The Strangest Wines in the World

We all know the basics about how Italian wine gets made, right.

Producers spend months tending to their vines to grow the best grapes possible. Those grapes get pulped and processed until they create the gorgeous alcoholic juice that we all know and love.

And that’s how it goes about 99% of the time.

But there’s always that 1% of producers that have to do things differently. And we’re not talking about innovations in machinery or grape combinations here.

We’re talking about going so over-the-top weird with their wines that you can’t help but admire them.

That’s what we’re going to look at in today’s article. These are some of the weirdest wines from around the world.

Snake Wine

If we told you that there was a snake about, what’s the first thing that you’d do?

Yep, you’d join us in running away from the thing as fast as your legs can carry you. And you definitely wouldn’t think about catching the snake and using it as an ingredient in a bottle of wine.

That’s why you’re clearly not one of the minds behind Snake Wine.

The simple name tells you exactly what to expect here. You get a bottle of wine with the body of a dead (and venomous) snake inside it.

The good news is that you don’t have to worry about the venom. The alcohol completely neutralises it, which makes the wine safe for consumption. But even knowing that, we’re not sure we could work up the courage to give this one a try.

If you don’t fancy having a full-blown snake in your wine, you could always travel to Vietnam to get some snake bile wine itself. You get more of the venom and less of the carcass.

…We’re not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Avocado Wines

Okay, we’ll give you a minute to get all of the “millennials and their avocado” jokes out of the way.

Done?

Right, so this is a wine that’s made using avocado’s rather than grapes. It seems like an off choice of fruit as avocado is known more for its healthy fats than it is for its juicy sweetness.

The producers peel and pit their fruits before they put the flesh through the traditional winemaking process. Sometimes, they even throw a little coconut in there to mix up the flavours.

You can get avocado wine in both sweet and dry varieties. And if it’s anything like the infamous Avocado toast, we can’t imagine that it won’t gain a little popularity in some corners of the world.

Rose Petal Wine

You have to go all of the way to England if you want to get your hands on this unique wine.

Lurgashall Winery has made its name for creating wines and spirits using all manner of unique ingredients. And a few years ago, they got commissioned to make a wine using rose petals.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the end result was described as being aromatic and rather dry. Unfortunately, it was only produced in very limited quantities as part of a promotional event. That means you’re unlikely to find it on sale any time soon.

And we can’t help but wonder if the fragrance of the rose translates to an interesting flavour once you’ve taken your first sip of the wine.

Birch Sap Wine

Sweden’s winemakers aren’t ones to get left out from the weird wine trend.

However, unlike several of the wines on this list, Birch Sap Wine isn’t made with the idea of bucking any trends in mind. Instead, it’s a wine that dates all of the way back to the mid-1700s.

Perhaps the cold climates in Sweden forced winemakers to get a little more creative. After all, you can’t really make wines in temperatures that cause most grapes to die before they ever reach their potential.

Even today, several winemakers in the country head out to drain birch trees of their sap to make this wine. And by most accounts, it’s actually a pretty tasty beverage, though we can’t imagine that it holds a candle to most traditional Italian wines.

Pumpkin Wine

Well, we’ve had avocados so it should come as no surprise the pumpkin wines would make an appearance on this list.

That’s right. Pumpkins are used for much more than a little bit of extra flavour for your spiced latte. 

But much like that latte, you’re only going to be able to get your hands on this type of wine in the Autumn. The very seasonal nature puts paid to any hopes of getting it during other times of the year.

Garlic Wine

If you ever want to make sure that Dracula doesn’t turn up to your fancy dinner party, this is the wine for you.

Yes, there are producers in this world who make wines using one of the most pungent ingredients known to man. If we were ever asked to think of a wine that’s the exact polar opposite of a grape-based wine, this is probably one of the first that we’d think of.

Hailing from California, there are actually four varieties of this wine. 

But you probably don’t want to try it. According to wine expert Oz Clarke, the vintages offer up an “unholy alliance of flavours”.

That’s hardly what you’re looking for when you settle down to a nice dinner with your friends.

The Final Word

We’ve looked at some of the weird and the wonderful from the world of wine here. Every wine on this list eschews tradition in some way.

We can see the idea behind wines that use fruits or flowers. After all, there’s potential for those wines to have certain aromatic qualities that could actually make them quite appealing.

But when it comes to the likes of snakes and garlic…we’re at a bit of a loss. The thing is that we can’t deny our curiosity to try them.

Who knows?

Perhaps there’s a revolution in winemaking just lying in wait in one of those bottles.

Unfortunately, you won’t find any of these strange wines on our website. What you will find is an amazing collection of traditional wines that we’re sure you’ll love.

Check out our extensive wine catalogue to see what we have to offer.