Burgundian Pinot Gris?

I only ask because, although it grows in the tropics, I've never really thought of breadfruit as a "tropical fruit" in the usual sense of smelling sweet and aromatic. Breadfruit flesh smells kind of like raw potato with a hint of pine, the skin is like leathery green rubber and smells kind of chlorophylly and barky.

They make good footballs, though, and they're fun to smash. Takes some doing!
 
About $85 here.
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I wonder if that makes it the most expensive pinot blanc in the world. Anyone have another contender? I've never seen anything from Alsace get to even half that.
 
originally posted by Thor:
About $85 here.
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I wonder if that makes it the most expensive pinot blanc in the world. Anyone have another contender? I've never seen anything from Alsace get to even half that.
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My guess is that some of the Weissburgunder Grosses Gewchs wines may go for that price or more if imported to the US. The only one I see on wine-searcher is Rebholz 2006 for $53, but I would expect those from Baden-Wrttemberg-Franken to be more expensive.
 
originally posted by Chris Coad:
I only ask because, although it grows in the tropics, I've never really thought of breadfruit as a "tropical fruit" in the usual sense of smelling sweet and aromatic. Breadfruit flesh smells kind of like raw potato with a hint of pine, the skin is like leathery green rubber and smells kind of chlorophylly and barky.

They make good footballs, though, and they're fun to smash. Takes some doing!
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Well, seeing as I rarely get to see real tropical fruit, I must be mistaken. Though I was sure that smell was from a tropical fruit, not a Mango, or a Papaya... Dang. I'll just have to edit it down... nah, I'll leave it there for the world to better appreciate that Canadians and tropical fruit only have passing acquaintance..

Though with your words above, I shall be able to use it correctly in the future - sounds like a lot of wine I've had. And the football part could be fun.
 
originally posted by VS:
... it seems this is always the case when such a natural mutation occurs ('tempranillo blanco', discovered in Rioja by the vineyard manager at Marqus de Murrieta, ...
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I missed this post and have just heard of "tempranillo blanco" . At first I thought it must be something like "White Zinfandel".

Never seen it nor tasted the mutation. What's it like?

Though I have tasted a Blanc de Noir Tempranillo Blanco by Pago del Vicario
 
We had the 94 Rion Blanches blind at our Burgundy group a few weeks back, and here was my note:

Pretty darn oaky, and a spiciness that I couldn't decide if was the pinot blanc or the oak to some degree. A stout wine, still chugging along, interesting, but didn't get to me that much. Most in group guessed something mountainous like Jura or Alsace.
 
originally posted by Warren Edwardes:
Never seen it nor tasted the mutation.
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No one has produced any commercially yet, so it isn't surprising!

Just like Henri Gouges in Nuits a half-century earlier, the father of Miguel ngel de Gregorio (Finca Allende), who was the Marqus de Murrieta vineyard manager, was walking through a vineyard in Murillo del Ro Leza, La Rioja, in 1988 when he saw a tempranillo vine with white grapes. That plant was reproduced in the official Rioja viticultural lab, and a couple of experimental vinifications were made earlier this decade, which I tasted, and they were very promising.

Since in the European Union you can't plant a grape variety for commercial purposes until this variety is approved for your region, nothing happened until a slew of new red and white varieties were approved in Rioja earlier this year; they are basically old native grapes that were near-extinct but have been shown to be of good quality for winemaking purposes, plus three controversial 'foreign' white varieties (verdejo, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay) which may now be used as minority components of blends.

Rioja has announced plans to plant 3,500 new hectares of white vineyards, a stark reversal in policy: ten years ago, all new plantings of white grapes were banned. It appears, from requests by growers, that up to 2,000 of those hectares may be tempranillo blanco!

This is from a Rioja University report on all the newly approved grape varieties. On tempranillo blanco, it points out some characteristics (high aromatics, high acidity) which are drastically different from regular tempranillo, but I must say from my experience that these observations are probably correct:

"It will be necessary to harvest it earlier than the usual dates in Rioja [late September to mid-October] so that the alcohol contents don't become too high for a white wine. Total acidity stays high, notably a high content in malic acid. The wines made with it show a high concentration of volatile components with fruity aromas (superior alcohol acetates and diethyl succinate). It has been highly rated in the sensory analysis. Salient points are its greenish yellow color; its characteristic varietal aromas described as intensely fruity with bananas, citrus and tropical fruits, plus floral and terpenic [i.e., petrol-like] elements; its balanced mouthfeel with good structure; its medium-to-long finish."
 
Pretty interesting stuff. Victor, any idea when tempranillo blanco will become commercially available? Do the vines themselves look like tempranillo vines (e.g. leaf shape) or are there visible differences too?
 
The vines are perfect tempranillo vines, Yixin. And I don't expect any commercial tempranillo blanco to be around for the next two or three years.
 
Remelluri Blanco is a white Rioja. That's the only relation I can think of. This is a peculiar wine, technically illegal a cocktail of moscatel de grano menudo (muscat blanc petits grains), garnacha blanca (grenache blanc), viognier, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, roussanne, marsanne and petit courbu. Of these, only garnacha blanca and, now, sauvignon and chardonnay are officially allowed in Rioja.
 
originally posted by VS:
The vines are perfect tempranillo vines, Yixin. And I don't expect any commercial tempranillo blanco to be around for the next two or three years.
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Actually, I think Vina Ijalba already has a commercial release of white Tempranillo.
 
Sorry - indeed you're correct, Brian! And it seems they have been making it as far back as 2005 (when it was, here again, technically illegal, but tolerated, since everyone knew the variety would be admitted in the end.) The fact that no one seems to have paid much notice is tell-tale... Via Ijalba (known for their suppository-shaped bottles) does pride itself in championing innovation - graciano varietals, for instance, or another recovered Rioja white grape, maturana blanca. Unfortunately, their fondness for very early harvesting and their winemaking style lead to remarkably unyielding, inexpressive wines that ultimately don't win too many fans over. For instance, several other gracianos are now way better than theirs. And their maturana blanca is plain heavy and alcoholic.

BTW, and since we're in the wonderfully arcane world of grape varieties - there are two, not one, red maturanas, which DNA fingerprinting has shown are not at all related to maturana blanca or indeed to one another. 'Plain' maturana tinta is genetically related, but not identical, to merenzao (Galicia), bastardo (Spain and Portugal), baboso negro (Canary Islands) and, yes, trousseau (the Jura grape, which is a natural cross of petit verdot and something called duras). Then there's maturana tinta de Navarrete, which has some DNA kinship with espadeiro (Ras Baixas). The two maturanas are in the lot of newly-admitted, recovered Rioja varieties, and from what I've tasted, they show tremendous potential.
 
originally posted by VS:
The vines are perfect tempranillo vines, Yixin. And I don't expect any commercial tempranillo blanco to be around for the next two or three years.
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Pardon me if the answer was embedded somewhere in this thread, but which ones should we watch out for, as I understand that quite a few bodegas have plantings? This might actually be the impetus for another trip to Spain as a short detour from the annual Mosel visit.
 
Juan Carlos Sancha, a small grower in Baos de Ro Toba who is involved in the research to recover minority Rioja varieties, has just launched two 2008 wines: Ad Libitum Tempranillo Blanco and Ad Libitum Maturana Tinta. I have tasted neither yet, but the buzz is positive. Besides Via Ijalba, no one else has announced any white tempranillo wine yet...
 
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