Major Grape Varieties
There are thousands of grape varieties in
the world that can make wine. It is said that Italy alone
has over 2,000 different selections. And while it is true
that the juice of ripe grapes can make wine, there are only a relatively
small number that make wine that is both interesting and delicious.
Most of the world’s favorite vine varieties
were adapted from the French: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot,
Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre,
Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. These
varieties make up the vast majority of wine grown in the modern
vineyards of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Of course, great wine like Italy’s
Barolo is made of Nebbiolo, and Chianti is primarily composed of
Sangiovese. Spain’s great red Riojas are based upon
Tempranillo.
Many famous regions like Bordeaux and Chateauneuf-du-Pape
rely on multiple grape varieties blended together to make their
best wines.
The following pages are a list of the world’s
finest and most popular grape varieties. |
Red Grape Varieties |
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Cabernet Sauvignon
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The most important red grape of Bordeaux, although most
Bordeaux are blends with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and others. It is also
California's most prestigious grape. It makes a dark, tannic wine with
flavors of cassis, earth and blackberry. Bordeaux can age 60 or more
years, California Cabernet is a less reliable ager, often peaking at
5-7 years of age. |
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Merlot
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| Originally a blending grape in Bordeaux known for its
softening properties, it is now the most popular-selling red wine in
American grocery stores. Often pleasant but innocuous when made in
huge quantities, serious producers make interesting wines from Merlot,
usually by blending Cabernet Sauvignon into the mix. The blackberry
flavors are quite often green-herb tinged. |
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Pinot Noir
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| The most haunting red grape of all because of its wine's
beautiful aromatics and deep red and black cherry flavors. Although
it is hard to grow and harder to make well, great Pinot Noir from cool
regions like Burgundy, Oregon and cooler regions in California are
transcendent wines. Smelling and drinking a great aged red Burgundy,
made from Pinot Noir, is the grandest red wine experience in the world. |
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Cabernet Franc
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| Genetically the father of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet
Franc makes a dark red wine that reflects terroir more than its more
famous relative. In the Loire Valley, it is a minerally red wine with
tight structure and flavors of crushed blackberries. |
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Zinfandel
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| Native to Croatia by way of Italy's Puglia and New York's
Long Island, Zinfandel is thought of as California's native grape.
Herb-scented and raspberry flavored, leaner Zinfandel makes a fine
food wine. Traditionally field blended with Grenache, Carignan, Petite
Sirah and Alicanté Bouchet for complexity and interest, the
current trend is to make Zinfandel as ripe, port-like and alcoholic
as possible. Modern versions, unfortunately have become wine's equivalent
to "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" contests. Drink
with gorgonzola, take two aspirin and call me in the morning. |
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Syrah
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| The most expressive red wine grape in France's Rhone
Valley. It makes black wine with exotic perfumes of smoked bacon, violets
and blueberries. In the mouth it is supple, velvety and generous and
has complex flavors of smoke and blackberry. |
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Grenache
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| An underappreciated grape variety responsible for much
of the village wine of Spain and the south of France. Although Grenache
makes a delightful, red cherry tasting wine, taken by itself it is
usually quite simple. To soar, like in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Grenache
needs some heft and complexity by adding Syrah and Mourvedre. |
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Mourvedre
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| The major grape of Provence's Bandol region and an important
blending grape in the southern Rhone and Languedoc. Bandols can age
20 years or more in good vintages and achieve complexity and breed.
In Spain Mourvedre is known as Monastrell and Mataro. As a varietal,
Mourvedre can be a tad funky in the nose and rather simple in the mouth.
But blended into Grenache and Syrah, it is indispensable in adding
the necessary complexity of flavor for making great, age worthy wines. |
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Malbec
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| Emerging as Argentina's most important red wine grape,
it is best known as a blending grape in Bordeaux and the main grape
in the lesser-known region of Cahors in southwest France, where it
makes a bigger, softer wine that Bordeaux. |
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Tempranillo
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| An important grape all over Spain, but particularly
in Rioja and Ribera del Duero, Tempranillo is versatile, producing
simple but delicious everyday wines, and complex, age-worthy treasures,
depending on where it is grown. One of the best wines to accompany
lamb, Tempranillo has black cherry, black raspberry and blackberry
flavors, sometimes with a subtle orange-citrus note. |
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Nebbiolo
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| Like Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo is extremely difficult to
grow and make properly. In fact, Italy's Piedmont region is the only
place where Nebbiolo makes great wine; it is the grape of Barolo and
Barbaresco. The perfume is what sets Nebbiolo apart—a spicy, red-cherry
perfume that sometimes has a foresty and vanilla aroma. With green
tannins that are very astringent, young Nebbiolo is almost impossible
to drink. But aged Barolos are only rivaled by red Burgundy for exotic
perfection in wine. |
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Sangiovese
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| The most important grape in Tuscany where Chianti and
Brunello use variations. It is also being planted throughout central
and southern Italy where it makes a pleasant, if not complex table
wine. Tart cherry flavors when lean, fuller, black fruit flavors when
riper. Topday Sangiovese is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and
Syrah to make them more immediately appealing, especially to Americans
with fruit-forward tastes. In Tuscany, it is particularly good with
Tuscan tomato-based foods. |
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Touriga Nacional
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| Portugal's most important grape and the major grape
of Port. Rich, ripe and full bodied, when fortified, Port wine can
age a century or more, transforming into very complex and beautiful
sweet wines. |
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Chardonnay
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| A grape that makes a rich, full-flavored dry wine with
flavors of apple and pear. It is very adaptable to its region and the
whims of its winemaker. Soil, oak aging and malolactic fermentation
can affect the flavor of Chardonnay dramatically. Depending on the
structure, a Chardonnay can age for decades, but in warmer regions
fades after just a few years. The best selling variety in the United
States. |
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Sauvignon Blanc
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| A grape that produces brisk, refreshing, herb-scented,
grapefruity or melon-like dry white wines. |
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Chenin Blanc
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| As full-bodied as Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc has more
acidity for greater longevity. Chenin Blanc also picks up the local
terroir. When ripe, they can have a beeswax and melon-like aroma and
flavor, when leaner, they have a more minerally purity. Bad examples
taste rather medicine-y. They are equally good dry, off-dry, sweet,
and very-sweet. In the Loire Valley they can live up to a century. |
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Riesling
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| The greatest of all white grapes, Riesling can be grown
anywhere and reflect its terroir. The flavors resemble green apple
when lean and peach and apricot when ripe. In the finest growing regions
like Germany's Rheingau and Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Riesling makes impeccable,
delicious, perfectly-balanced wines at all sweetness levels. The super-concentrated
beerenauslese and trockenbeerenauslese of Germany are the greatest,
rarest and most expensive sweet wines in the world. They can age a
century. |
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Gewurztraminer
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| A spicy, reddish-skinned, very perfumey grape with a
steely core and an aroma and flavor that uncannily resembles lychee.
The great Alsace Gewurztraminers are too aggressive for most foods,
but a soft, lightly sweet new-world version makes a fine all-purpose
wine. |
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Viognier
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| Another perfumey, aggressive wine that is troublesome
with most foods, but irresisttible to smell and taste by itself. Sometimes
smelling like intense pineapple or pine, the flavors range from steely
to pineapple-y. |
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Pinot Gris
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| Also called Pinot Grigio in Italy, Pinot Gris, a reddish-skinned
grape, makes an expressive melony-tasting wine with fine structure
and wonderful purity of fruit. Very versatile as a food wine, especially
with rich fish like salmon, smoked fish and poultry. In Alsace, it
can make a delicious sweet wine as well as fine dry wines. |
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Pinot Blanc
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| Not as regal nor complex as Pinot Gris, it makes a lively,
Chardonnay-like, pleasant, all-purpose dry wine. |
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Albariño
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| Native to northwest Spain, Albariño makes a fresh-tasting,
floral, nearly effervescent light-to-medium bodied wine with crisp
acidity. It resembles a cross between a Sauvignon Blanc and a Riesling
and is delightful with cold-water shellfish and seafood. |
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Verdejo
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| Fast becoming a popular wine, the white Rueda from northwest
Spain is made mostly from Verdejo, an aromatic wine that closely resembles
Sauvignon Blanc, with more of a melony character. Crisp and refreshing,
it is now an excellent value. |
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Trebbiano
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| Also called Ugni Blanc in France, it is a popular grape
in Italy where it makes, softer, easy-to-drink dry white wines with
little character, but great likeability. |
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Malvasia
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| It makes an aromatic, fruity-tasting, full-bodied dry
and sweet wine. Minerally. Grown mostly in Mediterranean countries. |
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Muscat Blanc
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| The closest thing to drinking fresh grapes. It makes
an aromatic, citrusy wine, sometimes with effervescence, sometimes
more syrupy in texture. Although it is Gewurztraminer-like when dry,
it is one of planet Earth's great joys when fermented sweet. |
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