Grape varieties are a major factor in how a wine tastes. Find out more here courtesy of decanter.com.

Albariño (Alvarinho) (white) High quality variety grown in Galicia's Rias Baixas region, where it produces aromatic, full-bodied, peachy and grapefruity whites which go beautifully with the local Atlantic shellfish, and known as Alvarinho in neighbouring Portugal's Vinho Verde. Aligoté (white) Aligoté plays the Robin role to Chardonnay's Batman in Burgundy, where it produces crisp, sharp, if neutral dry whites, with a lemony tang of acidity. You can understand why Aligoté is traditionally used to add a bit of verve and bite to the local crème de cassis to make Kir, or Champagne for Kir Royale. In the Côte Chalonnais in southern Burgundy, ally goaty, as the English like to call it, is the exclusive white grape variety in the Bouzeron appellation. It crops up in Eastern Europe and is often used for sparkling wine in the former USSR wine producing countries. Barbera (red) As widely planted in Italy as Sangiovese, but at its best in the hills around Alba and Asti in Italy's north-west, Barbera is a variety whose style varies considerably according to yield. When it's low-yielding and matured in small oak casks, it can be concentrated, rich and deliciously cherryish and capable of ageing well. In high yields it's more of a soft, everyday glugging red whose high acidity makes it ideal for relatively rich dishes. Outside Italy, Barbera is widely planted in California, where, with few exceptions, it has missed out on Sangiovese's Cal-Ital-led surge in popularity, and in Argentina where it can be juicy and cherryish and a very good partner for pasta, risotto and pizza. Cabernet Franc (red) If Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are, respectively, Bordeaux's king and queen, Cabernet Franc is its prince. Ripening earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon, it acts both as a great blender with its special fragrance and at the same time as a form of insurance policy. On the cooler, clay soils of the Right Bank, it forms the backbone of many of the supple delicious, blackcurrant and red berry fruit St Emilions and Pomerols, most notably Cheval Blanc. Outside Bordeaux it's the major red grape of the Loire, where it's more herbaceous in style, as it tends to be in north-east Italy. The name used for it in the middle Loire is Breton. It's also grown in California, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Cabernet Sauvignon (red) Famous, fabulous and fabled, Cabernet Sauvignon is responsible for many of the world's greatest wines and is, arguably, the grandest of all red wine varieties. This thick-skinned, late-ripening variety performs best in the warm, gravelly soils of the Médoc in Bordeaux, usually blended with lesser amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Cabernet can be herbaceous when a little unripe with capsicum notes, becoming blackcurranty or cassis-like often with cedary, musky and spicy qualities. It's deep-coloured and its assertive tannins and affinity with oak allow the wines to improve in bottle over years if not decades. It is equally capable of producing affordable, everyday reds in regions like the South of France's Pays d'Oc, and countries like Bulgaria and Chile as it is of producing wines with real finesse and class, the best of which come from Bordeaux and California and parts of Tuscany and Australia. Latterly, South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina are laying claim to some very good blends and varietals made from Cabernet Sauvignon. Carignan (red) The most widely planted grape variety in France, this workhorse red grape abounds as a bush vine in the vineyards of southern France, where it is mostly used as a blender in Languedoc's major appellations of Corbières and Minervois. At low yields, and vinified by carbonic maceration, it is capable of producing good, if rustic, reds. In Catalonia in Spain, it is known as Cariñena, and in Rioja, as Mazuelo. As Carignano del Sulcis, it makes attractively herby wine in Sardinia and is widely planted in California and South America. Carmenère (red) Variety which died out in Bordeaux after phylloxera but has since been revived in Chile, where it is also known as Grande Vidure. Chardonnay (white) Chardonnay is the most popular of all white grape varieties, albeit not the most widely planted variety in the world (a dubious honour belonging to Spain's Airén). Why so popular? As the grape of white burgundy it produces a variety of flavours and styles according to where it's grown and how it's made, from minerally, unoaked Chablis to the grand and complex, nutty dry whites of Meursault, Chassagne and Puligny Montrachet in the Côte de Beaune and the fleshpots of Pouilly Fuissé further south. Along with Pinot Noir, it is also the major grape variety in Champagne. Because of its versatility, it has spread like a bush fire throughout Europe and the New World, with brilliant, opulently and exotically flavoured whites in California, Australia and New Zealand. As winemakers lavish increasing attention on it, it does increasingly well in Chile and South Africa. As a non-aromatic variety, it has an affinity with oak, whether new or used, French or American, and while barrel-fermented Chardonnays tend to be the richest, most complex and long-lived dry whites, the trend to unoaked Chardonnay is catching on as a backlash to the hefty, overwooded styles. Despite talk of Chardonnay fatigue, its wonderful flavours, richness and versatility ensure that it is here to stay.

Chenin Blanc (white) The versatile Chenin Blanc's pretensions to classic grape status are mainly realised in the Loire Valley, where its floral aroma, apple and pear-like flavour and acidity contribute to long-lived dry styles and luscious sweet whites around Bonnezeaux, Quarts de Chaume, Vouvray and Layon, and, on occasions, full-flavoured sparkling wines. Considered more of a workhorse variety in the New World, it is South Africa's most widely planted grape variety (known as Steen), widely planted in California, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand, and occasionally produces quality dry whites when barrel-fermented. Cinsaut (red) Southern Rhône variety, aka Cinsault, used in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Midi, also popular in South Africa and an ingredient in Lebanon's Château Musar. Clairette (white) Ancient Languedoc grape used in many of southern France's regions, but usually needing the acidity of Grenache, Picpoul or Ugni Blanc to bring it to life. Colombard (white) Probably because of its association with Armagnac and Cognac, for which it is distilled in south-west France, Colombard has no status at all within the grape variety world. When produced at reasonable cropping levels, it can make a more than acceptable, commercial dry white style such as Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne. It is produced to make neutral, commercial wines in South Africa, California and Australia, and some say the best Colombard in the world is made by Joe Grilli's Primo Estate in the Adelaide Plains. Cortese (white) Piedmontese dry white with crisp Alpine acidity probably best appreciated in the wines of Gavi and also forming part of Verona's Bianco di Custoza. Corvina (red) Late-ripening quality component of Valpolicella and the powerful Veronese speciality reds, Amarone and Recioto. Fernão Pires (white) Quality Portuguese variety grown throughout Portugal but especially in Ribatejo and Bairrada where it's known as Maria Gomes. Furmint (white) Susceptible to raisining and noble rot (known as Aszú in Hungary's Tokaji), this full-bodied, high acid quality grape is the major partner in the blend with Hárslevelú which makes up Tokaji, the rich, long-lived wines of the Tokaj region in Hungary, now undergoing a revival thanks to western investments. It can produce a good, fiery dry white too. It's also grown in Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania. Gamay (red) Gamay is the Beaujolais grape, and, as such, carries with it an innate inferiority complex next to the red Burgundy grape, Pinot Noir. It's a pity because when it's good, Gamay can make a deliciously, gushingly juicy everyday red with a refreshing nip of acidity and flavours ranging from strawberry and cherry to hints of banana. In the ten Beaujolais crus, it's also capable of making a more serious, age worthy red. Also grown with moderate success in the Loire, Switzerland and former Yugoslavia and known for some strange reason in California as Valdiguié. Garganega (white) This is the classic white grape of Soave, notorious for its vapid character, although when made well from low-yielding, hillside vineyards, it can be delicately almondy and crisp. Gewürztraminer (white) One of the most distinctively perfumed grapes in the world, Gewürz is the Alsace grape which smells of fragrant rose petals and Turkish Delight and tastes of lychees. Its boudoir spiciness makes it an extremely popular wine with newcomers to wine, although it can be on the heavy side. In its late-harvest form, it makes deliciously rich, sweet, exotic whites. It can be difficult to get the balance right in the vineyard, but is widely grown in Europe, notably Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe as well as in small quantities in Chile, South Africa, Oregon, California, Australia and New Zealand too. Grechetto (white) One of Italy's more characterful dry white grape varieties principally responsible for the slightly fennel-like Umbrian whites of Orvieto and also Vin Santo. Grenache/Garnacha (red) One of the world's most widely planted grapes, Grenache is a quintessentially Mediterranean red variety which does best as a low yielding bush vine. It produces powerful, warming, raspberryish reds whose greatest expression, from old, low-yielding vines, is to be found in Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Château Rayas) in France and in Australia's Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. It also makes good fortified reds as in Banyuls, Rivesaltes and Maury. Known in Spain as Garnacha Tinta, where it's widely planted, particularly in Rioja and Priorat, it fleshes out the Tempranillo. It's grown in California and in Italy too. Grillo (white) Sicilian variety which has traditionally been used as the basis for the fortified wines of Marsala but also used to make a honeyed, still dry white with good acidity.

Grüner Veltliner (white) Austria's most widely planted grape variety, where, in quality regions like the Wachau, Kamptal and Kremstal, it can produce an assertive, steely, rich dry white capable of rivalling the best Rieslings, while around Vienna it is used for the young 'Heurige' wines. It has a unique aroma and flavour with elements of white pepper and celery marking it out from any other variety. It's also grown to a certain extent in Slovakia and Hungary. Inzolia (white) Grown mainly in Sicily and in Tuscany a little. Used commonly in white table wines, it has an acidic, nutty flavour. Kerner (white) Reliable ripener and successful Riesling-based crossing largely replacing Silvaner in Germany, where it's a better bet than either Silvaner or Müller-Thurgau. Macabeo (white) Widely planted in northern Spain and around the Mediterranean vineyards of Roussillon and Languedoc, where it's known as Maccabeu, needing low yields for quality. Malbec (red) Responsible for the so-called ancient 'black wine of Cahors' in south-west France, Malbec is also a minor partner among the five main red varieties that make up the Bordeaux blend. While it can be harsh and rustically tannic in France (usually needing Merlot to soften it), it is the red grape par excellence of Argentina, where it makes a softer, juicier style of red, especially from old vines, with raspberry, mulberry and game-like undertones. It's also grown in Chile, Australia and California. Malvasia (white) Like Muscat, this is an ancient, Mediterranean-based variety, whose heartland is Italy, where it makes anything from dry white and red wines to the rich, sweet, fragrant whites of the islands, notably Sardinia, Lipari close to Sicily. Malvasia Istriana, from Friuli is particularly good and, as a sub-variety, like Malvasia di Candia, it is often blended to improve Italian basic whites. As a red variety, Malvasia Nera is blended with Negroamaro in Puglia. It's common in Spain and Portugal and in Madeira it is responsible for the rich Madeira wine known as Malmsey. Marsanne (white) This is a quintessential northern Rhône grape variety with a faintly nutty character usually blended with the zippier Roussanne to make the dry whites of Crozes Hermitage, St. Joseph, Côtes du Rhône and at its best, the rare white Hermitage. It is becoming increasingly popular in the south of France as a blender and it has long been grown in Australia's Goulburn Valley. With the popularity of Rhône varieties in California, it's being tried out with some success here too. Melon de Bourgogne (white) Known better as Muscadet, its region of production in the western Loire close to Nantes, Melon is synonymous with the rather neutral, acidic dry white Loire Valley wine which reached its zenith in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is not a particularly distinguished variety, but, when genuinely made sur lie, i.e. left on its lees for added zippy complexity, it can be transformed into a bracing summer white with a sort of sea-salty freshness, making it the perfect accompaniment to shellfish. Merlot (red) For long considered the junior partner in the great Bordeaux duo of grape varieties, Merlot has achieved growing popularity in the last decade of the 20th century thanks to the cult worship of certain Merlot-based Pomerols and Saint Emilions in Bordeaux as well as a growing taste for its lusciously plummy and flavoursome early-drinking delights in countries such as Chile and California. With its soft texture, deliciously plummy fruit flavour and mellow tannins, Merlot is more approachable than Cabernet Sauvignon. Taking to damp, cool, clay soils rather than the warmer gravels of the Médoc, plantings of the earlier-ripening, thinner-skinned Merlot outnumber those of Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux and they are also growing extensively in the south of France. Merlot ripens earlier and more easily than Cabernet Sauvignon, hence its popularity in France and in northern Italy. It is widely planted in Eastern Europe, but outside France, it is at its most serious in California, where it has become one of the 'hottest' varieties. It is also extensively grown in Chile, where it produces excellent value, supple-textured reds, and, increasingly in Australia and New Zealand. Montepulciano (red) Best known for the rustic reds of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, this deep-coloured variety, the main ingredient in Rosso Conero and Rosso Piceno, is widely planted in central Italy, and often used as a blender with Sangiovese. Mourvèdre (red) Increasingly popular as the world wakes up to its qualities, this robust, thick-skinned Mediterranean variety with its funky, animal-like character is most widely planted in Spain where it's known as Monastrell. It's at its intense, blackberryish best where it gets lots of sunshine, often close to the sea, hence its ascendancy in Bandol on Provence's Mediterranean shoreline. On the back of the Rhône revival in California and Australia, it performs well in blends with other Mediterranean varieties, especially Grenache and Syrah.

Müller-Thurgau (white) A marvel of commercial engineering but never a high quality grape, this Germanic crossing of what is thought to be Silvaner with Riesling or Chasselas has Dr. Hermann Müller to thank for its dubious notoriety, which plumbs the depths in today's Liebfraumilch. It is an early-ripening grape favoured in cool, northern climates, where it can produce floral, sweet-pea like aromas. It can produce decent wine in Italy's Alto-Adige, Eastern Europe and in England and it formed the basis for the modern New Zealand table wine industry back in the 1970s. Muscadelle (white) The least of the Bordeaux trio of Sauvignon, Semillon and Muscadelle, this grape nevertheless adds a certain fragrant quality to the dry and sweet whites of Bordeaux and is responsible for the wonderfully sticky, malty, fortified Tokays of north-east Victoria. Muscat (white) There are four main varieties of Muscat, the finest being Muscat à Petits Grains, followed by Muscat of Alexandria, then Muscat Hamburg and the lesser Muscat Ottonel. Renowned for its perfume and grapey character, Muscat is the great Mediterranean vine of antiquity, producing a variety of white wine styles, from the full-bodied dry whites of Alsace, to the sweet, fortified Muscats of Beaumes de Venise, Rivesaltes and Frontignan, Italy's south and Australia's north-east Victoria and sparkling wines, notably Asti Spumante, Moscato Bianco and Clairette de Die. Muscat is widely grown in Spain, Eastern Europe, Greece, Austria, Portugal and the New World. Nebbiolo (red) Arguably Italy's greatest red grape variety, responsible in north-west Italy for the great reds of Barolo and Barbaresco, whose range of fabulous violet and rose-like perfumes and flavours of truffle, fennel, liquorice and tar, make it one of the world's most distinctive grape varieties. Named from the Italian nebbia, meaning fog, because of the mists which enshroud the limestone hills of Monforte around Alba, Nebbiolo is a tricky grape variety to grow and is structured by good acidity and plenty of tannin. Small quantities are grown in California and Australia, where it has yet to show the pedigree of its Italian counterpart. Negroamaro (red) Puglia's main red grape variety producing ripe sometimes raisiny, chocolatey Mediterranean reds, best known in the DOC wines of Salice Salentino and Copertino. Nero d'Avola (red) Good quality red grape variety almost indigenous to Sicily, producing intense, age worthy reds, especially when blended and matured in small oak casks. Palomino (white) Palomino is the sherry grape grown in the vineyards of Jerez in southern Spain, where it performs best in Jerez' white, chalk-like albariza soils. It is low in acidity and fruit sugar which makes it ideal for the production of sherry. Although not particularly notable as a table wine, once it has undergone the sherry process of fortification and ageing in oak casks, it takes on distinctive characters as it matures. There is a fair amount grown in California and Australia. Parellada (white) Appley Catalan variety mostly used in the production of cava, but also used to make a refreshing dry white in the Penedès region. Pedro Ximénez (white) The counterpart to Palomino in the Jerez region of Spain, PX, as it's nicknamed, produces dark, sweet, raisiny fortified wines and is used as a blender to sweeten Oloroso sherry. Petit and Gros Manseng (white) Vine varieties from Jurançon in south-western France making assertive, grapefruity dry whites and, in the case of the superior Petit Manseng, luscious sweet whites following raisining (passerillage) on the vine. Petite Sirah (red) Not related, despite the name, to the more noble Syrah, this is grown mainly in California and South America, where it produces sturdy, robust, faintly spicy reds. No longer thought to be the same grape as France's (and Australia's) Durif. Petit Verdot (red) This high quality Bordeaux variety deserves to be better known as well as more popular but it doesn't always get ripe, especially in marginal climates. It is thick-skinned and produces richly concentrated, intense red wines which are usually added in small proportions to Médoc reds. It's grown in small quantities in California's Napa Valley and is currently viewed in parts of Australia, notably the Riverland, as a variety with the potential to produce premium reds. Picpoul (white) Another ancient Languedoc white variety, aka Piquepoul, which in the lively dry whites of Picpoul de Pinet, goes down a treat with the locally farmed oysters and mussels. Pinotage (red) Red South African variety developed by Professor A.I. Perold in 1924 as a cross between Cinsaut and Pinot Noir and then largely ignored for half a century. Revival began in the late 1980s thanks largely to Beyers Truter whose championing of the variety led to international recognition with Kanonkop. It comes in a plethora of styles according to growing conditions, vineyard management and winemaking. With an assortment of plum, cherry, blackberry and banana flavours, it takes to oak barrels and can age well.

Pinot Blanc (white) Pinot Blanc is most commonly associated with the full-bodied dry white wines of Alsace which can be neutral, but can also be quite apple and pear-like in character and act as a very good accompaniment to fish and shellfish. It is also grown in Burgundy, although not many producers admit to having it. Perhaps because of its neutral character, it is also extensively used in Alsace as a base for sparkling Crémant d'Alsace. Outside France, it is popular in Italy as Pinot Bianco, Austria as Weissburgunder and grown in parts of Eastern Europe as well as Oregon and California, where Chalone make a speciality of it. Pinot Gris (white) Pinot Gris, aka Tokay Pinot Gris in Alsace, is a slightly spicier and more expressive version of its stablemate, Pinot Blanc, and actually a mutation of Pinot Noir. It is one of the chief dry white varieties in Alsace, but also produces some deliciously sweet, ageworthy, late-harvest styles. It is the same grape as northern Italy's Pinot Grigio, Germany's Grauburgunder or Ruländer and Hungary's Szürkebarát and is becoming moderately fashionable in New Zealand. Pinot Meunier (red) Not particularly well-known as a varietal, this relative of Burgundy's Pinot Noir is best known as the third main blending variety in Champagne, where it is more dependable than Pinot Noir because of its ability to ripen on slopes which Pinot Noir would have trouble coping with as well. It is generally thought to add suppleness and youthful fruit to the Champagne blend. Meunier is also grown in Germany an Australia and to a lesser degree in California. Pinot Noir (red) Pinot Noir is the classic grape of red burgundy, whose greatest wines are concentrated in the east and south-east-facing limestone hills of Burgundy's Côte d'Or. This thin-skinned grape is a notoriously temperamental variety, which has proved difficult to grow in certain climates and soils. There's no other grape like Pinot Noir with its wonderfully heady perfumes, and thrillingly pure, sweet, red berry flavours of raspberry, loganberry, mulberry, cherry and strawberry. It takes well to French oak and, in bottle, develops truffley and gamey undertones. Along with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir is one of the major grape varieties in Champagne, and plantings of Pinot in the region are even more extensive than those in Burgundy itself. Despite its fickle nature, it is a tribute to its desirability among consumers and producers and it has inspired growers all over Europe and the New World.

Riesling (white) The one true classic non-French grape, Riesling is the most versatile, scented white variety in the range of wines it produces from dry to lusciously sweet. Yet it's revival always seems to be just around the next corner. This is as much because of its tarnished reputation due to Liebfraumilch and the array of wanna-be Rieslings which have arrogated the good name of Rhine Riesling (Olasz, Welsch, Laski, Riesling Italico) as for the steely acidity which generally makes for more demanding wines than those produced from Sauvignon or Chardonnay. The late-ripening Riesling's heartland is the steep Mosel and Rheingau valleys of Germany, where it produces wines rich in crisp, lime and appley flavours and honeyed richness. Its classification from dry to sweet gives it an entirely different cultural slant from its French counterparts, with the perfumed, sweet styles ranging from auslese to trockenbeerenauslese in great demand. Fine, dry Riesling is not only increasingly fashionable in Germany, but in Alsace and Austria too, where, in the Wachau in particular, some of the world's greatest dry Rieslings are produced. As a cool climate variety par excellence, Riesling has not adapted as well as the other to classics to the New World, but there are a handful of regions where it has been shown to do well, most notably the Eden and Clare Valleys in South Australia, Mount Barker in Western Australia, New Zealand's South Island, Washington State, and cooler spots in California and the Cape's Constantia.

Sangiovese (red) Meaning Blood of Jove, or Jupiter, Sangiovese is the Chianti grape par excellence, and responsible in Tuscany too, for Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobilo de Montepulciano. A fussy grape to grow, it can produce lively, almost fizzing young reds with juicy, cherry flavours, as well as more concentrated, long-lived, oak-matured reds with superb, savoury, herb and spice flavours and great finesse. Ongoing colonel selection in Chianti Classic designed to reverse the rush to plant productive clones is helping the process of improving Sangiovese-based wines in Italy. Sangiovese is widespread in Argentina thanks to the influx of Italian immigrants and has become fashionable in California and, to a more limited extent, in Australia. Sauvignon Blanc (white) While it may lack the dimensions of Chardonnay, Sauvignon's greatest attributes lie in its fabulous array of aromatic qualities, which vary according to growing location and its treatment in the cellar. It divides into two clear styles characterised by the fragrant, zingy fresh Loire Valley style reminiscent of cut-grass, gooseberry, flint and nettles, and the contrasting Bordeaux-style, often blended with Semillon and Muscadelle and barrel-fermented to produce the richer, if less assertive, food friendly dry whites of Pessac-Leognan in the Graves. At the same time, it is a component in the sweet, rich and luscious whites of Sauternes and Barsac. It can do well in cooler areas within Europe, including parts of Austria and Hungary. In New Zealand's Marlborough, it produces a stunning array of pungently, assertive characters, from the green grass, green bean, tinned pea and asparagus flavours to the more tropical, ripe spectrum of grapefruit, guava, passion fruit and mango. The Sauvignon cause has also been taken up to good and affordable effect by Chile and South Africa, whose cooler spots are proving ideal for this wonderfully zingy, fresh grape variety. Sémillon (white) Sémillon is generally blended with the aromatic Sauvignon Blanc in Bordeaux to produce the fine dry whites of Pessac-Leognan in the Graves, which are often barrel-fermented. It is at its most illustrious in the humid atmosphere of Sauternes and Barsac, where its susceptibility to noble rot concentrates the fruit sugars and acids in the grapes to produce some of the most luscious, sweet wines in the world, most notably that of Chateau d'Yquem, a blend of four-fifths Sémillon, one-fifth Sauvignon Blanc. On its own, it is responsible for some of Australia's most individual dry whites, in particular those from the Hunter Valley, which develop a buttered toast character with age, while the richer, fuller-bodied, lemony Bares Valley Semillons can also be excellent. Generally, its richness and body is often used to complement the aromatic Sauvignon, although in cool, maritime climates such as New Zealand, it can develop pungently grassy characteristics. Sémillon, often spelt with the accent dropped outside France, is also widespread in South and North America, and it's planted in Eastern Europe and South Africa too, where it never quite scales the heights achieved in France and Australia. Silvaner (white) A relatively elegant German variety than Riesling with pronounced acidity reaching its best expression in Franconia, and known as Sylvaner in Alsace, where it is one of the lesser varietals. Syrah/Shiraz (red) Syrah is a quintessentially Mediterranean-climate variety, a big cropper resistant to pests and diseases, producing dark, inky, aromatic reds with black fruit flavours and peppery, spicy characteristics. It is the great red grape of the northern Rhône where it reaches its apogee in the deep-hued, muscular, long-lived wines of Hermitage and Côte Rôtie. It is a component of southern Rhône reds and the fastest growing grape in Franc's Languedoc region, where it has been introduced as an improving variety. As Shiraz, it is Australia's most important red variety, where it forms the backbone of Grange, Australia's most famous red, and is grown with increasing confidence in South Africa and Argentina. Tannat (red) Deep-hued, intense, spicy red known best for the wines of Madiran in south-west France, but also the foundation of Uruguay's best reds and grown in Argentina.

Tempranillo (red) Spain's most important quality red variety, forming the backbone of Rioja and Ribera del Duero, where it's known as Tinto Fino (other synonyms include Ull de Llebre, Tinta del Pais, Tinta de Toro, Cencibel and, in Portugal, Aragonez and Tinta Roriz). Capable of making juicy young reds as well as serious, well-structured, fine, oak-aged reds with vanilla, tobacco spice and strawberry flavours, usually blended with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, but sometimes made on its own. One of the major red varieties of Argentina and grown also in Languedoc-Roussillon, California and Australia. Tinta Barroca (red) This is a robust Portuguese variety, aka Tinta Barocca, used as a blender in port but also popular in South Africa and known in Australia too. Torrontés (white) Fragrant, grapey, Muscat-like Spanish variety common in Argentina, to which it may have been originally transported from Galicia. Touriga Nacional (red) Although not widely known as a varietal, this rare, small-berried, dark-skinned Portuguese variety is nevertheless the highest quality grape that goes into the Douro Valley melting pot to produce port (the others are mainly Touriga Francesa, Tinto Cão, Tinta Barroca and Tinta Roriz). Still in Portugal, it' also one of the major grapes of Dão and is grown in Australia, where it's known simply as Touriga. Trebbiano (white) The most widely planted white variety in Italy, quantity does not however bring quality in its wake. It's an insipid variety, known in France as Ugni Blanc, where its use as the basis for brandy (as in Mexico too) speaks volumes. There are a handful of producers however, most notably in Lugana and Abruzzo, who, thanks to low-yields and careful winemaking, manage to squeeze some Chardonnay-like character out of this ubiquitous vine. Widely planted too in Argentina, South Africa and Australia. Ugni Blanc (white) Known as Trebbiano (see above) and Saint Emilion, a grape grown extensively in France - mainly used in Cognac and Gascony - as well as Italy and the New World. Verdejo (white) One of Spain's higher quality white varieties grown around Rueda where it is sometimes blended with Sauvignon Blanc to add body and richness to Sauvignon's aromatic lift. Verdelho (white) Portuguese variety grown in Madeira where it makes a fortified style between Sercial and Bual and grown as a still wine grape in Australia, especially Western Australia. Verdicchio (white) High quality grape from the eponymous DOC in the Marche region of Italy with good body and faintly spicy flavours, and best from the Jesi zone. Viognier (white) The 'hottest' of the Rhône Valley trio, which includes Marsanne and Roussanne, Viognier is one of those relatively rare varieties which have been 'discovered' and now everyone wants a slice of the action. Rippling out from the small appellation of Condrieu and the even tinier one of Château Grillet, the aromatic, powerful Viognier with its hallmark blossom scents and apricot and peach-like flavours, has become the darling of Californians, and, latterly Argentina, Australia and the South of France too. It makes powerfully rich, dry whites made for drinking young, offering a delicious alternative style to Chardonnay. Xarel-lo (white) Earthy, undistinguished Catalan variety normally used as a blender in cava along with Parellada and Macabeo. Zinfandel (red) Responsible for the blush wine craze of the late 1980s, Zinfandel is a near-native grape of California, where at its best, it produces powerfully-constructed, brambly, spicy reds for the most part best drunk young or relatively young. Known as Primitivo, it also flourishes in Puglia, around Manduria, producing similarly big, albeit more savoury, reds. Like South Africa's Pinotage, it has recently undergone a major revival in California, so much so that Italy, ironically, has recently won the right to the use of the name Zinfandel for Primitivo.