As wine drinkers we all have our favorites, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay or Merlot. Looking outside our normal delights opens an entire new wine world to us. Here are a few out of the ordinary grape varieties to consider.

 

Whites

Albariño: This grape is grown in the northeastern province of Galicia, Spain and northern Portugal. There it is spelled alvarinho. It makes a delicious, light, lemony, and often slightly spritzy wine.

 

Grüener Veltliner: An Austrian grape that packs a punch! It carries spicy and musky flavors, with a peppery finish.

 

Macabeo: This grape hails from Northern Spain and is also known as viura. It’s one of the three grapes used in making Spanish cava or sparkling wine. It’s the primary white grape of Rioja.

 

Cortese: A grape that is grown in Northwestern Italy, it makes a medium-bodied wine called Gavi. Traditionally, it’s been the most prized wine of the Piedmont region.

 

Roussanne: A French Rhone variety, often blended with Marsanne, considered elegant and floral. Both Roussanne and Marsanne grapes produce dry white wines.

 

Reds

Carmenère: Once grown in Bordeaux, now this grape finds a home in Chile. Often, Chilean wines labeled as Merlot are made in part from carmenère.

 

Monastrell: A widely planted Spanish grape often used to make rosés and red wines. This is the Spanish name for what the French call mourvèdre.

 

Nero d’ Avola: This grape is also called calabrese. It creates full-bodied and complex wines from Sicily.

 

Petit Verdot: Commonly known as a Bordeaux blending grape, it adds spice, depth and color to wines.

 

Pinotage: A South African cross between pinot noir and cinsaut.