Why don’t wines all taste the same?
This is a simple question, but one that could take forever to answer.
Simply because there are so many factors that affect the final taste and character of the wines we drink. The amazing diversity of styles is down to a number of things; the soil, the weather and the climate and of course, the winemakers intervention. These are all crucial elements, but the most important ingredient is the fruit itself. Grapes provide the DNA of what we drink; with each different variety having it’s own carefully balanced mix of properties - sugar, acidity, color and tannin levels. They give the wine its signature taste, texture and aroma, no matter where the fruit is grown. So the easiest way to learn more about wine is to look at the key grape varieties.



MAROR WHITE WINE GRAPES


CHARDONNAY
There’s no escaping this most versatile and popular of all the white grapes. It dominates both the supermarket shelves and the cellars of top wine collectors, thanks to its diversity of styles. Easy to grow and easy to manage, it is a winemakers dream. From its French roots in central Burgundy, where you’ll find a small town of the same name, it has gone on to conquer almost all corners of the wine-producing world.

Thanks to its fairly neutral, non-aromatic character, it tends to reflect the soil and climate in which it ripens. In cool regions, like Chablis, where it is typically unoaked, it has a steely, minerally, lemon quality. Plant it in warmer conditions and it starts to show off a fuller, riper side, with lots of melon, stone fruit and tropical flavours. Its continued success can also be traced to its relationship with oak. No other white looks so good after a bit of time spent in barrel. Here it picks up its buttery, nutty, spicy complexity often with a toasty nose. Let’s not forget its crucial role in the production of Champagne where it adds elegance and finesse to the final blend.


RIESLING
Riesling could quite possibly be, the most thrilling of all grape varieties. It has an intense, floral charm and razor-sharp fruit, full of limes, minerals and blossom. And it’s the tension between this piercing fruit and its lively acidity that makes it a star performer across a full range of styles, in a full range of sites. From bone dry to lusciously sweet, it always reflects its location. Forget those flabby, sugar-rich training wines of the 70’s and 80’s, the modern Riesling is focused and fresh. This helps it age magnificently in the cellar often developing a toasty, kerosene-like bouquet. In Germany’s cooler, northern vineyards it produces delicate, low-alcohol wines with an apple, slate and honey character. Sugar levels steadily climb in many of the wines, ultimately creating some of the most exotically, powerful flavors found in a bottle. Across the French border into Alsace, Riesling is equally prized. The wines remain fragrant, though mostly drier, fuller and spicier, with a steely edge. Austria is also capable of some stunning examples. Down in the Southern Hemisphere it has found a home in cooler pockets of Australia (Clare Valley in particular) and New Zealand’s South Island where the fruit becomes a bit riper and tropical. One thing common to all these different wines, however, is an almost total avoidance of oak flavours.


SAUVIGNON BLANC
There’s no mistaking the vibrant aromatics of this fragrant and zesty, green-skinned grape. Study a little French and you’ll discover ‘sauvage’ means wild and lovers of this grape, which can divide drinkers, are regularly wooed by its fruity, herbaceous zip. Around Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, in Frances cool Loire Valley, the wines are grassy and nettly with aromas of goosberries and gunflint. Whilst in Bordeaux, in the southwest, it finds a partner in Semillon to make a fuller, rounder style that is commonly oaked. But the modern fascination with this grape stems from the intensely ripe and pungent wines first produced in New Zealand’s Marlborough region. Full of asparagus, green pea and tropical fruits the Kiwis have driven a New World revival of the variety. Chile and South Africa are on board with this crisp, clean, early drinking approach and in the United States it can often be found oaked, and labeled Fumé Blanc.


SEMILLON
Not the most exciting variety on its own – round, neutral and lemony - Semillon starts to shine once it’s had bit of work done to it. It’s home is Bordeaux where it’s typically blended with the much livelier Sauvignon Blanc (and Muscadelle), and barrel-fermented to good affect. It’s true fame, however, comes from its role in the making of the rich and honeyed, golden, sweet wines of Sauternes, where it generally comprises about 80% of the blend. The other place where Semillon has achieved is Australia’s Hunter Valley. Picked early and bottled fresh the wines can emerge from 10 years in the cellar with a unique and distinct taste of lime, lanolin and buttered toast. Around the rest of the globe it has gained inroads in countries such as Chile and South Africa.


VIOGNIER
Lush, exotic, fragrant and heady, Viognier could claim to be the world’s sexiest grape. Its lower acidity gives it a silky, creamy texture with ripe flavors and aromas of apricots, peaches, blossom and musk. This now-fashionable variety was once rarely seen outside France’s Northern Rhone where it gained fame in Condrieu and Château Grillet (the country’s smallest appellation). It even has a minor blending role in Côte Rôtie where it combines, in small amounts, with the red grape Syrah. After much trial and error Southern France and the New World have caught on. This is a difficult grape to grow as it has a low yield, is prone to disease and can easily become overblown and alcoholic. But now we have exciting wines coming from California, Australia and across South American. Best-drunk young (with all its feminine charm), Viognier can be, for many drinkers, their first rewarding step away from Chardonnay.





CHENIN BLANC
Looking for a grape to perform equally well, either bone-dry, off dry, lusciously sweet or even as sparkling wine? Then the versatile Chenin Blanc could be for you. The best place to see all these tricks, performed all at the same time, is in Loire Valley with wines from the likes of Vouvray, Samur and Savennières. Amazingly, though, Chenin Blanc retains its distinct character as it changes its style. It has apple, pear and quince fruit and a steel-like, mineral backbone with a curious touch of honey and ‘wet wool.’ All these flavors are kept on track by knifelike acidity, allowing many of these wines to age for decades. Something of a workhorse in the California and some New World countries, it’s still the most planted variety in South Africa (known locally as Steen). Winemakers are increasingly looking back to France for inspiration, experimenting with lower yields and some barrel aging.


PINOT GRIS/PINOT GRIGIO
Gris or Grigio? These French and Italian names describe the slight ‘grey’ tinge that naturally colors this grape. Though it’s the same grape variety, you should expect two different styles, depending on where it’s grown. In Alsace, where it’s still labeled as Tokay Pinot Gris, the style is ripe and smoky with spicy pear and exotic fruit. You can also find richly, sweet and aromatic late harvest wines. In Italy’s north, the commercial approach is to pick early. This produces a much thinner, fresher, almost neutral-tasting, style that has been hugely successful. Found also in Germany, as Grauburgunder, and parts of Eastern Europe, it is becoming more popular in New Zealand and Oregon in the United States where top winemakers play around with the style they wish to express.




MAROR RED WINE GRAPES


CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Cabernet Sauvignon is both royal and regal and it sits firmly atop the throne of the red wine landscape. Famed as the leading grape of the Medoc, on Bordeaux’s Left Bank, it has gone on to conquer lands much further afield. Thick-skinned and late ripening it is packed with fruit, acids and tannins. Although it is typically blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc, it likes to be the dominant force. It loves warmer climates where it can ripen it blackcurrant and black cherry fruit and it loves oak, which give its wines further structure and enhances its cedar and cigar box aromas. Cooler regions and lesser vintages can have a telltale, green capsicum edge to them. It’s part, however, in producing some of the world’s finest and longest-lived reds, is unquestionable, as is its role in some of the most affordable, everyday full-bodied wines. The modern face of Italian wine has much to do with Cabernet’s use in the ‘Super-Tuscans’ of Bolgheri. It also has a world-class reputation in both California and Australia where the wines can add a hint of mint or eucalypt to their nose. In terms of softness, value and riper fruit, Chile and Argentina are delivering impressive wines.


SYRAH/SHIRAZ
It’s hard to tell, sometimes, whether Syrah or Shiraz has the greater reputation. Yes, it’s the same grape, but the two are like different brands. Ultimately, the decision will be with the drinker, and the verdict will be a stylistic one. Syrah is at home in the Northern Rhone where it is displays its dark, concentrated fruit through the wines of Hermitage and Côte Rôtie. In the Southern Rhone, it has a key role blending with Grenache and Mourvèdre where its fruit becomes riper and juicier, but no less intense. Meanwhile, in Australia, where Shiraz is on the label, the grape has depth and potency and no shortage of admirers. The most planted variety in the country, bottles from Barossa Valley, in particular, are loaded with blackberries, dark chocolate, leather and sweet spice. Look further afield, where Syrah or Shiraz continues to gain popularity, and you’ll find winemakers choosing to name their wines according to style. California, Chile, South Africa and New Zealand are all going down both paths.



MERLOT
Traditionally considered the ultimate team player, making solid contributions to most Cabernet blends, Merlot has toured the world and gaining an every-increasing fan base as a solo performer. At home in Bordeaux it is the most planted red grape and is rarely left out of any blend. The best, and world’s most expensive wines, come from St-Emillion and Pomerol, where it is the leading contributor. Here the yields are kept low and the fruit is dark, opulent and plummy with seductive, velvety tannins. This soft, round, fleshy, side to Merlot has made it very popular with winemakers and wine drinkers alike. It ripens early, has high yields and proves to be juicy and approachable when young.
Many simpler Merlots are produced in cooler parts of northern Italy and Eastern Europe where the grape shows a slightly herbaceous, leafy side. To see it at its most deliciously and drinkable, head for California and Chile where blackberry, black cherry and chocolate scented wines can be rich and voluptuous. As with all international grapes, you can also expect top wines and great value from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.



PINOT NOIR
This Holy Grail of grapes can be, at times, temperamental, frustrating and elusive. But when everything goes right, in both the vineyard and the cellar, it gives rise to some of the most sublime and seductive wines you’re ever likely to taste. Once hooked, there’s no way back from the grip of its charms. Pinot Noir is the classic grape of Burgundy where it has found its ideal climate on well-drained, limestone soils. Its delicate, thin skins produce wines lighter in color and with less body or tannin than other famous varieties. However, when at its best, the delicate raspberry, cherry and plum fruit is no less intense, and has earth, spice and perfume to back it up. At their worst, though, the wines are unripe, green and disappointingly thin or overcooked, stewed and jammy.

This struggle to find a perfect balance for Pinot Noir has become something of a quest for serious New World winemakers. Rare success has been achieved in Oregon and cooler parts of California, whilst many wines from New Zealand’s Martinborough and Central Otago regions, have become serious challengers to the classics from Burgundy. Australia, too, has many fine examples and it plays an important role under different guises in Germany, Austria and the northern reaches of Italy.



GRENACHE/GARNACHA
You have to admire this grape. Lounging around the Mediterranean, soaking up the sun, it is generous and spicy and is usually found mixing with others. It is the most planted red grape in it’s homeland of Spain, where it is know as Garnacha, and is essential to most blends of Rioja, giving a boost to Tempranillo. In France it loves basking next to Syrah and Mourvèdre on the rocky soils of the southern Rhone, where it dominates the blends of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Côtes du Rhône. The fruit here is meaty and peppery but with sweet raspberry flavors and the alcohol levels can steadily climb. With its juicy nature, it is tailor-made for the rosés of Tavel and Provence, and indeed those from Spain. Australia is the other great place to find Grenache, where many, old bush vines, in both McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, have been providing fruit for well over 100 years.



TEMPRANILLO
Every country should have a local hero and in the case of Spain, it is Tempranillo. If you, like many, have fallen for the soft, vanilla-scented summery red fruits that Rioja offers up, then you may also have been mellowed by oak. These wines, which are typically aged in French or American barrels and are regularly spiced up with Garnacha, develop a gamey, leathery, tobacco-like character as they age.
In Rubera del Duero, where they know it as Tinto Fino, you’ll find an increasing number of powerful, exciting wines with deep flavor and a little less oak. In other parts of the country and across into Portugal there are plenty of juicy, fresh, young, Tempranillos and as Tinta Roriz, it has a vital role to play in the Port houses of the Douro Valley. It’s now starting to gain interest outside the Iberian Peninsular, though it’s long been established as one of Argentina’s key grapes.



SANGIOVESE
If you live in a country that adores its cooking, particularly pasta, then you’ll need a wine that can fill up and then clean up, a nation of hungry mouths. So it’s no surprise that Sangiovese, with its firm, dusty tannins and high natural acidity, is Italy’s most planted red variety. But do beware, as quality varies widely. Serious Tuscan examples, like those found in Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile de Montepulciano and Brunello di Montelcino, have given the grape a world wide following. Too often in the rest of Italy, however, the wines have been a little on the thin side and dressed up in their cane, wicker baskets. But modern wine making, has been good for Sangiovese. We now get to taste more of the grape’s cherry and plum fruit, with subtle perfume, wild herbs and tobacco thrown into the mix. Italian immigrants have always taken the grape with them, with particular success in Argentina.