Creative Writing | Guide to Wine | Genealogy

Grape Varieties

There is no great secret to grape spotting. The more that blind tasting focuses your palate, the more the characteristic traits of each grape will shine through. Slowly but surely one grape will become as distinct from another as night is from day.

The more familiar that you become with a grape, the more that you will spot subtle imprints left on it by various factors, especially the weather. For example, chardonnay grapes grown in the sweltering heat of southeast Australia will produce wines with flavours that differ hugely from those grown in the chillier climes of Burgundy.

It isn't just the weather that will affect the flavour of a wine, but also the way the wine is made. It might have been given a nutty, smoky flavour by being kept in oak barrels or by having a giant bag of oak chips suspended in it, or it might have been mixed with some other grape. Winemaking has become such an exact science that it is possible to manipulate the flavour of a grape in almost any direction that the winemaker wishes to take it. In many cases this has led to an increasingly homogeneous style as winemakers create wines that are intended to appeal to as many people as possible.

TASTE TEST

To demonstrate the diverse flavours that can be displayed by one grape variety, try a Taste Test. Comparison of an Australian chardonnay and a white Burgundy is a good example: the character and aroma of the wines are likely to be so different that to the untrained palate and nose they might as well be completely different grapes. To explore the subject further, try any of the following combinations:

Burgundian chardonnay + Australian chardonnay
Burgundian pinot noir + New Zealand pinot noir
Loire sauvignon blanc + Chilean sauvignon blanc
Sweet German riesling + Australian dry riesling

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

In most cases you will probably have found very different personalities demonstrated by the same grape and you might well be asking a question that is almost heretical in the brave new world of wine appreciation: How important are grapes?

THE VIEW FROM FRANCE

Until recently, few French wine lovers gave a fig about grapes - and many of them still don't. To traditionalists, the origin of a wine is far, far more important than its ingredients - a belief that has much to do with the idea that wine is the product of soil and weather rather than grapes and winemaking. This is the reason that until a few years ago the name of a grape variety was a rare sight on a bottle of French wine. Instead, most still use the name of its place of origin, such as Bordeaux, Champagne or Rhône.

Many French winemakers would also argue that because some of their wines are made from a blend of three or four grapes the finished product is more important than the ingredients. Some Bordeaux reds, for example, include two or three grape varieties and some from the South of France include more.

THE VIEW FROM THE NEW WORLD

A winemaker in Australia, New Zealand, Chile or South Africa would beg to differ. For them, wine should be a shining example of the grape it was made from. Chardonnay should conform to the classic fruit and oak combination. Sauvignon Blanc should be fresh and zingy. Cabernet should be deep and berryish. Merlot should be soft and velvety. This, they believe, not only focuses the attention of the winemaker but also simplifies matters by offering the market recognisable names with a range of flavours and aromas that are easy to identify.

TAKE YOUR PICK

Although these two views appear to be contradictory, they aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. There are some wines that express the place where they were made and others that express the grape they were made from. Even if this statement sounds like an excuse for sitting on the fence, it is probably the best option in an area as subjective as wine, where there are few truly black and white rules.


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