I think you mean semillon; refer to my last-weekend semillon tasting tour ans the wise words of shillard and others on the Australia forum, on the Hunter Valley's unique gift to the world.

Let me just grab some from the fridge for another taste. Lovedale 2003 semillon.
Still good!

I find wine making style and terroir far more interesting than the grape variety. Thus for me knowing that it is a Banyul, for example, is much more interesting than knowing that it is made from grenache, carignan, malvoisie, macabeau or muscat grapes. Bonus points for pre-phylloxera rootstock.

My favorite white varietal is Roussanne. The core varietal in most white Rhones. Much more character and structure than Viognier, and more inherent complexity than chardonnay.

the white clone of pinot noir in burgundy. it is a legal grape for all white burgundy.

italy claims to have over 1000 grape varieties. i have probably had some 20-50 of them by drinking "local" wines.

that meritage grape you're talking about. did they finally clone all 5(or 6) variety into a single vine?

the french seem to distinguish cab franc in medoc from cab franc (called Bouchet) in st emilion

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For an amazing Meritage blend, check out the Benegas Lynch Meritage from the Upper Mendoza Riverbank.

Mi Amigo,

You may appreciate these notes from Cellar Tracker on the 2002 vintage.

Tasted by jcash on 4/22/2008 & rated 95 points: We bought a bottle of this in Buenos Aires at a wine shop called "Terroir". We asked for something that was ready for immediate consumption. It was excellent! Could have benefitted from a little breathing ortime in bottle, but my wife and I both thought it was amazing -- complex, full-bodied, firm structure lingering luxururiously and almost endlessly on the palate -- uniquely Argentine in character to boot. (461 views)

Tasted by fredmartens on 3/8/2008 & rated 92 points: Very well made wine; Michel Rolland consulting. 30% CS, 50% CF, 15%M, 5% PV, all from Finca Libertad vineyard. After being somewhat disappointed by their "old vine" cab franc bottling, this was a nice surprise. Decanted 3 hours; dark purple in color, with complex fruit flavors to match and an appreciatively restrained use of oak...letting the grapes do the talking. Medium finish, unique mineral, earthy nose I couldn't deconstruct into specific scents; not reminiscent of other Mendoza wines to say the least. (513 views)

FYI, Fred is one of us.

I had never heard of this one until I came across a line of Chilean (sorry Alex) wines labeled "OOPS" which blends the grape with other reds. Pretty good, but at around $10 a bottle you can't expect to be overwhelmed.

We have been enjoying the Austrian Reds, fruity and pleasant ones such as the Zweigelts and the Blaufraenkisch. The Austrian wine country is mainly south of Vienna and we will try to visit it next year before the VIE Do in September.

Also, an Italian restaurant in our neighborhood in Florida introduced us to the Aglianico which comes from Campania and makes a hearty red wine with a bit of tannin.

And an interesting Campanese white which was introduced to us by a waiter in a restaurant near our office in New Jersey was the Fiano di Avellino. He loved it because that is where he grew up. We like it because it has the typical softness of an Italian white with dryness and lots of flavor.

has anyone ever had a straight bourboulenc? very interesting stuff but kind of hard to find

Whoops, my bad on semillon! (That is what happens when you don't google.) I'll add another Austrian oddity that I have tried in the past year, St. Laurent. From Jura, there is Savagnin which is used in Vin Jaune. I have only had Vin Jaune once. Pricey to put it mildly but the world of wine would be a poorer place without it. I have also tried Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, and Malvasia from Madeira. I'm not sure if I have had a Terrantez from Madeira or not. I also had some indigenous varieties from Corsica in the past year whose names escape me.

I don't really consider Gewurztraminer all that unusual, probably because I sell Gewurztraminers from Alsace and Ontario.

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Amazing wines....

I have to say, this summer my biggest surprise was Txakoli. It's a Basque wine I believe and awesome.

This was a nice white varietal priced around US$9.00. Around 9% alcohol and a slight pale green (but I did have one rose too). It was great every day drinking and low alcohol made it awesome for that weekday wine. Citrussy and really crisp. It's around at alot of the PDX wine shops, although not at larger grocery stores with wine sections.

Outside of DC is the Horton Vineyard. They produce a large selection of wines, and outside of their HIGHLY underrated Viognier, their Norton is quite interesting and unique. The history behind this varietal is also pretty cool - it was the original grape grown by colonists way back when. Thomas Jefferson raised their grapes for wine production on his Virginian estate even.

The wine itself is more interesting than good, IMHO. The color resembles some of the darkest northern rhone/central coast syrah's I've seen. It's basically like squid ink in color. The taste characteristics as I remember them are very terroir driven, with lots of pine needles, wet mud, and manure. If you're into "old world" style wine (cote rotie/bordeaux/cornas/etc) you might find this bottle interesting too.

sounds like a vinho verde from portugal but without the light effervesence (sp?) ^