Characteristics of White Wine Grapes

General

Jump to Specific Grape Varieties

Color: From clear as water to a straw yellow. Green tinges are not unheard of, especially in youth. With time and oxidation, a golden color is common.

Fruit: A wide variety of fruit flavors are represented in white wines. Lychee nut, peaches and tropical fruits are all common.

Tannins: Since white wine is made with minimal skin contact, there is almost no tannin associated with the grapes. There is tannin that results from oak aging, but they are much lighter than the tannins associated with red wines.

Astringency: Some white wines exhibit signs of astringency, a drying out of the mouth. This is mostly found in Rhone whites and the richest Chardonnays.

Off Tastes as Smells:

Wet cardboard - Corked wine.

Wet horse blanket - Brett, a common bacterial spoilage, in smaller concentrations it is more like dirt than merde. Much rarer in whites than in reds.

Slight sparkle - if it is slight it is dissolved CO2, if it is accompanied by a wet forest floor smell, than it is Malo-Lactic fermentation in the bottle.

Wine Making Flavors:

Malo-Lactic Fermentation - The process of changing the sharp malic acid (in apples) into the softer lactic acid (in milk). The process also leaves the by product DIACETYL, the taste of butter.

Oak - If it is complex with cloves and woody spices, it is French oak. If it is forward with vanilla, it is American oak. If it is musty it is from old barrels.

Oxidation - Caramel, or a burnt sugar smell. Deep golden hues in the wine are another hint. This is most common with older white wines.

Blending - While not always obvious, a wine that tastes complex may have been blended with several grape varieties.

Climatic Characteristics:

Hot weather - A deep rich flavor lacking in acidity or bright fruit. The hotter the region the more flabby (less acidic) the wines tend to be. Because of the overripe fruit, and the propensity to oxidize hot fruit, the color tends towards golden shades of yellow.

Cool weather - Cool growing conditions pronounce the acidity. If the fruit is picked too early, it will be sharply acidic. If they are picked too late, there is a chance of damage from freezing.

Temperate weather - If it is not too hot nor too cool, the ideal grape varieties are those with long growing seasons. A balance between acidity and sugar levels are more easily accomplished.

Note: In white wine especially, modern winemaking techniques help to counteract many of the shortcomings of climate.

Specific Grape Varieties

CLASSIC VARIETIES

Grape Variety	Chardonnay
Use in Old World	Burgundy
Use in New World	Pervasive
Color	Almost always tends toward light golden hues.
Aroma	Tropical fruits, melons, mineral qualities, citrus and even green apple are all comon.
Body	Medium to Heavy
Wine Making Flavors	Heavy use of oak, but incorporates well into the wine.
Blended with:	Rarely, but occasionally of late with Sémillon.
Other	Increasingly being planted in Italy where it only recently received official status.

Grape Variety	Riesling
Use in Old World	Germany, Alsace
Use in New World	US, New Zealand
Color	Almost always clear, becoming golden with age.
Aroma	Flowery with a distinct aroma often called "petrol" or "diesel".
Body	Light to Medium
Wine Making Flavors	Occasional light oak. Often made sweet.
Blended with:	With Ruländer (Pinot Gris) but never in quality wines.
Other	Another great grape that doesn't get the respect it deserves. Many examples, either dry or sweet, are among the finest, most complex wines in the world.

Grape Variety	Sémillon
Use in Old World	Bordeaux
Use in New World	Australia primarily. Can be found in small plantings around the world.
Color	Very light golden to clear.
Aroma	Figs and or orange marmalade is the traditional answer. I tend to find a rubbery smell on occasion.
Body	Moderate
Wine Making Flavors	Generally not many flavors other than the fruit. The exception is when it is botrytis affected to make Sauternes style sweet wines.
Blended with:	Usually with Sauvignon Blanc. Ocassionally with Chardonnay.
Other	Widely planted, but rarely respected. A shame.

Grape Variety	Sauvignon Blanc
Use in Old World	Bordeaux and the Loire.
Use in New World	Pervasive.
Color	Usually clear.
Aroma	Fresh cut grass is most common. Grapefruit is another style.
Body	Light to medium.
Wine Making Flavors	Some oak, but rarely strong.
Blended with:	In Bordeaux almost always with Sémillon.
Other	Very common variety. Can be an excellent food wine.

Grape Variety	Chenin Blanc
Use in Old World	Loire (Anjou)
Use in New World	US and South Africa.
Color	Clear.
Aroma	Green apples. Occasionally honeyed.
Body	Light.
Wine Making Flavors	Minimal flavors intrude, even when much is done to the wine.
Blended with:	Almost never, except in bulk wines, when it is blended with other bulk varieties..
Other	By far the most misunderstood white variety. In the Anjou region of the Loire in France, it makes remarkable wines, the best of which (Coteaux du Layon) are lightly sweet and among the most long lived. In the rest of the world it is used for cheap whites and jug wine.

MAJOR VARIETIES

Grape Variety	Pinot Gris
Use in Old World	Germany (Ruländer), Alsace, France (Tokay d'Alsace), Italy (Pinot Grigio), Eastern Europe.
Use in New World	Rare but increasing.
Color	Clear, occasionally it has a pink tinge
Aroma	Somewhat nondescript spicy fruit.
Body	Light
Wine Making Flavors	Rare
Blended with:	Rare.
Other	A degenerative clone of Pinot Noir.

Grape Variety	Pinot Blanc
Use in Old World	Alsace, Burgundy (disapearing rapidly) and Germany.
Use in New World	Some US
Color	Clear to light golden.
Aroma	Crisp and clean, little aroma
Body	Light to Medium.
Wine Making Flavors	Can be heavily oaked, especially in the US. In Alsace it is kept clean and crisp. Often used to make sparkling wine.
Blended with:	Rarely, although occasionally with Chardonnay.
Other	From Pinot Noir (black), to Pinot Gris (grey) to Pinot Blanc (white).

Grape Variety	Gewürztraminer
Use in Old World	Alsace, France and Germany.
Use in New World	US.
Color	Clear
Aroma	Intense aroma, referred to as spicy.
Body	Light to Medium.
Wine Making Flavors	Often (except Alsace) made sweet.
Blended with:	None
Other	A wonderfully intense wine. The best examples are by far and away from Alsace where they are dry.

Grape Variety	Viognier
Use in Old World	Rhône
Use in New World	Increasingly in California
Color	Clear to yellow straw.
Aroma	Orange blossom and peaches. Always intense
Body	From very light to medium.
Wine Making Flavors	Rare
Blended with:	Syrah, the red grape, to make Côte Rôtie.
Other	By far my favorite grape. It has becoming popular in the last few years.

Grape Variety	Trebianno / Ugni Blanc
Use in Old World	Cognac (St-Emilion), Italy.
Use in New World	Increasing, especially in Australia.
Color	Clear.
Aroma	Thin
Body	Light.
Wine Making Flavors	Rare.
Blended with:	None
Other	The "world's most prolific wine producer." It is downright ubiquitous in Italy.

Grape Variety	Malvasia
Use in Old World	Italy and Rioja, Spain, Madeira (Malmsey)
Use in New World	Rare
Color	Light.
Aroma	Rich fruit, sometimes nutty.
Body	Light to very heavy.
Wine Making Flavors	As Vino Santo in Italy it is made from dried grapes and has a "rancio" flavor. Other places it is used in a blend as a winemaking flavor itself.
Blended with:	In Chianti and Rioja, with red varieties. Often with Trebbiano in Italy.
Other	Another great underrated grape. It is being pushed out of Italy by Trebbiano and out of Spain by Viura.

Grape Variety	Muscat de Frontignan
Use in Old World	Very widespread
Use in New World	Surprisingly widespread
Color	Light.
Aroma	Intensely fruity. Lychee nut and musk (the word musk comes from this grape).
Body	Light to medium
Wine Making Flavors	In the Asti region of Italy, this grape is often made sparkling. While Asti Spumante is well known, the version imported into the U.S. is best avoided, while the drier versions in Italy are worth looking for. Muscato d'Asti is the finest expression of the grape in Asti. In Australia and Portugal the grape is used to make fortified wines that are inexpensive and quite good. In most other wine regions of the world the wine is slightly sweet to very sweet, but not sparkling or fortified.
Blended with:	Rare
Other	Muscat is an entire family of grapes, with this strain being recognized as the best. There is evidence that this was the first Vinifera grape, and that all the other Vinifera grapes (the primary wine grapes) have evolved from Muscat. This particular grape is known to mutate from light colored to very dark berries, sometimes even on the same vine.

Grape Variety	Palomino
Use in Old World	Spain
Use in New World	Rare, but used for Sherry style wines, especially in South Africa.
Color	Light
Aroma	Light.
Body	Light to very heavy.
Wine Making Flavors	Used almost exclusively for Sherry, a fortified wine that owes as much to a bacteria called "Flor" as to the grape Palomino.
Blended with:	Rare, with Chenin Blanc for Sherry style wines in South Africa.
Other	While I could easily have left this one out, Sherry, the main reason for this grapes existence, is a world class wine

 MINOR GRAPE VARIETIES

While Jancis Robinson lists these as minor varieties, I feel that they are too important to leave out.

Grape Variety	Roussanne
Use in Old World	Rhône region of France.
Use in New World	Some plantings in the U.S. but rare.
Color	Light.
Aroma	Rich and earthy.
Body	Medium to very heavy.
Wine Making Flavors	Often used in blends where its character can be used to improve the wine.
Blended with:	Often with Marsanne. In Châteauneuf-du-Pape it is also allowed in the blend of both the white and red wines.
Other	Greatly underrated. The wines of St. Péray and the whites of Châteauneuf-du-Pape are begging to be discovered. Ch. Beaucatstel makes a 100% old vine version of Roussanne that is certainly one of the world's best white wines.

Grape Variety	Marsanne
Use in Old World	Rhône region of France. Some in the Valais in Switzerland.
Use in New World	Some plantings in the U.S. but rare.
Color	Medium, almost brown.
Aroma	Earthy with a characteristic "glue" smell.
Body	Light to medium.
Wine Making Flavors	Often used in blends where its high alcohol, body and color add to the wine. Occasionally made sparkling.
Blended with:	Often with Roussanne. The most important grape in White Rhônes: Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and St-Péray.
Other	Much more widely planted than Roussanne, but without its potential for greatness. More important to the economy than the wines of the regions.

Grape Variety	Cortese
Use in Old World	Piedmont in Italy.
Use in New World	None.
Color	Clear.
Aroma	Almost none.
Body	Light and crisp.
Wine Making Flavors	Picked and vinified to be very crisp and acidic.
Blended with:	Never.
Other	This grape is only included because it is responsible for the Gavi wines of Italy. Gavi dei Gavi being considered by many to be the finest example, it is unquestionably Italy's most expensive white wine.

Grape Variety	Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Use in Old World	Tuscany, Italy.
Use in New World	A few plantings in the U.S. but very rare.
Color	Clear.
Aroma	Often can smell like the Varnish its name implies.
Body	Light to medium.
Wine Making Flavors	Some oak, but usually clean and crisp.
Blended with:	None
Other	There are several Vernaccias in Italy, but this is the most important one. The wine Vernaccia di San Gimignano was Italy's first D.O.C. (controlled place name).

Grape Variety	Macabeo (Viura)
Use in Old World	Rioja, Spain. Pyrenées Orientals, France.
Use in New World	None
Color	Clear.
Aroma	Lightly perfumey.
Body	Light to medium
Wine Making Flavors	Almost always made in modern methods without oak that accentuate the floral, and crisp nature of the grape.
Blended with:	Tempranillo, and occasionally Malvasia.
Other	Over taking Malvasia as the white variety in Rioja. Malvasia tended to oxidize making a heavy and heady White Rioja. Many lament the demise of Malvasia in Rioja. I for one welcome Viura. While I like Malvasia in other regions, the new modern Riojas are much more marketable and delightful than the older style. In France it is the 9th most planted variety, almost exclusively in the Pyrenées Orientals where it is responsible for Roussillon Blanc.

Grape Variety	Garnacha Blanca
Use in Old World	Spain and France (Grenache Blanc).
Use in New World	Some in Australia.
Color	Clear.
Aroma	Lightly spicy.
Body	Heavy and alcoholic
Wine Making Flavors	Low in acid and prone to oxidation.
Blended with:	One of the White Châteauneuf-du-Pape grapes.
Other	I use the Spanish name because there is more planted in Spain than in France, and yet it is France's 3rd most planted white variety and only Spain's 9th. Used throughout both countries it is most important in Navarra, Spain.

There remains a host of other white grape varieties. Two often used for dessert wines are:

Muscadelle - The forgotten variety of Bordeaux. Added to Sauternes to lend a perfume quality. Rarely talked about. In Australia it is the grape of their Liqueur Tokays. A fortified wine, very similar to their Liqueur Muscats. In California, Sauvignon Vert, while not exactly common, is thought to also be Muscadelle.

Scheurebe - A cross between Silvaner and Riesling that is used in Germany to make less pricey, but quite good sweet wines. Expect to start seeing this grape planted in California.