After my
unflattering description of Haak Vineyard’s
Jacquez port in the previous post, I feel compelled to follow up immediately
with another Haak product that I found surprisingly enjoyable.
I hadn’t
found much to like in Southern hybrid grapes, but this one is a happy accident.
According to Wine Compass Blog, it resulted from a program by the University
of Florida’s Leesburg
Research Station to create a grape resistant to Pierce's disease, a bacterial
infection of vines. The result in 1968 was Blanc du Bois, which has one
muscadine parent and one that’s a vinifera hybrid. It is disease-resistant, but
the bonus is that it makes delightful wine.
With its
citrusy flavors and good balance, it could easily pass as a European cousin of
Sauvignon Blanc. It should definitely improve the appreciation for American
hybrids in general and Texas-grown hybrids in particular. Haak buys the grapes
for this bottling, but also sells a higher-end version from older vines on its
own property that has won numerous medals and is a wine I’m looking forward to
trying.
Food
pairing: I’ll second Haak’s recommendation of poultry and creamy pasta dishes.
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