I live in Watertown, a burg that you will have noticed begins with a W. However, you can’t call it one of the ‘W Towns’ since in the local patois this term is reserved for just three places: Weston, Wellesley, Wayland. That a scant trio of the 52 (!) Massachusetts cities and towns whose names begin with a W qualify as W Towns makes me suspect that the W in this case does not refer to their names at all, but rather to the happy condition enjoyed by the majority of their residents: to wit, Wealthy.
I haven’t actually counted, but it’s possible that in the same way that W is the preferred initial letter for the 351 cities and towns in our state, V is the preferred initial letter for wine grape varieties. At least that’s how it often feels. So when a guest with a distinctive European Spanish accent dropped in on Saturday and asked for wine made with the verdejo grape, I found myself rapidly flipping through the cerebral Rolodex to remember exactly where I would be likely to find a wine that fit this description – and I was reminded that (a) there are great many V grapes with strikingly similar names and (b) I find it rather an effort to keep them straight.
I may be the only person on the staff that suffers from this V-shaped blind spot – but on the off-chance that you too find the V Grapes a bit of a muddle I offer the following as a way of sorting it out once and for all.
The first thing to remember is that just like Weston, Wellesley, and Wayland these grapes are extremely white . . .
Verdejo. The leading quality grape in the Rueda region of north-central Spain. OCW describes it as highly aromatic and herbaceous. I think of it as a reasonable alternative to offer a guest hankering for New Zealand sauvignon blanc in the Cloudy Bay style, since it seems to me Rueda has been chasing this profile recently (boo; hiss). Example: Our Basa Rueda (a blend, including some sauv blanc).
Verdelho. Associate this with the Portuguese possession Madeira – both the place and the wine. Verdelho gives its name to a mid-weight, off-dry version of Madeira. OCW also notes that it is being successfully used “to make, tangy, full-bodied table wines in more recent times, particularly in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Victoria, and some of the hotter regions of Western Australia.” We have no truck with Aussies, so nothing much to worry about here.
Verdello. A once important grape in central Italy where it has been on the decline for some time. Still found in Umbria and Sicily – but rarish. Nothing much to worry about here, either.
Viura. Most important white grape in Rioja, used by Riojanos to make their long barrel-aged whites – a category now in real decline despite their similarity to trendy orange-style wines. Elsewhere known as macabeo. Example: Our Lopez de Heredia “Gravonia” Rioja Blanco.
Vermentino. Attractive, aromatic variety widely grown in Sardegna, Liguria, and Corsica. Known in the Piedmont as favorita and in southern France as rolle. May be related to the malvasia tribe. Dominant white grape for quality wine in Corsica. In Sardegna, according to OCW, it produces “lively wines of character.” Example: Our Domaine Abbatucci Ajaccio “Faustine” Blanc.
Vernaccia. A widely used name for a number of unrelated vines, overwhelmingly white but occasionally red, from central and northern Italy. The confusion is in the name itself, since vernaccia means vulgar/common/ordinary and was early attached to any number of generally undistinguished local grapes. The most well-known and reputable wine made from this grape is the Vernaccia di San Gimignano of Tuscany. Vernatsch is the Germanicized form.
Verdicchio. Grape associated with two DOCs in the Marche region on Italy’s Adriatic coast: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi (nearer the coast) and Verdicchio di Matelica (rather further inland). OCW chirps ‘Like many central Italian white wines, Verdicchio was once fermented on its skins, giving it a certain fullness and authority albeit often at the expense of any delicacy. Verdicchio is now made in a modern style, without skin contact and with temperature-controlled fermentations. It is now a more ‘correct’, if perhaps less distinctive, wine, although the lemony acidity and the bitter almonds of the aftertaste are still identifiably present in better bottles.” Example: Our Colle Stefano Verdicchio di Matelica
Flash the V sign if you think you’ve got it.
-stephen