Let’s face it, red wine is more interesting than white but this is a classic example of where a greater choice would transform the picture. Restaurants are offering greater variety these days. Recent additions to winelists have included Picpoul de Pinet and Albarino, impossible to find only a very few years ago. Here is a list of the whites I have enjoyed in recent years and would suggest for any winelist:
Albarino
Aligote
Ansonica (syn. Insolia/Inzolia)
Arneis
Asprinio (syn. Greco di Tufo)
Assyritiko
Auxerrois
Biancolella
Caterratto
Chasselas (aka.. Fendant in Switzerland)
Coda di Volpe
Elbling
Encruzado
Falanghina
Fiano del’Avellino
Furmint
Goldriesling
Gouais/Gwass
Greco di Tufo (syn. Asprinio)
Grillo
Gros Manseng
Gruener Veltliner
Insolia (also Inzolia)
Macabeo
Moscofilero
Nosiola
Pecorino
Rkatsiteli
Roditis
Silvaner
Torbato
Vedichhio
Vernaccia
Verduzzo
Welschriesling (Riesling Italico)
Xarel-Lo
As ever in this blog, I have left out obvious varieties such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc Riesling, Semillon etc. Some of the above names will be almost as familiar to some. I have omitted the grapes I have no liking for (they are listed below; please let me know if I’m missing out on anything) but there is a third category; grapes that are neither good not bad, possibly incapable of making really good wine but otherwise innocuous. My list of such grapes includes names such as Humagne Blanche, Irsay Oliver, Picolit , Vitovska etc). I have also left out some grapes such as Trebbiano, Vuira, Verdejo because although a few wonderful wines are made from them, they are specks in a sea of otherwise mediocre efforts.
Personal hates:
Amigne
Arvigne
Cienna
Clairette Blanc
Emerald Riesling
Garganega
Minella
Pigato
Rotgipfler
Silcher
Zierfandler
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2 comments:
Ah but my heart is always happy to go for white... An impressive list of names you have there, and many of these bring a subito intense memory, such as the first Albarino I drank just outside the cathedral in Santiago de Compostella (alas the wine doesn't travel well). On the other hand, the term Emerald Riesling does conjure rather flat and sticky past horrors. Anyway, you might just be happy to know that this summer I spent a wonderous time in Sapporo, Japan, and had the opportunity to try the immensly ambitious and just as impressive locally made Hokkaido wines. It all started when a Sushi Master convinced me to try a dessert wine (which being a beerenauslese snob was not my original inclination to do); but the wine he poured was a poem of intense aroma (similar to the Italian Uva Fragola) yet the wine was completely dry, and not a trace of sweetness dared mar the perfect union of the dry and the perfume. Needless to say I do not have any names for you (the 50 Kanji I know do not suffice) but my recommendation is to go there and simply drink (and eat) everything in sight.
and to avoid misunderstandings - the wines I tasted in Sapporo were real wines from real grapes, not Sake which is a wine as well but deserves a whole blog on its own...
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