarèse, Colorino and Canaiolo, or Molinara and Rondinella.
The Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation allows 13 authorised grape varieties in the blend. That’s a lot, but Port has 48 (yes, forty-eight) authorised grape varieties – including the wonderfully titled Bastardo. While in Portugal, it’s worth noting that Vinho Verde may include Dog-Strangler (Esgana Cão), while you can find Fly Droppings (Borrado das Moscas) in Dão. What’s in a name? A topic for another time.
Meanwhile, the record for the number of varieties in a single wine is held by Italy – 152 in Mario Garibaldi’s Cento Uve Rosso from Piemonte.
Mutations and Crossings
A valuable attribute of the grapevine is its ability to mutate and adapt to its surroundings. All the varieties we know today originated from wild vines, be this naturally or enhanced in modern times by deliberate crossbreeding and cloning. South Africa’s Pinotage (a crossing of Cinsault and Pinot Noir) and Australia’s Tarrango (Touriga Naçional and Sultana) are good examples of man’s attempt to breed grapevines with particular characteristics. Other examples include German crosses bred to cope with cold climates, such as Reichensteiner, Bacchus, Regent and Rondo. They still lurk behind English wine labels.
Some of these crossings are hybrids, new varieties designed to overcome pests and diseases or be resilient to climate change. However, the word hybrid has become pejorative. Consequently, the modern description is PiWi (a thankful abbreviation of Pilzwiderstandsfähige Rebsorten). If I were a grape breeder, I couldn’t resist calling my new creation Keyser Söze.
On the other hand, a grape’s natural lineage is often obscure and complex and is only slowly being unravelled by DNA profiling, a technique first used with vines in 1993 and is still a developing science. DNA profiling famously established that Italian Primitivo, Croatian Tribidrag and Californian Zinfandel are the same. Meanwhile, many Merlot vineyards in Chile and Italy were actually Carmenère, a grape now rare in its original Bordeaux homeland.
Biodiversity
So, the grapevine still shows incredible biodiversity worldwide. Yet many are scarce and remain on the brink of extinction. Piquepoul Noir may now be down to its last few hectares in France; Varietà Tasca is only at a single estate in Sicily. Hearteningly, in 1933, the Italian variety Uva Longanesi was lit upon climbing a tree in Emilia-Romagna. After official recognition in 1999, it occupies 200 hectares around Ravenna and Faenza today. Should we care? Of course, we should.
We should preserve Nature’s genetic differences, if only for yet-undiscovered benefits. Variety is a buffer against an increasingly homogenous world where we risk everything tasting the same. Perhaps the most famous example of this is to consider the case of Viognier. Viognier is widespread these days, yet by 1968, it was nearly extinct, with only 14 hectares left in France’s Rhône valley. Viognier’s spectacular rescue is legendary, so which grape variety currently languishing in obscurity will be next? There remains much to discover.
Discovery
Though the international grape varieties dominate, we are fortunate in the UK to have arguably the most diverse wine market in the world, meaning there is plenty of opportunity to find alternatives and rarities. Supermarkets have slowly become more varied, but the best sources are independent and online. Even ever-increasing “Grape Days” are designed to celebrate and promote individual varieties to help spread the word. With that in mind, here are six Wine Alchemy articles that feature Not the Usual Suspects:
2. Timorasso
4. Tintillia
5. Xinomavro
6. Silvaner
There are many more on these pages, and that will continue.
And Finally
All this might whet your appetite for a change. Tracking down the obscure or rarer varieties of Not the Usual Suspects is a pastime some see as akin to train spotting. But a little novelty is the spice of life, so why not find new grapes to enjoy? All will have their tastes, personalities and stories.
Hopefully, new census data will be available in 2030 to directly compare with the 2020 and previous years’ data. It’ll be interesting to see how the rankings change, but chances are, they already have – the Climate Emergency will see to that!
Notes
- The best source for vine variety data is Anderson, K and Nelgen, D. Which grape varieties are grown where? Revised edition, University of Adelaide Press. A free PDF download is available.
- Not the Usual Suspects is a re-written article in memory of Patrick W. Fegen (1947-2016), whose signed copy of The Vineyard Handbook: Appellations, Maps and Statistics (Revised Edition, 2003) inspired my original print article in 2005. Hence this extensive update, as it’s a topic more relevant than ever.
- With apologies to two great films: Casablanca and The Usual Suspects.