“Purchasing only wines made from Vitis vinifera not only limits our wine experiences and palates, but also increases the risk that our glasses may be empty if a future pest or disease threatens the wine industry.”
That’s the message Justine Vanden Heuvel delivers in the op-ed Wine Drinkers Need to Branch Out in U.S. News & World Report [2016-03-07].
“There’s little disagreement among wine connoisseurs that fruit from Vitis vinifera makes the most pleasing wines with respect to flavor, aroma and mouthfeel, as evidenced from the dearth of hybrid wine reviews in major wine publications,” she adds. “But because many Vitis vinifera wines are made from closely related grapes, they don’t offer the same range of flavors and aromas that the interspecific hybrid wines do. And some say these new flavors and aromas can offer a wild and memorable tasting experience that will help train your palate.”