Ok, here’s the latest on my quest for 100 varieties — I’ve purchased seven new ones – haven’t tried them yet, but when I do, I’ll update the count.

A few of them like Verdicchio and Vernaccia are pretty common and I’ve probably had them previously, but on this new quest – I’m only counting if I can identify the specific wine containing that varietal..

The other five are much less common, at least to me:

Tazzelenghe is a red Italian wine grape from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy. The name means, “Tongue Stinging” or “Tongue cutting” – that’s kind of scary. I bought a couple of bottles of 2004 Moschioni “Real” Colli Orientali from Garagiste. I don’t have them yet, but can’t wait for that “tongue stinging” experience.

Lemberger ( you probably know this as: Blaufrankisch — cmon now, that’s a joke). I purchased a bottle of 2005 College Cellars Lemberger from Catie in Walla Walla, WA – How could anyone resist a wine purchase from The Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman . I don’t have this one yet either, but I’m eager to give it a try.

Muscadelle – I actually opened this (2005 Jacques Sans Souci Blanc) last night. It’s a white Bordeaux also containing Semillion and Sauvignon Blanc. It was light, fruity, with a bit of an un-pleasant aftertaste, but decent and my #62.

The last two varieties are Palomino and Pedro Ximenez, both found in a bottle of NV Lustau Deluxe Cream Sherry. I haven’t opened this yet and am a little reluctant to do so – don’t know why, just am. I don’t think I’ve ever had sherry, creamed or otherwise.

The closer I get to 100 varieties, the more difficult it gets. I am confident that if I just pay attention to one of my favorite wine blogs: Good Wine Under $20 , Dr Debs will continue to identify new varieties for me to seek out. I’m still looking for the Roditis that she mentioned a few weeks ago and now need to find Gaglioppo which she highlighted in a recent post.

Even with all of these, I’m still almost 30 short — that really seems like a lot. As one commenter said, “It’s not a race” but when you’re  70 years old, – it could be.

Posted by DRHamp as Wine-Wine-Wine at 9:17 AM GMT-0500

4 Comments »

I picked up a couple of new varieties this morning — a Pinotage (2005 Wamakersvallei Phambili), a 100% South

African Pinotage and

A Nero D’Avola (2005 Firriato Chiaramonte), a 100% Nero D’Avola from Sicily.

So, I can chalk up #’s 58 and 59 on my way to 100 varieties.

Posted by DRHamp as Wine-Wine-Wine at 12:21 PM GMT-0500

No Comments »

Ok four days ago I posted on my goal to qualify for the Wine Century Club by tasting 100 wine grape varieties before I moved on. At that time, I reported that my then-current count was 39 varieties with 61 to go.

Well, by doing some research into the wines in my cellar that I’ve tried especially the “blends” I found that I picked up an additional eight varieties that I didn’t know I’d had – bringing my count to forty seven. I opened a bottle of Bodegas Sierra Cantabria Rioja Bianco Organza — it’s a blend of Viura, Malvasia, and Granacha Blanca — none of which I have had previously, so now I’m at 50 — WOW halfway.

Today I went wine variety shopping (secretly looking for that illusive Rhoditis that DrDebs had mentioned).

I didn’t find Rhoditis, but I did find an unusual Greek variety called Moschofilero – I was very pleased. Also picked up an additional six varieties that I’ve never had — among them: Garganega, Torrontes, and Erbaluce —– Never, ever, ever heard of them.

I haven’t tried them all yet, but I will and my number will be 57 — as already reported in the left sidebar!

Posted by DRHamp as Wine-Wine-Wine at 3:55 PM GMT-0500

6 Comments »

I think it’s important to remember friends and family — especially family.

Family was the core of my Mom’s existance – life revolved around her husband and her two boys — and later her grand children and great-grand children.

One of her goals later in life was to live to see the millennium – and she did that, greeting the year 2000 with a smile and her usual good humor.

She passed on in January 2000 and today would have been her 100th birthday.  We love her and miss her, and thinking about her makes me smile.

Posted by DRHamp as uncategorized at 9:45 AM GMT-0500

2 Comments »

If you drink wine at all, you’re likely familiar with “the big six” grape varieties: Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. It is also likely that you’ve heard of and possibly tried some of the other somewhat common varieties like: Zinfandel, Gewurtztraminer, Syrah, Pinot Grigio, Chenin Blanc, and Sangiovese.

So, let’s say that you are probably familiar with twelve to fifteen wine grape varieties – well, with a little research, you can find literally thousands of documented grape varieties, clones, and hybrids used in making wine.

“So where is all this going?” – you ask;

I’ve read a lot of wine articles in the last year or so and somewhat religiously follow a number of blogs on the subject. This reading has often encouraged me to at least try new wines and new wine grape varieties and I’ve done that. GaryVee over at Wine Library TV is constantly pushing us to try new things. Over the past year I’ve probably had twelve to fifteen wines made from varieties that I’d not previously heard of : Arneis, Albarino, Aglianico, Godello, Malbec, Montepulciano, and Tokaji(Tokay) to name a few.

So, here generally is my new goal – I want to try at least one new wine variety each month for the rest of my (wine drinking) life. By my count, I’m currently at 39 – for some reason I’m a little ashamed of that number – pretty sparse for forty+ years of wine interest. That’s less than one new variety per year, let alone one per month. I need to get on it if I’m going to reach any respectable number before I die.

Ok, so you’re still asking where this is going? I was reading one of my favorite wine blogs this morning — Good Wine Under $20 where DR. Debs posted that she had just tried Roditis, her 100^th variety which marked her unofficial qualification for the Wine Century Club .

Hmmmm – I didn’t know there was such a thing either! Well, there you are – my goal is clarified — “QUALIFY FOR THE WINE CENTURY CLUB” before I die.

Well, I’m 70 now and with 61 varieties to go, I think it’s do-able — At any rate, It’s the effort that counts right?

Posted by DRHamp as Wine-Wine-Wine at 11:11 AM GMT-0500

2 Comments »