10 Exotic RED WINE grapes YOU should try!!!

[@jeremyt9663]

Thanks for sharing, doc! Love the collection and totally agree that these grapes can stand up to some of the most prestigious of widely planted grapes. Of the lot, I have only had the Areni, Xinomavro, Tokaj, Saperavi and Touriga Nacional. I would have to say that the Zorah from Armenia is by far my favorite of the bunch. Amazing tannin structure and long, layered finish. M.O.B also makes some amazing Touriga Nacional for the price. Both are definitely must buys for me whenever I see them in stock.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Goooood call on MOB… I know all the winemakers in that project, brilliant wines. It sounds like you drink adventurously.

[@zoltannemeti9192]

Thanks a lot for featuring my wine!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It was my pleasure, good stuff and I was very impressed

[@bovukovic6001]

One of your best posts so far in my opinion, compliments.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thank you sir, or rather… hvala

[@NoSediment]

Great video! I love seeing you tasting wines on spot. Excited that we share similar passions in the wine world. We should all pay more attention to these lesser known, yet still great grape varieties. P.S. I really love Touriga Nacional. Cheers 🥂

[@numanuma20]

It’s one of the few grapes that has red juice inside it.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks a lot. Yes, the unique grape varieties really are where it’s at for me… Unfortunately, that doesn’t drive the views on KZbin 😂🤣

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Touriga Nacional has clear juice, however Saperavi is a teinturier and has red juice 😃

[@emilpopovic6167]

We were at the Regionala wine fair in Belgrade a couple of days ago which gathers producers from all of ex-Yugoslavia focusing on domestic grapes. Teran, prokupac, vranac, furmint, plavac mali, kadarka, lipolist, krokan, blatina, žilavka, žlahtina, malvazija, smederevka etc. I think it's the best opportunity to sample grape varieties from this region. In addition, local specialities were served as samples so there was a possibility to let the taste receptors get back on track between the wines. Highly recommend to visit it next year!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhhhhh that sounds amazing and I do miss the wine fairs in Belgrade. I hope to be back next year

[@LadyAceRoxy]

I have tried 5 of 8, BUT I have a Saperavi in my cellar waiting to try still,so soon it will be 6! Armenia has been on my list for a long time as a wine country to try wines from, but it is very hard to find Armenian wine in central Ohio currently. The Nero Uva is on my list now, thank you for teaching me about it! I’ve only had Touriga Franca as part of the blend in Port, so I’ll look out for that one as a dry wine now. I took up learning about wine as a pandemic lock-down hobby, and it has been my goal to try as many different things as I can (the wine world is so vast!) I’m currently at 37 different countries and about 208 different grapes, so I LOVE videos like this to give me more ideas. So much fun!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ahhh thanks and keep exploring

[@ingimundurgesturaxelsson802]

I have tried 3 of them saperavi , tourica nacional and rara negra. Like them all. Been to Moldova and Georgia. Great wines there to taste.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhh nice, they are both lovely countries for wine

[@comesahorseman]

Domestic Saperavi can be found at Konstantin Frank Wine Cellars on Keuka Lake (Finger Lakes). Quite good! You can also find Blaufrankish (Lemberger) at Konstantin Frank's and at other Finger Lakes wineries, and at Kiona Vineyard in Washington State. It's one to keep an eye out for.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Nicccce I didn’t know about Kiona’s

[@comesahorseman]

@@drmatthewhorkey Pinot Noir like, from that vineyard. Very good!

[@jovegajo]

How does the domestic one compare with a Kakhetian one? Finger Lakes is quite a different terroir compared to Kakheti.

[@guglielmo_arte_naturale]

Amazing tasting .. thanks for sharing these wines with us and showcasing these grapes variaties that i never heard off. Really entretening whatching you 😁🤗

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Wow thanks so much. The world of wine is diverse indeed

[@guglielmo_arte_naturale]

@@drmatthewhorkey Indeed ... I'am falling in love with wine thanks to you. Unfortunately i'm vegan so i can only drink natural or vegan wines but i stilo enjoy them a lot 😁🙏

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Wowwww thanks!!!

[@Grodan1904]

Nice Video! I like to learn about the less known varieties!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

There are HUNDREDS of older videos on unique wine grapes on this channel if you go back in the archives

[@Grodan1904]

@@drmatthewhorkey Awesome! Will do!

[@Ruirspirul]

glad to see Saperavi in the line up ❤

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Daaa!! Hahaha thought you’d like that

[@Ruirspirul]

@@drmatthewhorkey you should come visit Georgia, see how wines have improved and where things are going! i might even make you try my first one thats aging in Qvevri right now :)

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Niccceee… hope to be back sooner rather than later

[@AttorneySomm]

I have tried wines from 5-6 of these countries. Definitely need to try wines from Georgia and Serbia.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Next time we taste together!

[@stephangerteis5531]

Thank you so much for your work. I know the most of the grapes from many visits on east European halls in the last 20 years at the pro wine. But Pro Wein ist nothing against a real visit in the regions. Thank you for sharing your experiences in the last years. By every videos I feel your love for wine.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhh wow thanks so much!! It’s really impressive that you know all of these grapes.

[@juanmanuelmunozhernandez7032]

One word hailing from Alto Adige: Lagrein

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I’m a big fan!

[@ronaldlamascus1944]

Love, love, love Le Grein!!

[@narrowistheway77]

Vranac is definitely worth talking about

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Agreed! There are a lot of older videos on the channel w Vranac

[@liamblake937]

Awesome vid, cant wait to try these, ive only had the xinomavro at your recommendation, amazing grape

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Glad you’re a new fan of the variety. Incredible value for money.

[@arunravindran9621]

Love this video! Big fan of Croatian wines.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Me too, you’ll see a whole series with all the best Croatian producers here: kzbin.info/aero/PLFOBi7-hwwStrcyKObg2M_71k5gH1lO4C

[@arunravindran9621]

@@drmatthewhorkey saw this series last year and on your recommendation went to Clai. Awesome place.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Nicceeeeee

[@richardfeldkamp1707]

If you ever come to Ontario, a variety you should try is Baco Noir. It is a hybrid of V. riparia and Pinot Noir. The Henry of Pelham 2020 is the best I've ever tasted. It can even age for over 10 years. Actually 2020 was one of the best Ontario vintages ever and wines of this year deserve investigation.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Wowzzasss, thanks for the hot tip

[@wayfinder105]

Went out of my way to obtain a Saperavi last week, will try it soon!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Nicceee!

[@BaMBoY1984]

Very nice, toke notes. I had only Rară/Băbească Neagră, Saperavi and Blaufränkisch. Will be searching for the others. I've seen you referencing Babici as well at some point, so that one is already on my list :D

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Niceee enjoy your wine hunting journey!

[@az53999]

Hey Matt. New subscriber. Love your channel. Always looking for unknown wines from unexpected locations. Can I make a request? Is it possible for you to list your wines that you discuss. I’m also a frag head and it helps me see lists so I can look them up on the internet and buy them.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks. The wines are listed in the description box

[@solomonmengeu1003]

Another great video and lots of fun trying to guess which cultivars you were drinking from which country/region. I don't know much about Serbian wine, so I didn't know Prokupac. The Moldovan/Romanian lesser varietal was a curveball, as most wine geeks have probably heard about Festa Neagra, but Rara Neagra was new one for me. I was kicking myself that I didn't get the Nero di Troia from Puglia; all the other ones, my guesses were spot on . As far as trying all of these grapes I have drunk a lot of Kekfrankos from nearly all of the Hungarian wine regions, pretty amazing varietal and it shows terroir and wine making skills pretty well. Touriga Nacional/Franca, have had them a few times and generally enjoyed most of them. As for the others living in Taiwan/Asia the rest are pretty rare and exotic, so either very hard to find and/or very expensive if you can find them Xinomavro is becoming somewhat more well known here, but only 1 or 2 importers bring it into the country, so it's still very much a niche wine. I think in more developed/mature wine markets, like the States and Europe it's easier to find some of these. But like you said in a lot of cases these wines are only available in their country of origin. Certainly like the idea of a video on lesser known Italian varietals, that could be a fun and educational video.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ahhh you are a pro if you got most of them right! My friend brings a lot of these crazy wines into Singapore but Taiwan is obviously different… You did like the format and trying to guess along??? If so, I’ll put an Italian variety one in the back pocket to do in the future. You have tasted Nero d’Troia though correct???

[@drmatthewhorkey]

And again, thanks for your detailed comment

[@solomonmengeu1003]

@@drmatthewhorkey Unfortunately, I haven't gotten a chance to try Nero di'Troia yet. I did see it at Costco a few weeks ago, but we have so much wine at home already. But hopefully I will get around to it soon. As far as Kekfrankos is concerned it's point of origin is in present day Slovenia. But before the Treaty of Trianon which dismembered Hungary, it was in old Hungary. It's parents are Heunisch Blanc (Gouais Blanc) and Zimmettraube Blau. (Caroline Gilby MW in Decanter Hungary 2021 Guide). Sorry about all the wine geekiness, hope you enjoy it and looking forward to edizione italiana!

[@alexandrehenri-bhargava2741]

Touriga Nacional is amazing. Here in BC, Canada we have a small producer growing it and it is my favourite. Canadian TN - that is something rare!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Wowwww from Okanagan???

[@alexandrehenri-bhargava2741]

@@drmatthewhorkey Yes, Moon Curser. It is divine.

[@jamesdickson-hoyle2542]

Some awesome wine varieties! Have had Touriga's, Xinamovro, Blaufrankisch, Saperavi, Areni, Nero di Troia, Plavac, including that exact pheasants tears! Also a whole bunch of these are now planted in Australia, with some really good Touriga blends + Saperavis coming out, some ok Blaufrankisch and the first commercial release from a Nero di Troia nursery block just out to trade too!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I LOOOOVVE Aussie wine and their willingness to experiment. There will be more aussie wine coming up on the channel btw. Nero di Troia down under????? Have you tried it

[@kcb5150]

I just wish regions ramping up wine production would go with varities that make sense for their climates vs trying to force bordeaux varities all the time. Even Bordeaux is adapting to climate...

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That is definitelt the trend in recent years

[@numanuma20]

I’m surprised they are permitting Albariño for the whites. Albariño is one of the grapes I think better as a varietal wine than a blend.

[@MrJcalvino]

Bordeaux recently approved the planting of Touriga Nacional because of climate change. Touriga Nacional retains better the acidity

[@michaelilg6029]

Great video thanks for the amazing content! Do you intend to make a same style video for white wines - would love to see you try some swiss chasselas as example form yvorne (-;

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I prefer Petite Arvine… There are some videos coming up on unique white wines!

[@MrJcalvino]

You need to try some varieties from Galicia (Spain) like Merenzao, Espadeiro, Caiño Tinto,etc

[@drmatthewhorkey]

You’ll see Mencia in an upcoming video ;)

[@rodenbach69]

Great video again ! We're lucky to have the Rivera Il Falcone Castel del Monte Riserva 2015 available at 24,90$ CDN in Montréal right now. Just bought a bottle !

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That is a helluva price!

[@eflinneflinn]

I am always interested in wine made using grape varieties that i haven't yet tried. A quick count of my list shows 166, but I never travel and am on a fixed income. Still, always looking! :) Right now I have unopened bottles of Romorantin and unopened bottles incorporating Manzoni Bianco.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

166 varieties, that is quite the accomplishment! I like well-made examples of Manzoni Bianco

[@nasos00]

Thank you for this educational video. Let me know when you are ready to go to Greek wine country. I'll happily share some info

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks! Yamas… I’m a huge fan of Greek wines and taste a lot of them each year but just haven’t made it there. Hopefully that changes soon.

[@sventibolt]

Great vid. But why are the bottles closed?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I use Coravin to extract a small tasting pour of each wine

[@oxvaldus]

I've tried Only Touriga Nacional from Portugal, a lot to taste yet. And that's exciting

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That’s what is fun about the world of wine!!!

[@ryanicpon]

Totally agree about Eastern European wines. On vacation in Bulgaria I got to try their native grape Mavrud. The specific one I tried was like a smoky Pinot Noir with slightly higher tannin, which doesn’t sound great if you described it to me that way but it was a real winner. Bottle only cost about 21 leva or ~$11 which was a steal. Sad I can’t find any in the US.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Do you remember what producer it was? I’m a big fan of Mavrud I feel like it tastes like a less tannic Mourvedre. I love visiting Bulgaria too

[@ryanicpon]

@@drmatthewhorkey I can understand that as well! Producer was Face Off Mavrud, 2020 vintage

[@nealrojas3510]

Only tried Saperavi which shined in a blind tasting because no one could figure it out but really liked it- now I want to try the other 9! Especially the Armenian wine but where to find?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Wine Searcher should be your best friend and there are more and more good Areni’s these days. To try this exact one in the video, I think someobody may have importer it in Germany.

[@karlinggard]

I can't remember hearing of most of these grapes, only Saperavi and the ones in the WSET3 curriculum 😅. I'll definitely give Areni from Armenia a try though. Zorah is very easily available in Norway, so if you're ever here some day let me know, and I'll get some bottles for you!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

The world of wine is hugggge and there are a lot of interesting grapes found all over the world… wowww that is sooo nice.

[@carlcadregari7768]

Great video..have had 5 of them. But several we can’t get. Would you do a white version?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Which five? I did a similar one about whites but unfortunately, white wine videos don’t do as well on the channel… kzbin.info/www/bejne/pX3Ion-jq8trapI

[@carlcadregari7768]

@@drmatthewhorkey Toriga Nacional/Franca blend, Nero (Uva) di Trioa, Saperavi, Xinomavro, Blaufrankish. I may have had the Areni - but cant find any tasting notes....:-(

[@HenryDuran-py1gb]

do you have any favorite aglianicos? I'm new to the varietal and would like to try it

[@drmatthewhorkey]

There is a whole video about it on the channel, just use YT search

[@bencekato9186]

Awesome vid. I tried Kékfrankos and prokupac. Best Kékfrankos comes from the Mátra region in Hungary in my opinion. Lots of passionate new winemakers there recently making unbelievable kékfrankos and olaszrizling. 🌝

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I’m a big fan of many of the wines there too! It’s a very interesting region for sure

[@TheMV1992]

Kekfrankos is the same as Blaufränkisch, which is a pretty widely produced grape in Austria, so you could look there as well

[@bencekato9186]

@@TheMV1992 yep. Infact all over Central Europe. Known by various names eg. Frankovka.

[@TheMV1992]

@@bencekato9186 ah okay you knew it already :) how do you like those wines from Burgenland?

[@bencekato9186]

@@TheMV1992 Pretty neat, especially fan of the more low-intervetion guys' wines. Much different from the Hungarian expression, quite a bit grainier.

[@TassosT]

Some very interesting choices in there, You made me wanna try Hungarian red and Touriga Nacional can be a hidden gem in some cases. Won't be talking about the pugliese or the Xinomavro, troppo scontato as they say in IT..

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I know you LOOOVEE Xinomavro

[@wren460]

Where can I buy those kind of wines ? I´ve been to Specs in downtown Houston ( one of the biggest retailer stores) and I can´t find them. Total Wine and several other big stores do not carry those wines. Where can I find Balcan wines in the internet ?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes, these are very niche wines and not always the easiest to find. I put links to a few specialty retailers in the description box. When looking for bottles, www.wine-searcher.com is always your best friend

[@juanito2109]

Wow 40 bucks?? Here in Brazil Murças Margem is like 70 dolars!!! amazing wine!!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes I feel bad for you guys in Brazil with the wine tariffs! I won’t tell you how much it is in Portugal, just to be polite.

[@tlewis171]

Well, I've had at least three (love Plavic Mali, and have enjoyed the Hungarian and Greek varieties in the past); probably had the two from Portugal, but in Port, not a table wine.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Well that means you’ve tried at least five 😬… Well done

[@marknelson8724]

I have had several grape varieties from Portugal including the Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. I like Portugal because they are not caught up in the latest fads and fashions. I have had Saperavi, Areni, Xinomavro, Nero di Troia and Blaufrankish.. I have never seen anything from Moldava.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhh wow, you are quite the adventurous drinker! I love Portgual too btw

[@deanheizmann2881]

Cool stuff, I love these variations from smaller european countries. I always hope to find Switzerland in any of the videos from big wine youtubers, but unfortunately that never happens. Do you know why? Anyways, keep it up mate.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Do you mean KZbinrs covering Swiss wine? I do enjoy a lot of Swiss wines but so few are exported and the high quality ones are not cheap

[@deanheizmann2881]

@@drmatthewhorkey Yes, I mean that many small countries are mentioned here and there, but Switzerland seemes to never make the list :D Anyways I am aware of those issues though. The production cost are so high that its not possible to export the wines at a competitive price. I was all the more surprised when a Swiss Pinot was in the weekly selection at the Cité du Vin in Bordaux this summer.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I personally love Swiss wines. I had a Domaine de la Rochette from Neuchâtel a few years ago that blew my socks off.

[@deanheizmann2881]

@@drmatthewhorkey Wow congrats, this particular one is kind of a rarity.

[@tompanzarella1500]

There were only 9 grape varieties not 10. What happened to the one that wasn’t shown?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Portuguese wine had two varieties

[@silasmoser301]

Which Greek restaurant in Singapore?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It was Blu Kouzina but all the guys that made that place special have moved to Bakalaki…

[@VektrumSimulacrum]

What I'm hearing is "Hey Vekta, did you know these countries can give you that red blend experience you like so much with one grape?" 😲 I need to find these at some point.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Hahahahahha, yes I think you’d love the unique flavors that many of these grapes offer. Thanks for stopping by again

[@prccap]

Let's go RU next week!!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Noooo way, go MSU!! Hahahha

[@robertwhough]

cab and merlot most produced red wine varieties? not grenache? just askin' is all ...

[@drmatthewhorkey]

They are both the most planted red grapes in the world. Before the EU vine pul scheme I believer Carignan was the most planted

[@johnerley7327]

This guys glasses are always filthy. lol Highly suggest taking a polishing cloth to the crystal to give the wine an optimal showing.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Hahhaha I have one and use it, still doesn’t get them spotless like dishwashers do. However, dishwashers love to break delicate glasses