New Grape Varieties Out of the "Lab"

Not exactly out of a lab, but five new varieties have been bred by UC Davis. The reason is resistance to something called Pierce's Disease that kills grapevines and costs vineyard owners a lot of money.

There are two new whites and three reds. I don't know if these will show up much as bottlings on their own or mostly in less expensive wine blends. The wines are the standard Vitis vinifera grapes crossbred with a grape grown in the Southwest U.S. and northern Mexico, Vitis arizonica, that is resistant to Pierce's Disease. This has taken about twenty years to develop. It will be awhile before any show up in your local store.

The whites:

Ambulo blanc is similar to sauvignon blanc. It's mostly from cabernet sauvignon with some carignane (a red grape from Spain, France, and Italy) and chardonnay.

Caminante blanc tastes like a cross between sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. It's mostly cabernet sauvignon with equal, smaller parts of carignone and chardonnay. So essentially the same blend as the Ambulo blanc above, but where the Ambulo is more citrusy the Caminante is more melon and apple flavors.

The reds:

Camminare noir sounds pretty hefty as it's mostly petite sirah then cabernet sauvignon. Tastings say lots of red fruit and some tannins, but not as heavy as you might expect for a petite sirah based wine.

Paseante noir is mostly zinfandel plus petite sirah and cabernet. Tastings say dark fruit and herbal flavors with moderate tannins.

Errante noir is mostly sylvaner (a white grape from Germany) with equal, and smaller parts, of caberent sauvignon, carignane and chardonnay. This is supposed to be a big, earthy wine with lots of fruits and herbs. It's hoped by UC Davis this will be a big player in red blends.