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An interesting project is brewing in California's agriculturally rich central valley. Winemaker Randall Grahm, of Bonny Doon Vineyards, has begun crowdfunding for an ambitious project, one that aims to transform established ideas about winemaking in "the New World". Graham is seeking $150,00USD through crowdfunding site IndieGoGo to help fund his complex, multi-stage project. The goal? To find "What can I as a winegrower in the New World do that has real meaning?" by creating 10,000 new grape varieties. The idea is not simply to find the best and most well suited to growing in California, but also to start really focusing on terroir, something that is emphasized much more prominently in the wines of the "Old World". The grape-breeding project will take place at Grahm's San Benito County farm, named Popelouchum. In a guest post on SocialVignerons.com, Grahm outlines his ideas and reasons for the project.
"I take it as a matter of faith that the only wines that truly matter - the ones that provide a real aesthetic and emotional frisson 0- are vins de terroir, or "wines of place", wines that transcend mere varietal expression and offer another complex dimension of experience."
 
Rather than focusing on the best specific grape for a given region, why not try a host of varieties, and focus on their expressions of terroir, both distinctly and as a collective? "By actually de-emphasizing varietal character, might these grades reveal something new and unexpected?" Grahm's hope for the myriad of potential new varieties it that "They become at this point, mere conduits of terroir." There are two weeks left in the IndieGoGo campaign, and so far the project has raised just under $60,000USD of the $150,000USD goal. Interestingly, the perks for contributing a donation range from posters, to bottles of wine, and even a dinner with Mario Batali at Babbo. Wine enthusiasts & sommeliers, what do you think of Randall Grahm's plan? Is the idea of 10,000 new varieties in a short time span achievable, or does this fall under the category of "ambitious but rubbish"? Let us know what you think via Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, and be sure to check out Grahm's IndieGoGo campaign if the future of wine is your thing. Source: IndieGoGo, SocialVignerons Image Credit (Flickr)