Sicily rediscovers wine varieties previously thought to be extinct

[Warren Taranow]

The wine, science and history geeks in me all like this article. Thanks to Alder Yarrow and Vinography.com for emailing it to me.

Cheers,
Warren

[Cris Whetstone]

That is very cool. Interesting that several of them are the result of a cross with Sangiovese. I did have to wonder how a variety with 8,000 planted vines was considered extinct though.

Lucignola
Red – A cross of Sangiovese and an unknown variety. Rediscovered in the Nebrodi Mountains. It results in high-alcohol and high-acidity wines.

That sounds interesting.

[Wes Barton]

I did have to wonder how a variety with 8,000 planted vines was considered extinct though.

Hiding in plain sight - thought to be something else. We've seen that in other regions. What was thought to be one grape variety turns out to be 2 or 3 unrelated(!) grapes that performing more or less the same.

[Cris Whetstone]

I did have to wonder how a variety with 8,000 planted vines was considered extinct though.

Hiding in plain sight - thought to be something else. We've seen that in other regions. What was thought to be one grape variety turns out to be 2 or 3 unrelated(!) grapes that performing more or less the same.

Yes. This is part of the reason they were able to find Zinfandel in the old world.

I'm just wondering if the idea that the varieties were actually thought to have been extinct or if it was more of a matter of finding what was there because there were no recent documentation of those varieties. Lack of effort in cataloging is not the same as something not being found.