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Unusual grape varieties from less well-known places that have been used to dazzling effect
Kozlovic Teran, Istria, Croatia 2019 (£13.05, vinvm.co.uk) I’m a bit reluctant to talk about the “exotic” or the “off-the-beaten-track” in wine. As with their use in every other context, these terms rather assume that yours is the perspective that counts. Of course, the exotic isn’t exotic when you live there. And stories of deviating from the well-trodden path carry with them a whiff of the brave, possibly even pith-helmeted culinary explorer unveiling their supposedly weird and wonderful finds to the folks back home. Still, exploring the less-talked-about areas of the wine world has been a bit of preoccupation for me in a year when it’s one of the few acts of exploration (albeit only in bottle form) that’s been allowed. And the red wines made from the teran variety, such as Kozlovic’s, in Istria are certainly among the less-heralded wines you can find in the UK – wines, that with their searing but satisfying and refreshing rasp, rip and tang of tannin, acid, raspberry and cherry, and ferrous streak, are like nothing else around.
Planeta Etna Bianco, Sicily, Italy 2018 (£22, greatwine.co.uk) I’m not sure teran will ever be incorporated into the generally approved canon of great grape varieties. The wines made from it are too edgy, too nervy – to the extent that they sometimes feel like a whole different drink to more “conventional” (another loaded term) red wines made from popular big-hitting grape varieties like cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir or malbec. But other lesser-known names that I’ve enjoyed recently do, it seems to me, have a good chance of finding wider fame in years to come. Regular readers of this column will know I’ve got a bit of thing for Sicily, and I’ve long wondered if the varieties grown on the slopes of Etna (such as the red nerello mascalese and the white carricante), which aren’t always spotted on the label, would fare away from the volcanic soil and high altitudes of this very special region. In the meantime, as I speculate, Planeta’s electrifying, spine-tingling dry carricante continues to thrill. Continue reading...