Love Cheshire, Love Food

Back

RED GRAPE VARIETIES

AGIORGHITIKO: also called St. George, it is one of the two most famous red grapes of Greece (along with Xinomavro). Makes an earthy, dry, medium-ruby wine that may become Greece's answer to Bordeaux.

AGLIANICO: red grape used to make Taurasi red wine in Campania, Italy. Probably originated from ancient Greece.

BARBERA: widely planted black grape of Piedmont, Italy. Best examples have village name attached, such as d'Alba or d'Asti. Modern style Barbera is dark and rich with a very high acidity.

BLACK MUSCAT: The sweet, red dessert wine that gets its aroma of roses and tastes of black cherry from this black relative of the white Muscat grape. Makes delicious sweet, red sparkling wine, too. Grown in Italy. California and Moldova, the little country (formerly Russian) between the Ukraine and Romania.

BRACHETTO: sweet, red sparkling wine from Piedmont, Italy that's delicious with chocolate.

CABERNET FRANC: one of the five red Bordeaux grapes, it is used extensively in the blend of red Bordeaux wines, especially St. Émilion. Also grown in other parts of France, it is now used worldwide (from Chile to Italy) to make a soft, rich, dry red under its own varietal name or as part of the blend in American Meritage reds.

CABERNET SAUVIGNON: makes the world's finest, long-lived, collectible dry red wine. The black skins have lots of tannin and deep colour, and the wine has an incredible complexity of aroma and taste including cassis/black currant (like concentrated blueberry), mint, cherry, chocolate, licorice and cedar. Originally from Bordeaux, France where it is blended for softness with 4 other similar red grapes: Merlot (very popular on it's own because it's smoother), Cabernt Franc, Malbec (Argentina's signature wine and Petit Verdot. California "Meritage" reds are upscale blends of these 5 red Bordeaux grapes plus 3 other Bordeaux grapes resurrected in California: Carmenère (Chile's signature wine), St. Macaire and Gros Verdot.

CARMENÈRE: one of the 5 red Bordeaux grapes, it has become Chile's signature red wine, and exhibits aromas of coffee, mocha, and green pepper.

CONCORD: sweet red grape and wine popularized in state of New York and grown in eastern USA.

CORVINA: major red grape used to make the robust Amarone and lighter Valpolicella in Veneto, Italy.

DOLCETTO: used to make young, fruity, yeasty Beaujolais style dry red in Piedmont, Italy where it is served with cheese fondue.

FREISA: red grape with pronounced aroma of roses that originated from Piedmont, Italy. Now used to make sweet, red sparkling wine by Bonny Doon Vineyards in California.

GAMAY: black grape of Beaujolais, France, called Gamay Beaujolais in California. Produces a light to medium-bodied dry red wine with cherry/berry flavors.

GRENACHE: one of the black Rhône grapes, it is usually blended with Syrah and Mourvèdre in France and Australia, where it is called a GSM blend. Called Garnacha in Spain, it is the powerhouse grape of Priorat wines.

GROS VERDOT: a red Bordeaux grape that was allowed to become extinct in the Bordeaux vineyards but is now grown in California and may be used in the blend of Meritage reds.

LAMBRUSCO: produces slightly fizzy, slightly sweet, low alcohol red wine of the same name in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The Riunite brand is a big seller in the USA. Serve chilled.

LEMBERGER: red grape used to make dry but fruity reds in Germany, Austria and the USA.

MALBEC: the signature red wine of Argentina, it was brought there by immigrants from Bordeaux, France, it's original home. Can be velvety with chocolate and allspice.

MAVRODAPHNE: sweet red grape and dessert wine of Greece.

MERLOT: grown in more acres than any other red grape in the world, Merlot is one of the 5 red Bordeaux grapes. Called the red wine with the "hole in the middle" because it lacks the deep concentrate fruit in the middle range of the tasting process that is invariably present in Cabernet Sauvignon. Usually blended with Cabernet to soften its tannin.

MONTEPULCIANO: smooth, dry red from Italy's Abruzzi region.

MOURVÈDRE: one of the red Rhône grapes, it is used in the Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre blend of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and GSM blends in Australia. Called Monastrell in Spain, it makes wonderful rich reds there from ancient vines. Also called Mataro in California.

NEBBIOLO: one of the two noble red grapes of Italy along with Sangiovese. Nebbiolo is the grape of Piedmont, Italy used in Barolo, Barbaresco and Gattinara. Best examples have a black cherry flavor.

PETITE SIRAH: thought to be a clone of Syrah because it has a similar inky black colour and lots of pepper, spice and black raspberry flavor in a more one-dimensional wine.

PETIT VERDOT: one of the 5 red Bordeaux grapes, it is seldom used to make a separate varietal wine, except in Australia where it is dark, rich, fragrant with licorice revelation.

PINOTAGE: South Africa's famous hybrid grape is cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault (pronounced san soe) a Rhône grape similar to Syrah. It's one of South Africa's best dry reds after Cabernet and Merlot.

PINOT MEUNIER: One of the 2 black grapes, along with Pinot Noir, used to make French Champagne. Also grown in Oregon where it makes a dry red lighter than but similar to Pinot Noir.

PINOT NOIR: originated from Burgundy and Champagne, France. Needs cool climate, such as Carneros in California and Oregon, and careful handling to produce the strawberry-scented, low tannin ideal.

PRIMITIVO: red grape of Apulia, Italy, some experts consider it one of the antecedents of Zinfandel because it has a very similar character.

SANGIOVESE: the noble red grape of Tuscany, Italy where it is used to make Chianti and Brunello wines. It is also very successful in California. It makes a warm, medium-bodied, dry red with cherries in brandy aroma, good acidity and soft tannins. A Super-Tuscan red wine from Italy or California is a Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blend.

ST. MACAIRE: one of the red grapes of Bordeaux that became extinct there but has been resurrected in California where it may be used in Meritage reds.

SYRAH: the star grape of France's best red Rhône wines, such as Hermitage, it is also called Shiraz in Australia where it's spicy, peppery, black raspberry flavors make it extremely popular in all price ranges.

TANNAT: a French grape named for it's tannin, it has become a New World darling, both in the eastern USA and in Uruguay in South America.

TEMPRANILLO: Spain's elegant red grape makes some of its greatest dry, red wines in Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Navarra. Top of the line examples are often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or with Spain's other famous red grape, Garnacha (Grenache).

TOURIGA NAÇIONAL: one of the main red grapes used to make sweet red Porto or dry red Dão wines in Portugal, its original home country. Now grown in California and my home state of Georgia.

XINOMAVRO: one of the two noble red grapes of Greece (the other is Agiorgitiko), Xinomavro makes the darkest, most concentrated dry red Greek wine. The most famous producer in Greece is the Kir Yanni estate in Macedonia in northern Greece.

ZINFANDEL: is California's universal black grape. It is used to make blackberry flavored, deep purple, dry reds; Zinfandel Port; and blushing pink White Zinfandels. No other country but the USA grows so much Zinfandel, but its origins have been traced to the Primitivo grape of Apulia, Italy and its even more ancient ancestor, the Mali Plavic (little blue) grape of the Dalmatian coast of Yugoslavia.