Wine Varietals

Sauvignon Blanc wines are crisp, high in acidity and light- to medium-bodied, and Sauvignon Blanc wine is recognizable for its grassy, herbaceous flavor and aroma. When grown in warmer climates the flavors are more fruity, melon-like. The grape is important in California, New Zealand and Northeastern Italy, but it really shines in France’s Loire Valley and Bordeaux regions.

There it is used prodigiously as a blending grape and is responsible for the stand-alone varietals Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume. Though not as rich and complex as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc is a versatile grape, one that grows well in a number of places, responds well to oak or a lack thereof, and can be drunk young or aged several years. As well, Sauvignon Blanc can make for some fabulous late-harvest offerings.

The most salient characteristic of Sauvignon Blanc wines are its distinctive, penetrating aroma, which can evoke scents of grapefruit, lime, green melon, gooseberry, passion fruit, freshly mown grass, and bell pepper. Grown in cooler climates and in fertile soils promoting excessive vine growth, herbaceous smells and flavors can dominate the character of Sauvignon Blanc wine, while in warmer regions, the melon, citrus and passion fruit aromas and flavors emerge.

Sauvignon Blanc Wine Tip:

Sauvignon Blanc wines acidic taste works in your favor, with oily-based dishes such as salads, and is perfect with lobster, oysters, scallops or in fact any type of fish. Sauvignon Blanc wine is also known as Fume Blanc.

Pinot Noir wines, one of the great red wines of France’s Burgundy region, is produced by one of the world’s most challenging grape varieties – both to grow and vinify. For every great pinot noir wine, there are a dozen poor or mediocre versions, and this is true wherever pinot noir wine is made the world over.

The grapes prefer a cool climate, with its fine, delicate aroma and flavor disappearing when grown in warmer climes. It is an ancient variety notorious for having dozens of inferior mutations (clones), which likely account for much of the insipid wine produced in its name around the world.

The wine can be high in alcohol, light in color and low in tannin, though oak aging can increase the tannin levels. One of the most exciting developments in the world of wine is the recent advances Oregon and California winemakers have made in producing first rate Pinot Noir wines, respectable rivals to the legendary reds of French Burgundy. Most other Pinot Noir wines produced around the world are pale imitations of Burgundy, usually lacking depth, elegance, richness and texture.

Pinot Noir Wine Tip:

This wine is a lighter colored and flavored red wine, well-suited to pair with poultry, ham, lamb and pork. It’s flavors are reminiscent of sweet red berries, plums, tomatoes, cherries and at times a notable earthy or wood-like flavor, depending on specific growing conditions.

Pinot Blanc wines probably set the record for the number of ways a wine can be presented in a bottle among the white wines of the world.

Depending on the country in which the grapes are grown and the winemaker’s personal approach to fashioning a wine out of the grape, pinot blanc wines can range in style from the un-complex, light and fruity pinot biancos of northern Italy to the complex, oaky masterpieces of some California winemakers, which can rival the biggest and best chardonnays. The styles in between these extremes of the wine are numerous and well worth exploring.

The grapes are used to produce light, dry, pleasant white wines. It is grown in Alsace (France), California (USA), Italy, Germany and Austria. Pinot Blanc wine has been grown in Burgundy and was sometimes mistaken for Chardonnay. The two varieties look very similar and there are some similarities in the wines they make. Pinot Blanc wine is often referred to as “poor man’s Chardonnay”. These wines should be consumed young before the fruit flavors diminish.

Pinot Blanc Wine Tip:

The grapes make delicious and easy-to-like white wines with pear and mineral/stone flavors and fairly high but balanced acidity. The more austere Pinot Blanc wine is well matched with most anything from the sea, while the fuller-bodied renditions of Pinot Blanc wines pair up with medium-rich textures and sauces, including pork and other not-too-strong meats. It is also a nice choice for an aperitif with olives and a little cheese.

Muscat wines have a long, rich history throughout the world. Known as Muscato in Italy and Moscatel in Iberia, the name refers to a family of related varieties, sub-varieties and localized clones of the variety including, but not limited to, Muscat Blanc and Muscat Canelli.

It is believed to be one of the first wine grape varieties to be identified, and has been growing in and around the Mediterranean for hundreds of years. Muscat is the only grape to produce Muscat wine with the same aroma as the grape itself. Sweet fortified Muscat wines have a classic rich, nose of dried fruits, raisins and oranges. This strong perfume prompted the Roman author Pliny, in his “Natural History,” to declare it “the grape of the bees.” The French noted the grape’s musky character and called it “Musqué.”

Muscat wine makes some of the best sweet wine, both light fizzy ones and heavy sugary ones, as well as fully dry table wines. Muscat wines, which is long revered for its strong perfumed aroma and distinctive musky flavor, is quite varied in its uses. In addition to the refreshing low-alcohol, sweet and frothy Asti Spumante from Italy, Muscat is also used as the base for many light, dry wines and for sweet dessert wines with alcohol levels as high as 20%.

Muscat Wine Tip:

Muscat wines are sweet and is served with (or instead of) dessert.  As a rule of thumb, a dessert Muscat wine should always be sweeter than the dessert it accompanies.