In our first installment of Buyin’ Oeno introduced you to a few “need to have” summer wines. Now that we’ve covered a few topics (and the end of summer is quickly approaching), we feel you’re ready to break out and be a little more daring. Therefore, we have come up with a list of some of you not-so-ordinary summer wines. We are always intrigued when we come across a varietal we’ve never heard of or tasted. Since there are thousands of them that span the globe we will never run out of wines to try.

The science behind crossing varietal species and creating hybrids is one way to add to the long list of grapes we need to try; but that’s not what we’re focusing on today. We’re more curious about grapes that have been around for ages but for some reason or another are under appreciated, have faded into the background behind more “popular” types, or perhaps just never caught on in the first place.

Let’s start with Italy. Some wine experts claim that this is one of the hardest countries to keep track of when it comes to grape varieties. One of our favorite wines to sip on a hot summer day is Verdicchio, commonly found in the Marches region. Somewhat similar to an un-oaked Chardonnay with high-acidity (meaning fuller in body but still crisp), Verdicchios maintain mellow mineral and citrus flavors. This particular type of wine is easier to locate in a wine store because they are normally bottled in an unusual green amphora (two-handled, urn-shaped) bottle. Verdicchio grapes also tend to make good candidates for sparkling wines because of their high acidity.

Photo from lramiro0520.