Tag: White Wine

Season 2, episode 29: “Can anything good come from Delaware?”

On By makeamericagrapeagainpodcastIn American Hybrids, complex hybrid grapes, Dessert Wines, French-American Hybrids, Mid-Atlantic, Podcasts, Sweet Wines, Vinifera Crosses, White WineLeave a comment

If you’ve been following my podcast (and the associated blog) for a while, you know that I’ve come out strongly in favor of varietals that are hybrids between American and French grape strains. I admit, I started out dubious about these varietals, having listened to far too many sommeliers deride these grapes as foxy, unwholesome, and lacking in character. But over the years of doing this podcast, my views have changed. I am now a firm believer in what Ethan Joseph of Iapetus Winery calls “The Triumph of the Hybrids.”

Here before us in this episode is another example of this triumph. Aromella, first bred in 1976, has only recently emerged into the spotlight. Indeed, it is so new that my trusty Wine Grapes book by Jancis Robinson does not even mention it. It is so new to the market, in fact, that the 2017 vintage that Sophia, Peter, and myself imbibe in this episode from Harvest Ridge Winery in Marydel, Delaware, may well have come from the first ever single varietal release of this grape outside of the Finger Lakes!

In case you’re curious, Aromella is a cross between Traminette and Ravat 34, which are two other hybrid wine grapes. Traminette’s parentage includes the vinifera grape Gewurztraminer, which explains the bright floral character we noticed on this vintage in question. The title refers to Peter’s lament that nothing good comes out of Delaware, though in the end, he was convinced that this wine was an exception. Enjoy!

It turns out Peter was wrong: there is one good thing that comes from Delaware at least: this delicious bottle of dessert wine!

Season 2, Episode 25: “Diamond in the Rough”

On By makeamericagrapeagainpodcastIn complex hybrid grapes, Mid-Atlantic, Natural Wines, Podcasts, Sparkling Wines, Unusual wines, Vitus labrusca Wines, White Wine, wine conceptsLeave a comment

Diamond is a grape you might know better than you think. You may not have heard of this hybrid varietal, but there is a decent chance that you might have tasted it… but not in wine. Also known as Moore’s Diamond, this hybrid cross between Concord and Iona is, along with Niagara, one of the main grapes grown by Welch’s for use as white grape juice. If you know us in this podcast though, you know full well that we are all about trying some of the odd and unique wines made from varietals not commonly found along the beaten path.

Enter Lenn Thompson of The Cork Report. Along with the stellar blog, Lenn has a fantastic wine club focusing on some of the wines from off the beaten track, and in the February shipment came this fantastic bottle, the 2018 Diamond Petillant Naturel from Fossenvue Winery in the Finger Lakes AVA of New York. Also called the Eighteen-Forty-Eight (the year in which a famous Woman’s Suffrage Camp in Lodi, NY was created), Lenn described this wine, saying, “Even if you’re not typically a fan of ‘weird’ grapes, I think you’re going to dig it.”

We here at the Make America Grape Again Podcast are fans of ‘weird grapes,’ as well as strange wines in general (just look at our back catalogue which contains such wonders as Dandelion wines, Tomato wines, and amber wines made of La Crescent from Vermont, just to name a few), so of course, I dragged my friends kicking and screaming into drinking this bottle. It started out a little weird, and a little funky, but opened up to become something amazing and fun, and we’re glad we recorded that time to share with you all. Enjoy!

The Fossenvue Winery 2018 Diamond Petillant-Naturel was a fantastic exploration into an unfamiliar grape.