Explore excellent grape alternatives & reinvigorate your wine list

25 November 2021 - Justin Sims

It’s official, the pandemic has had a profound impact on consumers’ wine preferences. Industry reports have the hard data to support this. The lockdowns have accelerated the emerging shift towards drinking less but drinking better and increased consumers’ willingness to experiment and try new wines.

What the Trends Say

A report published at the end of 2020 by the CGA (leading international data and insight agency to the On-Trade) reveals that the proportion of people trading up from ‘house’ level or the second cheapest wine is increasing with just 1 in 4 going for the cheapest options.

Over half of people said that they would be looking to trade up when they ate out again and there was a significant increase in sales of wines in the upper bracket of the list (£35+/bottle).

The report also highlights the interest in niche European varietals like Albariño and Cortese (the Gavi grape) as well as premium Argentinean, New Zealand and Australian wines. English wine also continues to gain popularity too alongside Hungary and Romania.

Why Are Wine Lists Changed Less Frequently Than Food Menus?

There are possibly a few reasons for this but it’s been a conundrum I’ve been considering for some time.

So, here’s a thought. Your draft beer and cider options are reviewed and rotated on a far more regular basis than your wines, but why? There’s probably a far greater choice of wines out there than beers and ciders put together and yet the frequency and extent of changes made to wine lists are considerably less.

In my experience, much of this has a lot to do with a general lack of expertise and therefore confidence about choosing wines, especially if the owners or managers don’t even like wine or drink it themselves.

Sometimes it boils down to something as simple as, the owners can’t afford to keep re-printing their wine list so it gets produced once or maybe even twice a year. Well, the pandemic put an end, albeit temporarily, to this issue with disposable in-house printed wine lists, digital wine lists and chalkboards becoming the accepted norm.

So, We’ve Established That It’s Good to Keep Your Wine Offering Interesting, but How?

Unless you have a comprehensive knowledge of wines yourself or you employ a sommelier who does, the only other option is to put your trust in your wine supplier to come up with a relevant and interesting wine list that suits your offering and will appeal to your customers.

Do beware, some suppliers fall into the trap of putting generic or formulaic lists together using the same labels and familiar grape varieties and will replicate these across their account base. This is okay for a few wines, but not for the entire list for obvious reasons

​A Simple Guide to Alternative Grape Varieties/Wine types

Here’s a list of commonly found wines on wine lists with some easily found alternative suggestions alongside.

Entry Sauvignon Blanc

Spanish blend featuring either Airén, Macabeo or Verdejo (all native grapes). Southern French blend featuring either Colombard, Ugni Blanc or Gros Manseng (again, all native varieties).

Choosing less recognisable varieties as a house option encourages your customers to look further down the list thereby upselling.

Pinot Grigio

White Rioja, Gavi, Fiano (native southern Italian variety), Grillo (native Sicilian grape), Grenache Blanc/Garnacha Blanca or Assyrtiko (native Greek variety).

NZ Sauvignon Blanc

Touraine Sauvignon Blanc (Loire), Picpoul de Pinet (native southern French grape), Pecorino (native southern Italian grape), Bacchus (native English grape), Grüner Veltliner (native Austrian variety), Furmint (native Hungarian variety) or Godello (native Northern Spanish variety).

There’s currently a global shortage of NZ Sauvignon Blanc so now is the perfect opportunity to introduce something that’s new and has continuity.

Chardonnay

French Viognier, Albariño or Pinot Blanc for a cool climate Chardonnay, South African Old Vine Chenin Blanc, Australian Viognier or Lugana (native northern Italian white) for a warm climate Chardonnay.

Entry Merlot

Spanish blend featuring either Tempranillo or Garnacha (native varieties), Montepulciano (native southern Italian grape), Carmenère (native Chilean variety) or Carignan (native to southern France).

Shiraz

Primitivo (southern Italian grape), Lagrein (northern Italian grape), Uruguayan Tannat, Bobal (native Spanish variety), Zinfandel (native to USA), Cotes du Rhône or Monastrell aka Mourvèdre in France (southern Spanish version).

Cabernet Sauvignon

Touriga Nacional (native Portuguese grape), Tempranillo or Rioja, Cabernet Franc (either French or New World), Nebbiolo (northern Italian variety) or Argentinean Malbec.

Rioja

Reds from neighbouring regions like Navarra (immediately next door to Rioja), Toro and Ribera del Duero are ideal alternatives up to and including Crianza level. Bordeaux, Cahors (South West French appellation) and South African Bordeaux blends are also good alternatives, especially for more premium level Rioja like Reserva and Gran Reserva levels.

Champagne

English Sparkling wine, good quality Cava, Crémant (various versions in France but Limoux and Bourgogne are stand outs), Franciacorta (northern Italian fizz) and New World traditional method sparkling wines like Cap Classique from South Africa and sparkling wines from Tasmania and California.

Prosecco

Durello (like Prosecco and made within the same geographical area), Sekt (German sparkling wine) and some Pét-nats (Full name Pétillant-Naturel - a type of sparkling wine made by ‘méthode ancestrale’ meaning the wine is bottled before finishing its fermentation, so the residual CO2 remains suspended in the wine giving a light spritz rather than a full fizz and often off-dry).