Certain wine regions are synonymous with specific grape varieties: the Willamette Valley and Pinot Noir, or the Finger Lakes and Riesling. For many up-and-coming regions in the New World (and even some in the Old), finding their signature variety is something of an obsession. Yet there’s a real question to be asked here: Is that actually the best route to long-term success as a wine region? Does it make sense to specialize when the global wine marketplace changes trends on a regular basis? Can we even yet know what grapes are best suited for what places when the history of viticulture in many of these regions is only a few generations old?

That’s the topic for this week’s VinePair podcast, where Adam and Zach debate the merits of finding that go-to grape, and how emerging wine regions can look to market their wines to the whole of the American wine-drinking public.

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