Thursday, 31 January 2013

Lesser Known Grapes of Europe


This is the line-up for the recent PWC dinner, when we explored some lesser known grapes of Europe. Repeating the Arbane varietal champagne, as the participants of this meeting (bar my wife and I) have not tasted this grape yet, the rest of the grapes are new to PWC with the exception of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot which were featured in a supporting role in the wine from Mallorca, which I had recently blogged about.

We had 2 French wines, the champagne and a Mondeuse from Savoie. We had 2 Hungarians; a noble late harvest wine (but not classical Tokaj) from the Tokaji region and the wine made from the white Feteascas. What is notable in this pair is that the dessert wine was made from Koverszolo as well as Furmint and Harslevalu. Feteasca Alba and Koverszolo (prime name Grasa di Cotnari) were crossed to yield Feteasca Regala, making it the first time we had tasted a grape and both its parents in the same occasion. A Greek, a Bulgarian and a Fumin from the Italian Alps completed the line-up.

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