I once again have the privilege of being a guest on Natascha’s great food and wine show, Food in Focus. It will be on Saturday, 18 May at 4 pm Sydney time. If you are dialing (does anyone truly have a dial on their radio anymore?) in, it is 89.7 FM in Sydney, Australia or can be found and heard over the Internet as Food in Focus.
Natascha is always great fun and mixes it up well. The first time I was on the show, we talked about party wines. The next time, we sampled and discussed Rieslings. This time we are going to be discussing wines made from secondary red wine grapes. The four primary red wine grapes are:
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Shiraz
- Merlot
- Pinot Noir
A majority of red wine is made from these primary grape sources. Yet, I have fallen in love with the different mouth feel, textures and variety of the so-called secondary grapes. They are only secondary when referring to the volume of grapes sold as wine. They make some great, great wines. Examples of secondary wine grapes include:
- Sangiovese
- Zinfandel
- Tempranillo
- Durif
- Barbero
- Grenache (is considered by some to be a primary red wine grape)
- … and many more!
There might be over 1,000 different wine grapes now. What I love about the secondary grapes is that they have real character and sense of terroir. They uniquely reflect the region where they are grown, more so than primary red grapes. The primary grapes have been replanted so many times and so far around the world and have been groomed to reflect the strength of the varietal. Secondary grapes have far more diversity and different characteristics based on where they are grown. This is not to say that primary red wine grapes do not reflect their terrior – they certainly do. And they make some great wines. But the secondary red wine grapes make wines which are all over the place, picking up the local climatic and soil traits and the influence of various wine makers not yet familiar with the grape, and therefore, can sometimes take on unique characteristics which make then truly special.
I am not sure exactly what bottles I will be bringing tomorrow. I am still figuring that out this evening and tomorrow morning. But as always, it should be a great show. Tune in if you can!
Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013. Steve Shipley
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