When properly made, each grape varietal (type) has a flavour and character profile that is unique to it in most cases. The following should help you figure out what to expect and look for. If some of the descriptions seem odd or bizarre, keep in mind that training your palate is like learning a new language: you learn to express yourself in an entirely new context. If a description of a wine contains the phrase “celery-like” feel free to add a little chopped celery to a glass of cheap wine of the same varietal to learn the note. Work your way through your spice cabinet, smell vegetables and other aromatics when shopping to train your nose and palate. Good luck!

Cabernet Franc (Cah-burr-NAY frahnk)

One of the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon (the other in Sauvignon Blanc), Cab Franc is a varietal on the rise in the New World. Lighter and more vegetal than Cab Sauv, Cab Franc is one of the key varietals in Bordeaux and is planted extensively throughout the Loire Valley. Here in the New World, Cab Franc has regularly been added to Cab Sauv for perfume and to Merlot for sturdiness. Cab Franc wines can be lighter in colour than Cab Sauv and exhibit distinct notes of roasted red peppers and roses, occasionally violets. Cab Franc loves cooler climes than its offspring, so some of the best examples are coming out of (aside from Bordeaux and the Loire) Napa Valley’s Carneros Region, Sonoma in general, and Washington State.

Cabernet Sauvignon (Cah-burr-NAY SOH-vin-yahn)

The world’s most renowned varietal, yet of relatively recent popularity, even in Bordeaux, its homeland. The great Cab, as it is known throughout the New World can produce wines of astonishing depth or remarkable vapidity, depending upon its growing conditions. Late-flowering and late-ripening, Cab can escape late-spring frosts in cool climates as found in Bordeaux, however its late-ripening makes it a race to get it harvested before fall rains set in. Classic descriptors for Cab include Chocolate, blackberries, blackberries, and cedar box or tobacco. Check out great wines from the Napa Valley, especially the Stags Leap District and Howell Mountain for these notes. In a cool climate, or in cooler years when it may not ripen fully, Cab can take on unpleasant vegetal notes such as green bell peppers, dill, or green olives. Such notes can be found in many Cabs being produced from California’s Central Coast…

Cab can be brutally tannic in a warm cliamte and can have its palate softened with the addition of Merlot.

Chardonnay (SHAHR-don-ay)

The Holy Grail of white wines. Everyone knows Chardonnay, the big, blousy, busty, suave, white wine. Surprisingly, when most wine drinkers think Chard, they also think “butter”, but this is not an inherent flavour of Chard, but of winemaking practise. Chardonnay is literally being produced everywhere these days, with every wine region in the world trying their hand at it. With this much Chard in the world, it’s no surprise that most of it is of poor quality, ranging from thin, slightly apple-y bland wines to overblown over-ripe, over-oaked monsters reeking of rancid pineapple and litchi nuts. Obviously, the classic style lays somewhere in the middle. If you want to find out what Chard is about, without the glitz and oak and flash, look to Burgundy, especially the Communes of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet, where supple, shockingly muscular, citrus zested fresh almond-laced fresh wines of incomparable richness lay to be discovered – for a price. For less, look to any Macon or off to Chablis for the steely-est, most streamlined, raciest, most BMW M5 – styled Chards are produced. California is the motherland of soft, rich, butter-laced, vanilla-perfumed, insert-fruit-here Chard styles. Sonoma’s are lighter and softer with subtle notes of tropical fruits.

Chardonnay is also one of the key varietals in Champagne…

Gewurztraminer (GUH-vurz-TRAH-min-urr)

Literally “spicy grape” in Germansch, Gewurz is one of the latest darlings of the New World wine scene. After decades of eternally cloying, oversweet dessert wine-stylings, bone-dry, racy 2% body fat wines are finally being made in the New World. Germany and Alsace are the homelands for Gewurz, and here it truly shines. Gewurz, as it is an alpine varietal, prefers cooler areas for growing. When properly made, Gewurz’s nose is UNMISTAKEABLE. Broad, exotic notes of clove, cinnamon, cedar, and quince explode in the glass and roll across the palate, balanced by wonderful notes of crisp apples and roasted pears. A tremendous wine for Asian dishes, Gewurz with its panoply of exotic flavours always blends well.

Merlot (MURR-loh)

Softness, silkiness, and plumminess are classic descriptors for Merlot. Traditionally blended to Cab Sauv for softness and fruitniess, Merlot grabbed the wine world by the throat in the early 80s as California winemakers began producing pure Merlot as a wine in its own right. Overnight, everyone was (and probably still is) drinking Merlot. Ironically, most of these Merlots have some Cab Sauv added to give Merlot blackbone, especially Merlot wines from warm climes. Milk chocolate, cedar, plums, ripe cherries, and tobacco are the most common impressions found in Merlot. Grown in cooler climes (like Bordeaux) Merlot acquires complex spice notes, especially green peppercorns, paprika, allspice, and cedar.

Pinot Blanc (PEE-noh BLAHNK)

The shy, retiring older cousin of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc is still frequently mistaken for a lighter Chard. Mainly grown in Alsace and in Champagne, Pinot Blanc is also grown in Northern Italy, where it is known as “Pinot Bianco”, and has finally settled in Napa and Sonoma. Pinot Blanc in cooler climes is a wine of brilliant clarity; it has the same fresh apple-pear notes of cool climate Chard, but with a subtle smokiness, almost a gunsmoke character, woven through the palate. In a warmer climate, exotic notes of lilies and gardenia can enrich the glass and make for a most pleasurable drink. Pinot Blanc is indeed related to Pinots Noir and Gris, in fact they are all mutations of one another and vines with both white, red or even striped fruits can be found growing side by side…

Pinot Noir (PEE-noh NWAHR)

The raciest red you can get, when properly made. Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of worse-than-mediocre Pinot out there. In Burgundy, truly Pinot Noir’s homeland, it can produce some of the most exotic, beautifully-perfumed wines you can imagine. Also some of the most expensive wines in the world, soaring to thousands of US dollars per bottle on occasion. The ultimate Pinot will have a nose of wild roses and musk, with subtle notes of cloves, allspice, and peppercorns. Fruit-wise, everything from simple black cherries to cranberries, plums, and even meats can be noted. Why all the fuss? Pinot is a notoriously difficult grape to make well, let alone grow well. It can grow almost anywhere, but the best examples are coming from cooler areas with mineral-laden soils. One of Pinot’s odd traits is that, unlike all other red varietals, its juice has no colour whatsoever to it. This is how Blanc-de-Noirs Champagnes are made (literally “White of Blacks”). Where does all that colour come from? Its skins. This is where careful winemaking pays off.

Pinot Gris (PEE-noh GREE)

AKA ‘Pinot Grigio’ in Italy and now in California, Pinot Gris is the third of the four Pinots. Also grown throughout Alsace, where it is known as ‘Tokay Pinot Gris’ to make things more confusing. “Gris”, meaning “Grey” in French, comes from the smoky-pinkish-grey colour of its ripe grapes (remember it is a mutation of Pinot Noir) and not from the subtle smoky character of its wine.

Sauvignon Blanc (SOH-vin-yon BLOHNK)

Raciness from France, Sauvignon is the other parent of the noble Cab Sauv. Bright, brilliant white wines are produced from Sauvignon Blanc. In California in the early 70s. Fumé Blanc was born when Robert Mondavi chose to age some Sauvignon Blanc in new French Oak, yielding a wine with a subtle smokiness (fumé) and not much else. In Bordeaux, Sauvignon Blanc, when combined with Sémillon, produces the great WHITE wines of Bordeaux and the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac. The Loire Valley is Sauv Blanc’s other home, with the wines of Pouilly-Fumé, Sancerre, and Touraine leading the pack with wines of cool, deep freshness, and kiwifruit brightness. In the New World, Sauv Blanc was, until very recently loaded with oak flavours to mask its brilliant, zippy acidity. New winemakers have learned to appreciate Sauvignon Blanc and its acidity and are producing wines to rival those of the Loire. Sauv Blanc’s character is very grassy, almost the scent of a wildflower meadow newly mown with overtones of under-ripe honeydew melon, gooseberries, and kiwi fruit. Notes of lime zest and lemons are not uncommon. Simplicity is the main comparison to the blousier, more worldly Chard. Sauv Blanc is Betty to Chard’s Veronica…

Riesling (REEZ-ling)

The raciest of the racy, Riesling is the Supermodel-runway-strut of the wine world, and its homeland is Germany. Riesling in the New World goes by any number of odd names, including “Grey Riesling”, “Johannesburg Riesling”, “White Riesling”, and “Rhine Riesling”, they are all the same grape. Traditionally bone dry, smoky, steely, and rose-like, great Riesling, as it ages can develop an unmistakeable scent of fuel oil, almost tar, almost diesel. Riesling is to Chardonnay is what a Stoned Wheat Thin is to a Krispy Kreme donut. Potent, focussed, and brilliantly acidic, New World Riesling is still being made as an overly sweet, cloying dessert-style wine, much like its German cousin Gewurztraminer.

Syrah (SIR-ah)

AKA Shiraz (shur-AZZ), Syrah is the dark, handsome stranger you see at the end of the bar. Impossibly exotic, Syrah’s homeland is the Rhone Valley, where wines with notes of a fire in a Moroccan spice market can be found. Everything from cloves and cinnamon, down through tobacco, berries, and farmyard can be found in a glass of Syrah. Its other home is of course Australia, where it is known as Shiraz. Here, Syrah exhibits even more of its Tall, Dark, and Handsome self, especially in the region of Coonawarra, where Shiraz of implausible depth is produced. In California, the Central Coast was its home, but so much mediocre Syrah is produced there now, that it’s better to look to Napa and Sonoma for consistent quality from producer to producer…