Grape Decoder

When we talk about the most important grape varieties in the wine world, there is no doubt that when it comes to red grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon is considered the King. Few grapes have proven as age-worthy, as consistently reliable and as downright delicious as Cabernet Sauvignon.

Thanks to work in the late 1990s by grape geneticist Dr. Carole Meredith and the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology, we can trace the origins of Cabernet Sauvignon to a chance meeting in a vineyard in Southwest France between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc that occurred sometime during the 17th century (sounds romantic, right?). Although there had been some speculation that Cabernet Sauvignon had more ancient origins, there was also a theory (which the DNA research confirmed), that the aromas that Cabernet Sauvignon shares in common with Cabernet Franc (lead pencil, tea leaves, black currants) and with Sauvignon Blanc (grassy, herbal) pointed to some sort of relationship between the three grapes. But regardless of what Cabernet Sauvignon has in common with Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, it is a distinctly unique grape that has, over time, outshown its parents.

There is a bit of a chicken and egg debate in the wine world about Cabernet Sauvignon. Is it so popular because it is fairly easy to grow (thus meaning that there is so much of it out there that we can’t avoid it), or is it because we like it so much that producers around the world have sought out ways to grow as much of it as they can? Most likely, the answer is a little bit of both. In terms of marketing, Cabernet Sauvignon is tough to beat. With a high level of name recognition and a top reputation, most producers and wine drinkers hold it in very high esteem. And many of its viticultural characteristics make it very easy to love. Cabernet Sauvignon is a very thick-skinned, hardy grape with good disease-resistance and the ability to grow well in a variety of soils and climates (although it does have a preference for well-draining soil and moderate climates).

Cabernet Sauvignon is, like Chardonnay, very much a winemaker’s grape. It requires a good deal of skill to handle Cabernet’s tannic nature and while it has a great affinity for oak, the integration of Cabernet Sauvignon and oak also demands a producer’s full attention. Cabernet Sauvignon produces wines that are medium to full-bodied, tannic, high in acid and very capable of extensive aging. Common primary aromas and flavors (going from cool climate to warm climate characteristics) are cinnamon, menthol, eucalyptus, mint, violet, berry, plum, blackcurrant, cassis, black olive, prune, licorice. As Cabernet Sauvignon ages, you will typically find notes of earth, tobacco, cigar-box, milk chocolate, tobacco, coffee, mocha, lead pencil, herbal tea, and leather on the nose and palate.

As mentioned above, Cabernet Sauvignon’s birthplace was most likely somewhere in the Southwest of France, but it did not take long for it to spread, and with it, a reputation for producing high quality wines. The region considered most synonymous with Cabernet Sauvignon is, of course Bordeaux. Although most Bordeaux wines are not made with 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (most are a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc), it is still considered by most (especially those on the Left Bank in Bordeaux) to be the most important of the three. Cabernet Sauvignon is also grown in the Loire and these days, throughout the South of France as well. It is what the grape can do in Bordeaux, though, that has really set the standard for Cabernet Sauvignon around the world. The gravelly soil of the left bank of Bordeaux is, in particular, considered ideal for growing top quality Cabernet and growers around the world, notably in California, Australia and Italy, have looked to achieve similar results.

If you are looking to get a sense of what Cabernet Sauvignon tastes like, I suggest you taste through any of the following wines from my list: Arrogant Frog “Lily Pad Red” Vin de Pays d’Oc, Chateau Corconnac Haut-Médoc, Chateau de Parenchère Cuvée Raphael Bordeaux Supérieur, Chateau La Maroutine Bordeaux Rouge, Chateau Machorre Bordeaux Supérieur, Grand Bateau Rouge, La Croix Bonis St. Estephe, Mas de Guiot Vin de Pays du Gard and Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Rouge. You can also have some fun by picking out some wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon grown around the world and comparing how similar and how different Cabernet from various regions can taste. And, of course, given how ageworthy Cabernet Sauvignon can be, you also could buy some wine and save it for a few years to see for yourself what happens to the aroma and taste of Cabernet Sauvignon as it ages. I’d suggest finding some Bordeaux wines from 2005 to use in your experiment. The 2005 was a fantastic vintage in Bordeaux and while tasting beautifully now, these are also wines that will age and drink well over the next 5 to 8 years (and more for the top wines).

So don’t be cruel, grab a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and give a toast to the king. It’ll make your heart (or at the very least your palate) sing.

There are few grapes that are as complex and fascinating as Pinot Noir. I’ve often heard it said that there are very few winemakers out there who don’t consider it the Holy Grail of winemaking – making good Pinot Noir is a challenge. Unlike Chardonnay, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir doesn’t seem to accept mediocrity well. It is a grape that is very demanding – some even call it the “Heartbreak Grape.”

What makes Pinot Noir so finicky? Well, for starters, it is a bit of a temperature sensitive grape. It prefers cooler climates and it tends to like limestone soils – two reasons why it does so well in Burgundy. It is also a thin skinned grape which can make it susceptible to some of the diseases and viruses that can affect grapevines. The thinner skin of Pinot Noir is part of why the color of many wines made with Pinot Noir are lighter than wines made with grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. The paler color isn’t a sign of inferior quality – it more has to do with the fact that there is less pigment to be extracted from Pinot Noir grapes.

Pinot Noir has a pretty interesting history. It is an extremely old grape – one that we think dates back to the 1st or 2nd century AD. There are some indications that it was grown in Burgundy by the 4th century AD and we do have 14th century records from Burgundy that mention a vine called Pinot. Due to its advanced age, Pinot Noir is prone to mutating – since it has been around for so long, vines of Pinot Noir with variations have developed. That’s how we have gotten Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier to name a few. Pinot Noir is also (and we know this through DNA analysis of Pinot) one of the parents of Chardonnay.

So what are the characteristics of Pinot? The color can range from a very pale to moderately intense cherry red and it tends to become garnet in color as it ages. Notes you might find on the nose range from herbal and spicy aromas to fruity aromas of strawberries, red cherries, and black cherries. You can also find hints of violets, black pepper, beets, prunes and plums. Pinot Noir can sometimes have a nose that can smell earthy, gamey, mushroomy or even like a barnyard. I tend to find that Pinot Noir grown in climates that are too warm makes for wines that smell like tomato plants (have you ever smelled your hands after handling a tomato plant? It is a very specific smell that is hard to describe). It is almost an under-ripe and over-ripe aroma that makes me think that the heat didn’t give the grapes the time they needed to ripen (Pinot likes a long growing season).

On the palate, Pinot Noir tends to be described using very sensual language. The body can range from light to full and the tannins are frequently described as being fairly firm, but silky and velvety textured. Acidity is usually fairly high with moderate to moderately high alcohol levels and Pinot Noir is usually very ageworthy. Besides being the main grape of Burgundy (just about all red Burgundy is made from Pinot Noir), you will find Pinot grown in Champagne, the Loire Valley, Alsace, Germany, Oregon, California, New York, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and Canada to name just a few.

If you are looking to sample a few Pinot Noirs, there are several on my top picks to choose from including: Burgundy Hills Pinot Noir, Chamarré Grande Réserve Pinot Noir, Domaine Faiveley Bourgogne Rouge, Fat Bastard Pinot Noir Vin de Pays d’Oc and Maison Joseph Drouhin Laforet Pinot Noir. To taste it in sparkling form, look for Lucien Albrecht’s Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé, Moet & Chandon’s White Star and Taittinger’s Brut La Française.

While many people are aware that Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are two of the grapes used to make Champagne, few people know that there is a third grape that is typically used in the blend: Pinot Meunier.

Pinot Meunier has a fairly interesting history. Meunier is the French word for miller – a person who grinds grain into flour. The underside of the leaves of this grape can look as if they have been coated with flour, thus the name “Meunier.” You might be wondering if Pinot Meunier is related to Pinot Noir and in fact, Pinot Meunier is a mutation of Pinot Noir, so the two grapes do share some things in common. Like Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier is a red grape, although it is usually lighter in color than Pinot Noir.

One of the reasons Pinot Meunier is such a popular grape in the Champagne region is that it is a terrific grape for cool climates and it buds late and ripens early when compared to Pinot Noir. The Champagne region can be tough on grapes and in some vintages it can be hard to fully ripen the grapes due to the low temperatures. Therefore an early ripener like Pinot Meunier can come in handy. According to the Oxford Companion to Wine (which is a wine lover’s Bible, by the way), there are about 26,000 acres of Pinot Meunier planted in Champagne. While it was historically the favorite (mainly because it was so dependable), plantings of Pinot Meunier have slowed a bit in the last few years compared to plantings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Each of the three grapes in the Champagne blend bring something to the table; Pinot Meunier is known for adding a lively acidity and fruitiness to the wine. While you might have to search to find a single varietal bottling of Pinot Meunier here in the US market, that are a few that are available. Pinot Meunier is planted in Australia, Switzerland, California (especially in Carneros), British Columbia and a few other appellations in France besides Champagne, such as the Loire Valley. And of course, you can always look for it in Champagne!

Very few grapes have dominated the wine industry like the white grape known as Chardonnay. Almost no other grape seems to have the same name recognition or awareness. Many consider Chardonnay to be the “King” of the grape world, although in recent years there has been a movement afoot to challenge its global domination – you will find some wine lovers who live by the “ABC” code: anything but Chardonnay. Despite issues of over-planting and the fact that there is a lot of inferior Chardonnay out there on the market, Chardonnay remains a grape that we shouldn’t hesitate to put on a pedestal.

Chardonnay’s most famous home is in Burgundy, where it is the grape that gives us both the steely, mineral, green apply wines made in Chablis, as well as the buttery, rich, full-bodied wines of Meursault. While Chardonnay has proved itself to be a fairly easy grape to grow, it thrives in cooler climates. This is one reason why it does well not only in Burgundy, but in Champagne as well. Chardonnay is one of the most popular white grapes in France and it can be found in the Savoie, the Jura, the Loire and the Languedoc, to name just a few. Chardonnay can also be found all over the world – most notably in California, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Italy (but the list is much longer).

Characteristics of Chardonnay can run the gamut – few other grapes are as versatile and also as responsive to a winemaker’s skills. The color of Chardonnay wines can range from a pale, greenish yellow to deep gold. The color will vary depending on the region and climate, with cooler areas producing wines with less pigmentation and warmer spots producing wines with deeper colors. Another influencing factor is whether or not the wine has been aged in oak barrels. Aging Chardonnay in small oak barrels will produce a wine that is a bit darker when compared to a Chardonnay that has been kept in a stainless steel tank.

Many people think that Chardonnay can only smell like butter or toast, but in reality, the aromatic profile of Chardonnay is very diverse and interesting. Notes of cucumbers, wet stones, green apples, grapefruits, lemons, limes, melons, pears, quince, figs, and golden apples can be found in addition to the common descriptors of vanilla, toast, butterscotch, honey and nuts. Like the color, the nose of a Chardonnay will depend on where the grapes were grown and how the wine was made. Unoaked Chardonnay from a cool climate will tend to have more citrus and green apple notes, while an oaked Chardonnay from a warmer climate will show off a more vanilla, toasty, golden apple profile.

While many consumers think of Chardonnay as having the strange ability to taste like buttered popcorn, this is not the only palate profile for this grape. Chardonnay can range from medium to full-bodied with an alcohol level that runs from medium/balanced to high. The acidity level for a good quality Chardonnay is typically on the crisper side, but if grown in too warm of a climate, it can seem quite flabby. There are a number of winemaking techniques that can affect the character of a chardonnay. If it is kept on its lees (a nice word to describe the sediment created during the fermentation process), a Chardonnay can taste creamy or rich on the palate. Chardonnays are also frequently put through something called a malolactic fermentation (usually abbreviated as MLF). This is a process where lactic acid bacteria convert malic acid (like the acid found in a green apple) to lactic acid (think of the acid in milk). The conversion of the malic acid to lactic acid can further emphasize the creaminess of a Chardonnay and it is also one factor behind that buttery aroma so common to Chardonnay.

While Chardonnay has developed a bit of a bad rap these last few years, it still remains an incredibly food-friendly and versatile wine (when not too heavily oaked and too high in alcohol). If you are a Chardonnay lover or would like to rediscover food-friendly Chardonnays, take a look through my list. You will find a number of different Chardonnays to suit any palate and pocketbook. There are several wines from Burgundy, but also a few from the South of France, which are typically a bit riper and less-acidic. And don’t forget to drop me a line and let me know if you have a favorite French Chardonnay that you would like me to try! I’m always on the lookout for new wines.

In some ways, Gamay is the Rodney Dangerfield of the grape world – all it wants is a little respect. For centuries, Gamay has struggled to be seen as a serious contender. In 1395 for example, Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, issued a decree that outlawed the use of Gamay in Burgundian wine. His reasoning was that Gamay was not suited to producing quality wines and that the vine yielded too many grapes.

Over the last 613 years though, it has become clear that while Gamay might not be suited to Burgundy, it is very much suited to the Beaujolais region, as well as several others. And while Gamay might not produce the world-class age-worthy wines that Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir are capable of, it still makes one heck of a juicy and tasty wine.

Gamay grows on the fast side – it is an early -budding, -flowering and -ripening grape which means that although it can be sensitive to frost, it is also capable of ripening in cooler climates. This is one reason why you can find it grown in the Loire and also in Switzerland. Gamay tends to have a fairly crisp level of acid (making it one of the more “refreshing” red wines) and aromas and flavors of fresh strawberries and raspberries. When carbonic maceration or semi-carbonic maceration is used to vinify the grapes, then it is also not uncommon to find aromas of bananas and candied strawberries. For wine lovers looking for a red with fairly soft tannins, Gamay is a great red grape to try. In fact, if you don’t consider yourself a red wine drinker but you want to start experimenting with reds, I would recommend that you consider starting out with an approachable red grape like Gamay.

Although Gamay is grown in several different regions, it is practically synonymous with the Beaujolais region. As the Oxford Companion to Wine points out, “no other wine region is so determinedly monocepagiste as Beaujolais…” meaning that no other wine region relies so heavily on just one single grape variety for all of the wines produced in that region. The wines of Beaujolais Nouveau, Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages and the 10 crus of Beaujolais are all made from the Gamay grape. Of these, only the wines of Beaujolais-Villages and the crus of Beaujolais are considered to be somewhat age-worthy. However, there is nothing wrong with the fact that these wines are best drunk when youthful and fresh – not all wines are meant to be aged and some of Gamay’s charm stems from its youthful grapey-ness.

Gamay is also a very food-friendly and versatile grape. With bright acidity and fresh, but light fruit flavors, it can pair well with both chicken and beef as well as with pork and turkey. It is great with a quiche, but can be just as tasty when served with whatever you might throw on the grill for a cookout. Wines made from the Gamay grape are best served on the cool side, so chill your bottle in the fridge for 25-30 minutes before serving. As I’ve said before, Beaujolais is one of the more refreshing red wines and in the middle of summer, who could ask for anything more?

When it comes to grape descriptors, my favorite of all time is the one used to describe the more herbaceous and aromatic side of Sauvignon Blanc: cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush. Definitely a creative way to describe the smell of the grape!

But don’t let this descriptor deter you – Sauvignon Blanc is a white grape that produces one of the most refreshing and food-friendly wines around. Appearance-wise, Sauvignon Blanc is known for typically ranging from a pale lemon yellow to a medium intense yellow, and can sometimes have a greenish tinge on rim. It is usually fairly intensely aromatic with primary aromas that range from green beans, asparagus, herbaceous, grassy, “flinty”, gooseberry, lemon, lime, grapefruit, and passion fruit. When aged in young oak barrels, one can find aromas and flavors of spices, vanilla, honey, toast and coconut on the wine. On the palate, Sauvignon Blanc can run the gamut, producing wines that are light, medium and full-bodied with medium to medium plus alcohol. Usually Sauvignon Blancs are know for having a fairly high level of acidity, part of why the wines are so refreshing and food-friendly.

While it can be found in several different appellations around France, the two major regions know for producing spectacular Sauvignon Blancs are the Loire Valley and Bordeaux. Within the Loire Valley, the famous AOCs for Sauvignon Blanc production are Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. The wines from these two villages are noted for their crisp acidity and intense aromatics, and especially for having a strong mineral character and a stony quality. Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc is a bit different as it is usually blended with the Semillon grape, which makes the wines broader on the palate and more full-bodied. This blend of grapes is used to produce both dry and sweet wines that are capable of being aged for a long period of time.

There are numerous “classic pairings” for the Sauvignon Blanc grape including fresh, young goat cheese and, when blended with Semillon and produced in a sweet style, foie gras. However, I have found that there are few dishes that don’t go well with this grape. Fresh, lively and citrusy, Sauvignon Blanc is great for sipping on its own, but also for pairing with fish, chicken and turkey dishes and it is also a great choice for vegetable dishes such as a stir fry or a vegetable quiche. There are several Sauvignon Blancs to choose from on my list of wine picks, so grab one to open tonight with your dinner – I’m sure you will enjoy it!

Ah, Riesling.  While I love so many grapes, if I were pressed, it would be difficult for me to deny that Riesling is at the top of my list of favorite white grapes.  So versatile, so food-friendly and so, well, delicious! Riesling is grown in a variety of places around the world, but some of my very favorite regions for producing this age-worthy grape are Alsace, Germany, Austria, Washington State and Australia.

Riesling is characterized by high, racy acidity and a pronounced nose that can include aromas of green apples, limes, lemons, white flowers, orange blossoms, peaches, apricots, tropical fruits, and even smoke, slate and minerals.  Riesling is known for being a grape that is very expressive of “terroir” – a French word that refers to the unique combination of soil, climate and vine or roughly, “the taste of a place.”  That’s why you see those last few descriptors of smoke, slate and minerals for Riesling.  Many wine tasters will talk about the minerality of Riesling.  By that, they are trying to describe the pure, fresh flavors of Riesling.  I have always found that Riesling is one of the most poetic grapes – by that I mean that the descriptors that tasters use to try to convey the taste of Riesling can get very flowery and exotic.  I’ve heard everything from sucking on stones to the taste of air after a lightening storm.  But essentially, Riesling is a mouth-watering combination of fruit and acid and almost always as appealing on the nose as it is on the palate.

Riesling is also one of those unique grapes that can run the gamut style-wise.  Riesling can be dry with intense concentration and fairly high alcohol, or it can be sweet and delicate, with a low level of alcohol.  Riesling can also be still, sparkling or with such a high level of sugar as to be classified as a dessert wine.  Riesling often has the reputation of being a sweet wine, but this is truly not always the case.  Many Rieslings do have a discernable level of residual sugar which can help balance their high natural acidity.  But there are also a lot of dry Rieslings available and those from the French region of Alsace are a terrific example of the drier, more full-bodied style.  One other interesting fact about Riesling is that it rarely sees any time in new oak barrels.  Rather than impose aromas and flavors on it, those who make Rieslings tend to prefer to let the grape express its own natural character.