Netscape Forum Poll: I'd like to learn more about the wines of ...

[Robin Garr]

France, Italy, California, Australia ... so much of the wine we consume comes from these and other familiar places. Wine is made in just about all the world's temperate zones, though, and many of us enjoy exploring less well-known regions too. For this week's Netscape WineLovers Community poll, we've selected a handful of somewhat less familiar regions (plus the usual "other") and invite you to tell us which region you'd most like to explore.

<b>Click to vote!</b>

(Remember, it's not necessary to register or log in to the Netscape Forum to cast a vote.)

Eastern Europe, specifically Hungary. And I'm not talking about Tokai, either. There are all these mysterious grapes (don't have the necessary diacritical marks, so please excuse): Olaszrizling, Szurkebarat, Keknyelu...Hugh Johnson has written about them, but I've never seen a bottle.

Dave, I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment.

Eastern Europe has cultures that have long been wine-oriented, but the pestilence of decades of communism has left those cultures disoriented and only recently have native viniferas been making a comeback - albeith a glacially slow one.

Kadarka (a.k.a. Gamza), Saperavi ... the list goes on. All make excellent table wines when given proper, first-class treatment from vineyard to cellar.

I'd like to learn more about every country. But if pressed, I think Italy is top for me now as I haven't tasted enough from there and there is so much variety. Ditto Portugal. Ditto everywhere else too. So back to square one.

I know very little compared to the thousands of available wines, their producers and origins that any place will be interesting to me, but I know nothing about wines from S. America.

Eastern Europe, specifically Hungary. And I'm not talking about Tokai, either. There are all these mysterious grapes (don't have the necessary diacritical marks, so please excuse): Olaszrizling, Szurkebarat, Keknyelu...Hugh Johnson has written about them, but I've never seen a bottle.

Even more intriguing to me are the wines of Slovenia and Croatia. I hear more and more about them, but I still feel woefully ignorant of what's happening in those places.

Mark Lipton