Seyval Blanc
On July 6, 2024, we did a Maryland seyval blanc vertical tasting with food pairing. This interesting French, American hybrid grape was named by the Finger Lakes Wine Growers Association in 1970. Recent genetic testing has found that the parent grapes thought to have been tied to this hybrid aren't actually correct so the parentage of seyval is currently unknown. But what we do know is the grape likes cool climates, ripens early and has the potential for high acidity and sugars. Flavors can be green fruit, citrus, stone fruit and minerality. For this tasting, we had seyvals from Bull House Winery, Love Point Winery and Basignani Winery. For the food, I made chicken salad, grilled lobster tails with herbed butter, strawberry, cucumber and goat cheese filo cups, fish sticks, dill havarti, goat cheese, cucumbers, crackers and dipping sauces of guacamole, duck sauce and chimichurri. The first wine we tried we did a full bottle review podcast episode on so check that out on Bull House's seyval blanc. We got aromas of banana, lime and pear and fig, ginger, lemon, chamomille and minerality on the palate. The high acid, dry wine paired best with the chicken salad, dill havarti, fish sticks and guacamole. Basignani's was next. This wasn't the most aromatic wine but we got great notes of pear, yellow apple, lemon, lime and clementine on the palate. It was medium acid and paired very well with the lobster, duck sauce, chimichurri, guacamole and strawberry, goat cheese cups. Love Point's was oaked and had a golden, straw yellow color to it. We got banana, pear, lime and grapefruit on the nose and baking spices and citrus on the palate. This was a very food friendly wine and paired with pretty much everything but especially the buttery lobster and creamy dill havarti cheese. All three of these wines had their own personalities and showed the diversity of this grape. We enjoyed getting to know seyval blanc a little better. Not too many wineries are making this wine so we really learned a lot during this tasting. Check these wines out while you can!
