Friday, January 28, 2011

Very little room for wine snobs, regarding hybrid grapes


Sure, if you have the bucks (I don't) and your tastes run to Ch. Lafite and Screaming Eagle and Cayuse and Quilceda Creek, then you can tell me that, for you, it is only the best vinifera wines that will do. OK.

But all the other wine drinkers (99.7% of all wine drinkers) need to keep open minds towards lots of grapes. There are thousands of different vinifera grapes which are made into wine, on this planet--how many of those have you tried? And there are thousands of cross-species ("inter-specific") hybrid grapes, too, many of which are made into wines, and many of those wines can be very good. Some have gotten high 90s scores from Wine Spectator. (Most hybrid grapes contain both vinifera genes, and also some native American grapes' genes.)

Leaving aside all the reasons why hybrids are so good to grow (more disease resistance; less spraying and tractor fuel required; earlier ripening, so more-consistent harvests and less vineyard labor for netting required), it is becoming ever more clear that hybrid grapes, in the right sites and in the right winemaker's hands, make outstanding wines.

This is not surprising to me, especially after I learned the following:

1. Most or all vinifera grapes contain genes that are shared by American grapes. This is for many reasons: (a) all grapes share one common ancestor, so there is much shared genetic material, among grape species; (b) when the American and EurAsian areas were all one shared land mass, all the current grape species could and did share genetic material readily with each other; and (c) since humans have been moving grapes from continent to continent (in the past 1000 years or so), many grape species have again been sharing genes, through both natural and human-driven processes.

2. Therefore, viniferas contain American grape genes, and vice-versa.

3. Some hybrids contain a LOT of vinifera genes. Regent, for example, is more than 80% vinifera.
Bottom line: In grapes, there is no such thing as a "thoroughbred." All grapes are polyglots, containing many other grapes in their backgrounds.

Also, there is no "good" or "bad" label that should be ascribed to a particular grape species. There are only grapes, within each species, that are good or bad, to you, based on a particular site, season, and winemaker. It takes a continuing journey to attempt to find all the good ones. Please: Don't limit your journey to just the world of vinifera. Some of those wines aren't good. And some hybrid wines are very good. Keep looking, and keep an open mind (as suggested by the photo above, which you might have been wondering about ;)

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