Wine Basics - Red Wine Flashcards
Wine
Wine is made from fermented grape juice. The flavor comes from the varietal of grape and the terroir, which is the particular geographic, geological, and meteorological conditions around the grapevines at a given time. The amount of sun and rain that the grapes get every year, drastically affects the flavor of the wine made from those grapes. This is why, one year, the exact same grapes, grown in the exact same place, will produce wines that are far superior than the wine produced from those grapes, grown in that place, the following year.
Different types of grapes are known as varietals. Each varietal has innate characteristics, however how the winemaker grows them can make a drastic difference in the flavor of the wine they produce.
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is lighter than it’s close relative, Cabernet Sauvignon, and accents a slightly different set of flavors. It is characterized by green leafy notes, earth, black pepper, tobacco, and bell pepper, along with cassis and violets. Cabernet Franc is usually used as a Bordeaux mixing grape.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is generally full bodied and powerful in the New World, with black currant, spice, and even chocolate flavors. Old World styles are still powerful, though frequently featuring more pencil shaving/cigar box style flavors. Thick skins give a very dark color and robust tannin levels. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are an essential component to some of the best Bordeaux wines.
Gamay
This is the grape of Beaujolais, a French style. Similar in body to Pinot Noir, it’s light, delicate, brightly acidic, richly fruity and generally low in alcohol.
Grenache
Used primarily as a blending grape along with Syrah, Grenache fills in what Syrah lacks, and vice versa. It’s brightly fruit flavored, replete with raspberries and strawberries and a generally high alcohol content, while generally low in acid, tannin, and coloring.
Lambrusco
A fizzy, usually red, dry to sweet wine from northern Italy, made from the grape of the same name. Most people think of Lambrusco as too sweet, but good Lambrusco can be well balanced and evoke flavors of rich red fruit and balsamic vinegar.
Malbec
One of the 5 principle grapes of Bordeaux, until recently Malbec was used mostly as a blending grape, contributing harder, leaner, tannic and pencil-shaving characteristics. Recently, Argentinian Malbec, in particular, has become popular. This New World style is full, plush, spicy, with juicy fruit, violet notes, and relatively low acidity.
Merlot
Merlot is similar to Cabernet Sauvignon, but with less tannins and acidity. As one of the main Bordeaux varietals, Merlot contributes acidity and occasionally vegetal notes to its core of fresh red fruit. The New World style is, as with tradition, much higher alcohol, velvety tannins, intense plum, blackberry, and dark cherry flavors.
Montepulciano
Italian varietal, medium bodied, decent acid and tannin structure, that frequently falls in that middle path between fruit and earth. Sturdy but supple.
Nebbiolo
In the true Italian style, high acid and high tannins, which demands time to settle down. Most of these are built for aging, as with Barolo (the highest quality Nebbiolo wine) and Barbaresco. Great Nebbiolo gives flavors of tar, truffles, roses and violet, leather, chocolate, and spice.
Pinot Noir
Light, thin skinned grape, grown in cooler climates. New world Pinot Noirs can be bright and fruity, highlighting red fruit (cherry, raspberry, strawberry) flavors. It’s also the red grape grown in Burgundy, France, and those can have much more floral, truffle, or “barnyard” characteristics.
Sangiovese
An Italian grape and the main, sometimes sole, contributor to Chianti. Sangiovese has high acidity, moderate to high tannins, and an earthy, slightly less aromatic character. Typically features plum, cherry, and tobacco leaf flavors, herbal notes, and a slight gamey/leathery sense.
Syrah/Shiraz
It’s the same grape, just called “Shiraz” down under and “Syrah” by the rest of us. It’s one of the three dominant grapes in Rhone blends, and to Old World wines contributes full bodied, tannic, blackberry and black pepper notes (tar and smoked meat are also frequently called). In warmer climates, as in Australia, it’s very full bodied, spicy, anise, leather, and smokey.
Zinfandel
A primarily new world wine (though it’s genetically identical to the Italian varietal Primitivo), Zinfandel is the most widely grown grape in California. It is generally very high alcohol, low acidity, and fruit forward with ripe, juicy red fruit (raspberries), and spice.
