—by Averill Shepps–
Just as I was thinking about writing this month’s column, a friend sent me a link to the New York Times article titled, “Why You Should Be Drinking Weird Wines’ by Jason Wilson. Did you know there are 1,368 known grape varieties? Going on with statistics, nearly 80% of the world’s wine is made from Just 20 different kinds of grapes. That means there are 1,348 lesser known grapes out there.
The author makes some powerful arguments in favor of those that are lesser known. He points out that since the middle ages Gouais Blanc was banned across Europe by various royal decrees. It was derided as a peasant grape. We have since learned through DNA testing, that Gouais Blanc was found to be the mother of around 80 modern varieties including Chardonnay. Those of you who were at the Chardonnay tasting know that Chardonnay is one of the most widely grown grapes in the world and can be found on 6 continents.
The Slow Food movement and others that support buying local foods have been giving us arguments for years that biodiversity is healthy for the world as a whole. Wilson makes those same arguments for grapes. I am encouraged to get his book and will report to you as I find it interesting.
Meanwhile, it reminds me that I have done a couple of Uncommon Grape tastings in the past, and it is time to revisit that subject. We will be having a planning meeting on June 23rd when we will talk about our schedule for next year, and I will suggest it. If any of you has a subject that you would like us to address or a grape you would like to “visit”, let a board member know before that date.