• Wine keeps hearts beating healthily

  The traditional partaking of wine with meals offers many benefits; including aiding the digestive processes, stimulating the intake of nutrients and helping reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by reducing cholesterol.

   

  The Russian proverb:

  "Drink a glass of wine after your soup and you steal a
  rouble from your doctor."

  Or indeed Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's more widely quoted;

  "A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine"

  Are in the light of modern medical evidence, truer than ever before in today's fast paced consumer society.

   

  Wine is traditionally consumed at mealtimes and for centuries has occupied a prominent place on the dinner tables of many cultures around the world; especially those neighbouring the Mediterranean. The damaging effects of excess alcohol are well known; but despite the anti-alcohol lobby trying to persuade otherwise, the overwhelming evidence is that moderate consumption of wine (meaning one to two glasses per day) is good for your health. Many medical studies have concluded that most healthy people who drink moderately live longer. The single group exception to this finding is pre-menopausal women with a family history of breast cancer; and pregnant women should always approach any alcohol with caution. In the early 1990's the media reported on medical evidence that had become known as the 'French Paradox'. Typically, the diet of people in Southern France includes a very high proportion of cheese, butter, eggs, meat and other fat and cholesterol laden foods. This diet, one would think, would promote heart disease; but the rate there was discovered to be much lower than in the health conscious USA. That's the paradox; and regular moderate wine drinking was thought to be the factor. A 1994 study published in the Lancet, by health researchers with the Japanese government, reported that wine (but not other forms of alcohol) with meals lowers the rate of coronary heart disease. They provided a plausible explanation for the 'French Paradox.' The researchers attributed wine's effects to its antioxidant properties. In a landmark Danish study published in 1995, researchers for the Copenhagen City Heart Study found wine drinkers to have clear health advantages over non-drinkers or moderate drinkers of other alcoholic beverages. Studies in England also found the occurrence of coronary heart disease to be much higher in heavy or binge drinkers; and even higher in abstainers!! The Danish study found the largest benefit; a 49% decrease in total mortality, was associated with people who consumed 3 to 5 glasses of wine daily! Consumption of 1 to 3 glasses had a 30% decrease, compared with people who never drank wine. The subjects were controlled for gender, age, education, income, smoking, weight, and other factors. However, it was still a matter of scientific debate whether it was the components of wine, the way wine was consumed, or the lifestyle traits of wine drinkers, which were most responsible for the discovery that wine drinkers live longer and healthier lives. The last five years in particular have seen advances in wine-specific research, some focusing on the different components in wine and some exploring other health effects common to wine drinkers. Gronbaek and colleagues in the British Medical Journal suggested that other more broadly acting factors in wine may be present. Recent studies have shown wine to potentially prevent or delay the onset of cancer, eliminate bacteria that cause stomach poisoning, and to have special antioxidant effects. The most apparent beneficial "factors" in wine are its phenolic compounds, often referred to as antioxidants, which medical research have linked to potentially preventing heart disease and cancer. Studies have discovered that the presence of phenolic compounds, such as "resveratrol" in wine, especially red wine, lowers LDL cholesterol (the so-called bad cholesterol) while elevating HDL cholesterol levels (the good cholesterol) which helps to clear arterial walls of harmful deposits. Several studies have also shown that moderate consumption of wine has numerous other health benefits and does not contribute excess calories or cause weight gain. Wine helps prevent strokes! Scientists now also believe that the alcohol in wine breaks up blood clots and further increases the HDL ("good") cholesterol in the bloodstream. This keeps the arteries clean and helps prevent the common ischemic type of stroke. (Not the relatively rare hemorrhagic stroke; this is a sudden bleeding within the brain.) Elderly people who consume red wine are also less prone to disability and mental illness, including Alzheimer's disease. Wine helps women maintain their oestrogen level and thereby assists absorption of calcium to ward off osteoporosis. A 1996 study at Harvard, in the USA, found that wine, in a trial of 21 alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, was most strongly associated with a decreased risk in the formation of painful kidney stones. Another study examined "central adiposity" (the fat around our midsections!) by measuring the waist-to-hip ratios of over 12,000 people. The results found that moderate wine drinkers reduced their ratio significantly. Those who drank more than six non-wine drinks per week, on the other hand, increased their waist-to-hip ratio. The increase in waist-to-hip ratio is a medically accepted indicator of the increase in the risk of death. Researchers now believe they have unlocked the mystery of how the antioxidant reservatrol fights cancer. They have concluded that the resveratrol, which acts like an antibiotic to protect grapes from fungus, may also turn off a protein that guards cancer cells from cancer-fighting treatments such as chemotherapy. All wines have some resveratrol, but red wine seems to be its richest source. Red wine has five times the amount of healthy phenolic compounds that fresh grapes do. They are also much more prevalent in red wine than in fruit and fruit juices. They are twice as powerful; and are much more effective than vitamin E in preventing oxidation. Phenolic compounds are found in stems, seeds, and skins, which are discarded in the making of juices and white wine, but dissolve into red wine during fermentation. Historically, wine has been recommended by doctors for the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia, to help vegetarians increase their mineral absorption; and to help reduce the incidence of persistent sleep disorders. While the special components may account for certain data showing wine drinkers to live longer and healthier lives, scientists also point out that mealtime consumption and the generally healthy lifestyle of wine drinkers are also likely to play a role. Although the studies have shown that people who drink one or two glasses of wine per day live longer and are less likely to die from all causes, than either abstainers or heavy drinkers, no one should consume alcohol and operate a motor vehicle or machinery after partaking. Likewise, people with problematic drinking in their family histories should also stay away from alcohol. A healthy lifestyle also includes regular exercise and a diet which is low in fat and high in fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole grain. Practiced in moderation, as a food at mealtime, wine drinking develops cultural and sociological patterns that help prevent alcoholism. A glass of wine can be both pleasurable and relaxing and has a favourable influence on mood and sociability, some important ingredients of well-being. In conclusion, today's medical evidence indicates that the vast majority of healthy people may enjoy wine regularly and moderately as a pleasure that supports and prolongs a gracious life.

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Barbera (red) - plums and cherries with undertones of sweet vanilla
Barbera is most successful in North West Italy's Piedmont region, where it makes such wines as Barbera d'Asti, Barbera di Monferato and Barbera di Alba.
The style varies according to the grape yield, however, the wines are characterized by a high level of acidity, deep ruby colour and full body, with low tannin levels; flavours are deliciously herby and cherry like. A few vineyards still produce it as a variety wine, but those numbers too are dwindling. Its main attribute as a blending wine is its ability to maintain a naturally high acidity even in hot climates. The wine has more potential than is currently realized and may stage a modest comeback as Italian-style wines gain in popularity. California uses Barbera for its simplest wines. There are also several good versions appearing from Argentina and Australia.

Brunello (red)
- Luscious red and black fruits.
This strain of Sangiovese is the only grape permitted for Brunello di Montalcino, the rare, Tuscan red that at its best is loaded with luscious black and red fruits and chewy tannins.

Cabernet Franc (red)
- grassy, raspberries and lead pencil shavings
This relative of Cabernet sauvignon is increasingly popular as both a stand-alone variety and a blending grape.
Cabernet Franc is used primarily for blending in Bordeaux, where it ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon. However, it can achieve great quality as a principal grape in Pomerol and St. Emilion, most notably witnessed by Chateau Cheval-Blanc. In France's Loire Valley it's also made into a lighter wine called Chinon. It is well established in Italy, particularly the northeast, California has grown it for more than 30 years and Argentina, Australia, Long Island, ashington state and New Zealand are increasing their plantings.
As a varietal wine, it usually benefits from the addition of small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and can be as intense and full-bodied as either of those wines. But it often strays away from currant and berry notes into chalky green flavours that become more pronounced with age. Much blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, it may be a Cabernet Sauvignon mutation adapted to cooler, damper conditions. It is typically a light to medium bodied wine with more immediate fruit than Cabernet Sauvignon and some of the herbaceous odours evident in unripe Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cabernet Sauvignon (red)
- blackcurrant, cedar, vanilla, coffee
Cabernet Sauvignon is the epitome of the intense, blackcurrant flavoured style of red wine. Cabernet is a remarkably steady and consistent performer throughout the world and is responsible for many of the world's greatest wines. It grows well in many regions and in specific appellations it is capable of rendering wines of uncommon depth, richness, concentration and longevity.
Bordeaux has used the grape since the 18th century, always blending it with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and sometimes a minute amount of Petite Verdot. The Bordeaux model is built around not only the desire to craft complex wines, but also the need to ensure that different grape varieties ripen at different intervals or to give a wine colour and tannin.
Elsewhere in the world Cabernet Sauvignon is as likely to be bottled on its own as in a blend. It mixes with Sangiovese in Tuscany, Syrah in Australia and Provence, and Merlot and Cabernet Franc in South Africa, but succeeds on its own in some of Italy's super-Tuscans. In Spain good examples can be found in Navarre and Penedes. In the United States., it's unlikely any region will surpass the Napa Valley's high-quality Cabernets and Cabernet blends. Since the late 1970s, many vintners have turned to the Bordeaux model and blended smaller portions of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot into their Cabernets. The case for blending is still under review, but clearly there are successes. On the other hand, many U.S. producers are shifting back to higher percentages of Cabernet, having found that blending doesn't add complexity and that Cabernet on its own has a stronger character.
At its best, unblended Cabernet produces wines of great intensity and depth of flavour. Its classic flavours are currant, plum, black cherry and spice. It can also be marked by herb, olive, mint, tobacco, cedar and aniseed, and ripe, jammy notes. In warmer areas, it can be supple and elegant; in cooler areas, it can be marked by pronounced vegetal, pepper, oregano and tar flavours. It ripens late and can't always be relied upon in cool areas. It can also be very tannic if that is a feature of the desired style. The best Cabernets start out dark purple ruby in colour, with firm acidity, a full body, great intensity, concentrated flavours, and firm tannins. They mature slowly to balance sweet blackcurrant flavours, with a scent of cedar, cigar boxes and lead pencil shavings.
Cabernet has an affinity for oak and usually spends 15 to 30 months in new or used French or American barrels, a process that, when properly executed imparts a woody, toasty cedar or vanilla flavour to the wine while slowly oxidizing it and softening the tannins. Microclimates are a major factor in the weight and intensity of the Cabernets. Winemakers also influence the style as they can extract high levels of tannin and heavily oak their wines.
The best examples come undisputedly from the top Bordeaux and California's Napa Valley. These, however require several years cellaring to show themselves fully. Tasty bargains for immediate drinking can, be found from Chile and the South of France. These are modern all purpose reds, however, as always, best drunk with plain red meat dishes.


Carignan (red)
Caignan is the most widely planted grape in France. It's also known as in California, and Cirnano in Italy.
Once a major blending grape for jug wines, Carignan's popularity has diminished. It still appears in some blends, and old vineyards are sought after for the intensity of their grapes. But the likelihood is that other grapes with even more intensity and flavour will replace it in the future.

Carmenere (red)
Carmenere was once widely planted in Bordeaux but died out after phylloxera, it is now associated primarily with Chile, where it makes marvellously spicy wines.
Carmenere, along with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, was imported to Chile around 1850. According to Chilean vintners, Carmenere, also known as Grande Vidure, has been mislabelled for so long that many growers and the Chilean government now consider it Merlot.


Chardonnay (white)
- melon, grapefruit and pineapple: buttery, nutty
Chardonnay is the king of the white wines. The world's favourite white grape variety, it makes consistently excellent, rich and complex white wines that anybody can fall in love with. This amazingly versatile grape grows well in a variety of locations throughout the world.
Its traditional home is in Burgundy where it is used for the exquisite whites of the best Chablis, Montrachet, Meursault and Pouilly-Fuissè. In Champagne it turns into Blanc de Blancs. Among the many other countries that have more recently caught Chardonnay fever, Australia leads the pack. The New World style, upfront, pineapples, oaks and sumptuous, had its origins here and in California. New Zealand versions are either fruity or surprisingly nutty. Chilean Chardonnay is usually packed with fruit. Southern France, Italy and Spain are also now producing these New World styles.
Chardonnay was introduced to California in the 1930s but didn't become popular until the 1970s. Areas such as Anderson Valley, Carneros, Monterey, Russian River, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria Valley, all closer to cooler maritime influences, are now producing wines far superior to those made a decade ago. Although there is a Mâconnais village called Chardonnay, no one agrees on the grape's origin, it may even be Middle Eastern.
When well made, Chardonnay offers the bold, ripe, rich and intense fruit flavours of apple, fig, melon, pear, peach, pineapple, lemon and grapefruit, along with spice, honey, butter, butterscotch, hazelnut and vanilla if oaked. Winemakers build more complexity into this easy to manipulate wine using common vinification techniques, barrel fermentation, sur lie ageing, during which the wine is left in contact with its natural sediment, and malolactic fermentation (a process which converts tart malic acid to softer lactic acid). No other white table wine benefits as much from oak aging or barrel fermentation. Chardonnay grapes have a fairly neutral flavour, and because they are usually crushed or pressed and not fermented with their skins in the way that red wines are, whatever flavours emerge from the grape are extracted almost instantly after crushing. Red wines that soak with their skins for days or weeks through fermentation extract their flavours quite differently.
Most Chardonnay is ready to drink the moment you buy it, however the best wines from Burgundy, Australia, California and New Zealand will improve for five years or more.
Chardonnay's popularity has, sadly, also led to a huge market in very ordinary wines. There are a substantial number of Chardonnays, which can range from simple and off-dry to more complex and sophisticated. The producer's name on the wine, and often its price, are indicators of the level of quality

Cinsault (red)
Cinsault is used blending in the French Midi and in Southern Rhone reds. It also produces light, fresh red and rose wines for immediate drinking.
It appears in South Africa, and plays a role in Lebanon's famous, sweetly rich Chateau Musar. As long as producers keep its yield low, it makes aromatic wine with soft, supple fruit flavours.

Colombard (white)
- ripe peaches and nectarines
Colombard is widely grown in southern France, Australia, California and South Africa.
It produces a reliable crisp white quaffing wine with peach and nectarine flavours and may also have tropical fruit aromas. Try the french Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne, to witness the good value pleasure that this grape is capable of.

Dolcetto (red)
- liquorice and almonds
Almost exclusive to northwest Piedmont in Italy, this grape produces soft, round, fragrant purplish-red wines full of fruit flavour, liquorice and almonds that should be drunk within about three years.
It's not as prestigious as Barbera or Nebbiolo and is used as a safety net for producers of these wines, which take much longer to age. There are seven DOCs; Acqui, Alba, Asti, Dinao d'Alba, Dogliani, Langhe Monregalesi and Ovada. A little Dolcetto is produced in California and there are also a few very old vines in Australia.

Gamay (red)
- bubblegum, banana, cherry and strawberry
Beaujolais makes its famous, cherry and raspberry flavoured, fruity reds exclusively from one of the many Gamays available, the Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. Low in alcohol and relatively high in acidity, the wines are meant to be drunk soon after bottling.
The ultimate example of this is Beaujolais Nouveau, appearing on shelves everywhere almost overnight after release in the November following the harvest. However, a good Beaujolais with a village name will always be your best bet. Banana, bubble-gum, red fruit flavours predominate. It is also grown in the Loire, but makes no remarkable wines. The Swiss grow it widely, for blending with Pinot Noir; they often chapitalise the wines.
California, meanwhile, grows a variety called Gamay Beaujolais, a high-yield clone of Pinot Noir that makes undistinguished wines in most places where it's grown. In the United States the grape is used primarily for blending, and acreage is declining, as those serious about Pinot Noir are using superior clones and planting in cooler areas

Gewürztraminer (white)
- turkish delight and rose petals
Gewürztraminer can yield magnificent wines, by far best demonstrated in Alsace, France, where it is made into a variety of styles from dry to off-dry to sweet. Gewürztraminer flavours can be of rose petals, lychees or spice. If you are looking for a wine to match spicy Asian food you'll find it with Gewürztraminer.
The grape needs a cool climate that allows it to slowly ripen. It's temperamental to grow and vinify, as the grape's potent spiciness can be overbearing when unchecked. At its best, it produces a floral and refreshing wine with crisp acidity. When left for late harvest, it's uncommonly rich and complex, producing a delectable dessert wine.
It is also found in Germany, where it is more floral, Italy Eastern Europe, New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest of the USA. However, nobody makes it like they do in Alsace.

Grenache (red)
- white pepper, raspberry, thyme and rosemary
Drought and heat resistant, it yields a fruity, spicy, medium-bodied wine with supple tannins. The second most widely planted grape in the world, Grenache is widespread in the southern Rhône.
It is blended, as one of up to 13 permitted varietals, to produce the complex, sweet scented, high alcoholic red Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Rhône's peppery and most famous wine. In Côtes du Rhone Villages, the raspberry and strawberry characters shine through. The Vin de pays Grenache from the nearby Ardeche is light and fruity and great value. Grenache is used on its own for the rosès of Tavel and Lirac. It is also used in France's sweet Banyuls wine.
Important in Spain, where it originated, it's known as Garnacha Tinta. Especially noteworthy in Rioja and Priorato, it also makes Spanish rose, Rosado, in Navarra. Grenache used to be popular in Australia, look out for Grenache from old vines, but has now been surpassed by Syrah. A few Barossa Valley producers are making wines similar to Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
In California and Washington State it's a workhorse blending grape, making lighter examples, although occasionally an old vineyard is found and its grapes are made into a varietal wine, which can be good. It may make a comeback as enthusiasts of the Rhône style seek cooler areas and an appropriate blending grape.
Also, Grenache Blanc, known in Spain as Garnacha Blanca, which is bottled in the Southern Rhône. It's used for blending in Rousillon and Languedoc in France and in various Spanish whites, including Rioja.

Grüner Veltliner (red)
- white pepper, herbs and celery.
The most widely planted grape in Austria, this versatile grape can be found to a lesser extent in the Czech Republic and Hugary. It achieves its qualitative pinnacle in the Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal regions along the Danube River west of Vienna.
Gruner shows distinct white pepper, tobacco, lentil and citrus flavours and aromas, along with high acidity, making it an excellent partner for food. It is singularly unique in its flavour profile, and though it rarely has the finesse and breeding of the best Austrian Rieslings it is similar in body and texture.

Grüner Veltliner (red)
- white pepper, herbs and celery.
The most widely planted grape in Austria, this versatile grape can be found to a lesser extent in the Czech Republic and Hugary. It achieves its qualitative pinnacle in the Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal regions along the Danube River west of Vienna.
Gruner shows distinct white pepper, tobacco, lentil and citrus flavours and aromas, along with high acidity, making it an excellent partner for food. It is singularly unique in its flavour profile, and though it rarely has the finesse and breeding of the best Austrian Rieslings it is similar in body and texture.

Malbec (red)
- mulberry, blackberry tar and leather
Once important in Bordeaux and the Loire in various blends, this not very hardy grape has been steadily replaced by Merlot and the two Cabernets. However, Argentina is markedly successful with this varietal, producing smooth, rich reds all price levels. It is also the major grape of Cahors in South West France, where it is often blended with Merlot.
The best are perfumed and full of juicy plum and tobacco leaf flavours. In the United States Malbec is a blending grape only, and an insignificant one at that, but a few wineries use it, the most obvious reason being that it's considered part of the Bordeaux blend recipe. There are also some plantings in Chile and Australia has a few very old vines.

Malvasia (red & white)
Malvasia is widely grown in Italy and depending upon the particular variety may produce fat fragrant dry whites, rich, apricot flavoured sweet whites and frothing light red and rose wines.
The grape is blended with Trebbiano in central Italy to plump up that otherwise very unforthcoming grape. Malvasia is also grown in Navarra and Rioja in Spain, where it fattens up the blended Viura; in Portugal; and in the Madeira wine Malmsey.

Marsanne (white)
- marzipan and honeysuckle
Rich and scented Marsanne is popular in the Rhône, along with Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Viognier. Australia, especially in Victoria, has some of the world's oldest vineyards. At its best it can be a full-bodied, moderately intense wine, with almond, honeysuckle, marzipan, spice, pear and citrus notes.

Merlot (red)
- bell peppers, spices, blackcurrants and chocolate
Juicy and fruity Merlot was the red wine success story of the 1990s. Its popularity has soared along with its acreage, and it seems wine lovers can't drink enough of it. It dominates Bordeaux, except for the Médoc and Graves. Although it is mainly used for the Bordeaux blend, together with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, it can stand alone.
It is more alcoholic than Cabernet Sauvignon. In St.-Emilion and Pomerol, especially, it produces noteworthy wines, showing Merlot at its toughest and most intense, culminating in Château Pétrus. In Italy it's everywhere, however, most of the Merlot is light, unremarkable stuff. Ornellaia and Fattoria de Ama are strong exceptions to that rule. Despite its popularity, its quality ranges only from good to very good most of the time, although there are a few superstar producers found around the world.
Several styles have emerged. One is a Cabernet style Merlot, which includes a high percentage (up to 25 percent) of Cabernet, similar currant and cherry flavours and firm tannins. A second style is less reliant on Cabernet, softer, more supple, medium-weight, less tannic and features more herby, cherry and chocolate flavours. A third style is a very light and simple wine; this type's sales are fuelling Merlot's overall growth.
The best value Merlot comes from Chile. The youthful, garnet red wines have an absolutely fruity richness that just begs them to be drunk. Merlot also makes some great easy drinking wines in New Zealand.
Like Cabernet, Merlot can benefit from some blending, as Cabernet can give it backbone, colour and tannic strength. It also marries well with oak. Merlot is relatively new in California, dating to the early 1970s, and is a difficult grape to grow, as it sets and ripens unevenly. As a wine, Merlot's ageing potential is fair to good. Generally it is best drunk young, however, top Bordeaux Merlots may last for up to 20 years. It may be softer with age, but often the fruit flavours fade and the herbal flavours dominate.

Mourvedre (red)
- bramble and blackberries
As long as the weather is warm, Mourvèdre likes a wide variety of soils. It's popular across the south of France, especially in Provence and the Côtes-du-Rhône, and is often used in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Languedoc makes it as a varietal. Spain uses it in many areas, including Valencia. In the United States it's a minor player now, pursued by a few wineries that specialize in Rhône-style wines. The wine can be pleasing, with medium weight, spicy cherry and berry flavours and moderate tannins. It ages well.

Muscat (white)
- exotically fragrant grapes and raisins
Muscat is the only grape that is capable of making delicious wines that actually smells of the grape itself. Known as Muscat, Muscat Blanc and Muscat Canelli, it is marked by strong spice and floral notes and can be used in blending.
This grape can turn into anything from the low-alcohol, sweet and frothy Asti Spumante and Muscat de Canelli to bone-dry wines like Muscat d'Alsace. It also produces sweet fortified wine such as the Muscats of Beaumes de Venise and Rivesaltes in the South of France and the sticky, raisiny, perfumed sweet Muscats of North Eastern Victoria in Australia. The intensely sweet Muscats often add an orange peel fragrance.

Nebbiolo (red)
- tar, roses, truffles and liquorice spice
This is the great grape of the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, which excels in Barolo and Barbaresco, to produce powerful wines for ageing. Tasted young, Nebbiolo is fiercely aggressive, taking several years for the staggering levels of tannin and acid to subside and release aromas of tobacco and herbs and produce the enchanting flavours of tar, roses, chocolate, cherries, raisins and prunes.
Modern styles develop over 5 as opposed to the more traditional 20 years. Mainly unsuccessful elsewhere, Nebbiolo also now has a small foothold in California and Australia. So far the wines are light and uncomplicated, bearing no resemblance to the Italian types.


Petit Verdot (red)
This high quality Bordeaux variety deserves to be better known as well as more popular but it doesn't always get ripe, especially in marginal climates.
It is thick-skinned and produces richly concentrated, intense red wines which are usually added in small proportions to Médoc reds. It's grown in small quantities in California's Napa Valley and is currently viewed in parts of Australia, notably the Riverland, as a variety with the potential to produce premium reds.

Pinotage (red)
- plums and blackberries with hints of baked banana
This produces a wine that you either love or you hate. It was developed to meet the demands of the South African soil and climate. It hasn't ventured far, although a few vines are to be found in Australia, Chile and New Zealand.
Pinotage can produce both rough textured damsony wines and smoother fruity styles, with flavours of plums, bananas, redcurrants and toasted marshmallows.

Petite Sirah (red)
- blackcurrants and pepper
Petite Sirah produces deeply dark, tannic wines. It's often been used as a blending wine to provide colour and structure, particularly to Zinfandel. On its own, Petite Sirah can also make intense, savoury, peppery wines, with blackcurrant fruit, for ageing. However, it is arguable whether it as complex as Syrah itself.
There has been much confusion over the years about Petite Sirah's origins. For a long time, the grape was thought to be completely unrelated to Syrah, despite its name. Petite Sirah was believed to actually be Durif, a minor red grape variety first grown in southern France in the late 1800s. However, recent DNA research shows Petite Sirah and Syrah are related after all. A study done at the University of California at Davis determined not only that 90 percent of the Petite Sirah found in California is indeed Durif, but also that Durif is a cross between Peloursin and Syrah.
Just to make things more confusing, in France, growers refer to different variants of Syrah as Petite and Grosse, which has to do with the yield of the vines. Petite Syrah is also found in Argentina, Brazil and notably in Mexico.

Pinot Blanc (white)
- smokey, spicy, citrus and honey
Occasionally referred to as a poor man's Chardonnay because of its similar flavour and texture profile, Pinot Blanc is used in Alsace for full dry white wine and in sparkling Cremant D'Alsace.
It's also grown in Austria, Burgundy, Germany, Northern Italy and California and Oregon and can make a terrific wine. When well made, it is intense, concentrated and complex, with creamy, floral, ripe pear, spice, citrus and honey notes. It can age, but is best drunk early whilst its fruit shines through.

Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio (white)
- honey, smoke and spice
Pinot Gris can produce bone dry neutral white wine or can be made rich and spicy or anything in between. A very faint hint of honey is the link that connects the grape's various incarnations. Known as Pinot Grigio in Italy, where it is mainly found in the northeast, producing quite a lot of simple dry white wine and Collio's excellent floral and honeyed wines. When good, this varietal is soft, gently perfumed and has more colour than most whites.
As Pinot Gris, it used to be grown in Burgundy and the Loire, though it has been supplanted, but it comes into its own in Alsace, where it's known as Tokay. Southern Germany plants it as Ruländer to produce a sweet wine. Oregon in the North West USA produces light, crisp spicy versions.

Pinot Meunier (red)
Not particularly well-known as a varietal, this relative of Burgundy's Pinot Noir is best known as the third main blending variety in Champagne.
It's more dependable than Pinot Noir because of its ability to ripen on slopes which Pinot Noir would have trouble coping with and is generally thought to add suppleness and youthful fruit to the Champagne blend. It has, however, also been released as a single variety champagne. Pinot Meunier is also grown in Germany and Australia and to a lesser degree in California.

Pinot Noir (red)
- raspberry, strawberry, cola, incense and game
Pinot Noir, the great grape of Burgundy, is a touchy variety. The best examples offer a seductive silky texture and classic black cherry, spice, raspberry and currant flavours. The aroma can resemble wilted roses, along with earth, tar, herby and cola notes.
The very best mature to achieve complex aromas of truffles, game and decaying leaves. It can also be rather ordinary, light, simple, herbal, vegetal and occasionally weedy. Pinot Noir is the most fickle of all grapes to grow: It reacts strongly to environmental changes such as heat and cold spells, and is notoriously fussy to work with once picked, since its thin skins are easily bruised and broken, setting the juice free. Even after fermentation, Pinot Noir can hide its weaknesses and strengths, making it a most difficult wine to evaluate out of barrel. In the bottle, too, it is often a chameleon, showing poorly one day, brilliantly the next.
These days there is a greater understanding of and appreciation for different styles of Pinot Noir wine, even if there is less agreement about those styles, should it be rich, concentrated and loaded with flavour, or a wine of elegance, finesse and delicacy? Or can it, in classic Pinot Noir sense, be both? Even varietal character remains subject to debate. Pinot Noir can certainly be tannic, especially when it is fermented with some of its stems, a practice that many vintners around the world believe contributes to the wine's backbone and longevity. Pinot Noir can also be long-lived, but predicting with any precision which wines or vintages will age is often the ultimate challenge in wine tasting.
Pinot Noir is the classic grape of Burgundy and also of Champagne, where it is pressed immediately after picking in order to yield white juice. It is just about the only red grown in Alsace. In California, it excelled in the late 1980s and early 1990s and seems poised for further progress, there and in Oregon. New Zealand is also showing that it can produce world class Pinot Noir wines. Only the best examples repay long cellaring.
Pinot Noir is very food friendly; try it with any type of meat dish and substantial fish, such as salmon or tuna. Great value Burgundy can be had by trying a basic Bourgogne Rouge from a respected Burgundy producer.

Riesling (white)
- apples, lime and honey
Arguably, the world's greatest white wine grape. However, not one that everybody seems to take an instant shine to. Dry Riesling's high acidity and distinctive floral, citrus, peach and mineral accents have won the variety many fans. Riesling pairs well with food and has an uncanny knack for transmitting the elements of its vineyard source. The French call this terroir.
The Riesling vine's hardy wood makes it extremely resistant to frost. The variety excels in cooler climates, where its tendency to ripen slowly makes it an excellent source for sweet wines made from grapes attacked by the noble rot Botrytis cinerea, which withers the grapes' skin and concentrates their natural sugar levels.
Riesling doesn't take kindly to contact with oak. This is, possibly, the reason that it's not so popular with drinkers, weaned on modern Chardonnay. Riesling is best known for producing the wines of Germany's Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Pfalz, Rheinhessen and Rheingau wines, but it also achieves brilliance in Alsace and Austria. While the sweet German Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese wines, along with Alsace's famed Selection de Grains Nobles, are often celebrated for their high sugar levels and ability to age almost endlessly. They are rare and expensive.
The wines from Germany's Mosel region are perhaps the purest expression of the grape, offering lime, pie crust, apple, and slate and honeysuckle characteristics on a light-bodied and racy frame. Germany's Rheinhessen, Rheingau and Pfalz regions produces wines of similar characteristics, but with increasing body, richness, fruitiness and spice.
In Alsace, Riesling is most often made in a dry style, more alcoholic, with a distinct petrol aroma. In Austria, Riesling plays second fiddle to Gruner Veltliner in terms of quantity, but when grown on favoured sites it offers wines with great focus and clarity allied to the grape's typically racy frame.
Australian Riesling has a different style, having a weighty alcohol level and an invigorating lime aroma that turns toasty with age.

Rousanne (white)
- almonds and greengages
The elegant dry white grape of the northern Rhône, reaches its apogee when blended with MARSANNE in fine white Hermitage.
Rousanne has plenty of herby aromatic power with a white flower, hawthorn and lime-blossom character, incisive acidity and a flavour sometimes reminiscent of almond and greengages.

Sangiovese (red)
- herby and savoury, cherries and plums
The name may not be familiar to everybody but Sangiovese provides the backbone for many superb Italian red wines from Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, suberb world class wines for ageing, as well as the so called Super Tuscan blends.
Sangiovese is distinctive for its supple texture and medium to full-bodied spice, raspberry, cherry and aniseed flavours. When blended with a grape such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese gives the resulting wine a smoother texture and lightens up the tannins. Italy also produces light attractive herby fruit Sangiovese with a rasping finish for everyday drinking. Perfect with pasta and pizza.
There is nothing to equal the best Italian wines, but it is also grown in Australia, Argentina and California, where the grape appears to have a bright future, both as a varietal wine and for use in blends with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and maybe even Zinfandel. Expect sweeping stylistic changes as winemakers learn more about how the grape performs in different localities as well as how it marries with different grapes.

Sauvignon Blanc (white)
- gooseberries, passion fruit, asparagus
This is a white with a notable aroma. Cats pee, gooseberries, asparagus and nettles. The pure varietal originates is in France's Loire Valley, at Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. As part of a blend, the grape is all over Bordeaux, in Pessac-Léognan, Graves and the Médoc whites.
It also shows up in Sauternes. New Zealand, particularly the Marlborough region has had striking success with Sauvignon Blanc, producing what has become the classic style. Cloudy Bay is the cult wine that sells out as soon as it arrives each year. However, try Ponder Estate as a less pricey and good alternative. This perfumed, fruity style has spread across North America and then back to France.
In the United States, Robert Mondavi rescued the varietal in the 1970s by labelling it Fumé Blanc and he and others have enjoyed success with it. The key to success seems to be in taming its overt varietal intensity, which at its extreme leads to pungent grassy, vegetal and herbaceous flavours.
Sauvignon Blanc grows well in a variety of appellations. It marries well with oak and Sèmillon, and many vintners are adding a touch of Chardonnay for extra body. The wine drinks best in its youth, but sometimes will benefit from short-term cellaring. As a late-harvest wine, it's often fantastic, capable of yielding amazingly complex and richly flavoured wines.
Sauvignon Blanc at bargain prices and with a good tangy flavour can be found in quantity from Entre-Deux-Mers in Bordeaux. The grape is a good match with spicy food, even tomato based dishes.

Syrah or Shiraz (red)
- peppery, smoky, blackberries and mint
Whatever you prefer to call this grape it will need a year or two to develop after the vintage. Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie in France, Penfolds Grange in Australia, are the epitome of Syrah, intense, majestic reds that can age for 20 years.
The grape seems to grow well in a number of areas and is capable of rendering rich, complex and distinctive wines, with pronounced pepper, spice, black cherry, tar, leather and roasted nut flavours, a smooth, velvety texture and smooth tannins. In southern France it finds its way into various blends, as in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Languedoc-Roussillon. French Syrah is more smoky and austere. The grape is known as Shiraz in Australia, it was long used for everyday blends, but an increasing number of high-quality wines are being made, especially from old vines in the Barossa Valley. Aussie Shiraz is richer and softer, with a leather quality, although the style does vary in the different regions across the country.
In the United States, Syrah's rise in quality is most impressive. It appears to have the early drinking appeal of Pinot Noir and Zinfandel and few of the eccentricities of Merlot, and may well prove far easier to grow and vinify than any other red wines aside from Cabernet. It may also be found in Argentina, South Africa and Switzerland.

Tannat (red)
Tannat produces a sturdy, spicy wine. It is now doing particularly well in Uruguay, although it originates from Madiran in France.

Tempranillo (red)
- strawberries, vanilla and tobacco-spice
Spain's major contribution to red wine, Tempranillo is indigenous to the country and is rarely grown elsewhere. It is the dominant grape in the red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero, two of Spain's most important wine regions
In Rioja, Tempranillo is often blended with Garnacha, Mazuelo and a few other minor grapes. When made in a traditional style, Tempranillo can be garnet-hued, with flavours of tea, brown sugar and vanilla. When made in a more modern style, it can display aromas and flavours redolent of plums, tobacco and cassis, along with a very dark colour and substantial tannins. The difference in styles can make the grape difficult to recognise. Whatever the style, Riojas tend to be medium bodied wines, offering more acidity than tannin.
In Ribera del Duero, wines are also divided along traditional and modern styles, and show similarities to Rioja. The more modern styled Riberas, however, can be quite powerful, offering a density and tannic structure similar to that of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Tempranillo is known variously throughout Spain as Cencibel, Tinto del Pais, Tinto Fino, Ull de Llebre and Ojo. It's also grown along the Douro River in Portugal under the names Tinta Roriz (used in the making of Port) and Tinta Aragonez.
Only the finest wines require ageing. The simplest strawberry flavoured wines demand to be drunk young and fresh.
Trebbiano or Ugni Blanc (white)
This is Trebbiano in Italy and Ugni Blanc in France. It is tremendously prolific; low in alcohol but high in acidity, it is found in almost any basic, flavourless white Italian wine. It is so ingrained in Italian winemaking that it is actually a sanctioned ingredient of the blend used for red Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. However, most current Tuscan producers do not add it to their wines.
The French, who also often call this grape St.-Émilion, used it for Cognac and Armagnac brandy; Ugni Blanc grapevines outnumbered Chardonnay by five to one in France during the '80s.

Verdelho (white)
- honeysuckle and lime
This was originally a grape used for the fortified wine of Madeira. However, it is now producing small quantities of high quality, rich honeysuckle and lime-flavoured dry white wines in Australia.

Viognier (white)
- jasmine, peaches and apricots
Viognier, the rare white grape of France's Rhône Valley, is one of the most difficult grapes to grow. It produces a luxurious, aromatic dry white wine that can seem almost sweet. Fans of the floral, peach, pear, nutmeg and apricot flavoured spicy wine are enthralled by its prospects in both the South of France and the New World.
It is used in top quality rare whites of Condrieu and Chateau Grillet in the Rhône and is sometimes blended with reds in the Northern Rhône. There are also a variety of bottlings available from southern France, most of them somewhat light. It is also to be found in Australia, California and South America. Viognier should usually be drunk young and fresh as its perfume doesn't, unfortunately, last forever.

Viura (white)
Viura also known as Macabeo is the main white grape of Rioja in Spain. It brings neutrality and a resistance to oxidation to many white blends in South West France, but not flavour. Viura is light and apple fresh on its own, but becomes richer and longer lasting in a blend with Malvasia as witnessed in white Rioja. It is also blended in the production of Cava.

Zinfandel (red)
- spicy, brambles and raspberries
The origins of this tremendously versatile and popular grape are not known for certain, although it is thought to have come from Southern Italy as Primitivo. It is the most widely planted red grape in California. Much of it is made into white Zinfandel, a very pale pink coloured, slightly sweet "beginners" wine. Real Zinfandel, the red wine, is the quintessential Californian wine. It has been used for blending with other grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah.
It has been made in a claret style, with berry and cherry flavours, mild tannins and pretty oak shadings and also into a full bodied, ultra ripe, intensely flavoured and firmly tannic wine designed to age. It's also been made into late harvest and Port style wines that feature very ripe, raisin flavours, alcohol above 15 percent and chewy tannins.
Zinfandel's popularity among consumers fluctuates. In the 1990s Zinfandel was enjoying another groundswell of popularity, as winemakers took renewed interest, focusing on higher quality vineyards in areas well suited to Zinfandel. Styles aimed more for the mainstream and less for extremes, emphasizing the grape's heart warming, spicy pepper, raspberry, cherry, wild berry and plum flavours, and its complex range of tar, earth and leather notes. Zinfandel lends itself to blending.
Zinfandel is a challenging grape to grow; its berry size varies significantly within a bunch, which leads to uneven ripening. Because of that, Zinfandel often needs to hang on the vine longer to ripen as many berries as possible. Closer attention to viticulture and an appreciation for older vines, which tend to produce smaller crops of uniformly higher quality, account for better balanced wines.