Uncommon wine varietals for everyday drinking

I’ve become a creature of habit. I have been mostly buying, cellaring, and drinking the same varietals for decades. That’s fine because I love my Bordeaux, Barolo, Super Tuscans, Cali Cab blends, Pinot Noir, Rioja, etc…the usual suspects. But there are thousands of grape varietals and I think it might be a good idea to start trying some lesser known wines. I’m thinking that these will be lower priced white and red wines that I will just buy and drink on a Tuesday night…not high end wines to put in the cellar. I just ordered a few Dolcettos and Barberas for this purpose. I’m hoping I get some responses here with some interesting recommendations.

I drink a lot of Chenin Blanc at home. Not an extreme, but certainly something I find that I drink at least once a week, if not more.

Cab Franc is most typically blended, but I drink a lot of Loire Cab Franc too.

Semillon is another blending grape I love to drink on its own, and do it pretty frequently. I like a lot of the Aussie stuff since it’s like 11% alcohol.

Arneis and Cortese are two whites that I really enjoy.

Check out Idlewild https://www.idlewildwines.com/

Trousseau! Arnot-Roberts makes a good one but so do others.

I love that wine. a red that I feel OK pairing with just about anything- fish to red meat.

OP already mentioned dolcetto and Barbara but Freisa as well! also in Italy, Frappato and nerello mascalese. I could drink Sicilian wine every day and be very happy.

also Aligote is getting better and better IMO. Chenin was already mentioned but always a good decision. Mouvedre and zinfandel are still under appreciated as well in my mind.

oh also whatever grape they use to make wine in the Canary Islands. that stuff is awesome.

Carignane, Grenache and Carmenere are all interesting wines that can be found at value pricing. I particularly enjoy Grenache. With a little digging you can find French, Spanish, US, Aussie and even old vine versions.

Albariño, great with shellfish and a range of foods. I like drier versions. Lots of options from Rias Baixis and some new world choices.

A few recommendations:

Mouvedre- not “obscure” per se, but if it’s not in your repertoire it’s worth checking some out. Fellow Berserkers Hardy and Larry make great examples of it

For Dolcetto, if you haven’t tried San Fereolo’s Dogliani Superiore, do make sure to grab some. Great example of Dolcetto with some age.

+1 on David’s recommendation of Cortese Ruth Lewandowski makes an an interesting skin-contact example of it

Scheurebe - underrated German varietal more people should drink

Silvaner- idem

Palomino/Sherry in general- Great, food friendly whites I think people ought to drink more of.

Malvasia whites from the Canary Islands

Touriga Nacional/Portuguese red blend- Tomas can probably chime in on here with better recommendations than I can, but some great, affordable, daily drinkers coming out of the Douro, Dao and other regions

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Vermentino, Grenache Blanc, Ribolla Gialla, Carricante, Pinot Blanc, Cortese di Gavi, Traminer, Vernacccia, Tocai, Orvieto, Pecorino…and these are just the Italian white varietals.

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This broken record would love to say ‘Grk’, but you can’t find it in the US.

Big second for Semillon! Other whites you could look for include Godello and Torrontes (Godello from Spain, Torrontes from Spain and Argentina). From Greece, Athiri can be pretty good; Thrapsathiri can be better. I don’t think Assyrtico can be considered uncommon.

I’m a well-known Carignan nut, but while it’s more available than Grk, it’s not easy to find as a labeled varietal.
From Greece, both Aghioritiko and Xynomavro qualify. Now please pronounce both names quickly and correctly…*
Cab Franc has already been mentioned and is gaining a market; so is Petit Verdot. Malbec was rescued from obscurity by Argentina. Carmenere, a Bordeaux grape prominent in Chile, has not yet gotten the same love. During a hiking vacation in Chilean Patagonia, I gorged on the stuff, there are some excellent wines for not much money.

*eye or IT ik oh
ksee no MAV row
or close enough.
Both regularly make fine wine, rarely great wine.

Dan Kravitz

Dan Petroski at Massican makes a couple of somewhat quirky blends focused on Italian white grapes. His Annia and Gemina blends are both worth exploring. I drink a lot of the Annia, which is a mix of tocai friuliano, ribolla gialla and chardonnay.

Tuesday night wines? You already mentioned Barbera which is almost always a great match with tomato based pasta’s or pizza, etc.
Cool climate Gamay is often a go to for something like roast chicken or a burger.

On the white side - I say it to myself every time I open one that I should buy more - Soave - good Soave may not be super cheap, but if you find the basic Classico from Pieropan or Gini, always interesting and food friendly.
More obvious, less obscure - Austrian Riesling. Brundlemeyer or Wachau’s entry level Rieslings are very good, their higher end bottles - really good.

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FYI, I think you meant grape varieties not varietals. A variety is a grape cultivar and varietal is an adjective describing a wine made entirely of one variety. This is basically the “there, their and they’re” of the wine world.

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Aligoté

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There are endless seas of them, but the problem is knowing what can be sourced in the US (assuming that is the aim of this thread). If I had to give a single suggestion it might be the Niepoort Rótulo Dão: delicious, on the transparent/AFWE side of things and should be sub-$15 in the US (Niepoort does great in the export market). For slightly juicier Dão I absolutely love the work Beatriz Cabral de Almeida is doing for Sogrape in Quinta dos Carvalhais, but in the US I can only find the Duque de Viseu, which is the cheapest wine in their line up. In the Douro you might go to the basic Quinta do Vallado in the same price range, some producers’ second wines (Meandro from Quinta do Vale Meão, Post Scriptum from Prats and Symington, etc.), or the very large, affordable yet high quality lineup of Beyra wines from Rui Roboredo Madeira.

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Poulsard
Mencia

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I am just releasing my first Clairette Blanche - expect to see lots more being released over the next few years as well . . .

Assyrtiko - I’d say it’s as uncommon, at least here in Canada, as many of the other nominations
(And +1 on many of the above suggestions … Godello, Albariño, Aligote from good producers)

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Start with a berserker day pack from Sabelli-Frisch:

Most of them qualify as uncommon - and every wine I’ve tried so far has been delicious. Grapes this year include:
Flame Tokay
Mission
Petit manseng
Tinto cao
Alicante bouschet

When you factor in the insanely low price, it’s pretty hard to go wrong.

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Gruner
Blaufrankisch
Zweigelt
Moschofilero