Red Wine

Red wine is made from dark-colored grape varieties and skins. Some of the major red wine grapes and their flavor profiles include:

• Cabernet Sauvignon - The king of red grapes, producing full-bodied, bold wines with flavors of black currant, cedar, tobacco, and green olive. Mainly used in Bordeaux blends and single varietal wines.
• Merlot - Provides soft, velvety wines with plum, blackberry and herbal flavors. Blended with Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux. Also makes excellent single varietal wines.
• Pinot Noir - The grape of Burgundy, produces elegant, medium-bodied wines with cherry, raspberry, mushroom and floral notes. Challenging to grow well.
• Syrah/Shiraz - Originating from Rhone Valley and now famous in Australia. Produces spicy wines with blackberry, plum, smoke and leather.
• Sangiovese - Italy's most widely planted grape, providing bright cherry fruit with savory herbal characters in Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino.
• Tempranillo - The classic red grape of Spain, offering cherry, tobacco, and mineral flavors in wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero.
• Nebbiolo - The grape of Barolo and Barbaresco in Piedmont. Makes regal, complex wines with rose, tar, truffle and iron flavors.
• Zinfandel - California's bold, jammy style with brambly berry fruit and black pepper spice.
• Malbec - Originally Bordeaux's blending grape, now Argentina's star providing plum, violet and chocolate.
• Grenache - Major component in Southern Rhone blends. Provides berry, spice and soft tannins.

Tannins, acidity, alcohol levels, and aging potential vary across grape varieties and regions. But red wines generally offer greater complexity, body and structure than whites. They range from light and fruity to rich, intense and ageworthy.