Here is a fun Wine Trivia question for the weekend!

What/where/who is Prieto Picudo? Shame on you if you have to google but if you do what is the english translation then!!

Too easy..... Jancis Robinson wrote about it as long as 25 years ago. True, not one you'll find easily on most shelves in the USA.

Best
Rogov

And why has prieto picudo raised its head now?

One of the many native Spanish grape varieties that have been recently rediscovered, replanted, and are getting into commercial-sized productions, with serious winemaking, and not just as quaint curiosities or as experimental vinfications in a lab. This one is red, pungent, a little rustic, very personal and is planted in León, central/northwestern Spain, just south of the (also recently rediscovered) mencía's natural terroirs.

Some other Spanish names across which you'll increasingly be coming also include xarel-lo, treixadura, espadeiro, brancellao, malvar, sumoll, samsó, rufete, bruñal, merseguera, garnacha tintorera, callet, baboso negro, marmajuelo, vijariego, bobal, hondarrabi zuri, albarín negro, carrasquín, caíño tinto, parraleta...

A few years back it was monastrell, mencía, godello, graciano, moscatel de grano menudo. Now it's really been expanded...

Some other Spanish names across which you'll increasingly be coming also include xarel-lo, treixadura, espadeiro, brancellao, malvar, sumoll, samsño, rufete, bruñal, merseguera, garnacha tintorera, callet, baboso negro, marmajuelo, vijariego, bobal, hondarrabi zuri, albarín negro, carrasquín, caíño tinto, parraleta...

A few years back it was monastrell, mencía, godello, graciano, moscatel de grano menudo. Now it's really been expanded...

If most of these new, to me, names are anything like as interesting as, for example, Mencia and Godello, wine-lovers can look forward to an exciting expansion of their palette of taste sensations.

Good stuff everyone!! Translation is Black Beak!

http://www.winesfromspain.com/icex/cda/ ... _0,00.html

And why has prieto picudo raised its head now?

The manager at my fave store downtown said..."Try this Bob". Very big wine but quite expensive. There were 2 wines ranging from $34 up to $70.

And why has prieto picudo raised its head now?

The manager at my fave store downtown said..."Try this Bob". Very big wine but quite expensive. There were 2 wines ranging from $34 up to $70.

Are you going to try it, Bob? You and Victor have stimulated my curiosity and I am all agog for your impressions.

I wonder how many other countries have similarly obscure varieties on suitable terroirs waiting for a revival so as to further enrich the palette of wine aromas and flavours. Spain with its current energy and wine-growing skill is well placed to do a good job here.

France, I think, has exploited most of its varietal and terroir potential but there could be more to come from Italy with such grapes as Nero d'Avola, Refosco, Aglianico, Negroamaro, Primitivo, Nerello Mascalese, Fiano, Fallanghina and Carricante and the appellations where they are grown having re-emerged from the shadows in recent years.

Let us also hope that some of the Eastern European countries newly back into the wine exporting business exploit the riches of their own varietal heritage rather than go for "international" varieties which are too often big yawns outside their regions of origin.

New discoveries of old grapes can be exciting but let's not get too carried away. Veneto, for example, has well over 200 indigenous varieties and fewer than a dozen of them a worth even considering for winemaking.

Best
Rogov

New discoveries of old grapes can be exciting but let's not get too carried away. Veneto, for example, has well over 200 indigenous varieties and fewer than a dozen of them a worth even considering for winemaking.

Best
Rogov

Yup....some of them are obscure and fallen into extinction for a reason. Still....who'd have thunk a workman's grape like PinotGrigio could nake a great botrytis dessert wine in SantaMaria? Not I. Some of these obscure/useless varieties could very well make something exotic/great when grown in other regions and using different winemaking techniques.
Tom

Some other Spanish names across which you'll increasingly be coming also include xarel-lo, treixadura, espadeiro, brancellao, malvar, sumoll, samsño, rufete, bruñal, merseguera, garnacha tintorera, callet, baboso negro, marmajuelo, vijariego, bobal, hondarrabi zuri, albarín negro, carrasquín, caíño tinto, parraleta...

A few years back it was monastrell, mencía, godello, graciano, moscatel de grano menudo. Now it's really been expanded...

If most of these new, to me, names are anything like as interesting as, for example, Mencia and Godello, wine-lovers can look forward to an exciting expansion of their palette of taste sensations.

Well said Tim...and thanks Victor for your imput. Great to hear from you as usual. We all value your expertise.

Tim yup gonna have to fit some bottles into my stretched budget!

New discoveries of old grapes can be exciting but let's not get too carried away.

Every single one I've mentioned is already producing commercially available wines of exciting quality. I repeat: these are not lab-produced experiments. These are quality grape varieties. And there are more names. Just today, Jancis Robinson extols on her web site the giró blanc varietal, Torre des Canonge 2007, made by Toni Gelabert on Mallorca island. The variety was only officially accepted by the Pla i Llevant appellation last August, but it's indigenous to the Balearics. Personally, I grow and vinify seven grape varieties at Finca Sandoval, two foreign ones (the French syrah and the Portuguese touriga nacional) but also five traditional Spanish varieties, all of them of great interest (bobal, monastrell, garnacha tinta, garnacha tintorera, moscatel romano).

Where to find value in Spain, here is the article (one has to scroll down)...>

http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a200901151.html

Every single one I've mentioned is already producing commercially available wines of exciting quality.

Victor, Hello....

I was not questioning that many grapes can and will producing fine wines but was arguing against getting carried away with the "oh wow, it's new so it must be good" argument too often heard. Alas, we live in a world where too many people too often ask "what's new this week", so that some products that might and should not have come to the market make their way to these fickle people.

The "what's new" phenomenon is found not only in wine but at chocolatiers, cheese shops, vegetable and fruit stalls. I am not saying to avoid the newly discovered or re-discovered but I am saying that new will not necessarily equate with good.

Best
Rogov

I was arguing against getting carried away with the "oh wow, it's new so it must be good" argument

I have only been writing about wine for 30 years, and I have been accused many times of exactly the contrary - not getting sufficiently carried away and being too skeptical. Also, I would never manifest myself in favor or against any wines extolled by someone else when I have not tasted these wines myself...