35 articles
Albariño
Albariño, called Alvarinho in Portugal's Vinho Verde, is a white wine grape from northwest Iberia, centered on Rías Baixas, Spain; dry, high-acid, saline wines pair with seafood, with over 6,500 ha planted in Spain.
Ampelography
Ampelography, from Greek ampelos and graphein, is the identification and classification of grapevine varieties by leaf, shoot, and bunch morphology, standardized by OIV descriptors and extended since the 1990s by DNA markers.
Barbera
Barbera is a dark-skinned red wine grape from Piedmont, Italy, distinct from Nebbiolo and Dolcetto; known for bright acidity, low tannins, deep color, appellations Barbera d'Asti, d'Alba, and Nizza DOCG, and plantings in California.
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is a thin-skinned, early-ripening red wine grape from the Basque country, parent of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, covering 9% of Bordeaux's red vines and dominating Loire appellations like Chinon.
Carménère
Carménère, a Bordeaux red wine grape thought extinct after 19th-century phylloxera, rediscovered in Chile in 1994 by ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot at Viña Carmen; Chile is now the world's largest producer.
Chambourcin
Chambourcin (Joannes Seyve 26-205) is a French-American hybrid red wine grape released in 1963, grown in France and the eastern US, with mildew resistance loci Rpv3/Ren but cold-tender buds and black rot susceptibility.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay, white wine grape of Burgundy and Champagne, a natural Pinot × Gouais blanc cross per 1999 DNA analysis; fifth most planted wine grape worldwide, ~210,000 ha in 2017, known for malolactic buttery style and Chablis-to-oaked range.
Chenin blanc
Chenin blanc, also called Pineau de la Loire or Steen, is a high-acid white wine grape from France's Loire Valley, first named by Rabelais in 1534, a savagnin descendant, now most planted in South Africa (16,192 ha in 2023).
French wine grape varieties
French wine grape varieties are the Vitis vinifera cultivars of French origin, defining Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône, the Loire, and Alsace; 298 are cataloged, but 20 cover about 87% of plantings.
Furmint
Furmint is a Hungarian white wine grape, the primary variety of sweet Tokaji Aszú and, since the early 2000s, of dry Tokaj whites. Also called Šipon in Slovenia, where it is the world's second biggest grower.
Gewürztraminer
Gewürztraminer, also called Roter Traminer or Traminac, is a pink-skinned, intensely aromatic white grape, a Savagnin/Traminer mutation. Alsatian signature variety with lychee-rose aromas, low acidity, 13.5–15% ABV, dry to late-harvest styles.
Grenache
Grenache, also Garnacha (Spain) and Cannonau (Sardinia), is a widely planted warm-climate red grape giving soft, high-alcohol reds, GSM blends, Provence and Tavel rosés, and Banyuls/Maury fortified wines.
Grüner Veltliner
Grüner Veltliner, or Weißgipfler, is Austria's most planted white wine grape, about one third of the vineyard area. A Traminer cross with the St. Georgen variety, it is known for peppery, dry wines under DAC designations such as Weinviertel DAC.
Lambrusco
Lambrusco is a family of twelve black grape varieties from Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and the sparkling red wines made from them; three main grapes, Sorbara, Salamino, Grasparossa, plus six DOCs distinguish it.
Malbec
Malbec (Côt, Auxerrois) is a black wine grape from South-West France, the grape of Cahors' "black wine" and, since the 19th century, Argentina's flagship variety, with 46,890 Argentine hectares and most world plantings.
Malvasia
Malvasia (Malvoisie, Malvazija): not a single grape but a large Mediterranean family of mostly white Vitis vinifera varieties named after Monemvasia, making dry, sparkling, and sweet wines across Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal.
Merlot
Merlot, black Vitis vinifera wine grape from southwest France; Cabernet Franc × Magdeleine Noire des Charentes; majority grape of Bordeaux (60% of appellation area), early ripening, base of Pomerol's Pétrus.
Montepulciano (grape)
Montepulciano is a central Italian red wine grape, main variety of Abruzzo's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC and Marche's Rosso Conero; unrelated to Sangiovese despite the shared name with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
Mourvèdre
Mourvèdre, also called Monastrell (Spain) and Mataro (Australia/US), is a late-ripening Spanish red wine grape; Spain plants 48,116 ha, and in France it stars in Bandol and GSM blends.
Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo, also called Spanna, Chiavennasca, or Prunent, is Piedmont's late-ripening red wine grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco, first attested in 1266, with Valtellina requiring at least 90%.
Pedro Ximénez
Pedro Ximénez (PX) is a white Spanish grape variety and the intensely sweet sun-dried-grape dessert wine named after it, centered on Montilla-Moriles (over 90% of production), with minimum 15% alcohol and at least 272 g/l sugar.
Petit Verdot
Petit Verdot, also called lambrusquet, is a black-skinned French Bordeaux red wine grape from the Pyrenees. Late-ripening and low-vigor, it adds color, tannin, and spice to blends; 1.3% of Bordeaux red plantings, also grown in Napa, Argentina, and Australia.
Pinot gris
Pinot gris, also called Pinot Grigio, Grauburgunder or Ruländer, is a grey mutation of Pinot noir from Burgundy. Early picking gives crisp Italian Grigio; riper harvest gives rich Alsatian Gris, with ramato skin-contact wines in Friuli.
Pinot noir
Pinot noir (Spätburgunder, Pinot nero) is the black-berried Burgundian Vitis vinifera grape behind red Burgundy: thin-skinned, early-ripening (about 1,150 degree days), disease-prone, with 36,727 ha in France (2018) and 11,519 ha in Germany (2023).
Riesling
Riesling, also known as White Riesling or Rhine Riesling, is a white wine grape of German origin, prized for high acidity and wines from bone dry to sweet.
Sangiovese
Sangiovese, Italy's most planted red wine grape, a native Tuscan and Romagna variety with over 100 clones including Brunello, Prugnolo, and Morellino; base of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, and Vino Nobile, known for high acidity and tannin.
Saperavi (საფერავი)
Saperavi (საფერავი), meaning "to dye," is Georgia's leading teinturier red wine grape, origin Kakheti, first mentioned in Vakhtang VI's Dasturlamali; basis of Mukuzani, Napareuli, Kindzmarauli, and Akhasheni PDO wines.
Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon blanc is a French white wine grape, parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, known for grassy, gooseberry aromas from methoxypyrazines; key styles are Loire, Bordeaux, and Marlborough, New Zealand.
Scuppernong
Scuppernong is a bronze-fruited muscadine grape cultivar selected from the wild along North Carolina's Scuppernong River in the 18th century; the first native American grape cultivated, it dominated muscadine growing until 1947.
Shiraz wine
Shiraz wine, the Australian name for Syrah, is a medium to full-bodied red from the same grape variety; styles range from lean Northern Rhône Syrah to ripe Barossa Shiraz, with rotundone giving pepper aroma and Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace as icons.