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White
Cantine Olivella, Kata. Catalanesca, Catalanesca del Monte Somma IGP. Provincia di Napoli. 2022. 12.5%
Catalanesca is an old variety grown in the area of Mt. Vesuvius and used mainly as a table grape for most of its history. Prior to 1950 it had been included in the blend for white Lacryma Christi but that was then taken over by Caprettone. It was only officially recognised as a wine cultivar in 2006 so in that sense the reported 99 ha. area of plantings is misleading: much smaller if you remove that used for table grapes.
D’Agata considers Catalanesca ‘a recently rediscovered variety’ and quotes Antonio Mastroberardino as ‘throwing his hands up in the air’ and saying ‘We just don’t know enough about it yet…’
When I met Domenico Ceriello of Cantine Olivella at VINITALY in 2014, he told me he was the only maker of a Catalansesca in purezza. Since then others including Sorrentino and Casa Barone have joined him.
Bisson. L’Antico. Cimixa. Portofino DOC. Italy. 2020. 13.5%
Here is an example of a variety saved from extinction by a single person at a verifiable time and place.
It was Marco Bacigalupo, a pastry chef from Cigana who, in the 1970s collected the very few remaining vines of Cimixa (aka Scimiscia, Scimixaa , Scimisaa or Cimixaa) and planted them in a single vineyard near Cassottana, Liguria. With the help of the San Colombano cooperative, the original vineyard was cleaned up and the remaining healthy vines identified. Finally in 1998 the research community got involved in studying Cimixa in earnest. They determined that the Corsican variety Genovese was in fact Cimixa and plantings existed in the Cinque Terre where it is also known as Frate Pelato. It is now grown in a quite widespread way in the Valle del Tigullio, the Val Graveglia and in the countryside around Chiavari. The wine is still ‘a real rarity’ (D’Agata).
Boskinac, Gegic. Kvalitetno Vino KZP. Hravatsko Primorje, Croatia. 2017. 12.5%
The islands of Croatia are an amazing repository for unique indiginous grape varietes. Gegic is native to the island of Pag. Hvar has its Bogdanusa and Darnekusa. Korkula has Grk, Krk has Zlahtina, Susak hosts Sansigot and Vis fields Vugava.
Gegic is declining on Pag due to irregular yields.
Selva Vins, Giro Ros. Vino de Espana. Selva. Mallorca. 2021. 11.5%
Giro Ros or Roz is a pink grape also known as Giro Blanc. It is unrelated to the Giro of Sardinia (a red grape), nor is it the colour mutation of Garnacha which is also called Giro.
No, our Giro (‘Ros’, ‘Roz’ or even ‘Blanc’) is an indigenous Mallorquin variety recently rescued from virtual extinction by someone called Toni Gelabert thanks to the 200 vines that another person, Juaquin Monserrat – a local grower with faith in the variety – had propagated from the few plants that remained on the island. ‘Wine Grapes’ tells us that mutations have given rise to considerable variation in berry colour, hence the synonym Giro Roz/Ros.
There are now 6 ha of these vines planted on Mallorca. It took a 10 year campaign to get official authorization for the variety which it received in 2010.
Historische Rebsorten Nr. 050 Grüner Adelfränkisch. Deutscher Qualitatswein Rheinhessen Germany. 2019. 13%
"Noble
Variety from the Middle Ages."
An original variety
cultivated already more than 5,000 years ago is related to Traminer
and Süßschwarz. The variety has been documented in Brandenburg
since the middle ages. It belongs to the core group of ancient grape
varieties imported from Moravia since the 8th century AD which as
crossings have become native to Germany. Its robustness and good
ripening qualities combined with noble aroma makes it very valuable
for the native vineyard. Until 2007 this jewel was considered
extinct.
Andreas Jung
Historische Rebsorten Nr. 101 Grünfränkisch Deutscher Qualitatswein Rheinhessen Germany. 2020. 13.5%
From a 300-year-old variety description we can deduce that very probably Grünfränkisch and not Riesling was the actual variety of grape for the world famous Liebfrauenmilch. Grünfränkisch was already mentioned in the Südpfalz (South Palatinate) in the 16th century. The history of this worthy grape goes back to antique times and found its home on the Rhine via north Hungary. Until its rediscovery in 2009 it was considered extinct.
Andreas Jung
NB. The ghastly monniker 'Leibfraumilch' with its inappropriate connotation of blue nuns is of course a total misnomer. Its off-puttingly sexist innuendo has justly been consigned to the dustbin. The original name was 'Liebfrauenmilch' and there were no nuns, blue or otherwise. The Liebfrauenmilch referred to the vineyard of the Liebfrauenkirche (Church of our Lady) in Worms. The term Liebfraumilch began to be used in the 18th century mostly for exported wine. That didn't turn out too well. Riesling has struggled to overcome the crass marketing gimmick and taste of the semi-sweet beverage foisted on a less discriminating world last century.
Slotovino
Crama Nachbil, Gruenspitz. Beltiug, Satu Mare, Transyvania. Romania. 2018. 12.0%
“The Brutler & Lieb vineyard is a well-known local representative of natural wines. There is one variety of wines that is capable of representing the true values of the viticulture region of Beltiug and this is our Grünspitz. Grünspitz is a variety of grapes, that exists only in our region. There are no other vineyards based on this variety, so this could have vanished. A few years ago, we grafted this variety on new plants and started a new vineyard. So this is the only vineyard in the world with this variety.”
Connolly’s Wine Merchant website.
Manz Wines. Dona Fatima. Jampal. Lisboa 2022. 13%
Former Brazilian soccer player André Manz bought an abandoned vineyard in Cheleiros, Portugal to make wine for himself and his friends. A commercial project was far from his ambitions at the time. On the first visit to the vineyard with an oenologist and agronomist, 200 vines of a variety were discovered which nobody was able to identify… with the help of technicians from the Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho (Vine and Wine Institute) the variety’s name was identified: Jampal.
“It is an autochthonous Portuguese variety, characteristic here in the region, but it was abandoned because it was not profitable… very sensitive, it requires a more expensive pruning and produces little quantity… we might as well have just bet on the reds and forget about it” but he persisted and produced the only monovarietal bottling of so far. There were 34 ha. in Portugal in 2016.
Passaturi. Terrecarsiche. Minutolo. Valle d’Itria IGT. 2018. 12.5%
Synonyms are Fiano Aromatico, Fiano della Valle d'Itria, Fiano di Puglia, Fiano di Salento, Fiano Minutolo, Fiore Mendillo, Greco Aromatico, Minutola, Moscatellina and Squaccianosa. According to DNA analyses carried out in 2001, Fiano Aromatico, which until then had been considered a variety of Fiano, is an independent variety and has therefore been renamed Minutolo.
Minutolo was rescued from the brink of extinction in 2000 by Lino Carparelli, his father Donato and colleagues who discovered old vines in some old vineyards in the Valle d’Itria in Puglia. Carparelli had heard of the variety and its fine wine potential and had always wanted to make wine with it. He knows the vineyards and varieties of his native region like few others. In 2000 he set out with local old-timers and farmers to search for remaining vines of Minutolo and the spurred researchers to better characterize an aromatic variety that he realized could not be a Fiano… Nowadays Minutolo is found mainly in the Valle d’Itria. The success of this variety there has been such that plantings are on the increase all over the region: Minutolo is now grown in the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto too. There are 10 ha. reported.
Azienda Vitivinicula Mariotti. Malestar. Montuni. Montu. Montu dell’Emilia IGP. 2018. 12.5%
Montu is from Emilia Romagna and is mainly used to make sparkling wines. In Ian D’Agata’s ‘Native Wine Grapes of Italy’ we read that ‘though typical of the Emilia portion of Emilia Romagna...it was once common in Romagna; today it is hard to find past Ravenna.’
Kym Anderson writes ‘The variety is no longer of any importance, as in 2016 no more stocks were recorded. In the year 2000 it had been over 1,000 hectares.’
Joseph Schoenleber Mittelheimer Edelmann Orleans Gelb. Rheingau Deutscher Qualitaetswein. Rheingau. 2023. 11.0%
Orleans Gelb, also known as Gelber Orleans has no connection with Orleans. It is unknown in the Loire Valley. It is a very ancient grape variety first mentioned in 1539 but certainly in existence before that. Gelber Orleans was the predecessor of Riesling as the most planted grape in Germany. It came to be considered a run of the mill grape for basic wines for the working class and was gradually replaced by Riesling to the extent that it was assumed to be extinct by the end of the 19th century. It was rediscovered by Helmut Becker of the Geisenheim Research Centre on the terraces of Ruedesheimer Berg in the 1980s. The first plantings were made in the early 1990s in collaboration with Weingut Knisper and in 1995 in collaboration with Weingut Georg Breuer. The first release was in 2002.
Five very old vines of Orleans Gelb have been discovered growing almost wild by Andreas Jung in Disibodenberg. Based on local historical documents, the planting date of these vines has been estimated at between 1108 and 1559, when the Disibodenberg monastery was still active. It has been claimed that these grapevines may be the oldest in Germany. It is now grown by a handful of producers.
Torres. Varietat Recuperada No. 32. Pirene. Capella de Sant Miguel. Sant Miguel de Tremp Spain. 2021. 14%
More than forty years ago, Familia Torres embarked on a project to recover ancestral varieties in an act of archaeology that aims to restore a shared heritage…
I had heard about the Torres programme to revive almost extinct varieties and had always wanted to taste some of the wine made with them. They have counted more than 50 such varieties. After Forcada and Moneu there is Garró, Querol and as here, Pirene. Bottles of these wines are made in very small quantities so far.
Antica Cantina Leonardi, Rossetto ‘Vino Vulcanico.’ Lucidilago, Lazio IGP, Italy. 2018. 12.5%
After a torrid struggle with the identity and name of this grape (Rossetto, Roscetto, Greco di Velletri, Greco Giallo or Greco Verde), D’Agata says we have too few examples to go by to decide what the true character of Rossetto is. ‘I’d be lying to you...if I told you what a Rossetto wine is really supposed to taste like.’ That’s a pretty amazing confession, perhaps unique in his survey of the hundreds of native wine grapes of Italy contained in his indispensible book ‘Native Wine Grapes of Italy,’
Rossetto was close to extinction in the 1960s because of its low yields. ‘Wine Grapes’ tells us that ‘oenologists Riccardo and Renzo Cottarella have been influential in promoting this variety and showing its real potential from their vineyards in Montefiascone in Lazio...Their oaked Falesco Ferrantino is a rich but very well-balanced wine, reminiscent of a top-notch Saint-Aubin.’
Turay Csaladi Pinceszet, Rozalia. Baj, Komárom-Esztergom, Hungary. 2021. 12.5%
Also known as Rozala and Rozala Bianca. The parentage is unknown. It is cultivated in the Balaton, Kunsag, Nagy-Somlo, Neszmely and Zala regions as well as Komarom-Esztergom as in this case. All that would suggest a total far more than the two hectares of vineyards designated by Kym Anderson in 2016. Not to be confused with the Rosalia wine-growing region of Burgenland, Austria (230 hectares).
Note: Sir Kym Anderson is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Adelaide and author of the award winning ‘Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where? A Global Empirical Picture (with the assistance of N.R. Aryal),’ Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press, 2013. Other fields in which Sir Kym is involved are more numerous and diverse than can be imagined or listed here.
Quartomoro, Semidano SMD Memorie di Vite. Semidano DOC. Sardegna, Italy. 2018. 13.5 %
Ian D’Agata was kind enough to direct my attention to the Sardinian producer Quartomoro at at the wine fair ‘BING Barolo’ which he curated in 2019. BING stands for Best Italian Native Grapes by the way. Quartomoro has a great range of rare Sardinian wines from indigenous varieties including Arvesiniadu as well as our Semidano here and a completely unknown variety called Muristellu. My kind of producer.
About Semidano, Ian writes: ‘Semidano is potentially one of Italy’s greatest grape varieties, and it’s ridiculous that there are so few wines made with it. In fact Semidano is the poster child for everything that was wrong with Italian viticulture and winemaking in the post-phylloxera period and in the 1980s heyday of the international oaky whites. Simply put, quality but little-known grapes were all but forgotten, not studied, and even abandoned in favour of overly productive varieties or those that were easiest to work with. This sorry state of affairs has only led to more than one great native grape being pushed to the brink of extinction, and every time I hear about how Italian native grapes aren’t so interesting after all, I count to ten and then mention Semidano...’
Beykush Winery, Telti-Kuruk. Mykolaiv region, Ukraine. 2021. 13.5%
The grape Telti-Kuruk is surely a major discovery. Telti-Kuruk is said to have originated in Armenia. Synonyms include Telti Kourouk, Telti Kuruk, Tilki Kuyrugu and Tilky Rairuk. The parentage is unknown.
Telti-Kuruk is a unique autochthonous grape variety first planted in the village of Shabo, Odessa Oblast during the Turkish reign. Telti-Kuruk grows almost only in Shabo region. The climate of the Black Sea Lowland has a beneficial effect. The grape is used to produce white table and sparkling wine and grape juice. Telti-Kuruk is also a dessert grape variety.
In 2010, 246 hectares were still in existence, but in 2016 no more stock was reported (Kym Anderson).'
Domaine Jeremy Bricka, Verdesse Pont de Brion. IGP Isere, France. 2019. 13%
From being the most widely planted variety in the Vallee du Gresivaudan (Isere) in 1920 Verdesse had dwindled to just 2 hectares by 2008. It has been successfully replanted since then. Producers today include the Cave Cooperative de Bernin, Michel Magne and Mas Brucher as well as Domaine Jeremy Bricka as in this instance.
‘Native Wine Grapes of Italy’ has an entry claiming Verdesse (under the synonym Bian Ver) is Italian. Sightings have been made in Piemonte with sporadic sightings in the Alta Valsusa, Val Chisone and in the Pinerolese. Mention is also made of Verdesse in the Valais, Switzerland. Piedmontese producers clain noteworthy winemaking potential for this variety. D’Agata says ‘I hope it makes a comeback quickly, and there are some encouraging signs. My glass is ready and waiting.’
Red
Historische Rebsorten Nr. 966. Blauer Arbst. Deutscher Qualitatswein, Rheinhessen Germany. 2018. 13.5%
The name Arbst refers to the Arberesh tribe (Abar-Russ) in Monte Negro and Albania. The variety should be linked with other Albanian varieties in the 14th century of rulers of the old house of Anjou who brought vines from their vassal state Romania to Albania and from there to the lower Loire, where the Magdalenen flood of 1342 had previously destroyed all the vineyards. The variety belongs to the Morillon Pinot complex. As Blauer Ortlieber it was one of the main red wines in Styria. As Arbst, it was a famous part of the famous Affenthaler wines in the Affenthal near Bühl contributing to the famous Kallstadt wine.
The variety can be confused with a Pinot Noir. However, the leaf is larger and circular, the stalk partly overlapping and the leaf underside is more shaggy and hairy. The grape resembles the Pinot, but the bunch is looser and matures a little earlier. In mid-October 2013, the difference with Pinot was almost 10 ° Öchsle, but without any decay. The variety was often referred to as the best red wine variety, but is a little less profitable because of the smaller and somewhat looser berries than standard clones of Pinot Noir.
Andreas Jung
I vini di Emilio Bulfon SSA. Cjanorie. Trevenezie IGP 2023. 12.5%
Few could have done more to re-establish so many endangered varieties than Emilio Bulfon - all interesting. They come from his area in Venezia-Friuli-Giulia. Nine is an amazing score when you consider the work involved in this task. The list includes
Cividin
Cordenossa
Forgiarin
Fumo Rosso
Piculit Neri
Pocol, Sciaglin
Ucelut
The red grape variety Cjanorie originates from the border region between Italy and Slovenia. The parentage of the vine is unknown. It used to be widespread in the provinces of Pordenone and Udine in the Friuli-Venezia- Giulia region. In the 1980s, Emilio Bulfon found it in the municipality of Pinzano al Tagliamento, east of Pordenone, together with other varieties and revived it with the help of ampelographers Antonio Calò and Ruggero Forti. In 2016, 1.3 hectares of vines were reported (Kym Anderson statistics
Bodegas y vinedos Mengoba. Estaladina de Gregory Perez, Leon. Spain. 2021.
Mengoba is the only producer of Estaladina in the world.
Gregory Perez was a top oenologist in Bordeaux (Grand Puy Lacoste, Cos D'Estournel) before returning to Bierzo, his family's area in Spain. There he has made wines from Mencia, Godello, Alicante Bouschet, Dona Blanca as well as Estaladina.
Bodegas Galmes y Ribot, Ve D’Avior. Escursac, Santa Margalida, Mallorca. Spain. 2022. 11.0% 0.5 ha.
Cati and her father
Jaume...began to delve into the past of Mallorquin viticulture,
planting old varieties in collaboration with the island’s governing
bodies in 2006. They were one of two producers to start planting new
vines of ancient varieties like Escursac,
the local Malvasía de Banyalbufar, Girò Ros and Prensal Blanc (and
other, even lesser-known varieties like Callet Negrella and Vinater
that remain unrecognized by the D.O. authorities in Mallorca).
The
most important of these varieties to Cati’s story is the red grape
Escursac. Cati
and her father rescued the variety by isolating cuttings from Colonia
de Sant Pere d’Arta to replace a vineyard. Large-berried
and late-ripening, it tends towards the production of wines with
moderate alcohol, delicate red fruit, and soft tannins. To our
knowledge, Cati makes one of
only two bottled varietal
wines in the world from the grape, from 1.2 acres
(0.5 ha.)
of vines that she and her father planted in front of the winery in
2006. Her passion for Escursac led to the planting of another
5 adjacent hectares in 2020."
Chambers St. Wines.
Historische Rebsorten Nr. 938. Frankischer Burgunder. Deutscher Qualitatswein, Rheinhessen Germany. 2018. 14%
Except for an unidentified collection of a Mr. Hartig from Naumburg, the variety was considered extinct until 2009. It was considered a synonym of Pinot.
Around 1905 Frankischer Burgunder was one of the main red wine varieties on the Yonne, where it covered 9000 hectares, and 600 hectares in the Aube department. Old illustrations of Burgundy always show the Little Franconian Burgundy with round berries. It is historically documented for Styria, Swabia, the Lake Constance area, the Upper Rhine plain, Alsace, northern and western Switzerland, the Yonne and Champagne.
Andreas Jung
Grosjean. Fumin. Valle D’Aosta. 2016. 13.5% First documented in 1785, Fumin was grown abundantly in the the Valle D’Aosta until in the 1960s, experts and university professors recommended that the grape should be abandoned. Thanks to the stubbornness of growers the grape didn’t disappear completely and ‘today Fumin is universally recognized as being the highest quality native grape variety Vall D’Aosta has’
(D’Agata). There are altogether only 480 ha. under vine in Aosta of which 20 are planted to Fumin which D’Agata says is a considerable amount given that the variety had almost completely disappeared. It is grown nowhere else in the world.
There were no monovarietal bottlings of Fumin as recently as the 1990s. Now there are eight very valid ones says D’Agata. Once little thought of Fumin, is now here with us to stay.
Historische Rebsorten Nr. 945. Hartblau. Deutscher Qualitatswein, Rheinhessen Germany. 2018. 13.5%
"Germany's
oldest red wine variety"
This
original variety could without further ado be 8,000 years old! Easily
Germany's oldest red wine variety it is almost a genetic twin of
Süßschwarz. It has existed since the Bronze Age on the southwest
shore of the Caspian Sea. Its name describes the robustness of the
plant and the wine's acid and tannins. In earlier field blends
Hartblau conferred better laying down potential and durability.
Hartblau was considered inexistant
in 2007!
Andreas Jung
Ante Sladic, Lasina. Plastovo, Dalmatinska Zagora, Croatia. 2017. 13.0%
Ante Sladic’s winery is positioned equidistant from Split and Zadar which is where the majority of the rare Lasina is found and authorized. It is used mainly in blends and ‘Wine Grapes’ counted the Lasina of Marko Duvancic as ‘perhaps the only varietal wine available.’ Our second monovarietal Lasina by Ante Sladic may mean hopefully that Lasina will not disappear any time soon.
Castello di Grumello. Il brolo dei Guelfi. Merera. Bergamasca IGT Italy. 2017. 12.5%
The project of the rediscovery of the Merera vine has a history that began in the last century, when Carlo Zadra, the company’s historical oenologist, began to look for every vine grower with plants of vines that were different from the others. Almost every winemaker has in the field some strain with unknown origins, which has always been there, perhaps planted by his grandfather and earlier and was vinified with others. Within a few years, Carlo collected several specimens, which he cultivated separately. Merera is one of these.
Mersel ‘Elevate’ Marini, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. 2021. 12.5%
The red grape variety Marini is shrouded in mystery. We can’t find information as to its parenthood, whether it is a Vinifera variety, what the area of plantings might be or if those plantings are limited to Lebanon. All we have is what Doug Wregg writes this in the Caves de Pyrene blog ‘Doug Decants;’
‘The’ Elevate red is from the Marini grape and originates from Blouza in Wadi Annoubine. Here we are on sandy volcanic soils at no less than 1,800m above sea level! The vines are 150-years-old, own-rooted, and co-planted with Merwah. Destemmed grapes are macerated for two weeks and fermented with indigenous yeasts in Georgian qvevri, before ageing in Lebanese amphora. The wine is very shiny, mid rose-hued, and positively bristles with cherry-stone fruit, fine acids and salty minerals. Very delicious and unusual, it reminds us of some of the pale high-altitude country wines from Etna in Sicily or Lechkhumi in Georgia.’
Barbara Fores. Mandon/Morenillo ‘El Templari,’ Vi vermell. Terra Alta DO. Spain. 2018. 13.5%
Barbara Fores estate owners Maria Carme Ferrer and Manuel Sanmartín paid tribute to their great-great-grandmother Barbara Fores (born in 1828), who taught her son Rafael how to make wine. In 1889, he started to build a small cellar in the very buildings where the wine is still made today. Maria Carme has always had a deep respect for this family heritage, but also the ambition to improve on what her forefathers transmitted to her. At the end of the 80’s, she started to bring her old vines into order and planted new varieties. Maria Carme rehabilitated an old and long forgotten grape, the Mandon, also called Morenillo, which she uses for her ‘El Templari.’
There are only 0.5 ha. of this variety in existence.
Monte Rosso. Sassotondo. Nocchianello Nero. Sorano, Toscana Rosso IGT Italy. 2019. 13%
Nocchianello Nero is a stand-alone rare grape variety - a claim that is suggested on the back label;
Nocchianello Nero, vitigno della citta del Tufo, dai nostri vigneti vulcanici a Sorana prende il nome dal vulcano vulsineo di Monte Rosso.
Nochianello Nero has no mention in ‘Wine Grapes’ as it is rarely made into a monovarietal wine for commercial purposes. More surprisingly it has also passed under the radar of 'Native Wine Grapes of Italy' (D'Agata) and even Galet (Dictionnaire Encyclopedique des Cepages). It is purported to have no known genetic relationship to other grapes.
Planeta. Nocera. Sicilia DOC. 2017. 13.5% 5 ha.
Nocera is another local variety that has largely disappeared. In fact it is not even listed among Sicily’s 30 most planted vines. The 10th most planted is Merlot with 5,000 ha. D’Agata considers Merlot should not really be planted in Sicily at all due to the region’s hot microclimate and considers as ‘silliness’ not having more of an indiginous variety like Nocera, a quality, if little-known wine grape.
Nocera was once much more common, and easily found in north-eastern Sicily at least until the 1960s. At the time of writing his Native Wine Grapes of Italy,’ (2014), D’Agata could find only 4 producers of monovarietal Nocera and quotes 2 or 3 others including Planeta as saying they were ‘thinking’ of doing so.
Halara. Parpato. Marsala. Terre Siciliane IGP Italy. 2019. 12%
Halara is a collaboration between Nino Barraco, Corrado Dottori of La Distesa and a handful of friends who happen to be some of Italy’s most talented winemakers. The idea is simple: to restore abandoned vineyards in the hills outside Marsala and produce wines that speak of this incredible place – the sun, the soil, the wind and most importantly, the sea.
For now they are working with two hectares of thirty five year old vines planted with Catarratto and Parpato, a mysterious grape thought to be an ancient relative of Grenache.”
Tutto Wines website.
Parpato is not listed in ‘Wine Grapes’ or ‘Native Wine Grapes of Italy nor even Galet.
Domaine Adrien Berlioz. Cuvee Octavie. Persan. Vin de Savoie. 2018. 13%
Before Phylloxera hit the area at the end of the 19th century, Persan was widespread throughout Savoie and Isere. Its paucity in modern times lasted until Michel Grisard and others recently took it in hand. Since then it has gained in popularity.
In Italy there is a small amount grown under the name of ‘Becuet’ and the Swiss producer Jean-Pierre Pellegrin has planted 1,500 vines at his Domaine Grand Cour near Geneva but there is no sign of a Persan from him yet.
The name Berlioz must be common in the area. The composer was from La Cote St. Andre near Grenoble and the Domaine Adrien Berlioz is just over an hour’s drive from where he was born.
Thierry Navarre, Ribeyrenc. Cepage oublie du Languedoc. Vin de France, 2022. 10.5%
Ribeyrenc is also known as Rivairenc and Aspiran Noir. A disappearing but characterful variety brought back from the brink by Thierry Navarre.
Thierry writes:
'An old variety from the Languedoc planted in the 18th and 19th centuries. After Phylloxera many varieties disappeared or were not grafted. About ten [Ribeyrenc] vines survived and these allowed me to bring them back into cultivation. This work has taken me about twenty years.'
Historische Rebsorten Nr.242 Schwarzblauer Riesling. Deutscher Qualitatswein, Rheinhessen, Germany. 2018. 13.5%
The variety has survived with two very old specimens on black slate in one of the oldest, ungrafted Riesling vineyards in the Middle Moselle. It was described as "Blaue Vorzuegliche" by the Austrian ampelographer Franz Trummer in 1855, who named the variety as "Black of Heidelberg". The Schwarzblauer Riesling is probably very old and is one of the varieties that, like the Côt and Malbec, fell victim to the Little Ice Age. That is why they have only survived in the mildest winter vineyards in Germany. The ancient, extremely valuable grape variety was already a rarity in Germany in the 19th century. However, it could date back to the Old Franconian-Germanic period on the Moselle. Schwarzblauer Riesling is likely to have been widespread since the early Middle Ages in the core areas of the Moselle Franconia, Rhine Franconia, Carolingians and Alemanni, i.e. in Champagne, Alsace-Lorraine and in the middle and upper Rhine Valley (Palatinate, Electoral Palatinate). Ultimately, this original variety becomes a grape variety of Armenia, whose ancient inhabitants, after the conquest by the Assyrians and Urartians, were in direct connection with the Norman, Allemannen (Allemand), Mayer, Germanic, Tra-mini and Aminean people of late antique Europe. The variety has comparatively weak growth and very small leaves that are reminiscent of Riesling. The small, cylindrical grapes bear small, round, blue-black berries that become very sweet when fully ripe in mid-September and do not tend to rot. The fruit produces a wonderful cassis-tasting wine with high quality potential. Andreas Jung
Ca de Noci. Il Kyathos del Poggio. Sgavetta. Quattro Castella. Reggio Emilia Italy. 2019. 10.5%
From D’Agata (Native Wine Grapes of Italy) we learn that Sgavetta is a relatively recent variety grown in the vineyards around Modena and Reggio Emilia and has been cited as one of the highest quality grapes with which to make wine there. We also learn that it supplies colour to other lighter-hued wines, that the bunches are medium-sized, long, pyramidal and very sparse and that the berries are round, medium-sized, deformed, blue-black and thick skinned. He mentions that a small producer called Morsi Franzoni is making experimental batches of a Sgavetta wine. The fact this is not one of his might mean Sgavetta is on the march.
Szentesi Pince. Tihany Kek. Szőlő. Hungary. 2020. 12.5%
As
a child, József Szentesi showed little interest in working in his
father’s 1ha vineyard in Budaörs, 10km from Budapest. But, in
1998, he decided to make his own wine, training himself and gaining
inspiration from winemakers in Burgundy. Currently, he manages 16ha
on the slopes of Lake Velencei, 50km from Hungary’s capital, at an
altitude of 175m. He grows 30 different grape varieties – including
20 that are extremely rare.
"In an old publication written in 1880, I read about the ancient first-, second-, and third-class grape varieties. I was surprised that I hadn't even heard about many of the first-class ones. I have chosen 10 red and 10 white varieties; I purchased the rooted grafts from the Winery Research Faculty of University of Pécs, and Dr Pál Kozma (grape breeder) helped with the grafting.
The reds are Tihanyi Kék, Tarcali Kék, Csókaszőlő, Kékbajor, Feketefájú Bajor, Hajnos Kék, Kékszilváni, Purcsin, Laska, Feketemuskotály. The whites are Szerémi Zöld, Balafánt, Kovácsi, Kolontár, Lisztes, Fehér Gohér, Hamvas, Sárfehér, Vörösdinka, Piros Bakator. I see a big potential in the reds, because only Kékfrankos (Blaufrankisch) and Kadarka have survived the phylloxera plague from the native red grape varieties. From eight of the reds I already made wine several times. From the whites, I see potential in Szerémi Zöld. In addition, I make a blend of Lisztes Fehér and Zöldszilváni.
Tetramythos Mavro Kalavritino PGI Achaia, Peloponnese, Greece. 2022. 12.5%
A rare variety found only in Achaia in the Northern Peloponnese. It was close to extinction until oenologist Panayiotis Papagiannopoulos from Tetramythos Wines found viable Mavro Kalavrytino vines 15 years ago, which helped save the varietal.
Found mostly as a supporting player in blends, Tetramythos Wines are unique in producing 100% Mavro Kalavrytino wines.
Tamada Ojaleshi. Semi-Sweet wine. Martvili vineyard, Lechkhumi region of Racha, Kheketi, Georgia. 2019. 11.0%
How Ojaleshi was saved:
The residence of the Dadiani family in Georgia was at Salkhino. Salome Dadiani married Achille Murat, grandson of Napoleon Bonaparte’s commander, the King of Naples, Joachim Murat. Achille Murat increased the area of the Ojaleshi vines in the Salkhino vineyards to 16 hectares. Murat saved these vines by grafting them onto phylloxera-resistant rootstocks. In 1912 at the Paris Agricultural Exhibition, Salkhino Ojaleshi was awarded a gold medal.
After the establishment of the Soviet Union, this unique variety was not widely produced due to the fact that it was rather difficult to cultivate, relatively low-yielding and late. Ojaleshi was once more practically on the verge of extinction. The task of saving it was taken on by Klimenti Kekutia, the winemaker at Ojaleche Ltd. in Salkhino. The first vintage of his Ojaleshi to be bottled was that of 2016.
