All About Wine(s)

8 Great Grapes to Know

Truth be told, wine is just spoiled grape juice. Any substance high in natural sugars--grape juice, apple juice, even honey--will ferment if it meets up with yeast. The yeast feeds on the sugar and makes alcohol as a waste product. Still, winemakers have learned a thing or two in 8,000 years about what kind of grape juice makes the best wine.

Almost all of it comes from a single species of vine native to Europe and the Near East--Vitis vinifera, "the wine-bearing grape." That species has three advantages for wine production: high sugar content, relatively low acidity, and more than 10,000 different subtypes, for endless variety. Out of those 10,000 grapes, here are the ones you're most likely to see headlining a bottle today.

1. Chardonnay – These golden grapes grow easily and can make a chameleon-like white wine. Drunk young, as in Chablis, chardonnay is dry and crisp, with a tart-apple or lemon quality. But when aged in oak barrels, chardonnay acquires a rich, buttery, even vanilla taste.

2. Cabernet Sauvignon – Blue, thick-skinned cabernet sauvignon grapes are, for many, the font of classic red wine, tasting of blackcurrants and tannins. Tannins are chemical compounds in grape skins and seeds that, while "wooly" on the tongue, help fine wine age in complex ways.

3. Sauvignon Blanc – The flavor of the green sauvignon blanc grape is piercingly distinct. The dry white wine made from it is crisp and acidic, with a natural, unaged taste that can range all the way from bursting green fruits to ripe vegetables to pungent woodsmoke.

4. Merlot – Traditionally, the fleshy, blue merlot grape has been blended with the bolder cabernet sauvignon to form a smooth, harmonious red wine. Yet lately, merlot has gotten some press of its own for its softer, less tannic presence. It can taste of blackberries and hint at chocolate.

5. Pinot Noir – Notoriously difficult to grow and turn into a great red wine, the purple pinot noir grape taunts winemakers with the promise of its richness and complexity. It's lighter, less tannic, and fruitier than cabernet sauvignon, but can have meaty, earthy, and even gamey notes.

6. Syrah (Shiraz) – Blue syrah grapes--or shiraz, as they are known in Australia--can produce some of the deepest, darkest, most intense red wines around. Rich, peppery flavors mingle with dark berries and cherries to yield a wine that, like cabernet sauvignon, can age for decades.

7. Riesling – Of German origin, the hardy, green, frost-resistant riesling is a versatile performer that can make both lusciously sweet and bone-dry white wines--and everything in between. In any style, the acidic grape generally has the scent and taste of fresh limes.

8. Zinfandel – A favorite of California winemakers, the blue-skinned zinfandel can make a pale-pink "blush" wine or a heavyweight red. In fact, all red grape varieties can make a white wine, because grape juice is white. To make red wine, you ferment the red grapes' skins with the golden juice.

5 Super-Famous Wine Regions

Now, what about those Old World wine labels, the ones that don't highlight the grape? They highlight regions. They highlight la terroir (literally speaking, that's French for "soil"). La terroir says that, while grape variety is très important, wine is inevitably an expression of the unique environment in which the grapes grow, from the climate to the soil.

So, the same kind of grapes made into wine by the same winemaker but harvested from different regions could actually make remarkably different wines. And that means the region on the label can tell you a lot, if you recognize it. Here's the dirt on five of the most famous.

1. Bordeaux – Bordeaux, in southwestern France, is for many the world's consummate winemaking region. The best of the region's red wine--sometimes called claret--captures both the consciousness of connoisseurs and the cash of wine investors, who will pay tremendous per-sip prices. Traditionally, Bordeaux is made from cabernet sauvignon grapes, blended with merlot.

2. Burgundy – Burgundy, in central France, has historically orbited with Bordeaux as the binary star of fine wine. Its reds are voluptuous pinot noirs, traditionally regarded as the sensual foil to Bordeaux's cerebral cabernet sauvignons, while its whites hail most famously from the area around Chablis, known for its dry chardonnays.

3. Beaujolais – Though at the southern stretches of the Burgundy region, Beaujolais doesn't fit the Burgundy profile. The region grows sunny gamay grapes, used practically nowhere else, and employs a winemaking style all its own, in which the grapes aren't crushed or pressed but allowed to ferment whole. The result is the lightest, easiest-drinking red wine imaginable, with the flavor of wild strawberries.

4. Chianti – For many, Chianti is Italian wine. But actually, it comes only from the Chianti region in Tuscany, around the city of Florence. Traditionally made with native Italian sangiovese grapes, the orange-red wine is famous for its savory dried fruit flavor, mixed with the taste of pepper.

5. Champagne – Champagne, in northern France, is home to the world's most beloved sparkling wines. Yet the trademark bubbles were once considered a fault. Yeasts rendered dormant by winter cold would fire up again with spring warmth, causing more fermentation and by-product carbon dioxide. Finally, the wine won fans in 17th-century London's cafes and playhouses. They thought the fizz was fun.

--Michael Himick and Jay Ferrari