Popular Wine Varieties
There are a great number of different wines available – many more than you may have even imagined. If you’d like to find out more about how to match up different wines with your food, then a good place to start is with some of the more popular wine varieties before you start to explore more esoteric grapes.
Oh, and before we get started, if you love to try new wines, then you can’t go wrong with a wine of the month club, they’re fun and you’re always expanding your wine palate.
Let’s take a look at some of the more popular wine varieties:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Often abbreviated to the less-than-lovely name ‘cab-sav’, the flavorful cabernet sauvignon is a classic French wine that is one of the most widely recognized red wine varieties.
This full-bodied red wine blend can be the ideal accompaniment to a fine steak, a roast lamb or on its own as a drinking red wine.
Merlot
Merlot should ideally be a very soft red wine that is also quite rich without the high tannin levels of other reds. Whether on its own or blended with a great cab-sav, merlot is lovely served with chicken or can an excellent drinking red wine.
Shiraz
Also known as Syrah, Shiraz is a deep red colored, medium bodied wine whose flavor includes hints of black pepper and berries. This is one of the best wines to go with barbecue as well as many other meat dishes. Shiraz can be aged for a long time and improves well with age.
Shiraz was originally produced from grapes from the Middle Eastern countries although South Australia’s brilliant wine region is now said to produce some of the finest award-winning Shiraz wines in the world.
Shiraz pairs well with strong and spicy sauces – it is ideal for spicy cuisines and barbecue.
Grenache
Grenache has a soft taste on its own with a very slight black pepper and plum flavor. It is often blended with Syrah, especially in Spain and France. Grenache also accompanies spicy foods quite well.
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a stunning light- to medium-bodied red wine with a fine fruity aroma. When this fine wine is well aged, it can develop lovely floral flavors.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is one of the most popular white wines, being made into a wine in its own right and being a major component of most white blends. These wines tend to have notes of melon and lemon and are generally aged in oak for anywhere up to 3 years. Chardonnay goes well with flavorful fish such as salmon and tuna. Chardonnay is easily one of the most popular white wines anywhere. Traditionally these wonderfully melon flavored wines are allowed to mature in oak barrels for up to 3 years. Chardonnay is ideal served along with salmon.
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon blanc is a very ripe tasting white wine that can have a quite aggressive aroma as compared to other white wines. Sauvignon Blanc is a lovely white wine that is excellent with seafood and a great accompaniment to Japanese sushi, but is even better on its own as a drinking white wine.
Semillon
Very popular in France and Australia, this grape is less popular outside of those countries. Boasting a mild, honey and toast flavor, this wine is often seen in blends with Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
Riesling
Originally a German wine, Riesling is now produced all over the world. These whites have a fruity, floral taste which reminds many of green apple and are made both in sweet varieties and dry. The dry Rieslings go well with spicy dishes.
Now get out there, start trying new wines (join a wine club if there are no vineyards nearby), and enjoy.
Tags: chardonnay, merlot, sauvignon blanc, semillon, shiraz, wine varieties
This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 7:42 pm and is filed under wine varieties. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.