NERD JUICE /nərd-ˌjüs/ .noun. A wine produced in a unique wine region and/or from a lesser-known grape variety that makes wine dorks, particularly sommeliers, wine writers and wine connoisseurs, squeal like piglets or jump up and down like first graders from sheer esoteric joy.
When it comes to wine—well, some would say when it comes to everything—I’m a dork. Woefully uncool. My heart beats for grapes and regions that a skimpy few have on their dance card.
Case it point, I lick my lips for stuff that nobody wants to pronounce like this Grüner Veltliner created by, um, these people from, uh, that place.
Weingut Prager Gruner Veltliner Federspiel Ried Hinter Der Burg Wachau
I get giddy about grapes like Serine—grapes that nobody with a full life has ever heard of.
Clusel-Roch, Vin de France Serine
I pant over wine regions, South Africa, for example, that fly under most wine drinker radars.
David & Nadia Sadie Chenin Blanc Swartland
Dorks like this here girl adore Touriga National, Nero d’Avola and Nerello Mascalese (what wha?). We swoon for volcanic wines, go far and wide for bottles from Tasmania and cult-follow products from female vintners. Like crack, all of it.
What’s the draw? In general, the sexy of nerd juice lies in its unknown-ness and uniqueness, its exciting and curious complexity, the typically high value and the opportunity it offers to learn and expand horizons.
For me specifically, it satisfies my desire to share new and different discoveries with other people—whether they’re wine dorks or not. So let me encourage you to get you hands on some nerd juice, stat.
I know, I know, you’re a cool kid. You drink at least a few of the Big Six wines—Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling—the grape varieties considered the backbone of the wine industry. And you’re loyal to the Top Spots—California, France and Italy—when you buy wine if only because our wine shops are Benson-Boone-in-a-jumpsuit bulging with them. I get it.
But this is WineSPAN, after all. So expand my dear friends in wine. Try one (remember everything in blue is a link). I’ve done all the dorking so you don’t have to.
Pietradolce Rampante Etna Rosso Sicily …fun grape and value all in one.
Suertes del Marques 7 Fuentes Valle de la Orotava Tenerife … Canary Island wine.
Comte de la Chevaliere Sancerre Rouge …RED Sancerre!
Albert Bichot Bourgogne Aligote …the white Burgundian that doesn’t cost $400/bottle
Benoit Badoz Cremant du Jura Brut … a sparkler from Jura. Where? Major geek place.
Cheers!