What's the most misunderstood white grape variety?

Besides “white Zinfandel”, what in your opinion is the most misunderstood white grape variety?

Picpoul Blanc or Txakoli

Grenache Blanc

I know you are probably kidding, but on the off chance you are not, white zinfandel is just the regular zinfandel grapes whole cluster pressed so that minimal color comes from skin contact.

Riesling

Pinot Noir

God yes.

I’d put Chardonnay at a fairly close second.

Just given what the “masses” drink, and how many styles seem to out there, the consumer interpretation of these 2 grapes is like a deep, dark jungle.

YES

What Ian said. In addition I’d add Welschriesling and Hárslevelű, neither of which get the respect they deserve because in the first case it produces a lot of uninspiring wine and in the second is overshadowed by its companion. Also Garganega, which again is used in a lot of uninspiring wine, and Assyrtiko, which is increasingly surprisingly good, as well as the various mutations of reds, like Carignan gris and Carignan blanc.

In some cases the problem is that the OP is asking for specific varieties and many whites are used in blends, so you don’t find them as varietal wines as frequently. But if you want to stick to the top 20 that everyone on the board knows, it’s got to be Riesling and Chardonnay.

Chardonnay is at the top. Followed closely by Pinot Grigio and then Riesling.

I would say GreenHungarian.
It was a well known wine back in the '60’s-'70’s, primarily championed by GusSebastiani and FredWeibel.
The wine, as I recall, was dreadfully dull & ordinary & insipid. Which is why the wine has vanished in Calif
and the grapes nearly so. You gotta love the alternative names: Butschera (Hungarian) or Putzscheere (German).
Also known as Aramon du Nord…another testimony as to its mediocrity.
But not to worry…MattRorick/Forlorn-Hope found a lonely GH vine in an old vnyd and got some crazee to propagate
it into a vnyd planting in the SuisunVlly. Despite heavy pruning, the bunches were huge on his first crop last year. The crop load
was so high that he could only attain 9% in the wine, so blended it away. With more aggressive pruning this year, he
hopes to attain 10%-11% wine. I am certain that Matt will eventually make the World’s greatest GH and that GH will, once again,
take its rightful place as one of Calif’s storied and historic wines.
Tom

Misunderstood is quite different than underrated/obscure.

Chardonnay and Riesling should be easy answers here.

Gotta throw in Gewurztraminer, folks . . .

+1 for Riesling

Gotta agree on that one as well, Larry.

Love your new avatar pic, Larry. Your last one always reminded me of one of my pics from
my last colonoscopy!!! [snort.gif]
Your bread is very/very good. There was one other winemaker that did very well in the bread business as well.
You & Manfred keep good company!!!
Tom

Melon de Bourgogne. It’s not just the question of wine drinkers not getting it, even a large section of the wine world (press and trade) don’t get it in my opinion. Mainly through a lack of interest in the wines and the region I think.

The first ‘wine’ I remember. My father had your typical liquor store back in the 60s - all liquor, returnable cases of beer and huge jugs of wine - but his favorite wine was ‘Green Hungarian’. He would sell the crap out of it, and always would tell his customers - “…it’s good and sour, you will love it!” So whenever I see that name, I think of good ole’ dad telling people about his favorite ‘sour’ wine -

Does Weibel still make it? I remember Sebastiani used to bottle one back then as well -

AND - Egads, has it really been that long ago?

What’s misunderstood about it?

RIESLING -

I represent seven wineries from the Finger Lakes region, all of course produce superb dry Riesling, and you have no idea how many times I have to explain to experienced wine buyers from restaurants and retail stores that not all Riesling is sweet.

PINOTAGE

My least favorite grape, even though I repeatedly hear people wax on about how great the best examples are - I must admit that I’ve had a couple of pretty serious Pinotages recently that might just change my opinion of the grape -

It’s the Sam Kinison of wine grapes -