What is the most unusual wine you have tasted?

Question

I have tasted so many wines and would like to try something unusual but good. Does anyone know of any?

Answer 1

I'll first say it might be helpful to know what all you've tried already ;)

Try anything NOT made from the usual suspects, ie, the traditional Eurasian species Vitis vinifera (includes the cabernets, pinots, muscats, chardonnay, merlot, gewurztraminer, sauvignon blanc, viognier, tempranillo, nebbiolo, etc etc).

This runs the gamut from hybrids of vinifera with Native American species (such as Vignoles or Seyval Blanc), American hybrids (like Blanc du Bois), to Vitis aestivalis (Cynthiana, aka Norton), a host of other Vitis species from around the world, an entirely separate genus (Muscadinia rotundifolia), to any vegetative ingredient beyond grapes but excluding grains.

Within Vitis vinifera, try to find vin jaune and gascogne blanc from France or blaufrankisch or gruner veltliner from Austria, arneis or gavi from Italy (or dolcetto for a red), touriga nacional bottled as a varietal from Portugal, Priorat and albarino from Spain, tannat from Uruguay. For something sweet, try Banyuls from France. Try marathefticon from Cyprus, rkatsiteli from Georgia (former USSR), ghirghentina from Malta.

And to me, a good example of where unusual has horrible results is pinotage (pinot noir crossed with cinsault). Chenin blanc is a peculiar grape that doesn't seem to transplant well outside the Loire, in California and South Africa it curiously loses any personality (this isn't the case with all vinifera varieties).

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edit - Protos, I'm curious where you obtained your chronology. The earliest archaelogical evidence of wine doesn't go past 6,000 BCE, and the history of Greece itself goes back to roughly 1,500 BCE.

Incidentally, any beverage that has any flavor will find that flavor masked in direct ratio to the lower the temperature. For example, if you have a flavorful beer (German, British, Belgian, Irish, etc), you're doing yourself a great disservice consuming it at any temp lower than 55 F. If you have mass produced beer incorporating lesser grains like rice that is devoid of flavor, this is why they market it as an "ice cold" beverage.

Answer 2

I go with Irina C. Retsina is unusual, but the Greeks have 12,000 years history of wine-making compared to the French (10,000 years).

But it has to be served very cold. About 4C, like beers.

Answer 3

Retsina Greece

Available everyday throughout Greece, this style of wine is made nowhere else. What makes it unusual is the wood that flavours it. Whilst the rest of the world argues about nuances of difference between oak grown in France and elswhere, the Greeks inherited a tradition of using pinewood barrels, and still today Retsina is flavoured with pine resin, giving what is often described as an 'acquired taste'.
You either love it or loathe it. I am firmly in the first camp; For me nothing beats sitting under the shade of vine leaves in a Greek island taverna with a 50cl crown cork topped beer bottle of cold local retsina.
Fair Valley South Africa

In the new South Africa many wineries are finding ways to empower their workers. Charles Back,owner of the famous Fairview winery in Paarl acquired a neighbouring farm of 18ha which he been sold on terms to Fairview workers who have named it Fair Valley. Their company The FairValley Workers Association has 'the responsibility of generating income for the future development of our farm.' They say 'this is our first wine, a Bush Vine Chenin Blanc made from grapes grown in the coastal region. We are proud of our wine and invite you to enjoy the fruits of our labour'.
Their first 1998 vintage is made at Fairview from bought in chenin blanc grapes, but they are planting that uniquely SA varietal Pinotage.
Spice Route South Africa

Andrews Hope is the inaugural vintage from The Spice Route Company. Andrews Hope takes its name from the home of Jabulani Ntshangase, South Africa's first Zulu vineyard owner, and equal partner in The Spice Company. One of the other partners is Charles Back of Fairview - see above.
Cataclysm California

The previous wine was a first vintage. This wine is the last! The Cataclysm from J Lohr Winery in San Jose, California tells the story on the label. Looking like the graph from an earthquake monitor it reads Caberbet Sauvignon from one of Napa's premiere vineyards. Harvested on 17 October 1989, the day of the San Francisco earthquake. The traumatised vines were then chainsawed and replaced by Merlot: the ultimate in stressed vines. Hasta la vista Cabernet!
Also shown is the wordfree back label with the trembling vine giving up it's fruit. If the labels also look stressed its because they were fastened with superglue.
Te'j New York
USA

The historic honey wine of Ethiopia is now being made in the traditional way in the USA.
Est! Est! Est! Italy

In 1110 Bishop Johann Fugger was travelling from Ausberg to Rome for the coronation of Emperor Henry V. The German was a wine-lover and sent his servant Martin a days journey ahead to find suitable inns to stay. Martin was instructed to write the word Est on the door of the inn with the best wine. When the good Bishop arrived at the small hilltop village of Montefiascone, overlooking Lake Bolsena some sixty miles from Rome he found Est! Est!! Est!!! written above the door of the inn. And it was true. The wine was so much to the Bishops taste he stayed there until the end of his days, drinking the fine wine of the town. And he is still there; his tomb can be seen in the church of St. Flavio, with Martin's inscription.
Est. Est. Propter Nimium
Est Hic Jo. Defuk Dominus
Meus Mortuus Est
'On account of too much Est Est Est
my master Johannes di Fugger died here.'
(Defuk being the Italian form of Di Fugger)

The Bishop specified in his will that a barrel of the wine should be poured over his tomb annually on the anniversary of his death, a custom that continued until the towns Bishop specified that instead of wasting the wine it should go to the local seminary for the benefit of the young priests - which it does to this day.
The wine is a pleasant dry fruity blend of Trebbiano and Malvasio varieties

Answer 4

beet wine from 1982 and dandelion vint 1982

Answer 5

Home made green tomato wine. Was pretty good actually.

Answer 6

vino verde.
nice crisp taste, no after taste not too strong, and isnt aged in wood like all the rest.

Answer 7

Irina C mentions it, for me its Retsina from Greece

Answer 8

Dandelion, poke berry, elderberry, lettuce, young oak leaves, tomotoe, pumpkin, or watermelon.

Ofcourse, most of these are home made.

Answer 9

dandelion, cactus, plum, marionberry, blackberry, raspberry, chokecherry

Answer 10

blueberry