Table wine, considered inferior, gains market in the country – 04/24/2023 – Food

Until recently, if a starred restaurant served a wine made from a non-European grape variety, it could cause discomfort among demanding customers. But little by little, things start to change.

The drink made with grapes of American origin (such as Niagara) or hybrids (from crosses with Europeans) has been gaining ground and losing its reputation as an inferior product.

The movement began in groups linked to natural and biodynamic wines and is already attracting the attention of a larger market. The liqueur BellaQuinta, from São Roque, in the interior of São Paulo, is served at the award-winning DOM, by Alex Atala, for example.

Its producers contest the idea that only European grapes —among them, cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and tempranillo— are suitable for wine production.

This was even the subject of the São Paulo International Wine Trade Fair, a traditional event in the sector, which took place last week in the city of São Paulo.

In countries such as Brazil, the United States and Japan, wines made from grapes originating in North America (such as burgundy) or hybrids (such as Isabel) represent large slices of the market. The company Ideal Consulting estimates that they account for 58% of all national consumption.

“Consumers demand”, says businesswoman Zoraida Lobato, organizer of the fair. “But it’s kind of hidden.”

Much of the bad reputation comes from carelessness committed by the industry, which at the end of the last century began to use excess sugar to disguise defects. “That broke the quality table wine sector”, says Acir Boroto, from the Família Boroto winery, in the mountains of Rio Grande do Sul.

A descendant of Italian immigrants, he says that his family always drank dry table wine. Sugar does not come close to its production, made with organic grapes and vinified with low intervention —the so-called natural wine. He works more with table wines because he believes it is more difficult to produce the drink based on European grapes without pesticides.

The stigma of American varieties may also date back to the beginning of colonization in the USA, in the 17th century, when the British discovered species of the genus Vitis, to which European grapes also belong. Vitis vinifera. Some of them yielded wines that did not please the European palate.

Negligence was also a way of safeguarding the product of the colonizers, says sommelier Gabriela Monteleone, who, in her project So far, so close, works with wines from small national producers of European, table and hybrid grapes.

There is indeed a characteristic aroma of American grapes, says Gustavo Camargo Borges, producer at BellaQuinta. “It’s grape-scented. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as it’s not overpowering.”

Why is this aroma present in Americans and not in Europeans? “There is a group of substances in americana that are not found in vinifera”, says Embrapa researcher Mauro Celso Zanus. That doesn’t mean they can’t be vinified.

“The International Organization of Vine and Wine itself stopped defining as wine only that produced from the Vitis vinifera.”

There’s a good reason for that. Many European grape vineyards may not survive climate change or at least not with the same characteristics.

The subject is a matter of concern for denominations of origin in Europe, which are looking for alternatives.

Champagne was the first producing region to admit a hybrid grape in its blend, the voltis, a cross between European and American grapes that resists the heat and lack of water, maintaining the
acidity of good sparkling wines.

In Brazil, Embrapa has already created a series of hybrid grapes for wine production, such as BRS Lorena, BRS Margot and BRS Bibiana. “What we are looking for is resistance, productivity and adaptation to the climate”, says researcher Marcos Botton. American ones tend to be more resistant to fungal diseases and better adapted to the climate. Science seeks to combine this with the characteristics of Vitis viniferashe says.

There are hybrids that have arisen spontaneously in nature. This is believed to be the case with Isabel, a mixture of American and European strains, widely used by Italian immigrants who settled in the South. “My childhood was spent among the vineyards of this variety”, says agronomist Arnaldo Argenta, owner of Valparaíso Vinhos e Vinhedos, in Barão, in the mountains of Rio Grande do Sul.

The fact that American grapes are at the basis of the history of Brazilian production is what led nutritionist Lis Cereja, partner at Enoteca Saint VinSaint, in São Paulo, and creator of the Naturebas wine fair, to seek out wines made from these grapes.

“The movement of natural wines also involves the rescue of grapes, ways and means of the past”, says the businesswoman, who serves drink labels in her restaurant, in the Vila Nova Conceição neighborhood.

“The Brazilian wine industry would not exist without these grapes, especially Isabel. Right after the first fair, in 2014, we went to the South to hunt down producers. We got two or three that did, but were too embarrassed to sell,” he says. Now, she encourages other farmers to invest in these varieties.

For sommelière Patrícia Brentzel, from the Beba Bem em Casa channel, who curates wines, the consumer who best accepts the current version of table wine is the one who has an affective memory linked to it.

“People say: it reminds me of my grandfather’s wine”, he says. For a long time, Brentzel says he was prejudiced.

“I started to pay attention when the movement of natural wines appeared. At fairs, I tasted it and I understood that it can be very tasty, especially for quick and unpretentious consumption.”

Where to buy

Boroto Nature Cosa Sara family
Sparkling wine made from niagara, with 11.5% alcohol. Price: BRL 70, on Instagram @famiglia.boroto

So Far, So Close Americanas
Isabel cut and burgundy. Price: BRL 90 (2 liters), at taolongetaoperto.com.br

So Far, So Close Rosé Lorena Merlot Dom Dyonisius
Made with a predominance of the Lorraine hybrid (70%). Price: R$ 124 (1l growler), at Futuro Refectório.

Cainelli Addolorata Dry Rosé Wine
Made with the Isabel grape. Price: BRL 34, at loja.vinicolacainelli.com.br

Farfalla natural wine
Made with the Isabel grape. Price: BRL 55, on Instagram @biosabores

Vitale Isabel Rose
Made from organic Isabel grape. Price: BRL 84, at valparaisors.com.br

Casa Agora Isabel Rosé
Price: R$70, at Beba Bem em Casa. Instagram: @bebabememcasa

where to drink

BellaQuinta IAC Ribas
Orange wine made with the hybrid of the same name, developed in São Roque. Price: R$27 (glass) and R$119 (bottle) at Bar Agustín. R. Carla, 53, Itaim Bibi