WineMosaic: Saving Indigenous/Obscure Wine Grapes

A very/very interesting article by JasonWilson on WineMosaic, a Paris-based organization devoted to rescuing near-extinct grape varieties in Europe:
WineMosaic .

The tour is in the Alpine regions, both France & Suisse, mostly in the Savoie.

NicolasGonin scoffs at the idea of taking Verdesse, or any of these other local grapes of Savoie, and transplanting them to Calif...that these grapes are inextricably linked to their local place & culture. I suspect if he had the opportunity to taste MtVeeder Mondeuse (Noire), one of the World's great Mondeuses, he might change his mind.
I've had a number of these varieties..Persan, Jacquere, HumagneBlanche. Am dying to try some of the others. Perhaps my next trip to Europe will include the Savoie???

Anyway, quite an interesting read for any of you that are growing tired of the Cabernet/Chard paradigm.
Tom

What a fascinating article! While I'm doubtful that cool-climate varieties such as are grown in Savoie are going to be savior of New World viticulture that is already far too ripe and muscular, it certainly seems wise to preserve them as breeding stock.

Interesting article. The quote, "In fact, 80 percent of the world’s wine is produced from only 20 kinds of grapes. Many of the other 1,348 currently known varieties face extinction" was certainly thought provoking. I'm not sure if it's true, but it is thought provoking!

I definitely agree that we need to keep our options open, that monocultural approaches are dangerous in the long term, and that some obscure grapes can produce outstanding wine. But certainly not all or even most will, so obscure grapes aren't necessarily going to produce great or even good wine.

I was in Corsica and Sardinia earlier this year, and I tasted some really interesting and obscure wines. And they were often very good wines. I'm always up to taste new wines! But I'm not too sure of the somewhat extreme idea that obscure grapes should never leave their 'home'. That seems a bit short-sighted, especially given the incredible rate of global ecological and social change.