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 Red Wine Basics
TheWineCooler.net team has provided helpful red wine basics for those wanting a quick overview. There are literally hundreds of varieties of red wine grapes found across the world; we've highlighted a few of the top red wine grapes below – these varieties are easy to find and delicious.
Merlot
Flavors: Watermelon, strawberry, cherry, plum
Merlot is the chardonnay of reds, easy to pronounce, easy to like, agreeable, and versatile.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Flavors: Bell pepper, green olive, herb, cassis, black cherry
Cabernet Sauvignon ripens late and can be quite weedy. Thick and ripe, layered with expensive new oak scents and flavors, Cabernet Sauvignon can be found across the world.
Cabernet Franc
Flavors: Violets, blueberry, earth, black olive, coffee
Along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Cabernet Franc is part of the essential blending triad. Cabernet Franc is a more tannic, earthy cousin to Cabernet Sauvignon.
Gamay
Flavors: Strawberry, raspberry, cherry
Gamay is often made to be drunk quite young, and shows bright, tangy, fruit-driven flavors of strawberry, raspberry, and sweet cherries.
Mourvèdre/Mataro
Flavors: Spice, cherry
This Mediterranean red grape is especially popular in France and Spain, making medium-bodied, lightly spicy wines with pretty, cherry-flavored fruit.
Nebbiolo
Flavors: Plum, cherry
As a principal grape of Barolo, Barbaresco, and Gattinara (all made in the Piedmont region of Italy), it is said that Nebbiolo unquestionably belongs with the great red wines of the world, but has proven almost impossible to grow anywhere else.
Pinot Noir
Flavors: Tomato leaf, beet root, cherry, blackberry, plum
Pinot noir is the grape that winemakers love to hate; it can be difficult to grow. The template for great Pinot Noir is Burgundy, but even there the grape is flighty, fragile, and prone to obstinately weedy flavors. It is a principal component of many Champagnes and other sparkling wines. Pinot Noir is best expressed as a pure varietal, and is often featured as a single-vineyard wine in Oregon and California, emulating the hundreds of tiny appellations of Burgundy. When at its best, Pinot has an ethereal delicacy yet can age for decades; it is most memorably described as "the iron fist in the velvet glove."
Sangiovese
Flavors: Cherry, anise, tobacco leaf
The principal grape of Tuscany, where it is the primary component of Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino. Sangiovese is relatively light in color and quite firmly acidic. In Italy it shows distinctive flavors of cherry, anise, and tobacco; elsewhere it can be rather plain and undistinguished, though some promising bottles have come from Washington's Walla Walla Valley.
Syrah/Shiraz
Flavors: Blackberry, boysenberry, plum, pepper, clove
Plantings of Syrah have exploded in California and Washington, where sappy, spicy, peppery, luscious versions are being made. Known as Shiraz in Australia, it is unarguably that country's claim to enological fame. Australian Shiraz is made in every conceivable style, from light and fruity to dense and tarry; it is made as a deep red, tannic sparkling wine, and also as a fortified "Port". In the northern Rhone, the most extraordinary expressions of the grape are produced, especially in Hermitage and Cote Rôtie, where its peppery, dense, spicy fruit is layered into unbelievably complex wines streaked with mineral, smoked meat, tar, wild herb, and leather.
Zinfandel
Flavors: Raspberry, blackberry, black cherry, raisin, prune
For decades zinfandel was California's grape, though now it is grown all over the west coast of the United States, in Australia, Italy, and elsewhere, and its ancestry has been traced to Croatia. But California zinfandel remains the model for all others, and it grows well and vinifies distinctively all over the state. Mendocino makes somewhat rustic versions with hints of Asian spices; Dry Creek zinfandels are racy and laden with raspberry. In Amador and Gold Rush country it is hot, thick, and jammy, while in Napa it is plush with ripe, sweet black cherry flavors. California zinfandels now commonly reach 15 or 16 percent alcohol levels; sometimes even higher for late harvest versions. Zinfandel "Ports" are also made.
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