L2: Red Wine Grapes Flashcards
Pinot Noir
Acid: High (Medium to High)
Body: Light (Low to Medium)
Tanin: Low (Low to Medium)
Fingerprint: Roses and Barnyard
Other: Ripe cherry, cranberry, pomegranate; under ripe fruits (e.g., under ripe strawberry)
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Literally and figuratively the most thin-skinned of grapes, Pinot Noir is extremely sensitive to its natural environment. Subtle and restrained in cooler climates, its high level of acidity can produce tart, under-ripe flavors of red cherries and cranberries. In warmer regions it will be slightly fuller and show riper fruit flavors. In addition to fruit, varietally-correct Pinot Noir will always include an earthy note ranging from fresh soil to truffle to barnyard. Its aromatic fingerprint: an earthy mix of roses and barnyard.
Sangiovese
Acid: High (Medium to High) – but < Pinot
Body: Light (Medium to HIgh) – but > Pinot
Tanin: Low (Low to Medium) – but slight > Pinot
Fingerprint: Leather
Other: Red cherry, cedar, orange peel, spice
This workhorse of a grape is Italy’s most widely planted and influential grape. Today it has taken hold in California and South America. It tends to be savory and spicy, with a bit less acidity than Pinot Noir and more tannic character. Characteristic tastes and aromas are tobacco, cherry, plum, leather, spice, and orange peel. Aromatic fingerprint: animal skin, whether it’s wet, fresh, or cured leather.
Grenache
Acid: Low (Low to Medium)
Body: Full (Medium to High)
Tanin: High (Medium to High)
FIngerprint: Lavendar / Garrigue / Pizza Spice
Other: Ripe dark fruit, spice
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The world’s most versatile red varietal, planted from the Rhone Valley to Australia, is originally from from Spain (where it is known as “Garnacha”). Typically juicy and capable of supporting higher levels of alcohol, this grape’s primary flavor is dark cherry. Other notable aromas include black pepper, anise and olive. Aromatic fingerprint: wild herbs and lavender (what the French call garrigue).
**Spanish Origin: Garnacha
Syrah
Acid: Medium (Medium) - higher than Syrah
Body: Full (Medium to High)
Tanin: High (Medium to High)
Fingerprint: Game (Meatiness)
Other: Dark Fruit, White Pepper
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A red grape that is the base for the great northern Rhone wines and a very popular red variety known as “Shiraz” in Australia. In the Rhone it is deeply pigmented and full-bodied with dark fruits and white pepper notes. As Shiraz it is riper, more intense, and fruit forward with potent levels of alcohol and lower levels of acidity. Aromatic fingerprint: meat. The “meat” can come in many guises: game, beef jerky, grilled steak, bacon, road kill, and roast beef…. to name a few.
Merlot
Acid: Medium (Medium)
Body: Full (Medium to High)
Tannin: High (Medium to High)
Fingerprint: Green Pepper, Pencil Shavings (Cedar, Graphite)
Other: Dark fruit, herbs, spice, cassis, violet, earth
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A black grape famously associated with the great wines of Bordeaux’s Right Bank region. Along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot is the most planted red grape throughout the world. Merlot is medium-bodied with moderate acidity and aromas of plum and darker fruits. It is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. Aromatic fingerprint: green pepper and graphite.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Acid: Medium (Medium)
Body: Full (Medium to High)
Tannin: High (Medium to High)
Fingerprint: Green Pepper, Pencil Shavings (Cedar, Graphite)
Other: Dark fruit, herbs, spice, cassis, violet, earth
As a varietal in the New World or in the great wines of Bordeaux, Cabernet-based wines are rich, complex, full-bodied, and dry. A hardy grape, it adapts well to varied microclimates. It is renowned as the most elegant and ageworthy of red wines. It can be overly tannic, “green”, and rough around the edges when young. Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits herbal notes, along with dark fruit and pencil shavings. Other key aromas include violets and cassis. Aromatic fingerprint: green pepper and graphite. (Yes, Merlot and Cabernet share the same fingerprint!)
Cabernet Franc
Lighter and softer than Cabernet Sauvignon, it is another Bordeaux native commonly used in blended wine. It truly shines in the Loire Valley where it is produced as a varietal red wine. It tastes and smells of herbs and ripe berry fruit.
Carignan
A red grape found in southern France, Spain and California. Tannic and deeply-pigmented, it produces full bodied wines with red berry and earthy aromas
**Spanish Origin: Cariñena
Nebbiolo
The black grape in Barolo and Barbaresco, its wines are known for refined aromas of red berries, violets, roses, tar and mushroom.
Malbec
A black grape variety originating in Bordeaux, but now well-known as Argentina’s signature wine. Full of spicy red fruit flavors, the wine tends to be full, lush and complex.
Tempranillo
Spain’s pre-eminent red grape of powerful tannins, with raspberry and spice-driven flavors. It finds its best expression in the wines of Rioja. Common notes include strawberry, leather, tobacco and vanilla.
Mouvedre
A warm climate red grape commonly blended with Syrah and Grenache in the Rhone Valley and Australia. Deeply pigmented and intensely flavored, this grape also thrives in Spain, where it is known as Monastrell. These wines tend to be tannic with gamey flavors.
**Spanish Origin: Monastrell
Zinfandel
This exotic black grape variety originated in Croatia but made its name as California’s premier red grape. It shares the same DNA with Italian Primitivo. Zinfandels tend to be powerful and supple wines with pleasant fruit and good structure. Flavors range from red berries to dark plums and prunes.
