ROLLO Crittenden has just under half a hectare of albarino planted at his vineyard, and also buys significant amounts from another grower.
At least up until last Friday, he thought he did.
Like many other progressive wine businesses across the country, he now understands what he's got is the obscure variety savagnin blanc, not the fashionable albarino.
"Our plantings are from two different sources, but we're confident of the link back to the CSIRO mother block," Mr Crittenden said.
"I suppose (the CSIRO) are confident (the variety is actually savagnin), but you'd think they would have been confident in the first place that what they brought out was albarino."
Mr Crittenden, who has what he now assumes to be savagnin fermenting in the tank, said he was keen to "forge ahead" with the variety.
The industry should get together to discuss how to market the wine, he said.
"I'm excited about wine making from these grapes, it's exciting wine," Mr Crittenden said.
"Time is on our side, let's get all the facts, see where we stand in regard to how CSIRO has stuffed up, and answer serious questions about what's planted in Spain.
"Do they want to come up with a new name? Should we follow suit?"
Mr Crittenden said he was curious to know what the point of reference was in DNA testing which found the variety was savagnin, as the bunches of grapes, leaves and seeds all appeared closer to being albarino than savagnin.
