A nudge, a wink and other rare grapes

Back in sixteenth century France if you cast someone 'un oeillade' you were guilty of a lustful glance. Nowadays the meaning has become less egregious - it's more like a wink. By a remarkable coincidence there is a rare French grape variety called l'Oeillade, whose etymology has no apparent connection to its cheeky homonym. It seems to me that this rare and neglected grape variety would once have had a perfect opportunity to exploit the marketing potential of a name with such rich associations: the 1960s or '70s would have been the ideal era to launch a wine tied in with cheesy sexual politics.

L'Oeillade may be a harder sell in the 21st century, but there is at least one winemaker trying to keep it alive. Thierry Navarre, based in Roquebrun in the Haut Languedoc, makes a vin d'Oeillades rosé which won rave reviews in a recent issue of the influential French wine mag, La Revue de Vins de France. The Oeillade grape, which according to Thierry, is a cousin to Cinsaut, creates a wine that has quite a savoury and full-bodied feel to it. The magazine reviewer described it as 'autumnal', which for a rosé is quite unusual. Overall it's very satisfying and definitely moreish - with or without food.