This summer I discovered a new grape variety that I really like called Vidal blanc. I tried a lot of examples of wines made with tbis grape in both the Finger Lakes during the Society of Wine Educators annual conference and at the American Wine Society conference in Buffalo. Vidal makes a variety of wines ranging from sparkling to still to sweet. It’s an interesting variety, a hybrid made from the  Vitis vinifera variety Ugni blanc and a hybrid called Rayon d’Or. It does really well in cool climate viticultural areas as it is a sturdy grape that has good acid and good sugar levels. I wrote about a number of the wines here. I believe it is also grown in Pennsylvania and in Missouri. People often debate the place of hybrids and this one I think makes the transition and the case for them very strongly.