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Heritage & Traditional Grapes – a #WinePW Preview

 

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This month, I am hosting the #WinePW group’s exploration of heritage and traditional grapes. I will attempt to host a chat on Threads on Saturday, November 11 at 8am PST / 11 am EST / 7 pm Istanbul. Well, I mean, I will be hosting one. How successfully I shall do so remains to be seen!

Here’s what the group will be talking about:

• Culinary Cam shares: A Geography Lesson + a Taste of Bulgaria: Bob Chorba and a Blend of Mavrud and Rubin from Thrace
• Gwendolyn of Wine Predator is contributing: Ancestor: Heritage Halter Ranch with Heritage Hamburgers #WinePW 
• Terri from Our Good Life is talking about: Don’t Let the Grape Fool You: Bordeaux from Toscana
• Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm shares: Getting to know Cinnabari from Dracaena
• David from Cooking Chat gives us Pairings with Halter Ranch Wines
• Andrea from The Quirky Cork presents: An Exploration of Heritage Grapes in Turkey

Heritage, or Traditional Grapes

Grapes have pretty specific (and usually well-known) birth places. And especially in today’s desire to chase “terroir” wines, people can get pretty up in arms about the exact location of those places. Pinot Noir in the Loire Valley, Nebbiolo in Piemonte, Assyrtiko on Santorini, Riesling along the Rhine River, Primitivo in Puglia…er, I mean, Crljenak Kasteljanski in Croatia, or do I mean Zinfandel in California?

That last grape (or three grapes if you choose to look at it that way) raises an interesting question though. Carole Meredith famously conducted DNA research at UC Davis that proved the “American” grape Zinfandel to be the same grape as Puglia’s Primitivo, which itself arrived from Croatia. And while the grape may be native to Croatia, both Italy and the US have had and been working with the grape for a good long amount of time now with each country presenting a unique expression of it. While this might be the most well-known (and convoluted!) story of a country adopting another’s grape, it’s hardly the only example. 

Tuscany is famous for its Super Tuscan wines which incorporate Bordeaux grapes. In Lombardy, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay make beautiful sparkling Italian wines. Australia is perhaps most famous for its Shiraz and New York is well-known for its Riesling. 

Grapes that have grown long enough in a place to be known for that place become part of an agricultural tradition. How long does that take? An interesting question. I’ve read that it has to be as much as 300 years. That seems like rather a lot. American wine is practically synonymous with Zinfandel but the United States itself isn’t even 300 years old. When writing about this topic, Mike Veseth, the Wine Economist, said: “The vines for this wine had been planted by the winemaker’s grandfather and had helped support three generations of his family.  That seems pretty well rooted in terroir, don’t you think?”

I like his take on this. 

Sevilen Colombard Semillon, 2020

Maybe it’s “too soon” to call Semillon a traditional variety in Turkey, but it’s been here for almost 100 years. In 1935, Nihat Kutman (whose descendants would go on to found two of the country’s oldest and most well-known wineries, Doluca, and Kutman) traveled to France and Germany to look for and bring home new grape varieties. Among the grapes he came home with were Riesling, Semillon, Gamay, and Cinsault. 

Semillon has seen a surge of popularity over the last five years with a variety of varietal wines and blends. Sevilen, another of Turkey’s oldest wineries had Semillon vineyards just kind of laying around. Old vineyards from Mürefte they harvested and slotted into blends but never really did much of interest with. Similarly, they have a 30+ year old vineyard full of Colombard vines they used mostly for brandy and table wine. Sevilen’s team took a trip to France where they drank an amazing Colombard-based wine and realized how good it could be. With that experience in mind, they returned to Turkey to see what they could do with the winery’s Colombard vineyard.

In the end, winemaker Sibel Çoban decided on a 50/50 blend to highlight both of these overlooked grapes. The result, magic. Also, how fun is that label?

The nose exploded with citrus fruit, yuzu, freshly grated lemon peel, flowers, and an earthy hint of wet stone. The palate offered a similarly citrus profile but leaned more towards pomelo and yuzu buried under an orchard full of citrus blossom carpeted with soft herbs. Vibrant acidity with 12.5% alcohol, a medium-ish finish, and overall medium body. 

I paired this with a Thai prawn salad with lemongrass, fresh mint, lime, makrut lime leaves, red cabbage, spring onions, chilies, and chili tamarind dressing. The wine tamed the spice and highlighted the mint and lemongrass flavors. They got along quite well!

What are your favorite heritage or traditional varieties? Join our Threads chat and tell us about them!