Haha I put it there but I called it Valdigue. There was a time pre-prohibition when they attempted to keep it to a few varities but gave up on that and then Burgundy became any strong wine. The Zinfandel was usually going into the Claret.
It seems like some of them definitely were! But some bottles actually list the grapes and include a whole bunch of stuff. The Beaulieu Burgundy’s were pretty good about it. Here’s a 1962 and a 1980
I still have fond memories of the 1974 Freemark Abbey York Creek Petite that @Ed_Kurtzman or @Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e brought to an offline at Foreign Cinema in SF years ago! Great stuff.
The 1990 was 50 percent PS, 40 Charbono, 5 percent early Burgundy and 5 percent Valdigue. Charbono was a pretty consistent “Burgundy” blender from the 1870’s up until those last BV Burgundys.
I don’t think it needs to or should be the “next” grape but Valdigue can make a good light to medium weight wine when handled with care and some neutral oak. It’s not grown much in California anymore.
Battuello, who participated in BerserkerDay 15 last year, makes a very nice valdiguié. I was happy to buy a three vintage vertical from them at a nice price last year. I hope they offer something similar this year.
It needs a marketing angle. And probably a new name. Someone should push it as the new Summer red.
OR a Walter Massa / Landi-Isart-Garcia style catalyst.
I still wish Arinto had hit harder – I could drink those all day. But Grillo is looking like the new Arinto, and they’re popping up left and right.