What's with these weird Washington grapes?

Q: Recently, we've noticed a lot of unusual wines made in Washington from grapes we've never heard of. What's going on here? What do you recommend?

A: I agree — suddenly there are amazing numbers of varietal wines from grapes popping up here. But it's useful to remember that varietal wines in general are essentially an American invention; the Europeans mostly blend grapes and tag wines with place names. Merlot was simply a part of the Bordeaux blend until some wineries in America began making it as a separate varietal. Now the same thing is happening with many grapes from southern France, Italy, Spain and other parts of Europe.

Curious winemakers and vineyard managers are testing this region to see what works, and a big part of that is trying new grapes in new places. They may have planted malbec and petit verdot to be blended in to their Bordeaux-style reds, but now they wonder how those grapes can stand up alone. And so it goes on down the line.

I find it immensely exciting to try these new and unusual wines, but it is far too early to make predictions about which ones will become standard colors in the Washington crayon box. Just a few years ago, no one thought syrah had much of a chance! So my advice is to find producers and vineyards that you like, and if they are experimenting with something unusual, go for it; it's probably going to be interesting, and it may just turn out to be the grape of the future.

Paul Gregutt answers questions weekly in the Wine section. He can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.