Wine Glossary

Southern Italy’s answer to Nebbiolo, Aglianico (say “ahl-YAH-nee-ko”) is a dark, late-ripening red grape grown mostly in Campania and Basilicata, the regions around Naples and the instep of Italy’s boot. Its most famous homes are Taurasi, in the hills inland from Naples, and the slopes of Monte Vulture, an extinct volcano in Basilicata. People have argued for a long time about where the name comes from, and nobody has settled it.

This is a serious, structured red. Expect firm, drying tannins, high acidity and a deep color, with flavors of black cherry, plum, leather, smoke and sometimes a savory, almost ashy note that many people link to the volcanic soils. Young Aglianico can feel a bit tight and chewy. Given several years in the bottle, the edges soften and more earthy, dried-fruit flavors come through.

Because of that combination of power and acidity, Taurasi is sometimes nicknamed “the Barolo of the South,” and the comparison with Barolo is a fair one if you enjoy big, age-worthy Italian reds. Everyday bottles labeled simply Aglianico, from Campania or Basilicata, are usually friendlier and much cheaper, and they’re a good way to get to know the grape. A few growers in California and Australia have planted it too, drawn by its love of heat.

See also: Nebbiolo , Barolo

Along the rainy Atlantic coast of Galicia, in the far northwest corner of Spain, Albariño is the white grape of Rías Baixas, a region of fjord-like inlets known for its seafood. Just across the Minho River in northern Portugal, the same grape goes by Alvarinho. There it’s a key part of Vinho Verde, especially in the subregion of Monção e Melgaço, where it’s often bottled on its own.

Albariño is usually dry, light to medium in body and bright with acidity. The flavors run to lemon, lime, grapefruit, peach and apricot, sometimes with a salty, sea-breeze quality that suits its coastal home. Most is made in stainless steel and drunk young, so it tastes fresh and crisp rather than oaky. Some producers let the wine rest on its spent yeast for extra texture, and those bottles feel rounder and a little creamy.

Portuguese Alvarinho labeled as Vinho Verde can be lighter and sometimes has a faint spritz, while Spanish Albariño tends to be a touch fuller and more aromatic. Don’t confuse it with Verdejo, another popular Spanish white from a different grape and a different part of the country. Albariño has also caught on with growers in California and Oregon who want a zippy white for warm-weather drinking.

See also: Vinho Verde , Verdejo

Most red wine is made from fresh grapes. Amarone della Valpolicella is made from grapes that have been left to shrivel for months first. After harvest in the Valpolicella hills north of Verona, in Italy’s Veneto region, the bunches are laid out on racks or in crates to dry through the autumn and early winter. They lose water, and the sugar and flavor that remain become concentrated. The drying process is called appassimento. Corvina is the main grape, often joined by Corvinone, Rondinella and other local varieties.

The result is big, dark and powerful. Amarone is usually full-bodied and high in alcohol, often 15 percent or more, with flavors of dried cherry, raisin, fig, chocolate and sweet spice. Even so, it’s fermented to be a dry wine. The name comes from the Italian amaro, “bitter,” a nod to the fact that it isn’t sweet like its older cousin, Recioto della Valpolicella, which is made from the same dried grapes but left sweet. The rules require at least two years of aging before release, and many producers age it much longer.

It helps to know how Amarone fits with Valpolicella. Plain Valpolicella is the everyday red from the same place and grapes: lighter, brighter and cheaper. In between sits Valpolicella Ripasso, which gets extra depth by resting on the leftover skins from Amarone. Amarone is the slow, expensive, special-occasion end of the family, and a glass goes a long way.

See also: Valpolicella

Two sweet, fizzy wines share a name and a home. Both come from the Asti DOCG in Piedmont, northwest Italy, and both are made from Moscato Bianco, the local name for the Muscat grape (specifically the variety known as Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains). They smell and taste of the grape itself: peach, apricot, orange blossom, honeysuckle and fresh grapes. The difference is mostly about bubbles, sweetness and alcohol.

Moscato d’Asti is the gentler of the two. Fermentation is stopped early, so it keeps a lot of natural sweetness and ends up at only about 5 to 6 percent alcohol. It’s lightly sparkling, with a soft prickle rather than a full fizz. Asti, often called Asti Spumante, is fermented further. It’s fully sparkling like a glass of Prosecco, a little less sweet, and usually about 7 to 9.5 percent alcohol. Drier versions of Asti have been added in recent years, but the classic styles are sweet.

Both wines are best young and cold, while the fruit is fresh. Their low alcohol and lively acidity keep them from feeling heavy, which is why they’re so often served with fruit desserts, or simply on their own in the afternoon. The many inexpensive “Moscato” wines from around the world are made in a similar spirit, but only wine from this part of Piedmont can use the Asti name.

See also: Muscat , Prosecco

Barbaresco comes from a small area in the Langhe hills of Piedmont, northwest Italy, just northeast of the town of Alba. Like its neighbor Barolo, it’s made entirely from Nebbiolo, a late-ripening grape that makes pale wines with surprising power. The appellation takes its name from one of its villages, and it holds Italy’s top DOCG status.

In the glass, Barbaresco looks lighter than it tastes. The color is usually a translucent garnet, often turning brick orange at the rim with age. The aromas are classic Nebbiolo: red cherry, raspberry, rose petals, dried herbs, tar and, as it matures, leather and earth. Acidity is high and the tannins are firm, so young bottles can feel grippy and tight. Rules require at least 26 months of aging before release, including nine months in wood, and Riserva wines need longer.

Barbaresco is often described as the slightly more approachable sibling of Barolo. Its vineyards sit a bit lower and closer to the Tanaro River, and the minimum aging is shorter, so the wines are often a touch more open and elegant when young. That’s a generalization, though. A great Barbaresco can age for decades, and the gap between the two depends as much on the producer and the vineyard as on the name. Many bottles now name a specific vineyard area on the label, much as they do in Burgundy.

See also: Nebbiolo , Barolo

In Piedmont, in northwest Italy, Barbera is the red people actually drink on a Tuesday. Nebbiolo gets the glory in Barolo and Barbaresco, but Barbera is planted far more widely and is the everyday wine of the region’s kitchens and trattorias. The two best-known versions are Barbera d’Asti and Barbera d’Alba, named for the towns at the center of each area.

What sets Barbera apart is its unusual balance: lots of acidity but not much tannin. That makes it juicy and mouthwatering rather than grippy. Think sour cherry, red plum and blackberry, often with a dark color that surprises people given how lively it tastes. Simpler bottles are fresh and fruity. Some producers age their best Barbera in small oak barrels, which adds vanilla and spice and rounds out the texture, so styles can range from light and zippy to rich and polished.

Barbera is often mentioned alongside Dolcetto, Piedmont’s other everyday red. Dolcetto is softer in acidity and a little more bitter, while Barbera is the brighter of the two. Italian immigrants brought Barbera to California long ago, and it still turns up there, especially in the Sierra Foothills. Its high acidity makes it a natural match for tomato sauces, pizza and anything rich or fatty.

See also: Nebbiolo , Dolcetto , Barolo , Barbaresco

People sometimes call Barolo “the king of wines,” and it’s the red that put Piedmont, in northwest Italy, on the world map. It comes from a group of villages in the Langhe hills south of the town of Alba and is made only from Nebbiolo. The grape ripens late in the fall, often as fog (nebbia in Italian) settles into the valleys, which may be where its name comes from.

Don’t judge Barolo by its color. It’s usually a fairly pale garnet, yet it’s one of the most structured red wines anywhere, with high acidity and firm, drying tannins. The famous description is “tar and roses,” and it fits: think rose petal, red cherry, dried herbs, licorice and tar, with notes of leather, truffle and earth as it ages. Barolo must age for at least 38 months before release, 18 of those in wood. A Riserva needs at least 62 months.

Because of all that structure, young Barolo can feel tough, and many bottles are at their best after 10 years or more. Producers don’t all agree on how to make it. Traditionalists tend to use large, old casks and long fermentations. Others use small new oak barrels for a rounder, sometimes more vanilla-scented wine. The villages differ too, with some known for more perfumed wines and others for more power. Barbaresco, just to the northeast, is made from the same grape and makes a natural comparison.

See also: Nebbiolo , Barbaresco

Just south of Burgundy and north of Lyon, in eastern France, Beaujolais is a region best known for one grape. Nearly all of its wine is red and made from Gamay, a grape that gives juicy, low-tannin wines. Many producers use a technique called carbonic maceration, where whole bunches ferment inside a sealed tank, which boosts the bright, fruity character. A small amount of white Beaujolais is made from Chardonnay.

The region has a few quality levels. Basic Beaujolais is light and easy, with strawberry, raspberry and red cherry flavors. Beaujolais-Villages comes from a set of better-regarded villages. At the top are the ten crus, each named after its own area: Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié and Saint-Amour. Their labels often don’t even say “Beaujolais.” Cru wines have more depth, and some, especially from Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent, can age for years. Fleurie and Chiroubles are known for being lighter and more floral.

Then there’s Beaujolais Nouveau, the very young wine released each year on the third Thursday of November, only weeks after harvest. It’s meant for drinking right away, and it gave the region a reputation for simple wine that the crus don’t deserve. Good Beaujolais is often served slightly chilled. Closer to home, a number of Willamette Valley producers now make Gamay in a similar fresh, chillable style.

See also: Gamay , Burgundy

Blaufränkisch goes by a lot of names as it crosses borders in Central Europe. In Austria, where it’s the leading red grape of Burgenland near the Hungarian border, it’s Blaufränkisch (“blow-FRANK-ish”). Over in Hungary it’s Kékfrankos, and in Germany’s Württemberg it’s Lemberger. That last name also stuck in Washington State, where growers have made “Lemberger” for decades.

The wines tend to be medium to full in body with bright acidity and firm but not heavy tannins. Dark cherry, blackberry and blueberry are typical, often with black pepper, spice and a mineral, slightly earthy edge. Cooler sites and lighter winemaking give a crunchy, peppery red that some people compare to cool-climate Syrah. Richer versions from warmer spots, often aged in oak, can be dense and age-worthy.

Blaufränkisch is also one of the parents of Zweigelt, Austria’s most popular everyday red. In Hungary, Kékfrankos is widely planted and shows up in blends, including the famous Bull’s Blood (Egri Bikavér) of Eger. If you like Pinot Noir for its freshness but want a little more color, spice and backbone, this is a grape worth seeking out.

See also: Syrah , Pinot Noir

Bordeaux, in southwest France, is one of the most famous wine regions in the world and one of the largest. It’s named after its port city, and its wines have been shipped abroad for centuries. The British still sometimes call red Bordeaux “claret.” Most Bordeaux is red, and most of it is a blend. The main red grapes are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, with smaller amounts of Petit Verdot and Malbec.

Which grape leads depends on which side of the river you’re on. On the Left Bank, in the Médoc and Graves areas, gravel soils suit Cabernet Sauvignon, which gives firm, long-lived wines with blackcurrant, cedar and graphite notes. On the Right Bank, in places like Saint-Émilion and Pomerol, clay soils suit Merlot, which makes rounder, plummier wines. Everyday Bordeaux is often medium-bodied and savory, while top estates, called châteaux, make wines built to age for decades.

Bordeaux also makes crisp dry whites from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, and famous sweet whites, most notably Sauternes. Its red blend has been copied all over the world. In the United States, wineries that belong to the Meritage Alliance can label their Bordeaux-style blends as Meritage. Washington’s Columbia Valley is one of the places where these grapes do especially well.

See also: Merlot , Cabernet Sauvignon , Sauternes , Meritage

Brunello di Montalcino comes from the hills around Montalcino, a hilltop town south of Siena in Tuscany. It’s made entirely from Sangiovese, the same grape at the heart of Chianti. “Brunello” was the local name for the particular Sangiovese grown here, which is why you’ll often hear it described as a clone or strain of that grape. Montalcino is warmer and drier than much of the Chianti area, and that shows in the wine.

Compared with most Chianti, Brunello is fuller and more concentrated, with ripe and dried cherry, plum, leather, tobacco, dried herbs and earthy notes. Acidity stays high, as it always does with Sangiovese, and the tannins are firm. Patience is built into the rules. Brunello can’t be sold until January 1 of the fifth year after harvest, and it must spend at least two years of that in wood. A Riserva is held back a further year.

All that aging means Brunello is rarely cheap. Producers in the same area also make Rosso di Montalcino, a younger, lighter Sangiovese released much sooner, which is a good way to get a feel for the place at a friendlier price. Estates differ too, from more traditional wines aged in large old casks to richer versions using smaller barrels. The best vintages can keep improving for 20 years or more.

See also: Sangiovese , Chianti , Super Tuscan

Burgundy, known in French as Bourgogne, is a region in eastern France that has shaped how the world thinks about Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Almost every red wine there is Pinot Noir, and almost every white is Chardonnay. The region runs roughly north to south: Chablis at the northern end, then the Côte d’Or (divided into the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune), the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais. Beaujolais, just south, is sometimes lumped in, but its wine is a different story.

What makes Burgundy distinctive is its obsession with place. Labels usually name where the grapes grew, not the grape. The broadest level is regional wine labeled simply Bourgogne. Then come village wines, named after a single village such as Gevrey-Chambertin or Meursault. Premier Cru wines come from specific vineyards with a higher reputation, and the Grand Crus, a few dozen of the most prized vineyards, make up only a tiny share of the region’s wine.

Red Burgundy tends to be light to medium-bodied with red fruit and earthy, savory notes. White Burgundy ranges from lean and mineral in Chablis to rich and nutty in parts of the Côte de Beaune. Oregon’s Willamette Valley is often compared to Burgundy, and not just because of the shared grapes. Several Burgundy producers have invested there, starting with the Drouhin family in the late 1980s.

See also: Pinot Noir , Chardonnay , Chablis , Willamette Valley

Cabernet Franc is the family elder of the Bordeaux grapes. DNA testing has shown it’s a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon (with Sauvignon Blanc), of Merlot and of Carménère. In Bordeaux it usually plays a supporting role in blends, though on the Right Bank around Saint-Émilion it can take a much bigger share. In France’s Loire Valley it gets top billing, in reds from Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur-Champigny.

Compared with Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s lighter, more fragrant and less tannic. Expect red and black fruit like raspberry, red cherry and plum, along with its signature herbal side: bell pepper, tobacco leaf, graphite or crushed herbs. When the grapes don’t get ripe enough, that green note can dominate, which is why some people think they dislike the grape. Well-made examples balance fruit and herb nicely and have lively acidity that makes them good with food.

Loire Cabernet Franc is often medium-bodied and savory, sometimes served slightly cool. Warmer places, including Washington, parts of California and Argentina, make riper, fuller versions. It’s one of the grapes allowed in a Meritage blend, and it’s also a common partner to Merlot in Right Bank Bordeaux. In Canada it’s even made into Ice Wine.

See also: Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot , Bordeaux , Meritage

Few red grapes are as famous, or as widely planted, as Cabernet Sauvignon. It was born in Bordeaux, probably a few centuries ago, from a chance crossing between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Researchers at UC Davis confirmed that parentage with DNA testing in the 1990s. Its home turf is Bordeaux’s Left Bank, especially the Médoc, where it leads blends with Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Small, thick-skinned berries give it deep color, firm tannins and good acidity, which is why it can age for decades. Blackcurrant (cassis) is the classic flavor, along with black cherry, cedar, tobacco, mint and sometimes a hint of green bell pepper. It takes well to oak, which adds vanilla, toast and spice. In cooler places it’s leaner and more savory. In sunny ones it gets riper, rounder and higher in alcohol.

Napa Valley made its name on bold, polished Cabernet Sauvignon, and Washington’s Columbia Valley is known for it too. In the US, a Bordeaux-style blend led by Cabernet may be sold as a Meritage, and in Tuscany it’s a common ingredient in Super Tuscan reds. Because the grape is grown nearly everywhere, the same name on a label can mean anything from a light, everyday red to a powerful, expensive bottle meant for the cellar.

See also: Bordeaux , Napa Valley , Meritage , Cabernet Franc

Carignan has had a rough reputation, and it’s slowly earning its way out of it. The grape probably comes from Aragón in northeast Spain, where the town of Cariñena gave it one of its names. It’s also called Mazuelo in Rioja and Samsó in Catalonia, while California spells it Carignane. In France it spread widely across the Languedoc and Roussillon in the 20th century, mostly because it produced huge crops of cheap red wine.

Pushed to high yields, Carignan makes thin, harsh, forgettable wine. Old vines, often gnarled bush vines that give only a small crop, are a very different story. Those wines have deep color, high acidity and firm tannins, with flavors of dark cherry, raspberry, dried herbs, licorice and sometimes a rustic, earthy note.

You’ll rarely see Carignan as the star. It’s more often a blending partner, adding color, acidity and structure alongside Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre in southern France, and it’s one of the grapes allowed in Côtes du Rhône. In Rioja it plays a small role next to Tempranillo. A growing number of producers in France, Spain, Chile and California now bottle old-vine Carignan on its own, and those are the bottles to look for if you’re curious.

See also: Grenache , Mourvèdre , Rioja , Côtes du Rhône

For about a century, Chile’s signature red was hiding in plain sight. Carménère was once grown in Bordeaux, but it nearly disappeared there after the vine pest phylloxera wiped out European vineyards in the 1800s. Cuttings had already made their way to Chile, where the vines got mixed in with Merlot and were sold under that name. In 1994 the French grape expert Jean-Michel Boursiquot identified them as Carménère, and Chile officially recognized the variety a few years later.

The mix-up makes sense: both grapes give soft, plush reds. Carménère usually has deep color, medium to full body and smooth, gentle tannins. Its flavors lean toward plum, blackberry and red cherry, with a savory, herbal streak of green peppercorn, bell pepper, paprika or tobacco. Riper grapes make that green note subtler, while underripe ones can taste distinctly vegetal.

Today Chile grows by far the most Carménère, and it’s bottled on its own or blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It’s a relative of Cabernet Franc, which DNA work has shown to be one of its parents. Carménère is also one of the grapes allowed in a Bordeaux-style Meritage blend, so a few North American wineries grow it in small amounts.

See also: Merlot , Cabernet Franc , Cabernet Sauvignon , Meritage

Spain’s best-known sparkling wine is made the same way as Champagne, with a second fermentation inside each bottle. Cava is an official Spanish appellation, or DO. Most of it comes from Penedès in Catalonia, west of Barcelona, around the town of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, though the appellation also includes areas in several other parts of Spain. The classic grapes are three local whites: Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are also allowed, and rosé Cava uses red grapes such as Garnacha and Trepat.

Cava tends to be crisp and dry, with flavors of lemon, green apple, pear and sometimes almond or a light earthy note. Because it spends time aging on its yeast in the bottle, it can pick up toasty, bready flavors too, though usually less than Champagne. The basic level must age at least nine months. Reserva needs at least 18 months and Gran Reserva at least 30, and those longer-aged wines are richer and more complex.

The sweetness terms work just like Champagne’s: Brut Nature is the driest, Brut is dry, and Semiseco and Dulce are sweet. Cava is usually much cheaper than Champagne, which makes it a handy choice when you want traditional-method bubbles without the price. It’s often a better match for that job than Prosecco, which is made differently and tastes fruitier.

See also: Champagne , Crémant , Prosecco

Around the small town of Chablis, in the northernmost part of Burgundy, Chardonnay makes a white wine that surprises a lot of people. It sits well northwest of the rest of the region, closer to the southern edge of Champagne than to Beaune, and it’s cool there. That cool climate, plus soils full of limestone and tiny fossilized oyster shells, gives Chablis a very different personality from the richer Chardonnays many people know.

The typical glass is dry, crisp and fairly light, with lemon, green apple and pear, plus a stony, chalky or salty quality people often call mineral. Many producers use little or no new oak, so there’s no strong vanilla or buttery flavor. If you think you don’t like Chardonnay, Chablis might change your mind.

There are four levels. Petit Chablis is the lightest and simplest, meant for drinking young. Chablis is the main appellation. Chablis Premier Cru comes from better-positioned slopes, and Chablis Grand Cru comes from seven vineyards on one southwest-facing hillside just outside the town. The Grand Crus are fuller and can age well for a decade or more, taking on honey and nutty notes. One more thing worth knowing: in the United States, “chablis” was long used on cheap jug wines that had nothing to do with the place. That usage is now rare, but real Chablis always comes from Burgundy.

See also: Chardonnay , Burgundy

Champagne is sparkling wine from one specific place: the Champagne region of northeast France. Only wine grown and made there can carry the name in most of the world. A handful of older American brands still use the word under a rule that lets them keep it, always with their own place name alongside it. Most Champagne is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, often blended together. The bubbles come from a second fermentation inside each bottle, a slow process the French call the méthode traditionnelle.

Expect high, refreshing acidity and a fine, steady fizz. The flavors usually lean toward lemon, green apple and pear. Because most Champagne rests on the spent yeast in the bottle for months or years, many also taste of toast, brioche or baked pastry. A “Blanc de Blancs” is made only from white grapes and tends to be lighter and more citrusy. A “Blanc de Noirs” comes from dark-skinned grapes and is usually fuller and fruitier.

The label tells you how sweet it is, though the names can trip people up. Brut Nature and Extra Brut are the driest, and Brut, the most common, is dry too. Extra Dry is actually a little sweeter than Brut, and Demi-Sec is noticeably sweet. Other sparkling wines made the same way, like Spanish Cava or French Crémant, can taste quite similar at a lower price. They just come from somewhere else.

See also: Chardonnay , Pinot Noir , Pinot Meunier , Cava , Crémant

Chardonnay comes from Burgundy in eastern France, and there’s even a village called Chardonnay in the Mâconnais, in the south of the region. It’s one of the most widely planted white grapes in the world because it grows almost anywhere and adapts to whatever the winemaker wants. Many of Burgundy’s most famous whites, including Chablis and Pouilly-Fuissé, are 100 percent Chardonnay, even though the labels only name the place.

On its own, the grape is fairly neutral, so how it’s grown and made matters a lot. From cool places and steel tanks, it’s lean and crisp, tasting of green apple, lemon and pear. From warmer spots, it turns riper, with peach, pineapple and melon. Oak barrels add vanilla, toast and a rounder feel, and a common winemaking step called malolactic fermentation softens the acidity and can give that famous “buttery” flavor.

Chablis, in the cool north of Burgundy, is known for its steely, mostly unoaked style, while richer, oakier Chardonnay made California famous in the 1980s and 90s. It’s also a key grape in Champagne, where a “Blanc de Blancs” is usually all Chardonnay, and in Crémant. Oregon’s Willamette Valley has gained a strong reputation for Chardonnay that sits between those extremes: bright and fresh, with a light touch of oak.

See also: Burgundy , Chablis , Champagne , Willamette Valley

The name means “the pope’s new castle.” In the 14th century, when the popes lived in nearby Avignon, one of them built a summer residence here in the southern Rhône Valley of France. The castle is mostly a ruin now, but the papal keys and tiara still appear embossed on many bottles. Châteauneuf-du-Pape became one of France’s first official appellations in the 1930s.

The appellation allows 13 grape varieties, an unusually long list that includes both red and white grapes. In practice, most red Châteauneuf-du-Pape is led by Grenache, usually blended with Syrah and Mourvèdre, sometimes with Cinsault, Counoise and others. The wines are generally full-bodied and warm, often around 14 to 15 percent alcohol, with ripe raspberry, plum and dark cherry, plus herbal, peppery and earthy notes. The French word garrigue gets used a lot here, meaning the scent of wild herbs like thyme and rosemary. Many vineyards are covered with large, rounded stones that soak up heat by day.

A small amount of white is also made, typically from Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Roussanne and Bourboulenc, and it tends to be rich and textured. Styles vary from juicy and approachable to dense and built for long aging, and some estates use all 13 grapes while others focus on Grenache alone. Côtes du Rhône comes from the same broader area and uses similar grapes, usually at a lower price.

See also: Grenache , Côtes du Rhône , Rhône Blend (GSM) , Mourvèdre

Hardly any white grape can do as many different things as Chenin Blanc. It comes from the middle stretch of France’s Loire Valley, around Anjou and Touraine, where it’s made bone dry, off-dry, lusciously sweet and sparkling, sometimes by the same producer. Vouvray, near the city of Tours, is its best-known appellation, and the label doesn’t always tell you which style you’re getting.

Whatever the sweetness, Chenin has naturally high acidity, which keeps even the sweet versions from feeling heavy. Flavors of green and baked apple, pear, quince, lemon and honey are typical, along with a waxy or lanolin note that’s often described as “wet wool.” In good years in the Loire, some grapes are affected by noble rot, a beneficial mold that concentrates sugar and makes rich dessert wines. Top dry and sweet Chenin can age for decades.

South Africa, where it was long called Steen, grows more Chenin Blanc than anywhere else, and it’s the country’s most planted grape. Cape Chenin ranges from cheap and cheerful to serious old-vine bottlings. In the Loire, Chenin is also used for sparkling Crémant de Loire and sparkling Vouvray, so it’s worth checking the label for words like “sec” (dry), “demi-sec” (off-dry) or “moelleux” (sweet).

See also: Vouvray , Crémant , Late Harvest

Chianti is Tuscany’s most famous red wine and one of Italy’s best-known exports. It comes from a large area of central Tuscany around Florence and Siena, and it’s built on Sangiovese. Older readers may remember it in squat, straw-wrapped bottles, a look that’s mostly gone now. Plain Chianti DOCG must be at least 70 percent Sangiovese, with the rest from other permitted grapes.

Chianti Classico is the historic heartland between Florence and Siena. Despite the shared name, it’s now a separate DOCG of its own, not a subzone or a higher grade of Chianti, with its own stricter rules, including at least 80 percent Sangiovese. You can spot it by the black rooster (gallo nero) on the neck of the bottle. The wider Chianti appellation also has named subzones, such as Chianti Rufina and Chianti Colli Senesi, which appear on labels.

Most Chianti is medium-bodied and dry, with tart red cherry, plum, dried herbs, and sometimes a hint of tea leaf, leather or balsamic. High acidity and noticeable tannin make it a natural at the table, especially with tomato sauces. Quality ranges widely, from simple everyday bottles to serious, age-worthy Riserva and Gran Selezione wines from Chianti Classico. If you like Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino is the fuller, longer-aged take on the same grape from farther south, and Super Tuscans are what happened when some producers stepped outside the rules.

See also: Sangiovese , Brunello di Montalcino , Super Tuscan

Cinsault (spelled Cinsaut in South Africa and often elsewhere) is a red grape from the south of France, grown across the Languedoc, Provence and the southern Rhône. It rarely makes headlines on its own, but it quietly shows up in a lot of wine. It’s a common ingredient in pink Provence Rosé and in southern French red blends, including some Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône.

The grape gives pale-colored, light to medium-bodied wines with soft tannins and a floral, perfumed quality. The fruit leans toward strawberry, raspberry and red cherry, with a hint of spice or dried herbs. That delicacy is exactly why winemakers like it in rosé, and why it softens heavier grapes like Grenache and Carignan in blends. Pushed to high yields, it can be dilute, but old vines make charming, easy-drinking reds that are often served lightly chilled.

Cinsault has a famous child: Pinotage, South Africa’s own grape, was bred in 1925 by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsaut, which was then called Hermitage there. Old-vine Cinsaut has since become a darling of South Africa’s younger winemakers. It’s also important in Lebanon, and California has at least one vineyard of very old Cinsault vines in Lodi.

See also: Provence Rosé , Pinotage , Grenache , Rhône Blend (GSM)

Most of Washington’s wine comes from one enormous American Viticultural Area, or AVA: the Columbia Valley. An AVA is a grape-growing region the federal government officially recognizes, and a wine that names one on its label must get at least 85 percent of its grapes from there. This one was approved in 1984 and covers a large part of eastern Washington, crossing the Columbia River into a smaller slice of northern Oregon. It contains many smaller AVAs, including Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley and Red Mountain.

The climate is the key. The Cascade Mountains block most of the rain coming off the Pacific, so the region is dry, sunny and hot in summer, with cool nights. Most vineyards need irrigation. Those long, warm days and cool evenings let grapes ripen fully while keeping good acidity, which is why the wines often taste ripe and fruity but still fresh.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah are the big reds, and the region makes plenty of Bordeaux-style blends. Chardonnay and Riesling lead the whites. Because the AVA is so large, a bottle labeled simply “Columbia Valley” often blends grapes from several areas and tends to be good value. For Portland readers, note that it’s a different place from the Columbia Gorge AVA, which lies just to the west where the river cuts through the Cascades.

See also: Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot , Syrah , Riesling

If you’ve had grape juice or grape jelly in the US, you already know what Concord tastes like. It’s a native American grape of the species Vitis labrusca, not the European species (Vitis vinifera) behind nearly all the other grapes in this glossary. Ephraim Wales Bull raised it in Concord, Massachusetts, from a seed he planted in 1843, and the vine first bore fruit in 1849. He had spent years growing seedlings, looking for a hardy grape that could cope with New England’s cold climate.

Concord has dark, slip-skin berries and a very distinctive flavor: sweet, grapey, with a candied, musky note that wine people call “foxy.” As wine, it’s most often made sweet, which balances its sharp acidity. It’s usually purple and light-bodied, with a taste close to grape juice or grape jam. Kosher sacramental wines made in the US have long relied on it, and it’s still grown for homey sweet wines in the Northeast and Midwest.

Most Concord ends up as juice rather than wine. Washington grows more Concord grapes than any other state, mostly in the same eastern part of the state as the Columbia Valley, where they’re pressed into juice. New York, including the Lake Erie shore and the Finger Lakes, is another big source. If you’re curious about other American grapes, Norton and Muscadine are native too, with flavors that are quite different.

See also: Finger Lakes , Norton , Muscadine , Columbia Valley

Côtes du Rhône is the broad, everyday appellation of France’s Rhône Valley. Technically it covers vineyards along the river from near Vienne in the north down toward Avignon in the south, but the vast majority of the wine comes from the warm, sunny southern half. That’s why most Côtes du Rhône tastes the way it does: ripe, generous and led by Grenache.

Nearly all of it is red, usually a blend. Grenache must make up a large part, commonly with Syrah and Mourvèdre, and sometimes Cinsault or Carignan. Most bottles are medium- to full-bodied, with red and black berries, plum, black pepper and dried herbs, soft to moderate tannins and gentle acidity. Rosés and a small amount of white are made too, the whites often from Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne and Clairette.

One step up is Côtes du Rhône Villages, from a set of villages with stricter rules. Some of those villages can add their own name to the label, such as Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu or Visan. A few former villages were promoted to their own appellations, including Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Rasteau. Châteauneuf-du-Pape sits at the top of the southern Rhône, and in a sense Côtes du Rhône is its more affordable neighbor. It’s the original version of what winemakers elsewhere, including in Washington and Oregon, call a Rhône Blend or GSM.

See also: Grenache , Syrah , Châteauneuf-du-Pape , Rhône Blend (GSM)

Crémant is the name France uses for traditional-method sparkling wine made outside Champagne. The method is the same: a second fermentation happens inside each bottle, and the wine rests on the spent yeast for at least nine months before release. What changes is the place, and with it the grapes and the price.

There are eight French Crémant appellations, and each one tells you where the wine is from: Crémant d’Alsace, de Bourgogne, de Loire, du Jura, de Limoux, de Die, de Bordeaux and de Savoie. Luxembourg makes its own Crémant de Luxembourg too. Each region uses its local grapes. Crémant de Bourgogne often uses Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, much like Champagne. Crémant d’Alsace relies heavily on Pinot Blanc, with Riesling, Pinot Gris and others. Crémant de Loire often features Chenin Blanc, which gives a honeyed, apple-y character.

Because of that range, Crémant can taste quite different from bottle to bottle. Most are crisp and dry, with citrus and apple fruit and a touch of the toasty, bready flavor that yeast aging brings. They’re often softer and fruitier than Champagne, and usually cost far less. The sweetness terms on the label follow the same scale as Champagne, with Brut the most common. Spain’s Cava is another traditional-method alternative, made from different grapes.

See also: Champagne , Cava , Chenin Blanc , Pinot Blanc

The name means “little sweet one” in Italian, but don’t let that fool you: Dolcetto wine is dry. The sweetness probably refers to the grapes themselves, which are pleasant to eat. It’s a red grape from Piedmont in northwest Italy, grown in the same hills as Nebbiolo and Barbera. The best-known versions are Dolcetto d’Alba and Dogliani, where the grape has its own top-level appellation.

Dolcetto ripens early, so growers can plant it in cooler spots where Nebbiolo wouldn’t ripen. The wine is deep purple, soft in acidity and moderately tannic, with a slightly bitter finish that locals consider part of its charm (think of the bitterness of almond skins or dark chocolate). Flavors of black cherry, plum, blackberry and licorice are common. Most Dolcetto is meant to be drunk within a few years, while it’s still fruity.

In Piedmont, Dolcetto is the wine that gets opened on an ordinary weeknight while the Barolo waits in the cellar. It’s a good comparison with Barbera: Barbera is sharper and brighter, while Dolcetto is rounder and a little grippier. A few wineries in Oregon, Washington and California grow it, though it’s still a rarity outside Italy.

See also: Barbera , Nebbiolo , Barolo

Long, narrow glacial lakes stretch across upstate New York like the fingers of a hand, and they give this wine region its name. The Finger Lakes became an American Viticultural Area, or AVA, in 1982. An AVA is a grape-growing region recognized by the federal government, and a wine that names one on its label must get at least 85 percent of its grapes from there. Most vineyards cluster along Seneca, Cayuga and Keuka lakes, and Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake are AVAs of their own.

The lakes are what make serious winemaking possible this far north. Deep water holds summer warmth into the fall and moderates the harsh winters, giving grapes on the slopes above a little extra protection and a longer season. The climate is still cool, and the region’s reputation rests on Riesling. Finger Lakes Riesling ranges from bone-dry to lusciously sweet, usually with vivid acidity and flavors of lime, green apple, peach and a stony edge.

Beyond Riesling, growers make good Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer and traditional-method sparkling wines, along with ice wine and late-harvest styles in some years. The region also has a long history with native American and hybrid grapes, such as Concord, and many wineries still make them. For drinkers in the Pacific Northwest, the Finger Lakes are an interesting mirror: another cool-climate region that built its name one grape at a time.

See also: Riesling , Cabernet Franc , Concord , Ice Wine

Nearly every red Beaujolais is made from Gamay, and the grape and the region are so closely tied that many people know the wine without knowing the grape’s name. Its full French name, Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc, describes a dark-skinned grape with clear juice. Gamay grew in Burgundy too until the 14th century, when the Duke of Burgundy ordered it pulled out in favor of Pinot Noir. It found a home just to the south, in the granite hills of Beaujolais.

Gamay usually makes light-bodied, low-tannin reds with bright acidity. Fresh strawberry, raspberry, red cherry and violet are typical, sometimes with a banana or bubblegum note that comes from carbonic maceration, a technique where whole, uncrushed grapes start fermenting inside their own skins. It’s one of the best reds to serve slightly chilled.

Not all Gamay is simple. Beaujolais Nouveau is the fruity, just-made version released each November, while wines from Beaujolais’ ten top-rated areas, the “crus” such as Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent, can be deeper and age well. Oregon has taken to Gamay in a big way, and Willamette Valley plantings have been growing quickly. It’s a natural fit for a place that already grows Pinot Noir, which is actually one of Gamay’s parents.

See also: Beaujolais , Pinot Noir , Willamette Valley , Burgundy

Open a glass of Gewürztraminer and you’ll probably smell it before you taste it. It’s one of the most aromatic grapes there is, and “Gewürz” is German for spice. The grape is a pink-skinned member of the old Traminer family, whose name is linked to the village of Tramin (Termeno) in Italy’s Alto Adige. Today its most famous home is Alsace, in northeast France, with plenty grown in Germany and Alto Adige too.

The classic aromas are lychee, rose petals, ginger and sweet spice, often with grapefruit or tropical fruit. It tends to be full-bodied and fairly high in alcohol, with low acidity, so it can feel soft and oily in the mouth. Many bottles are dry or off-dry, but the rich texture and perfume can make even a dry one seem sweet. The color can be deeper than most whites, sometimes with a golden tint.

Because sweetness varies so much, it helps to know the producer or check the back label. In Alsace, “Vendange Tardive” means Late Harvest and signals a sweeter wine. Gewürztraminer is famously good with spicy Asian dishes and strong cheeses like Munster. Oregon and Washington both grow some, usually in an off-dry, fruity style.

See also: Late Harvest , Riesling , Pinot Gris

Most likely Spanish by birth (where it’s called Garnacha), Grenache spread around the Mediterranean centuries ago and is still one of the most widely planted red grapes in the world. On Sardinia it goes by Cannonau. In France, it’s the backbone of the southern Rhône Valley, and it’s the main grape in most Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône.

Grenache loves heat and sun and builds up plenty of sugar, so its wines are often high in alcohol. They tend to be pale to medium in color, with soft tannins and a juicy, generous feel. Strawberry, raspberry, red cherry and plum are typical, along with dried herbs, white pepper, orange peel and, in older wines, leather. Old, low-yielding vines give much more concentrated wines than young ones.

It rarely works alone. Grenache is the “G” in the classic Rhône Blend (GSM) with Syrah and Mourvèdre, a formula copied in Australia, California and Washington. It’s central to Spanish reds from Priorat in Catalonia and from across Aragón, and it’s a big part of pink Provence Rosé and Tavel. There’s even a fortified side: sweet reds like Banyuls in southern France are made mostly from Grenache.

See also: Châteauneuf-du-Pape , Rhône Blend (GSM) , Côtes du Rhône , Provence Rosé

Austria’s most planted grape, Grüner Veltliner (“GROO-ner felt-LEAN-er”) is the country’s signature white. It grows all over Lower Austria, along the Danube River and north toward the Czech border. The best-known areas include the Wachau, Kamptal, Kremstal and the large Weinviertel. “Grüner” means green in German, and most people simply call the wine Grüner.

Its calling card is a peppery kick. Alongside lime, lemon, green apple and white peach, Grüner often has notes of white pepper, fresh herbs, green beans or lentils. Most bottles are dry, light to medium in body and zesty with acidity, easy to drink young and great with salads and vegetables that trip up other wines. Wines from the best vineyard sites, especially the terraced slopes of the Wachau, can be fuller, richer and age for years.

Styles range widely. The Weinviertel is known for crisp, peppery wines, while the Wachau labels its richest, ripest dry wines “Smaragd.” If you like Sauvignon Blanc or dry Riesling, Grüner sits in similar territory, with its own savory twist. Small plantings have popped up in Oregon, Washington and New Zealand, among other cooler places.

See also: Riesling , Sauvignon Blanc

Imagine picking grapes in the dark on a freezing winter night. That’s how ice wine is made. The grapes are left on the vine well past the normal harvest, until a hard frost freezes them solid. They’re then picked and pressed while still frozen. Most of the water stays behind as ice, and only a few drops of intensely sweet, concentrated juice run out. That juice ferments slowly into a small amount of very sweet wine.

The rules are strict in the places best known for it. In Germany, where it’s called Eiswein, the grapes must be harvested at minus 7°C or colder. Canada, which spells it Icewine and is one of the best-known producers, requires minus 8°C. U.S. rules are looser on the details and set no temperature, but federal regulators only allow the term “ice wine” for wine from grapes that froze on the vine before harvest. Wine from grapes frozen in a freezer after picking can’t use the name, and its label has to say the grapes were frozen after harvest.

Ice wine is sweet but not heavy, because the grapes keep their acidity. Expect flavors of apricot, peach, honey, candied citrus and tropical fruit, with a bright, clean finish. Riesling and Vidal Blanc are the classic grapes, and some red ice wine is made from Cabernet Franc. The yields are tiny and the harvest is risky, so bottles are usually small and expensive. Late Harvest wines are made from grapes left on the vine to ripen longer, but not frozen, and they’re generally less intense.

See also: Riesling , Vidal Blanc , Late Harvest , Finger Lakes

Lambrusco is both a family of red grapes and the fizzy wine made from them in Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy, mostly around Modena and Reggio Emilia. There are several different Lambrusco varieties, and a few of them lend their names to local appellations. Lambrusco di Sorbara tends to be pale, fragrant and tangy. Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro is darker, fuller and more tannic. Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce sits somewhere in between.

Nearly all Lambrusco is lightly sparkling, or frizzante, and most is red or deep pink. Flavors run to fresh strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blackberry and violet, and the acidity is bright. Sweetness varies, so it’s worth reading the label: secco is dry, amabile is off-dry to sweet, and dolce is sweet. Most Lambrusco gets its bubbles from a second fermentation in large tanks, though some producers ferment in the bottle.

Many Americans first met Lambrusco as a cheap, sweet soda-pop red that was hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s. That style still exists, but dry Lambrusco is a different animal: crunchy, savory, a little tannic and very refreshing. At home in Emilia, it’s poured with the region’s famously rich food, like cured pork, Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh pasta, where the bubbles and acidity cut through the fat. Serve it chilled.

Grapes keep getting riper, and sweeter, the longer they hang on the vine. Late Harvest wines are made from grapes picked well after the normal harvest, when their sugar is high and some have started to shrivel. The winemaker stops fermentation, or it stops on its own, before all that sugar turns to alcohol, so the finished wine is sweet. On U.S. labels it’s a descriptive term rather than a tightly defined category, so sweetness varies a lot from bottle to bottle.

Sometimes the late grapes are also touched by botrytis, a mold nicknamed “noble rot” that shrinks the berries and adds flavors of honey, saffron and dried apricot. That’s the key to famous sweet wines like Sauternes and Tokaji. Without botrytis, late-harvest wines tend to taste of ripe peach, apricot, pineapple, orange peel and honey. Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Sémillon, Chenin Blanc and Vidal Blanc are common choices because they keep good acidity, which stops the sweetness from feeling cloying.

Europe has more precise versions. In Alsace, Vendanges Tardives wines must meet high ripeness levels. Germany’s Spätlese literally means “late harvest,” but it refers to ripeness at picking, and some Spätlese wines are fermented dry, so check for the word trocken. Ice Wine goes a step further, using grapes left on the vine until they freeze. In Oregon and Washington, late-harvest Riesling and Gewürztraminer turn up in small amounts, often in half bottles.

See also: Ice Wine , Sauternes , Riesling , Tokaji

Far out in the Atlantic, west of Morocco, the Portuguese island of Madeira gives its name to one of the world’s most unusual fortified wines. It’s made by adding grape spirit to the wine, like Port, but then it does something almost no other wine does: it’s deliberately heated. The practice goes back to the days of sailing ships, when barrels crossing the tropics came back tasting better. Today, most Madeira is warmed in tanks for a few months (called estufagem), while the finest is aged for years in casks in warm lofts (canteiro).

Heat and air would ruin most wines. With Madeira, they create flavors of caramel, toffee, roasted nuts, dried fig, orange peel and coffee, all held together by striking acidity. That process also makes Madeira remarkably durable. An opened bottle can last for months, and very old vintages are still lively after a century or more.

Sweetness is often tied to the grape named on the label. Sercial is the driest, Verdelho is medium-dry, Bual (also spelled Boal) is medium-sweet, and Malmsey (Malvasia) is the sweetest and richest. Most Madeira is made from the red grape Tinta Negra and labeled by sweetness and age, such as 5, 10 or 15 years old. Port, from mainland Portugal, is fortified early to stay sweet and fruity, while Sherry, from southern Spain, is fortified after fermentation and aged without heat. Marsala is Sicily’s own take on fortified wine.

See also: Port , Sherry , Marsala

Today Malbec means Argentina to most wine drinkers, but the grape is French. Its traditional home is Cahors in southwest France, where it’s often called Côt and makes dark, tannic reds that were once nicknamed “black wine.” It was also one of the grapes in Bordeaux blends, though it has mostly faded there. French cuttings were brought to Argentina in the 1800s, and in the sunny, high-altitude vineyards of Mendoza the grape found its real calling.

Argentine Malbec is typically deep purple and full-bodied, with ripe plum, blackberry and black cherry flavors, soft, velvety tannins and hints of cocoa, violet and sweet spice from oak. The higher the vineyard, the fresher and more floral the wine tends to be. Cahors is usually more rustic and structured, with firmer tannins and savory notes of leather and earth.

The difference between the two is a good lesson in how climate and winemaking shape a grape. Malbec is still one of the grapes allowed in a red Bordeaux blend and in an American Meritage, and it shows up in small amounts in Washington and California blends. Some Argentine producers also make Malbec rosé, which is usually dry and berry-scented.

See also: Bordeaux , Meritage , Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot

Most people know Marsala from chicken Marsala or tiramisu, but it started life as a wine to drink. It comes from the area around the town of Marsala at the western tip of Sicily. English merchants developed it in the late 1700s as a sturdier alternative to Port and Sherry, adding grape spirit so the wine would survive the long voyage to Britain.

The official DOC sorts Marsala three ways. By color, it can be Oro (gold) or Ambra (amber), both from white grapes such as Grillo, Catarratto and Inzolia, or Rubino (ruby), from red grapes including Nero d’Avola. By sweetness, it’s secco (dry), semisecco (medium-sweet) or dolce (sweet). And by age, it runs from Fine, aged at least one year, through Superiore and Superiore Riserva, up to Vergine, which is aged at least five years and is always dry.

Good Marsala tastes of dried apricot, vanilla, brown sugar, toasted nuts, tamarind and tobacco, with higher alcohol than table wine. The cheap “cooking Marsala” at the grocery store, which may have salt or other additions, isn’t a fair picture of what the good stuff tastes like. A well-aged Superiore or Vergine can be a real pleasure in a small glass, much like a nutty Sherry or an aged Madeira. Port, from Portugal’s Douro Valley, is mostly made from red grapes, while most Marsala is made from white ones.

See also: Sherry , Port , Madeira , Nero d’Avola

Named after a village near Montélimar, Marsanne is a white grape from France’s northern Rhône Valley. It’s the leading white grape in the region’s white wines from Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph. Almost always, it’s paired with Roussanne, a more aromatic grape that brings acidity and perfume. The two show up together so often that they’re a bit like a married couple.

On its own, Marsanne is full-bodied and fairly low in acidity, with a rich, waxy or oily texture. Flavors of pear, quince, melon, honeysuckle and almond are common. Young wines can seem a little quiet, but with age they tend to become deeper and nuttier, taking on honey and beeswax notes. Some are aged in oak, which adds creaminess and spice.

Outside France, Australia has a long history with the grape, especially in the state of Victoria, where some of the world’s oldest Marsanne vines grow. California and Washington producers use it in white Rhône-style blends with Roussanne and Viognier. It’s a good pick for anyone who likes rich whites such as oaked Chardonnay but wants something a bit different.

See also: Roussanne , Viognier , Chardonnay

Almost all the Melon de Bourgogne in the world goes into one wine: Muscadet, from the western end of France’s Loire Valley near the city of Nantes. The name means “Melon of Burgundy,” because the grape originally came from Burgundy. It’s often said that it was planted around Nantes after a brutal winter in 1709 killed many vines there, since it could stand the cold. Today most people, and many labels, just call it Melon.

Melon itself is fairly neutral, which isn’t a criticism. It makes light-bodied, dry whites with high acidity and a gentle flavor of lemon, green apple and pear, often with a salty or chalky mineral quality. Many Muscadets are aged “sur lie,” meaning the wine rests on its spent yeast for months before bottling, which adds a subtle creaminess, a bready note and sometimes a faint prickle.

Muscadet is the classic partner for oysters and shellfish, and its low price makes it an easy everyday white. Don’t confuse it with Muscat or Muscadine, which are unrelated grapes. Melon is rare outside France, but Oregon has a few plantings, including old vines in the Dundee Hills of the Willamette Valley.

See also: Muscadet , Willamette Valley , Burgundy

Meritage (it rhymes with “heritage”) is a trademarked name for a Bordeaux-style blend, mostly used by American wineries. It was created in 1988 by a group of California vintners who had a labeling problem. U.S. rules say a wine needs at least 75 percent of one grape to be labeled with that grape’s name. A carefully balanced blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc often didn’t qualify, so it had to be called something generic like “red table wine,” which didn’t sound like the premium wine it was. Their answer was a new word: “merit” plus “heritage.”

You can’t just put Meritage on a label. The trademark is owned by the Meritage Alliance (originally the Meritage Association), which licenses it to member wineries, mostly in the U.S. but also in a few other countries. A red Meritage must blend two or more of the traditional Bordeaux red grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carménère, and no single grape can be more than 90 percent of the blend. A white Meritage uses grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

Taste depends on the recipe. A Cabernet-led Meritage will be firmer and more blackcurrant-driven, while a Merlot-heavy one will be rounder and plummier. Plenty of wineries make Bordeaux-style blends without joining the Alliance, and they simply give the wine a proprietary name instead.

See also: Bordeaux , Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot , Cabernet Franc

Merlot is the most planted grape in Bordeaux, and it’s the main grape of the region’s Right Bank, in places like Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. Some of the most expensive red wines in the world are mostly Merlot. The name may come from the French for blackbird (merle), perhaps because the birds love the grapes. DNA testing shows Cabernet Franc is one of its parents, making it a half-sibling of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Merlot is loved for being approachable. It’s usually medium to full-bodied with softer tannins than Cabernet Sauvignon, and flavors of plum, black cherry, raspberry and chocolate, sometimes with notes of bay leaf or cedar. Cooler places make more structured, savory wines. Warm ones, especially with oak, turn it plush, ripe and round.

In Bordeaux it’s blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and it’s a common part of a Meritage in the US. Merlot’s image took a hit after the 2004 film Sideways poked fun at it, but the grape has kept a loyal following. Washington’s Columbia Valley has built a strong reputation for Merlot with good structure and fresh acidity, and it’s also widely grown in California, Italy and Chile.

See also: Bordeaux , Cabernet Franc , Meritage , Columbia Valley

Here’s a name that confuses everyone. Montepulciano is a red grape grown mainly in central Italy along the Adriatic coast, especially in Abruzzo and the Marche. It’s also the name of a hilltop town in Tuscany, which makes a famous wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. That wine is made from Sangiovese, not from the Montepulciano grape. The grape and the town just share a name.

Most Montepulciano you’ll find is Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, one of Italy’s best-value reds. It’s deeply colored, with soft to medium tannins, moderate acidity and ripe flavors of black cherry, plum, blackberry and a touch of herbs, pepper or licorice. Simple versions are juicy and easy, great with pizza and pasta. More ambitious bottles from careful growers can be dense and age-worthy.

Abruzzo also makes a deep pink wine from the grape called Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, which gets its name from cerasa, an old local word for cherry. In the Marche, Montepulciano is the main grape in Rosso Conero, a red from the hills near the port of Ancona. If you see “Montepulciano” on a label, check whether it’s followed by “d’Abruzzo” (the grape) or preceded by “Vino Nobile di” (Tuscan Sangiovese).

See also: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo , Sangiovese

Here’s a name that causes a lot of confusion. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is a red wine made from the Montepulciano grape in Abruzzo, a region on Italy’s Adriatic coast, east of Rome. The rules require at least 85 percent Montepulciano, and the rest can be Sangiovese or other permitted local red grapes. It has nothing to do with the Tuscan hill town of Montepulciano, whose famous wine, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, is made mostly from Sangiovese. One is named for a grape and the region; the other is named for a town.

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo tends to be deep purple-red, with soft, ripe flavors of black cherry, plum, blackberry and a bit of herbs, pepper or licorice. It usually has moderate acidity and fairly smooth tannins, though some bottles can be grippy. At the simple end, it’s one of Italy’s great bargains, an easy, generous red for pizza night. Riserva wines spend at least two years aging, part of that in wood, and can be much richer and more structured.

The same grape makes a well-loved rosé in Abruzzo called Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, a name that refers to its cherry color. It’s darker and more flavorful than many pale rosés. Montepulciano the grape also grows in other parts of central Italy, but Abruzzo is its true home.

See also: Montepulciano , Sangiovese , Rosé

Few grapes crave heat and sun as much as Mourvèdre, a red that ripens very late. It almost certainly comes from Spain, where it’s called Monastrell and grows widely in the hot southeast, in places like Jumilla and Yecla. In Australia and parts of California it has long gone by Mataro. In France, its most famous home is Bandol on the Provence coast, where red wines must be at least half Mourvèdre.

The wines are dark, full-bodied and tannic, with flavors of blackberry, plum and black pepper along with savory, meaty, gamey notes, dried herbs and leather. Young Mourvèdre can be tough and a little wild. It softens with time, and good Bandol is known for aging well. Spanish Monastrell tends to be riper and more fruit-forward, often at very friendly prices. Bandol also makes a respected, structured rosé with a big share of Mourvèdre.

Mourvèdre is the “M” in the Rhône Blend (GSM), where it adds color, structure and savoriness to juicy Grenache and spicy Syrah. It’s one of the grapes allowed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape too. Washington and California producers use it mostly in blends, with an occasional bottling on its own.

See also: Rhône Blend (GSM) , Grenache , Syrah , Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Muscadet comes from the far western end of France’s Loire Valley, near the city of Nantes and not far from the Atlantic. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with the Muscat grape. It’s made from Melon de Bourgogne, a white grape originally from Burgundy that’s now rarely grown anywhere else in France. Most bottles come from the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation, named after two local rivers.

This is a light, dry, crisp white with modest alcohol and high acidity. Flavors lean toward lemon, green apple, pear and a salty, sea-breeze quality. It isn’t a showy wine, and that’s part of the appeal. It’s the classic partner for oysters and other shellfish, which is exactly what people along that stretch of coast eat with it.

Look for the words “sur lie” on the label. They mean the wine rested on its lees (the spent yeast left after fermentation) through the winter before bottling. That adds a bit of texture, a hint of bread dough and sometimes a faint prickle of fizz. Most Muscadet is meant for drinking young and cheap, but more ambitious producers now make wines from specific villages, called crus communaux, that are aged longer and can develop for years. Melon de Bourgogne has found a small foothold in Oregon too, where a few Willamette Valley wineries bottle it.

See also: Melon de Bourgogne

Muscadine is a grape species native to the American Southeast, called Vitis rotundifolia by botanists. It thrives in the heat and humidity of places like North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, where European wine grapes struggle with disease. The berries are big and round, with thick skins, and they grow in loose clusters rather than tight bunches. Colors range from bronze to deep purple-black.

The best-known muscadine variety is the Scuppernong, a greenish-bronze grape named after the Scuppernong River region of North Carolina and now the state’s official fruit. People in the South often use “scuppernong” loosely for any bronze muscadine. Muscadine has a long history there: it was one of the first grapes cultivated in what became the United States.

Muscadine wines have an unmistakable flavor: ripe, musky and intensely fruity, with floral notes. Most are made sweet, which suits the grape’s bold fruitiness, though drier versions exist. The name sounds like Muscat and Muscadet, but they’re unrelated. Muscadine is a different species from the European grapes behind those wines. For other American natives, see Concord and Norton.

See also: Concord , Norton , Muscat , Muscadet

Muscat isn’t one grape but a large family of them, probably among the oldest grape varieties in cultivation. They share a strongly floral, grapey aroma that’s easy to recognize, and they come in white, pink and dark-skinned versions. The most prized is Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains (“small-berried white Muscat”), known in Italy as Moscato Bianco. Muscat of Alexandria is another big one, grown widely for wine, table grapes and raisins.

Muscat wines are unusual in that they actually taste like fresh grapes. Orange blossom, rose, peach, apricot and honeysuckle are common, too. The styles go almost everywhere. Italy’s Moscato d’Asti is lightly fizzy, sweet and low in alcohol, while fully sparkling Asti is its bubblier cousin. Alsace makes dry, perfumed Muscat. Fortified versions include Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise in the Rhône, Moscatel de Setúbal in Portugal and the rich, dark Muscats of Rutherglen in Australia.

Moscato became hugely popular in the US in the 2010s, and most of what you’ll find on grocery shelves is sweet, fruity and gently sparkling or still. Watch out for similar-sounding names: Muscadet is made from Melon de Bourgogne, and Muscadine is a separate native American grape. Neither has anything to do with the Muscat family.

See also: Asti and Moscato d’Asti , Muscadine , Melon de Bourgogne , Late Harvest

Napa Valley is a narrow stretch of hills and valley floor just north of San Francisco Bay, and it’s the most famous wine address in California. It’s also an AVA, short for American Viticultural Area: a grape-growing area with boundaries set by the federal government. When “Napa Valley” appears on a label, at least 85 percent of the grapes have to come from inside those lines. Napa was approved in 1981 as California’s first AVA and the second in the country.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the star here. Napa Cabernet tends to be ripe and full-bodied, with blackcurrant, black cherry and plum flavors, firm but polished tannins, and often a vanilla or cocoa note from new oak barrels. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Bordeaux-style blends (sometimes sold as Meritage) are common too. For whites, Chardonnay leads, ranging from rich and buttery to leaner and more restrained, with Sauvignon Blanc close behind.

The valley is small, but conditions shift a lot from one end to the other. The south, near the bay, is cooler and foggier, while the north around Calistoga gets much hotter. That’s why Napa is divided into more than a dozen smaller nested AVAs, such as Rutherford, Oakville, Stags Leap District and Howell Mountain, and serious bottles often name one of them. Prices run high, reflecting some of the most expensive vineyard land in the country. Sonoma County sits right next door over the Mayacamas Mountains.

See also: Cabernet Sauvignon , Chardonnay , Meritage , Sonoma County

There’s no legal definition of natural wine in the United States, so the term describes a philosophy more than a rule. The basic idea: grow the grapes organically or biodynamically, pick by hand, let the wild yeasts already on the grapes and in the cellar do the fermenting, and add little or nothing along the way. That usually means no added sugar, acid or flavorings, no heavy filtering, and very small amounts of sulfites (a common preservative) or none at all.

France has gone furthest toward pinning it down. Since 2020, producers there can use a voluntary “Vin Méthode Nature” label, which requires organic grapes, hand harvesting and native yeasts, with either no added sulfites or less than 30 milligrams per liter. Elsewhere, you’re trusting the winemaker’s word.

Because so little is done to steady the wine, natural wines vary more than most. Many are bright, juicy and fresh, meant to be drunk young and slightly chilled. Some are cloudy, since they aren’t filtered, and a few show funky, cider-like or yeasty notes that fans love and others don’t. Bottle to bottle, even within one producer, things can shift. Natural wine overlaps heavily with other styles on this list, especially Pét-Nat and Orange Wine, and you’ll find plenty of it made in Oregon. If a wine shop has a “natural” shelf, ask the staff which bottles are clean and fruity and which are wilder.

See also: Pét-Nat , Orange Wine

The name comes from nebbia, Italian for fog, and there are two popular explanations: the autumn mists that settle over the hills of Piedmont around harvest time, or the dusty white bloom that coats the ripe berries. Either way, Nebbiolo belongs to northwest Italy. It’s the grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco, two of Italy’s most celebrated reds, and it also shows up as simpler, earlier-drinking bottles labeled Langhe Nebbiolo.

Nebbiolo plays a trick on first-timers. The wine is often surprisingly pale, a translucent brick-red that looks almost delicate, yet it has firm, grippy tannins and high acidity. The classic description is “tar and roses”: floral, dried-cherry and herbal notes with something darker and earthier underneath. With age, the tannins soften and the wine picks up leather, dried fruit and truffle-like aromas. Young Barolo can feel tight and drying, which is why many people wait years before opening a good one.

Farther north in Piedmont, around towns like Gattinara and Ghemme, locals often call it Spanna, and the wines tend to be a little leaner. In the Alpine Valtellina it goes by Chiavennasca. The grape is notoriously picky about where it grows, and few places outside Italy have had much success with it, though growers in California, Washington and Australia keep trying.

See also: Barolo , Barbaresco

Sicily’s most important red grape takes its name from Avola, a town near the island’s southeastern tip. Nero means black in Italian, a nod to its deep color. You may also see it called Calabrese, an older Sicilian name. For a long time much of it left the island in bulk to add color and body to wines made elsewhere. Today it’s bottled proudly under its own name, from everyday supermarket reds to serious wines from single estates.

Expect a dark, generous red with ripe black cherry, plum and blackberry, sometimes with a pinch of pepper, licorice or cocoa. It’s usually medium to full in body with fresh acidity and moderate tannins, so it tends to feel juicy rather than harsh. Warmer inland sites give richer, riper versions, while cooler, higher vineyards and producers who go lighter on oak make wines that are brighter and more lifted.

If you like Syrah or a plush Malbec, Nero d’Avola is an easy next step, and it’s often very good value. It also turns up in blends. In Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicily’s only DOCG (Italy’s top tier of wine designation), it’s paired with the lighter, perfumed Frappato grape, which softens its edges and adds a floral, red-fruited lift.

See also: Syrah , Malbec

Here’s a true American original. Norton is named for Dr. Daniel Norton, who grew it near Richmond, Virginia, in the 1820s, and it’s thought to be the oldest American grape variety still grown commercially. Unlike the European grapes behind most wine, Norton comes largely from a native North American vine species, Vitis aestivalis. That heritage makes it tough: it shrugs off cold winters, humidity and many of the diseases that trouble European vines in the eastern and midwestern United States.

The wine comes out deeply colored, almost inky, with dark berry, black cherry and plum flavors and often a spicy or earthy edge. The acidity is high, but the tannins are usually moderate, so the wine can feel juicy and bright rather than heavy. It lacks the “foxy,” grapey-candy aroma people associate with Concord and some other native grapes, which is part of why it’s taken more seriously for dry red wine.

Missouri is Norton’s spiritual home today. The state named Norton/Cynthiana its official state grape in 2003, and Virginia wineries make plenty too. The Cynthiana name was long thought to belong to a separate grape, but DNA research from Missouri State University found the two to be identical. You’re unlikely to find it growing in Oregon, but it’s worth trying if you travel east.

See also: Concord

Nobody makes orange wine from oranges. It’s white wine made the way red wine is: the juice of white grapes sits with the grape skins for days, weeks or even months, instead of being pressed off right away. The skins give the wine a deeper color, anywhere from golden to amber to copper, plus some of the grip and texture you’d normally find only in reds. You’ll also see it called skin-contact white or amber wine.

This is actually one of the oldest ways to make wine. In the country of Georgia, winemakers have long fermented grapes with their skins in large clay vessels called qvevri, buried in the ground, and they generally prefer the word amber. The modern revival took off in northeast Italy and neighboring Slovenia before spreading worldwide, and a number of Oregon producers now make one.

Expect a dry wine with more body and texture than a typical white, and a light tannic grip, a slightly drying feel on the gums. Flavors run to dried apricot, orange peel, bruised apple, tea and nuts, sometimes with a savory or sour edge. Aromatic grapes and pink-skinned Pinot Gris are popular choices. Orange wine is often made with a hands-off approach and overlaps with Natural Wine, though it doesn’t have to be. It isn’t the same thing as Rosé, which comes from red grapes. Serve it cool rather than ice cold; its tannin shows best that way.

See also: Natural Wine , Pinot Gris , Rosé

Halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in northern San Luis Obispo County, Paso Robles is one of California’s biggest and fastest-growing wine regions. It’s an AVA (American Viticultural Area), a grape-growing area whose boundaries are recognized by the federal government. In 2014 the area was split into 11 smaller nested AVAs, such as Adelaida District, Willow Creek District and Templeton Gap District. Locals just call it Paso.

The climate is sunny and warm, but the swing between hot afternoons and cold nights is dramatic, which helps grapes keep some freshness. The west side, closer to the Pacific and full of limestone hills, is cooler and more rugged. The east side is flatter, warmer and home to larger vineyards.

Paso is known for bold, ripe, generous reds. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted grape, and Zinfandel has deep roots here. The region is also a hotbed for Rhône grapes like Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, often blended into what’s called a Rhône Blend (GSM), plus whites such as Viognier and Roussanne. Many producers also mix grapes that would never meet in Europe, like Cabernet with Syrah. Expect dark fruit, soft tannins and fairly high alcohol, though some winemakers, especially on the west side, aim for more restraint.

See also: Cabernet Sauvignon , Zinfandel , Rhône Blend (GSM) , Syrah

Pét-Nat is short for pétillant naturel, French for “naturally sparkling.” It’s the oldest known way to make bubbly wine, often called the méthode ancestrale. Instead of making a finished still wine and then starting a second fermentation, as Champagne does, the winemaker bottles the wine while it’s still fermenting. The yeast finishes its work inside the sealed bottle, and the carbon dioxide it gives off becomes the bubbles.

The result is usually gentler and a little less fizzy than Champagne, with a softer, frothier feel. Many pét-nats are cloudy because the spent yeast is left in the bottle rather than removed, and most come with a crown cap like a beer bottle. They’re usually dry or close to it, fruity and often a bit lower in alcohol than still wine, though a few keep a touch of sweetness. Flavors depend on the grape and range from apple and citrus to strawberry or tart cherry, often with a yeasty or cidery note.

Pét-Nat can be white, pink, orange or red, and can come from almost any grape. It’s a darling of the Natural Wine world, and plenty of Oregon wineries make one. Since it isn’t a legally defined category in most places, styles vary a lot. Chill it well, and open it over the sink if it’s been jostled. Some bottles gush.

See also: Champagne , Natural Wine

Petit Verdot means “little green one” in French, a fair name for a grape that ripens so late in Bordeaux that it often didn’t get fully ripe at all. It’s one of the red grapes permitted in Bordeaux blends, alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, but there it usually plays a small supporting role, a few percent of the blend added for color, structure and spice.

A little goes a long way. Petit Verdot is intensely dark, with firm tannins and good acidity, and it smells of violets, blackberry, blueberry and sometimes sage or dried herbs. When winemakers blend it into a Cabernet-based wine, it tends to deepen the color and give the finish more backbone. On its own it can be bold and a bit rustic, though a ripe, well-made bottle can be lush and perfumed.

Warmer places where it ripens more easily have taken an interest in bottling it solo. You’ll find varietal Petit Verdot from Virginia, Australia, Spain, California and Washington’s Columbia Valley. In the United States it’s also one of the grapes allowed in Meritage, the name some wineries use for their Bordeaux-style blends. Fans of big, dark reds tend to love it.

See also: Bordeaux , Cabernet Sauvignon , Meritage , Columbia Valley

Don’t let the name fool you: there’s nothing petite about this wine. Petite Sirah is the American name for Durif, a grape created in southern France in the 1880s by a botanist named François Durif, who crossed Syrah with an obscure variety called Peloursin. So it’s Syrah’s offspring, not the same grape. It never caught on in France, but it found a real home in California, where it has been grown for well over a century.

The wine is a deep, nearly opaque purple, full-bodied and loaded with tannin. Flavors run to blueberry, blackberry and plum, often with black pepper, dark chocolate or a savory, meaty note. The name probably refers to its small berries, which have a high ratio of skin to juice. That’s where all the color and grip come from. Young bottles can be quite firm, and the best ones age well for a decade or more.

In California, older vineyards were often planted with a mix of grapes, so “Petite Sirah” from an old field blend may include other varieties alongside true Durif. Growers also blend it into Zinfandel to add color and structure. Australian producers usually label it Durif.

See also: Syrah , Zinfandel

The palest member of the Pinot family, Pinot Blanc is a white-skinned mutation of the same vine that gives us Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. The three are genetically very close; the difference is mostly skin color. Pinot Blanc’s home turf is Alsace in northeastern France, along with northern Italy (where it’s Pinot Bianco), Germany and Austria (Weissburgunder). A handful of Oregon wineries grow it too, and it suits the Willamette Valley’s cool climate.

This is a gentle, easygoing white. It’s usually dry, light to medium in body, with moderate acidity and soft flavors of apple, pear, melon and sometimes a hint of almond or white flowers. It isn’t as aromatic as Riesling or Gewürztraminer, and most producers keep oak to a minimum. Some people compare it to a lighter, less oaky Chardonnay, and that’s a useful starting point.

In Alsace, a wine labeled Pinot Blanc may legally include Auxerrois, a similar grape, so the label is more about style than a single variety. Pinot Blanc is also a popular base for sparkling wine there, especially Crémant d’Alsace, where its mild, clean character works well with bubbles. In Italy’s Alto Adige, it can be surprisingly crisp and mineral.

See also: Pinot Gris , Pinot Noir , Crémant , Willamette Valley

Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are the same grape. “Grigio” and “gris” both mean gray, a nod to the berries’ grayish-pink skins. It’s a color mutation of Pinot Noir, so the two are close relatives. The Italian name usually hints at a light, crisp style in the Italian mold, while “Gris” tends to suggest something richer, as in Alsace. Germans call it Grauburgunder or sometimes Ruländer.

In Oregon, this is a big deal. David Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards made the first Pinot Gris in the United States in the Willamette Valley, and it went on to become Oregon’s most planted white grape, second only to Pinot Noir overall. Oregon versions often land between the two European styles: fresh and dry but with more fruit and texture than a typical Pinot Grigio. Pear, apple, melon and a little citrus or stone fruit are the usual flavors.

Italian Pinot Grigio is usually light-bodied, dry and zesty, made for easy drinking. Alsace Pinot Gris can be fuller, spicier and sometimes a touch sweet, with honey and smoky notes. Because the skins have some color, a little contact with them during winemaking can turn the wine coppery pink. In northeastern Italy that style is called ramato, and it overlaps with what many people now call Orange Wine.

See also: Pinot Noir , Willamette Valley , Pinot Blanc , Orange Wine

Meunier is French for miller. The grape earned the name from the fine white down on the underside of its leaves, which makes them look dusted with flour. It’s a mutation of Pinot, closely related to Pinot Noir, and these days many producers simply call it Meunier. You’ll rarely see its name on a front label, yet it’s one of the three main grapes of Champagne, along with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Growers in Champagne have long valued it because it buds later and ripens earlier than Pinot Noir, which helps it dodge spring frost and cope with the region’s cool climate. It’s especially common in the Marne Valley. In a blend, Meunier tends to add ripe, fruity roundness and a soft, open quality. That’s why it’s traditionally seen as a grape that makes Champagne pleasant to drink young, though some growers now bottle it on its own to show it can age too.

As a still red wine, Meunier is pale, light-bodied and fruity, with red cherry, strawberry and a gentle earthiness, a bit like a lighter, softer Pinot Noir. Germany grows a fair amount under the name Schwarzriesling, and a few New World producers, including some in Oregon and California, use it in sparkling wine.

See also: Champagne , Pinot Noir , Chardonnay

Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned red grape from Burgundy in eastern France, where it’s behind almost every red wine the region makes. It’s famously fussy to grow and prefers cooler places. That’s why it does so well in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, as well as New Zealand, Germany and cooler parts of California. The name comes from the French for pine (pin) and black (noir), probably because its tight bunches look a little like dark pine cones.

In the glass, it’s usually pale to medium red and light to medium in body. It has bright acidity and soft, gentle tannins. Think red cherry, raspberry and cranberry, often with earthy notes like mushroom, forest floor or dried leaves, especially as it ages. It’s a friendly red for people who find bigger reds too heavy, and it goes with a wide range of food, from salmon to roast chicken to mushrooms.

Style varies a lot by place. Burgundy tends to be more earthy and delicate, while warmer spots like parts of California often make riper, juicier, fuller wines. Oregon usually lands somewhere in between. Pinot Noir is also one of the main grapes in Champagne. There, the juice is pressed off the skins quickly, so the wine comes out white or pale pink instead of red.

See also: Burgundy , Willamette Valley , Champagne

South Africa’s signature grape was born in a university vineyard. In 1925, Professor Abraham Perold of Stellenbosch University crossed Pinot Noir with Cinsault, which South Africans called Hermitage at the time. Mash the two names together and you get Pinotage. It took decades to catch on commercially, and today it’s grown in only a handful of other countries, so it remains a distinctly South African wine.

Pinotage doesn’t taste much like either parent. It usually makes a deeply colored, medium- to full-bodied red with dark fruit like blackberry, mulberry and plum, plus smoky, earthy or savory notes. Critics used to complain about a sharp, paint-like aroma in some bottles, a flaw from careless winemaking that’s far less common now. Better producers make wines with ripe fruit, soft tannins and real depth.

There’s a wide range of styles. Some wineries make a heavily toasted, oaky version often sold as “coffee Pinotage,” with mocha and chocolate notes. Others aim for fresher, lighter wines closer in spirit to Pinot Noir, and Pinotage rosé can be bright and fruity. It also appears in “Cape blends,” South African red blends that include it alongside grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon.

See also: Pinot Noir , Cinsault

Port is a sweet fortified wine from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. It takes its name from the city of Porto near the mouth of the Douro River. Historically it was aged in cellars just across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia and shipped out to the world from there. To make it, winemakers add grape spirit partway through fermentation. That stops the yeast before it can turn all the sugar into alcohol, leaving a wine that’s naturally sweet and stronger than table wine, usually around 19 to 22 percent alcohol. Many different local grapes go into Port, with Touriga Nacional among the best known.

Most Port is rich, full-bodied and sweet, and there are a few main styles. Ruby Port is young and deep red, bursting with blackberry, plum and cherry. Tawny Port spends years aging in wooden barrels, turning amber-brown and tasting of caramel, toasted nuts and dried fruit. Vintage Port comes from a single exceptional year and is built to age for decades. Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) is also from one year, spends longer in the barrel, and is ready to drink sooner. White Port and pink Port are lighter and often poured over ice or mixed with tonic.

Only wine from the Douro can be sold as Port in Europe and many other countries. Elsewhere you may see “port-style” wines from Australia, South Africa or here in Oregon. They’re made in a similar way but can’t use the name everywhere. Port is often served after dinner in a small glass. An open bottle of Tawny keeps for weeks, while Vintage Port is best finished within a day or two.

See also: Touriga Nacional , Madeira , Sherry

Think of Pouilly-Fuissé as white Burgundy with a little extra sunshine. It’s made entirely from Chardonnay in the Mâconnais, the southern end of Burgundy, where four villages (Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré) sit beneath two dramatic limestone cliffs, the Roche de Solutré and the Roche de Vergisson. It’s generally considered the top appellation of the Mâconnais.

It’s usually riper and rounder than Chablis to the north, with flavors of yellow apple, pear, citrus and sometimes peach, backed by good acidity and a stony, mineral feel. Many producers age at least some of the wine in oak barrels, which can add notes of hazelnut, butter or toast. Warmer sites and older vines make richer wines, while others stay fresher and leaner.

Since the 2020 vintage, 22 of its vineyard sites have been allowed to use the label Premier Cru. They were the first Premier Cru vineyards anywhere in the Mâconnais. Now for the name mix-up: Pouilly-Fuissé is often confused with Pouilly-Fumé, a completely different wine from the Loire Valley made from Sauvignon Blanc. Pouilly-Fumé sits just across the river from Sancerre and tastes much more like it. If you want a Chardonnay, look for “Fuissé.”

See also: Chardonnay , Burgundy , Sauvignon Blanc , Sancerre

Italy’s best-known sparkling wine comes from the northeast, spread across the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions. By law it must be at least 85 percent Glera, a white grape that used to be called Prosecco itself. The name now refers only to the place, so Prosecco can’t legally come from anywhere else in Europe. The hilly area between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, along with nearby Asolo, makes the more premium Prosecco Superiore. It’s labeled DOCG, Italy’s highest quality tier.

The main difference from Champagne is how the bubbles get there. Most Prosecco gets its second fermentation in large pressurized steel tanks rather than in each bottle. That keeps the wine fresh and fruity, but without the toasty, bready notes that come from Champagne’s long aging on yeast. Expect lighter body, a frothy fizz, and flavors of green apple, pear, melon and white flowers. It’s usually less expensive, too.

Watch the sweetness terms. Brut is the driest common style, while Extra Dry, confusingly, is a bit sweeter, and Dry is sweeter still. Extra Dry is one of the most popular styles. Since 2020 there has also been an official Prosecco Rosé, which adds 10 to 15 percent Pinot Noir (called Pinot Nero in Italy) for its pink color. Spanish Cava is another budget-friendly alternative, but it’s made in the bottle like Champagne.

See also: Champagne , Cava , Pinot Noir

Along the Mediterranean coast of southeastern France, between the Rhône River and the Italian border, Provence has built its whole reputation on pale pink wine. Around nine out of every ten bottles from its appellations are rosé, which makes it the one major French wine region where pink is the main event rather than a sideline. The biggest appellation is Côtes de Provence, alongside Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence and Coteaux Varois en Provence.

The wines are made mostly from Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah, often with Mourvèdre and the local grape Tibouren, and sometimes a little of the white grape Rolle (known elsewhere as Vermentino). The grapes are pressed gently and quickly, so the juice picks up only a hint of color from the skins. That gives Provence rosé its signature look: pale salmon, onion skin or barely-there pink.

The typical bottle is dry, light and crisp, with delicate flavors of strawberry, watermelon, citrus and peach, sometimes with an herbal or salty edge. Most are meant to be drunk within a year or two of the vintage. The style is so popular that producers around the world, including many in Oregon, now copy it. See the general Rosé entry for how pink wine is made, and White Zinfandel for a very different, sweeter take on the color.

See also: Rosé , Grenache , Cinsault , White Zinfandel

GSM stands for Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, three red grapes that are often blended together. The model comes from the southern Rhône Valley in France, home of Côtes du Rhône and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where blending is the norm and Grenache usually leads. The shorthand “GSM” itself became popular in Australia, especially in the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, and is now common on American labels too.

Each grape brings something to the team. Grenache gives ripe red fruit like strawberry and raspberry, warmth and a soft texture. Syrah adds dark fruit, color, structure and peppery or smoky notes. Mourvèdre brings dark, savory, sometimes gamey or earthy flavors and firmer tannins. The order of the letters doesn’t have to match the proportions, and some wines are labeled SGM or MGS instead. Others add grapes like Cinsault, Carignan or Counoise, so “Rhône blend” is the broader term.

Most are medium- to full-bodied, fruity and a little spicy, with moderate acidity. Warmer places such as Paso Robles and Australia tend to make them riper and plusher, while the southern Rhône often has more herbal, earthy notes (the French call the scent of the local wild herbs garrigue). Washington State also makes a good number of Rhône blends.

See also: Grenache , Syrah , Mourvèdre , Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Ribera del Duero lies along the Duero River in Castilla y León, on the high plateau of north-central Spain, a couple of hours north of Madrid. The same river flows west into Portugal, where it becomes the Douro and the home of Port. Summers here are hot and winters cold, and the big gap between day and night temperatures helps the grapes ripen fully while holding on to acidity.

This is Tempranillo country. Locally the grape goes by Tinto Fino or Tinta del País, and red Ribera must be at least 75 percent Tempranillo. The rest can include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec. The wines tend to be deeper in color, fuller and more powerful than most Rioja, with black cherry, plum and blackberry fruit, firm tannins, and notes of vanilla, spice and toast from oak. The region’s most famous estate, Vega Sicilia, has been making long-lived wines for well over a century.

Labels use the Spanish aging terms. Crianza means at least two years of aging, with at least one of them in oak barrels. Reserva means at least three years, again including one in oak. Gran Reserva needs at least five, with at least two in oak. Wines without these terms are often younger and fruitier. Rosé is made here too, and recent rule changes also allow white wines, based on the local Albillo Mayor grape. Rioja, Spain’s other great Tempranillo region, makes a useful side-by-side.

See also: Tempranillo , Rioja , Port

Riesling has an unfair reputation as “that sweet wine.” It can be sweet, but plenty of Riesling is bone dry. The grape comes from Germany, where it’s the pride of regions like the Mosel and Rheingau, and it’s also a star in Alsace, Austria, Australia’s Clare and Eden Valleys, New York’s Finger Lakes and Washington State. It likes cool climates and holds its acidity beautifully, which is why good examples can age for decades.

Whatever the sweetness, Riesling is all about that bright, mouthwatering acidity. Flavors range from lime, green apple and white peach to apricot and honey in riper styles, often with a floral or stony, mineral feel. Aged Riesling can develop a distinctive petrol or diesel aroma, which fans love and some newcomers find startling. It rarely sees new oak, so the fruit and acidity take center stage.

Reading the label helps. German wines marked trocken are dry. Terms like Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese describe how ripe the grapes were at harvest, and while they often go with some sweetness, not always, so the producer’s style matters. Riesling is also a classic grape for Late Harvest and Ice Wine, where concentrated sugar and high acidity make a sweet wine that still feels fresh.

See also: Finger Lakes , Late Harvest , Ice Wine , Columbia Valley

Spain’s most famous wine region follows the Ebro River in northern Spain, sheltered from Atlantic weather by the Cantabrian Mountains. Rioja was Spain’s first region to earn the top DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada) status, in 1991. It’s divided into three zones: Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa, which are higher and cooler, and the warmer, drier Rioja Oriental in the east.

Most Rioja is red and built on Tempranillo, often blended with Garnacha (Grenache), Graciano and Mazuelo (the local name for Carignan). Traditional Rioja spends years in oak barrels, often American oak, which gives it a signature of vanilla, coconut, dill and sweet spice around red cherry, strawberry and dried fruit. Modern producers tend to use more French oak and make darker, fruitier wines. There’s also white Rioja, mostly from Viura, which can be crisp and fresh or aged into something golden and nutty, plus rosé (rosado).

The aging terms on the label are genuinely helpful. For reds, Crianza means at least two years of aging, one of them in oak barrels. Reserva means at least three years, with at least one in barrel and six months in bottle. Gran Reserva means at least five years, with at least two in barrel and two in bottle. Recent rule changes also let labels name a specific zone, village or single vineyard (Viñedo Singular). Compared with Ribera del Duero, Rioja is usually softer and more elegant.

See also: Tempranillo , Grenache , Carignan , Ribera del Duero

Rosé is simply pink wine, and it can come from almost anywhere and almost any red grape. The color comes from the grape skins. All grape juice starts out clear, so to make a rosé, winemakers leave red grapes in contact with their juice for only a few hours or a day or two, then remove the skins before the wine gets too dark. Some rosé is pressed straight from red grapes, and some is bled off from a tank of red wine in progress (a method called saignée). In Europe, mixing red and white wine together to make rosé is banned for still wines, though it’s allowed for sparkling ones like rosé Champagne.

Because the skins stay in contact so briefly, rosé has little tannin and drinks more like a white wine. Most are crisp and light, with flavors of strawberry, raspberry, watermelon, cherry and citrus. Color ranges from barely-there pink to deep magenta, and deeper color usually means more flavor and body, not more sweetness.

Sweetness is where rosés differ most. Provence Rosé, the pale, bone-dry benchmark from southern France, is the style many people picture today. White Zinfandel, on the other hand, is a sweet American pink wine. Most rosés made in Oregon use Pinot Noir and land on the dry, fresh side. Sparkling rosé, including rosé Champagne, is its own delicious corner. Drink most rosé young and chilled.

See also: Provence Rosé , White Zinfandel , Pinot Noir , Champagne

This white grape from France’s northern Rhône Valley probably takes its name from roux, the French word for russet, after the reddish-gold color its berries turn when ripe. It usually travels with a partner, Marsanne, and the two are blended in white wines from Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph. Farther south it’s one of the white grapes allowed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where a few estates make whites with a large share of Roussanne.

Roussanne makes a full-bodied, textured white. It smells of pear, quince, apricot and honeysuckle, often with an herbal note like chamomile or a hint of nuttiness. What sets it apart from many other rich whites is that it tends to keep more acidity than Marsanne, which gives the blend freshness. It can be aged in oak or not, and good examples can grow more complex over several years, turning honeyed and nutty.

It’s a tricky grape to grow, prone to disease and uneven ripening, which is partly why it’s less common than you might expect. Outside France it has found fans among Rhône-loving winemakers in California, especially around Paso Robles, and in Washington. Picture a creamy, lightly oaked Chardonnay or a Viognier with a more savory streak, and you’re close to Roussanne.

See also: Marsanne , Châteauneuf-du-Pape , Viognier , Paso Robles

For many wine lovers, Sancerre is the benchmark for Sauvignon Blanc. The town sits on a hilltop in the eastern Loire Valley in central France, and its vineyards spread across chalky, flinty and limestone slopes around it. The word “Sauvignon Blanc” rarely appears on the label, since French wines are usually named for the place rather than the grape, but that’s what’s in almost every bottle of white Sancerre.

White Sancerre is dry, crisp and lighter-bodied, with high acidity and flavors of lemon, grapefruit, green apple and gooseberry, often with fresh-cut grass, herbs and a flinty or chalky note. It’s usually more restrained and mineral than the tropical, punchy Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Most is made in steel tanks and bottled young, though some producers use older barrels for more texture.

A smaller share of Sancerre is red or rosé, made from Pinot Noir, and tends to be light, delicate and fresh. Directly across the Loire River is Pouilly-Fumé, another Sauvignon Blanc appellation that tastes quite similar. Don’t confuse either one with Pouilly-Fuissé, a Chardonnay from southern Burgundy. Sancerre and goat cheese are a classic local pairing: the area’s Crottin de Chavignol comes from the village of Chavignol, right in Sancerre’s vineyards.

See also: Sauvignon Blanc , Pinot Noir , Pouilly-Fuissé

Italy’s most planted red grape is the backbone of Tuscany. Sangiovese is the main grape in Chianti and the only grape in Brunello di Montalcino. The name is often traced to sanguis Jovis, Latin for “blood of Jupiter,” though nobody knows for sure. It also goes by local names in Tuscany: around Montalcino it’s Brunello, near Scansano it’s Morellino, and in the town of Montepulciano it’s called Prugnolo Gentile. (That town’s wine has nothing to do with the Montepulciano grape, a common mix-up.)

Sangiovese is a savory, food-loving red. Expect tart red cherry, plum and sometimes dried herbs, tomato leaf, tea or leather. It has high acidity and noticeable tannins but usually only medium body, so it feels lively rather than heavy. That acidity is exactly why it works so well with tomato sauces, pizza and grilled meats.

Style swings a lot from bottle to bottle. Simple Chianti can be light and cherry-bright, while Brunello, which by law must be 100 percent Sangiovese and aged for years before release, is deeper and built to age. In the 1970s some Tuscan producers started blending Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, or making wines outside the official rules, and those became known as Super Tuscans.

See also: Chianti , Brunello di Montalcino , Super Tuscan , Montepulciano

It takes a particular kind of weather to make Sauternes, the famous sweet white from a small corner of Bordeaux about 25 miles southeast of the city. The vineyards sit where the little Ciron River meets the Garonne. On autumn mornings, cool mist rises off the Ciron, and warm afternoons follow. Those conditions encourage a fungus called Botrytis cinerea, or noble rot. It pierces the grape skins, lets water evaporate, and leaves shriveled berries full of concentrated sugar, acid and flavor.

The main grape is Sémillon, which is especially prone to noble rot and gives richness and a waxy, honeyed texture. Sauvignon Blanc adds freshness and acidity, and some producers use a little Muscadelle. Because botrytis spreads unevenly, pickers often go through the vineyard several times, choosing only the affected berries. Yields are tiny, which helps explain the price. Neighboring Barsac makes the same kind of wine and can use either name.

In the glass, Sauternes is golden, rich and luscious, with apricot, peach, candied orange, honey, saffron and vanilla, balanced by enough acidity to keep it from feeling heavy. It can age for decades, turning deeper amber and more complex. Château d’Yquem, the only estate given the top rank of Premier Cru Supérieur in the 1855 classification of Sauternes and Barsac, is the most famous name. Hungary’s Tokaji is its closest cousin among noble-rot wines.

See also: Sémillon , Sauvignon Blanc , Bordeaux , Tokaji

Crisp, zesty and unmistakably aromatic, Sauvignon Blanc is one of the easiest white grapes to recognize by smell alone. It comes from western France, with two historic homes. In the Loire Valley, it’s the grape of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. In Bordeaux, it’s blended with Sémillon for dry whites and for sweet Sauternes. It’s also a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc as the other.

Expect a dry, light- to medium-bodied wine with high acidity. The flavors depend a lot on climate. Cooler places give grapefruit, lime, green apple, gooseberry, fresh-cut grass and bell pepper. Warmer spots lean toward passion fruit, melon and peach. New Zealand, especially Marlborough, made its name with an intensely tropical, punchy style, while Sancerre tends to be leaner, more citrusy and often described as flinty or chalky.

Most Sauvignon Blanc is made in stainless steel and meant to be drunk young and chilled. The name Fumé Blanc was coined by Robert Mondavi in California in the late 1960s, originally for an oak-aged version, and some American wineries still use it on the label. Wines called Fumé Blanc are often, though not always, richer and rounder. Oregon and Washington both grow it, usually in a bright, fresh style.

See also: Sancerre , Bordeaux , Sémillon , Sauternes

Sémillon doesn’t often get top billing, but it’s behind some of the world’s great white wines. It comes from Bordeaux, where it’s usually blended with Sauvignon Blanc. In dry white Bordeaux, Sémillon adds body and a waxy, rounded texture to Sauvignon Blanc’s zing. In Sauternes and neighboring Barsac, it’s the star of the famous sweet wines.

The sweet wines depend on noble rot, a beneficial mold called Botrytis cinerea. Sémillon’s thin skins make it prone to this fungus, which shrivels the grapes and concentrates their sugar and flavor. The result is a golden, honeyed wine with apricot, marmalade, saffron and nutty notes, balanced by enough acidity to keep it from feeling cloying. Good Sauternes can age for many decades.

Dry Sémillon on its own tends to be medium- to full-bodied with lemon, pear and a slightly lanolin or beeswax texture. Australia’s Hunter Valley makes a famous style that surprises people: grapes picked early, low in alcohol, lean and citrusy when young, then turning toasty and honeyed after years in bottle, all without oak. Washington State also grows Sémillon, both for blends and for single-variety bottles.

See also: Sauternes , Sauvignon Blanc , Bordeaux , Late Harvest

Sherry comes from the sunny southwest corner of Spain, in Andalucía, and takes its name from the town of Jerez de la Frontera. English speakers turned “Jerez” into “sherry,” and the French call it Xérès. The heart of the region is a triangle formed by Jerez, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Almost all Sherry starts as a dry white wine made mostly from the Palomino grape, and most of it is dry, not sweet.

The magic is in the aging. Many Sherries age in a solera, a stack of barrels where younger wine is gradually blended into older wine over years. Fino and Manzanilla (the latter aged only in Sanlúcar) grow a layer of yeast called flor on the surface, which protects them from air and gives a pale, bone-dry, tangy wine with notes of almond, bread and sea air. Oloroso ages without flor, turning brown, nutty and rich but still dry. Amontillado and Palo Cortado fall in between. Sweet styles include Pedro Ximénez, dark and syrupy from sun-dried grapes, and Cream Sherry, a sweetened blend.

Sherry vs Port: both are fortified, but Port gets its grape spirit partway through fermentation, which keeps it sweet. Sherry has traditionally been fortified after fermentation finishes, so it begins dry. Under rule changes agreed in 2021, Fino and Manzanilla that reach enough alcohol naturally no longer have to be fortified at all. Chill the pale styles and finish an open bottle within days.

See also: Port , Madeira , Muscat

In the hills east of Verona, in Italy’s Veneto region, a walled medieval town called Soave gives its name to one of Italy’s best-known dry whites. The wine is made mostly from Garganega, a local white grape, which must make up at least 70 percent of the blend. The rest can be Trebbiano di Soave and some Chardonnay.

For years, Soave was known as a cheap, neutral white sold in big bottles, and plenty of that still exists from the flat vineyards. The better wines come from the volcanic and limestone hills of the original zone, labeled Soave Classico. These are light to medium in body with lively acidity and flavors of lemon, pear, peach, almond and white flowers, sometimes with a salty, mineral finish. Good ones can age surprisingly well, gaining honeyed, nutty notes. A step up in the rules, Soave Superiore has its own DOCG (Italy’s highest quality tier), with lower yields and stricter rules.

There’s also a sweet side: Recioto di Soave, made from Garganega grapes dried for weeks or months after harvest to concentrate their sugar. It was the first wine in the Veneto to earn DOCG status. Soave’s red-wine neighbor to the west, on the other side of Verona, is Valpolicella, which uses the same grape-drying trick for Amarone.

See also: Valpolicella , Chardonnay , Amarone della Valpolicella

Sonoma County stretches from San Pablo Bay up to Mendocino and west to the Pacific, just over the mountains from Napa Valley. Strictly speaking, “Sonoma County” on a label is a county appellation, meaning the grapes came from within the county’s political borders. Inside that county line are 19 AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), smaller growing areas the federal government has mapped for their own soils and climate. Some of the best known are Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and Carneros, which Sonoma shares with Napa.

That variety is the whole story. Sonoma is bigger and more spread out than Napa, and its climate shifts from chilly and foggy near the ocean to warm and sunny in the inland valleys. Cool areas like the Russian River Valley and the coast are known for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and sparkling wine. Warmer spots grow Cabernet Sauvignon in Alexander Valley and old-vine Zinfandel in Dry Creek Valley. You’ll find Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Merlot here too.

Because of that range, a Sonoma wine can be crisp and restrained or ripe and bold, so the AVA on the label tells you more than the county name alone. Many producers still use “Sonoma County” for blends of grapes from several areas. The region tends to feel more rural and relaxed than Napa, with lots of family wineries, and Sonoma Pinot Noir is a natural comparison for Oregon’s.

See also: Napa Valley , Pinot Noir , Chardonnay , Zinfandel

Super Tuscan is a nickname, not a legal term. It dates to the late 1960s and 1970s, when some ambitious Tuscan winemakers got frustrated with the rules for Chianti, which at the time required white grapes in the blend and made no room for French varieties like Cabernet. So they made the wines they wanted instead, often blending Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, or skipping Sangiovese altogether, and aging them in small French oak barrels. Because those wines broke the rules, they had to be sold as humble “table wine,” even though they cost more than most Chianti. Sassicaia and Tignanello are two of the earliest and most famous.

Italian law eventually caught up. In the early 1990s, a new category called IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) gave these wines a proper home, and many are now labeled Toscana IGT. The coastal Bolgheri area, where Sassicaia began, got its own appellation for Bordeaux-style reds, and Sassicaia has its own. Chianti’s rules have also loosened.

Because the term covers so many blends, there’s no single taste. Most are full-bodied and polished, with dark cherry, blackcurrant and plum, firm tannins and notes of vanilla, cedar and spice from oak. Those with more Sangiovese show brighter acidity and savory, herbal notes, while Cabernet-heavy ones feel closer to Bordeaux. Prices range from affordable to very expensive.

See also: Sangiovese , Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot , Chianti

Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape, and the name on the label often hints at the style. Syrah comes from France’s northern Rhône Valley, where it makes powerful, peppery reds in Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie and Cornas. Australia adopted the name Shiraz and turned it into the country’s best-known red, especially from the Barossa Valley. Winemakers elsewhere often pick “Syrah” for a leaner, more savory style and “Shiraz” for a riper, bolder one.

Either way, the wine is deeply colored and full-bodied, with firm tannins. Cooler-climate versions show blackberry, blueberry, black olive, cracked black pepper, smoked meat and violet. Warmer climates push it toward jammy blackberry, plum, licorice and chocolate. In Côte-Rôtie, growers traditionally ferment a small amount of the white grape Viognier with the Syrah, which brightens the aroma.

Syrah is the “S” in the Rhône Blend (GSM), with Grenache and Mourvèdre, and it’s one of the main grapes in Côtes du Rhône. Closer to home, it’s one of Washington’s standout reds, and it thrives in warmer parts of Oregon like the Rogue Valley and The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, a small area in northeastern Oregon known for cobblestone vineyards and savory, earthy Syrah.

See also: Rhône Blend (GSM) , Côtes du Rhône , Viognier , Grenache

The name says a lot: Tannat is famous for tannin, the mouth-drying compound that gives red wine its grip. The grape comes from southwest France, especially the small appellation of Madiran, where it makes dark, sturdy reds, often softened by blending with Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. Basque immigrants carried it to Uruguay in the 1800s, and it has since become that country’s signature red.

Tannat wines are very dark and full-bodied, with blackberry, black plum, licorice and sometimes smoky or spicy notes. The tannins are big, and young Madiran can feel quite hard. Winemakers in Madiran have worked hard to tame it, including developing a technique called micro-oxygenation, which gently feeds tiny amounts of oxygen into the wine to soften its edges. Time in the bottle helps too.

Uruguayan Tannat is often a little rounder and fruitier than the French version, and it’s frequently good value. Many producers there also blend it with Merlot or other grapes for a softer style. Tannat has a following among American growers as well, including in Virginia, California and Oregon’s warmer southern regions. It’s a red for rich food, like grilled steak or a hearty stew, where all that tannin has something to hold onto.

See also: Cabernet Franc , Malbec

Spain’s great red grape takes its name from temprano, Spanish for early, because it ripens earlier than many other Spanish varieties. It’s the main grape in Rioja and Ribera del Duero, two of Spain’s best-known red wine regions. It goes by many local names: Tinto Fino or Tinta del País in Ribera del Duero, and Tinta de Toro in Toro. Across the border in Portugal it’s Tinta Roriz in the north, where it’s one of the grapes used for Port, and Aragonez in the south.

Tempranillo usually makes a medium- to full-bodied red with cherry, plum and dried fig, plus savory notes of leather, tobacco and dried herbs. The acidity and tannins are moderate, which makes it pretty versatile. Oak plays a big role. Traditional Rioja spends long periods in American oak barrels, which adds vanilla, coconut and dill. Ribera del Duero is often darker, more concentrated and more tannic, and many producers use French oak.

Spanish labels tell you about aging. Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva each require progressively longer aging before release, with Gran Reserva spending the longest. In Oregon, Abacela in the Umpqua Valley planted the state’s first Tempranillo in 1995, and it has done well in the warmer southern part of the state.

See also: Rioja , Ribera del Duero , Port

Tokaji (say “TOE-kay-ee”) means “from Tokaj,” a region in the hills of northeastern Hungary. It’s one of the oldest named sweet wines in the world and was famous in the royal courts of Europe for centuries. The main grape is Furmint, followed by Hárslevelű, with smaller amounts of Yellow Muscat and a few others. In English it was long called Tokay. The old Alsace name “Tokay Pinot Gris” and Australia’s fortified “Tokay” have both been renamed so as not to confuse them with the Hungarian original.

The most famous style is Tokaji Aszú. Aszú berries are grapes shriveled on the vine by noble rot (Botrytis cinerea), a fungus that concentrates their sugar. They’re picked one by one, mashed into a paste and soaked in fermenting must or young wine, which extracts their sugar and flavor. Traditionally, sweetness was measured in puttonyos, the number of harvest baskets of aszú berries added to each barrel, typically from three to six. Rules changed with the 2013 vintage: the three- and four-puttonyos categories were dropped, and every Aszú must now have at least 120 grams per liter of residual sugar (the old five-puttonyos level). A wine labeled six puttonyos must reach 150. Aszú must also age at least 18 months in oak barrels.

Aszú tastes of apricot, orange marmalade, honey and ginger, with piercing acidity that keeps it fresh. Tokaj also makes Eszencia, an extraordinarily sweet, low-alcohol nectar; Szamorodni, which can be dry or sweet; and crisp dry Furmint. It compares naturally with Sauternes, the other great noble-rot wine.

See also: Sauternes , Pinot Gris , Late Harvest

Argentina’s signature white grape smells sweet but usually tastes dry, and that little surprise is part of its charm. The best-known kind, Torrontés Riojano, is a natural cross between Muscat of Alexandria and Criolla Chica (also called Listán Prieto), a grape Spanish settlers brought to the Americas. That Muscat parentage explains the big floral perfume. The name is shared with an unrelated grape in Spain, which can cause confusion.

Pour a glass and you’ll get a heady nose of rose petals, orange blossom, jasmine, peach and lychee, a lot like Muscat or Gewürztraminer. On the palate it’s typically dry, light to medium in body, with citrus and stone fruit and a gently bitter or spicy finish. The acidity is moderate. Some bottles can taste slightly soapy or heavy if the grapes get too ripe, so the producer matters.

The most celebrated examples come from high-altitude vineyards in Salta province in northern Argentina, especially around Cafayate, where cool nights help the grapes hold their freshness. Most Torrontés is made without oak and is meant to be drunk young, while the aromas are at their brightest. Chill it well; it works nicely with spicy food, from Thai to empanadas.

See also: Muscat , Gewürztraminer

If Portugal had a flagship red grape, this would be it. Touriga Nacional is native to northern Portugal and is closely tied to two regions: the Douro Valley, home of Port, and the Dão just to the south. It’s one of the most prized of the many grapes that go into Port, valued for its deep color, intense aroma and structure. Its small berries and low yields make it hard work for growers, but the quality is worth it.

The telltale sign is its perfume. Touriga Nacional is known for floral aromas, especially violet, alongside blackberry, blueberry, black cherry and sometimes a herbal or bergamot-like note. It’s full-bodied with firm tannins and good acidity. That combination of power and fragrance is why it can age well, whether as a sweet, fortified Port or a dry table wine.

For a long time, most of the best Douro grapes went into Port. Today, more and more producers make dry red wines from the region too, and Touriga Nacional plays a starring role, either on its own or blended with grapes like Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz (the Portuguese name for Tempranillo). It’s also grown in Australia, California and a few spots in Oregon and Washington, sometimes for port-style wines.

See also: Port , Tempranillo

The hills just north of Verona, between the city and Lake Garda, give us Valpolicella, one of northeast Italy’s signature reds. It’s a blend led by Corvina, often with Corvinone, plus Rondinella and sometimes small amounts of other local grapes. The oldest part of the zone is labeled Valpolicella Classico. Basic Valpolicella is light-bodied and fresh, with sour cherry, red berries and a hint of almond or herbs, and it’s often served slightly chilled.

What makes the area special is a family of styles built from the same grapes. Valpolicella Superiore is a little stronger and usually aged longer. Amarone della Valpolicella is made from grapes dried for months after harvest, which concentrates them into a powerful, full-bodied, dry red, often 15 percent alcohol or more, with flavors of dried cherry, raisin, fig, chocolate and spice. Recioto della Valpolicella uses the same dried grapes but stops fermentation early to leave a sweet red wine.

Valpolicella Ripasso sits in between. The name means “re-passed”: a normal Valpolicella is refermented on the leftover grape skins from Amarone or Recioto, picking up extra body, color and dried-fruit flavor. It’s often nicknamed “baby Amarone” and costs a fraction of the price. So if Amarone sounds good but pricey, Ripasso is a great place to start. Soave, the area’s best-known white, comes from the hills on the other side of Verona.

See also: Amarone della Valpolicella , Soave

Verdejo is the white grape that made Rueda famous. Rueda is a region in northwest Spain, in Castilla y León, on a high, dry plateau with hot days and cold nights. The name likely comes from verde, green, possibly for the greenish tint of the berries or the wine. For decades much of the region’s grape juice went into Sherry-like fortified wines, but since the 1970s Rueda has become known for crisp, fresh dry whites led by Verdejo.

Most Verdejo is dry and light to medium in body, with lively acidity. Aromas run to lime, grapefruit, green apple, fennel and fresh herbs, often with a slightly bitter almond note on the finish that’s one of its signatures. It has a bit more body and texture than many zippy whites, and some producers give it time on the lees (the spent yeast) or in oak for a rounder, creamier style.

Because Verdejo has that grassy, citrusy side, people often compare it to Sauvignon Blanc, and the two are frequently blended in Rueda. Next to Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo usually comes across a little softer and more herbal. It’s usually affordable and best drunk young and well chilled.

See also: Sauvignon Blanc , Albariño

Vermentino is a Mediterranean white grape, happiest near the sea. It’s the leading white grape of Sardinia, where Vermentino di Gallura is the island’s only DOCG (Italy’s highest quality tier), and it’s also important in Corsica, Liguria and along the Tuscan coast. In Provence and the Languedoc in southern France it goes by Rolle, and in Provence it’s often part of the blend in rosé.

The wine is usually dry and light to medium in body, with bright acidity and flavors of lemon, lime, green apple and pear. A lot of bottles have an herbal edge, like fennel or wild thyme, plus a salty, sea-breeze quality and a faintly bitter almond note on the finish. Most is made without oak and meant to be drunk young, though richer versions exist.

DNA testing has shown that Vermentino is the same grape as Pigato in Liguria and Favorita in Piedmont. Local winemakers argue each has its own personality, and differences in soils, climate and tradition do give them distinct styles; Pigato, for example, is often a little fuller. As for Rolle, it’s widely treated as the French name for Vermentino, though some ampelographers (grape-variety scientists) think a few vines sold under that name could be a different grape.

See also: Provence Rosé

Bred in France in the 1930s, Vidal Blanc is a hybrid: a cross between the European grape Ugni Blanc (the same grape as Italy’s Trebbiano) and another hybrid called Rayon d’Or. It’s named for its breeder, Jean Louis Vidal. Hybrids like this were bred to survive harsh conditions, and Vidal handles cold winters much better than most European grapes. That hardiness made it a favorite in places with tough climates, including Ontario, New York and much of the eastern and midwestern United States.

It’s best known for Ice Wine, especially in Canada. Vidal has thick skins that hold up well when grapes are left hanging on the vine into the depths of winter, and it keeps good acidity. When the frozen grapes are pressed, only a small amount of very sweet, concentrated juice comes out. Vidal Ice Wine is lush and honeyed, with apricot, peach, pineapple and mango flavors, balanced by bright acidity.

Vidal is also made as a dry or off-dry table wine, usually light to medium in body with citrus, green apple and grapefruit notes. Some wineries make Late Harvest versions that fall between the two in sweetness. You won’t see it much in Oregon, where European grapes grow well, but it’s a staple in colder wine regions.

See also: Ice Wine , Late Harvest , Finger Lakes , Riesling

Vinho Verde translates as “green wine,” but the name has nothing to do with color. “Green” is usually explained as young, since these wines are traditionally drunk within a year or so of harvest, though some locals credit the lush green landscape instead. The region is Portugal’s northwest corner, the Minho, a rainy, lush, very green area between the Douro River and the Spanish border. It’s one of the largest wine regions in Portugal, with nine official subregions.

Most Vinho Verde you’ll find is white, and the everyday version is light, low in alcohol and often spritzy, with lemon, lime, green apple and a zesty, almost salty finish. Many of the cheaper bottles have a little added fizz and a touch of sweetness, so it’s the kind of wine people pour on a hot afternoon without thinking much about it. Blends often include Loureiro, Arinto (called Pedernã locally), Trajadura, Avesso and Azal.

There’s more depth to the region than the bargain shelf suggests. The subregion of Monção e Melgaço, right on the Spanish border, specializes in Alvarinho, the same grape Spain calls Albariño. Those wines are fuller, more aromatic and often completely still. Single-variety Loureiro and Avesso can be excellent too. Vinho Verde also makes rosé and some red, mostly from the Vinhão grape. The red is inky, tart and tannic, and much loved locally with grilled sardines.

See also: Albariño

Viognier (say “vee-own-yay”) once came close to disappearing. Only a small amount remained by the 1960s, mostly in Condrieu, a tiny appellation in France’s northern Rhône Valley. Since then it has made a remarkable comeback and is now grown in California, Washington, Virginia, Australia, southern France and Oregon’s warmer southern valleys. Condrieu is still its benchmark.

Viognier is all about perfume. Expect big aromas of apricot, peach, honeysuckle, orange blossom and sometimes a hint of ginger or spice. The wine is usually dry, full-bodied and silky, with fairly low acidity, which gives it a soft, rich feel. Some producers ferment or age it in oak for extra creaminess. It can taste heavy or a bit oily if the grapes get overripe, so balance is the thing to look for. Most Viognier is best drunk fairly young.

It’s also a secret ingredient in some red wines. In Côte-Rôtie, growers traditionally ferment a small amount of Viognier together with Syrah, which lifts the aroma and helps set the color. Winemakers in Australia and California copy the idea. Chardonnay drinkers who want more perfume often take to it, and its soft richness pairs nicely with spiced dishes and curries.

See also: Syrah , Roussanne , Marsanne

Just east of the city of Tours, in the Touraine part of France’s Loire Valley, the village of Vouvray makes some of the world’s best Chenin Blanc. Nearly every bottle is 100 percent Chenin, and many of the wines age in cellars carved into the soft local limestone, called tuffeau.

The tricky part is sweetness. Vouvray can be sec (dry), demi-sec (off-dry), or moelleux (sweet and rich, often from grapes touched by noble rot), depending on the vintage and the producer. Many labels say which one you’re getting, but not all do, so it’s worth checking with a merchant or the winery. In cooler years, producers tend to make more dry and sparkling wine; in warm, sunny years, more of the sweet styles. Whatever the sweetness, Chenin’s high acidity keeps the wine lively.

Chenin here tastes of quince, yellow apple, pear, lemon and honey, often with notes of chamomile, beeswax or lanolin, especially as the wine ages. Top Vouvray, sweet or dry, can last for decades. A large share of Vouvray is also sparkling, made the same way as Champagne, either fully sparkling (mousseux) or more gently fizzy (pétillant). It’s often a bargain next to Champagne. Across the river, the smaller Montlouis-sur-Loire appellation makes very similar wines.

See also: Chenin Blanc , Champagne , Crémant

White Zinfandel is a sweet, pale pink wine made from Zinfandel, a red grape. The “white” is a leftover from when it started: it’s made the way white wine is, by pressing the juice off the dark skins quickly so it picks up just a blush of color. The sweet style most people know was born in California at Sutter Home, whose winemaker Bob Trinchero had been making a dry pale wine from Zinfandel juice. In 1975, a batch stopped fermenting before all the sugar was used up. He bottled it anyway, and the slightly sweet pink wine became a national hit.

Expect a light, low-alcohol wine with flavors of strawberry, watermelon, cotton candy and cherry, plus noticeable sweetness and gentle acidity. It’s simple, inexpensive and meant to be served very cold. It played a big part in getting a generation of Americans into wine, and its success also kept a lot of old Zinfandel vineyards from being ripped out.

The style is quite different from other pink wines. Most Rosé today, and especially Provence Rosé, is dry and crisp, and many people who remember White Zinfandel are surprised by that. It’s also a world away from red Zinfandel, which is usually big, ripe and jammy. Some people use “blush wine” to mean any sweet, pale pink wine in this style.

See also: Zinfandel , Rosé , Provence Rosé

The Willamette Valley (say “will-AM-it”) is Oregon’s best-known wine region and home turf for this site. It runs south from Portland toward Eugene, between the Coast Range to the west and the Cascades to the east. It’s an AVA, or American Viticultural Area, a grape-growing region with boundaries recognized by the federal government, and it holds a large share of the state’s wineries. Inside it sits a growing number of smaller nested AVAs, from long-established ones like the Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, Chehalem Mountains, Ribbon Ridge and Yamhill-Carlton to newer arrivals such as the Van Duzer Corridor, Tualatin Hills, Laurelwood District and Lower Long Tom.

Pinot Noir is the headliner, and it’s why the Willamette is so often compared with Burgundy. The climate is cool, with wet winters and dry, warm summers, and the Coast Range shields the vineyards from much of the Pacific’s rain. Local Pinot Noir usually balances bright red fruit (cherry, raspberry, cranberry) with earthy, forest-floor notes and fresh acidity. Pinot Gris, the most planted white, tends toward pear, apple and melon, usually dry and a bit rounder than Italian Pinot Grigio. Chardonnay has taken off in recent years, often in a lean, mineral style, and sparkling wine is a growing specialty.

Soils vary, and locals love to talk about them. The red volcanic Jory soil of the Dundee Hills, ancient seabed sediments in Yamhill-Carlton and Ribbon Ridge, and wind-blown silt in the Chehalem Mountains all show up in the glass. Vintage matters more here than in hotter regions, so a cool year and a warm one can taste quite different.

See also: Pinot Noir , Pinot Gris , Chardonnay , Burgundy

Zinfandel is often called California’s grape, and it has been grown there since the mid-1800s, but it was born in Croatia. DNA research led by Carole Meredith of UC Davis traced it to an old Croatian variety known as Crljenak Kaštelanski, which also goes by the older name Tribidrag. The same grape grows in Puglia in southern Italy, where it’s called Primitivo. Some California vineyards are more than a century old, and “old vine” Zinfandel is highly prized.

Red Zinfandel is usually bold and jammy, with blackberry, raspberry, plum and cherry, often with black pepper, cinnamon or licorice. It’s typically full-bodied, with moderate tannins and often high alcohol, since the grapes ripen unevenly and can get very sweet on the vine. Some producers aim for a lighter, fresher style, while others blend in a little Petite Sirah for extra color and structure. California’s Sonoma County, Lodi, Amador County and Paso Robles are all well known for it.

Then there’s White Zinfandel, which is a different wine entirely. It’s a pale pink, usually sweet rosé made from the same grape, with the juice kept off the skins quickly. It became a huge seller in the 1970s and 80s, and for years more people knew Zinfandel as pink wine than red.

See also: White Zinfandel , Sonoma County , Paso Robles , Petite Sirah