October 2008
In order to fully appreciate your wine experience, it's extremely important to understand the characteristics of grapes and how they create a wine's overall personality. After all, a red grape does not just make a red wine. One can certainly see this effect when tasting a... Read moreIn order to fully appreciate your wine experience, it's extremely important to understand the characteristics of grapes and how they create a wine's overall personality. After all, a red grape does not just make a red wine. One can certainly see this effect when tasting a Cabernet Sauvignon next to a Pinot Noir. We say a wine is varietally correct when a grape's typical characteristics shine through no matter the production process. Understanding the characteristics of a grape is a very basic part of learning about wine and I’m surprised at myself for not addressing it earlier.
In Europe, wine is generally categorized by appellation, so instead of calling a wine a Cabernet like we do over here in the states, they would call it Bordeaux. This is due to the long history of European wine-making where they've matched successful grape growing to soil and climate, i.e. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for Burgundy, Sangiovese for Chianti, and Nebbiolo for Barolo. There are literally hundreds of different grape varietals, but I've taken the liberty of selecting a handful of the more popular grapes and have made up a sort of general descriptor guide to make it easier for people to understand individual a grape characteristics and thus their wine's general personality. Think of it as a wine horoscope.
Reds
Cabernet Sauvignon
Perhaps the most well known varietal in the world, Cabernet Sauvignon is responsible for making up the bulk of Bordeaux wines, is used for blending with Sangiovese in some of Italy’s top Chianti Classicos and has been proven to be a huge success in California as well. With its ability to produce rich wines with great depth and complexity, Cabernet at its best, is ripe with black fruits, currants and spice.
Pinot Noir
From its home in the hills of Burgundy's Cote d'Or, to Oregon's new found glory and Champagne's entirely unique interpretation, it is said that Pinot Noir's charms are decidedly sensual and act as a vehicle for communicating local geography, the characteristics of the individual site and the terroir on which it was planted. Perhaps the only characteristic that Pinot Noirs of the world share are their sweet berry notes and elegant tannin of which only the most ambitious and experienced wine maker is capable of crafting.
Syrah/Shiraz
Wines made from Syrah are typically full bodied and robust. Although this grape produces wines that can vary greatly in flavor notes depending or production methods and climate, typical Syrah characteristics include pepper and blackberry notes, along with leather and earth.
Nebbiolo
The Nebbiolo grape is what's behind the great wines of Piedmont, most notably Barolo. This noble grape makes wines that are big, bold, and tannic, with ability to age for a notably long time. Smelling often of violets and truffles, Nebbiol, ranges in character from licorice, anise and tar to ripe cherries and blackberries.
Merlot
Easy to grow, easy to make and easy to drink. Merlot is known for its ripe fruits and easy drinking lack of tannin. Similar to Cabernet Sauvignon1, Merlot tends to be less distinctive and slightly more herbaceous. Merlot has slightly lower natural acidity than Cabernet and generally less astringency, therefore usually a more straight-forward lush mouth-feel.
Zinfandel
Genetically linked to Italy’s Primitivo and Croatia’s Crljenak Kaštelanski (don’t ask me how to pronounce that mouthful), Zinfandel is known in the US as a robust fruit bomb, with jammy blueberry and raspberry notes. Maybe more notable in the US though is the White Zinfandel, where higher levels of residual sugars result in a sweet wine. However it should be noted that a cooler climate will create a more acidic wine with hints of anise and pepper.
Sangiovese
Originating from Tuscany and the main ingredient in the world renowned wines of Chianti, Sangiovese has too many clones to keep track of (not including Grosso) and is the number one planted grape in Italy. The grape makes a wine that is firm in structure and on the higher side as far as alcohol levels go. Cherry, plum, strawberry, cinnamon and vanilla flavors are dominate depending on production styles.
Whites
Chardonnay
The king of whites, Chardonnay is known for its richer whites with buttery smoothness. Incredibly versatile, well made Chardonnay has outstanding tropical, nectar and melon flavors, along with rich nutty, spice and butterscotch notes.
Sauvignon Blanc
Originating in France, Sauvignon Blanc is now planted in many of the world's wine regions. Often described as crisp, racy, tangy, the grape can produce a wine with notes of tropical, citrus fruits (often from New Zealand) or herbs and grass (think Loire Valley). It's an extremely versatile wine that can easily be paired with any food.
Riesling
A versatile wine that originates from the Rhine Valley in Germany, Riesling is known for its floral bouquets and high acidity. It is used to produce sweet, semi-sweet dry and off dry wines. Even though it is mostly grown in Germany, the grape has been planted widely throughout the world. Notes of peaches, pears, apricots and apples as well as roses and violets are often detected.
Gewurztraminer
Most successfully grown in Alsace, France, this grape is known for the heady, aromatic wines that it produces. It matures early in the season and is therefore harder to grow, but is known for its extreme, floral bouquets, with notes of peaches, mango and lychee.
Gruner Veltliner
Another extremely versatile white wine, Gruner easily pairs with many different foods. With the bulk of its production coming for Austria, Gruner Veltliner is typically a fuller bodied dry wine with a high alcohol content and firm mineral backbone. Typical characteristics include peach and citrus flavors with notes of spice and sometimes pepper.
Muscat
The Muscat grape is one that tends to give its particular flavor to its wine no matter where it's planted. You can find it on labels as Muscat, Muscatel, Moscatel or Moscato, but it's the same grape. It has an aromatic quality that most commonly is put to good effect in sweet dessert wines, but the range of wine types produced by the Muscat grape is large, from the very sweet to very dry. But whatever the style, the essentially floral, almost orangey, flavor of the grape will always be present in the wine.
Callie Exas has just launched her wine career at New York Wine Co. in Manhattan. So far so good! (hide)
