A crash course in ten short lessons: what wine is, the main styles, grapes, places, tasting, labels, serving, food and buying. The one page to read first.
To understand wine, you need only a handful of ideas: wine is fermented grape juice, its style comes from the grape, the place and the way it was made, and you can describe any glass with five words (sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol and body). Add how to read a label, serve a bottle at the right temperature and match it with food, and you know the basics.
This Wine 101 guide is a crash course in ten short lessons, in the order a beginner needs them. Each covers the must-know basics in a few minutes and ends with a pointer to go deeper. No previous knowledge is needed: if you enjoy a glass, you already have the most important qualification.
What is wine and how is it made?
Wine is the fermented juice of grapes. Yeast eats the natural sugar in the juice and turns it into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Most still wines finish somewhere around 11 to 15% alcohol.
The journey from vine to glass follows the same basic steps:
Growing: sunshine builds sugar in the grapes, while cooler nights help them keep their acidity, the fresh, mouth-watering quality in wine.
Harvest: grapes are picked, usually in late summer or autumn.
Crushing and pressing: for white wine the juice is usually separated from the skins straight away; for red wine the skins stay in.
Fermentation: yeast turns sugar into alcohol, usually over one to a few weeks.
Ageing: the wine rests in steel tanks or oak barrels, from a few months to several years. Oak can add vanilla, toast and spice.
Bottling: the wine is clarified and bottled.
One surprise: the juice of nearly all grapes is clear, even from dark-skinned ones. Red wine takes its colour, and much of its tannin, from soaking with the skins during fermentation.
Nearly every bottle belongs to one of seven families. Still simply means without bubbles. What separates the families is mostly how the wine was made, not just the colour of the grapes.
Style
How it is made
Classic examples
Red
Dark-skinned grapes fermented with their skins
Rioja, Chianti Classico, Barolo
White
Juice pressed off the skins before fermentation, usually from pale-skinned grapes
Chablis, Sancerre, Mosel Riesling
Rosé
Dark-skinned grapes left on their skins for a short time, from a few hours to a day or two
Provence rosé, Tavel
Sparkling
Usually a second fermentation traps carbon dioxide, either in the bottle or in a sealed tank
Champagne, Cava, Prosecco
Sweet
Some sugar left unfermented, often from grapes concentrated by noble rot, freezing or drying
Sauternes, Tokaji Aszú, ice wine
Fortified
Grape spirit is added, lifting alcohol to roughly 15 to 22%
Port, sherry, Madeira
Orange
Pale-skinned grapes fermented on their skins like a red
Georgian amber wine, orange wines from Friuli
Most red, white and rosé wines on the shelf are dry, which in the EU means a still wine with at most 4 grams of sugar per litre, or up to 9 g/L when the acidity is high. See our wine sweetness chart.
There are thousands of grape varieties, but a small group makes a large share of the wine in shops. Each brings its own flavours, colour, acidity and tannin, so the grape is often the best clue to how a wine will taste.
Many wines, especially from Australia, New Zealand and the Americas, put the grape on the front label. Others are blends of several grapes: classic red Bordeaux, for example, is usually built on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Six grapes are enough to start with:
Cabernet Sauvignon: full-bodied red with blackcurrant flavours and firm tannin.
Merlot: softer, rounder red with plum and black cherry.
Pinot Noir: light, silky red with red cherry, raspberry and, with age, earthy notes.
Chardonnay: a chameleon white, from crisp and appley when unoaked to rich and buttery when oak-aged.
Sauvignon Blanc: zesty white with citrus, green apple and fresh-cut grass.
Riesling: highly aromatic white with lime, peach and sharp acidity, made anywhere from bone dry to lusciously sweet.
Learn these six and many other wines start to make sense, because they are so often compared with them.
Where wine comes from: Old World, New World and terroir
Most of the world's vineyards lie in two bands, roughly 30 to 50 degrees north and south of the equator. Within them, climate shapes the wine more than anything else.
Old World means the traditional wine countries of Europe, such as France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany. New World means places where European-style winemaking arrived later: the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and South Africa. As a loose rule, Old World labels lead with the place (a Chablis is a Chardonnay, but the label may never say so), while New World labels lead with the grape.
Cooler climate
Warmer climate
Acidity
Higher, fresher
Lower, softer
Alcohol
Often lower
Often higher
Body
Lighter
Fuller
Fruit flavours
Tart: lemon, green apple, cranberry, red cherry
Ripe: peach, pineapple, plum, blackberry
Examples
Chablis, Mosel, Marlborough
Barossa, Mendoza, Napa
Terroir (say "tair-wahr") is the French word for everything about a place that shapes its wine: climate, soil, slope, sunshine, nearby water and the local way of doing things. Vintage is the year the grapes were picked. It matters most in cooler, changeable regions, where one summer can be very different from the next.
Tasting well is a skill anyone can learn, and it takes about a minute per glass:
Look: tilt the glass against something white. Whites tend to deepen towards gold with age, while reds fade from purple towards brick.
Smell: swirl to release the aromas, then take a few short sniffs. Much of what we call flavour is really smell. Think in broad groups first: fruit, flowers, herbs, spice, oak, earth.
Taste: take a small sip and move it around your mouth. Notice the flavours, the structure, and how long the taste lingers after you swallow, called the finish.
Structure is described with five words, the most useful vocabulary in wine because they say how a wine feels, not just what it tastes of.
Moscato d'Asti (about 5%) vs Amarone (often 15% or more)
Body
The overall weight of the wine
Whole mouth, like skimmed vs whole milk
Beaujolais vs Napa Cabernet
Key takeaway: you do not need to name the exact fruit. If you can say "dry, high acidity, light body, low tannin", you have described the wine in a way any wine shop can work with.
A label looks crowded, but it usually answers the same few questions:
Producer: the winery that made the wine, often the biggest name on the label.
Region: where the grapes grew. Protected place names follow rules about grapes and methods: look for AOP or AOC in France, DOC or DOCG in Italy, and DO or DOCa in Spain.
Grape: often left off European labels because the region implies it.
Vintage: the harvest year. "NV" or no year at all means a blend of years, which is normal for most Champagne.
Alcohol: shown as % vol or ABV (alcohol by volume). A handy clue to body: 12% usually feels lighter than 14.5%.
Style and quality terms: words such as Reserva, Kabinett or Brut tell you about ageing, ripeness or sweetness. Brut on a sparkling wine means under 12 grams of sugar per litre, so it tastes dry.
The back label is often more useful than the front: it may describe the taste, suggest food or name the grapes.
How to serve wine: temperature, glasses, opening and keeping
The most common serving mistake is white wine too cold and red wine too warm. A fridge mutes aromas, while a warm room makes reds taste soupy and alcoholic. Use these ranges, or try our wine serving temperature tool:
Wine
Serve at
Sparkling
6–10°C
Light white and rosé
7–10°C
Full-bodied white
10–13°C
Light red
12–14°C
Medium and full-bodied red
15–18°C
Sweet wine
6–10°C
Glasses: one all-purpose glass with a tulip-shaped bowl does nearly every job. Fill it about a third full so you can swirl, and hold it by the stem.
Opening: for sparkling wine, keep a thumb on the cork, point the bottle away from people, and turn the bottle rather than the cork until it releases with a gentle sigh.
Keeping: reseal the bottle and put it in the fridge. Light whites and rosé usually stay pleasant for 5 to 7 days, fuller whites and reds for 3 to 5, and sparkling wine for 1 to 3 days with a proper stopper. Unopened bottles keep best somewhere dark at a steady 12 to 13°C, lying down if they have a cork.
Pairing has a reputation for being complicated, but a few principles, all built on the five structure words, cover most meals.
Match the weight. Grilled fish suits a crisp white, slow-cooked beef a full-bodied red.
Acid loves acid. With tomato sauces and lemony dishes, choose a wine at least as acidic as the food, or it will taste flat.
Tannin loves fat and protein. A steak softens a tannic red such as Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dessert wine must be sweeter than the dessert. Otherwise the wine tastes thin and sour.
Go gently with chilli heat. High alcohol and strong tannin make spicy food feel hotter. An off-dry (lightly sweet) white such as Riesling is usually a safer bet.
Salt likes bubbles and sweetness. Think sparkling wine with fried snacks, or Port with blue cheese.
When in doubt, remember "what grows together goes together": Chianti with Tuscan food is a classic for a reason.
Buying wine gets much easier once you can describe what you like. Put a bottle you enjoyed into structure words, such as "dry, fresh and light", and that one sentence is worth more than any score.
Ask the staff. Tell them what you liked, what you are eating and roughly what you want to spend.
Look next door to famous names. Well-known regions carry a premium. Crémant, for example, is made by the same method as Champagne and is often far easier on the wallet.
Do not judge by the closure. Screw caps are standard for many excellent wines, especially from Australia and New Zealand.
Do not over-think the vintage. Most everyday wines are made to be enjoyed within a year or two of release.
In a restaurant, tell the sommelier the style and price you have in mind. For a ready-made shortlist, see our best wines for beginners.
The fastest way to build wine knowledge is to taste with attention, a little and often:
Taste side by side. Open two contrasting wines together, such as an oaked and an unoaked Chardonnay. Differences jump out that you would miss in one glass.
Write three lines. Grape and place, the five structure words, and whether you liked it.
Learn one thing at a time. One grape or region a week builds knowledge without overload.
Test yourself. Our free wine quizzes show what has stuck and what needs another look.
Small pours are enough, and wine is for adults of legal drinking age and best enjoyed in moderation. For a week-by-week plan, our guide on how to learn about wine sets one out.
Where to start: taste two bottles from different families side by side, using the five structure words, and write down what you notice.
Wine is fermented grape juice, and its style depends on the grape, the place it grew and how it was made. Most wines fall into seven families: red, white, rosé, sparkling, sweet, fortified and orange. Any wine can be described with five structure words: sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol and body. Add label reading and serving temperatures and you have the foundations.
What is the best way to learn about wine?
Taste with attention and a little structure. Compare two contrasting wines side by side, describe each with the five structure words, and write a short note. Learn one grape or region at a time, test yourself now and then with a quiz, and follow a course or reading plan so you build knowledge in a sensible order.
What are the five S's of wine tasting?
The five S's are a memory aid for tasting: see, swirl, sniff, sip and savour. See means looking at the colour, swirl releases the aromas, and sniff is where you pick up most of the wine's character. Sip means moving the wine around your mouth, and savour means noticing the finish, how long the flavour lasts after you swallow.
What is the difference between dry and sweet wine?
Dry wine has had nearly all its sugar turned into alcohol, while sweet wine keeps some. Under EU rules, a still wine counts as dry at up to 4 grams of sugar per litre, or up to 9 g/L when it has high acidity. Medium dry goes up to 12 g/L, or 18 g/L with high acidity, medium sweet up to 45 g/L, and sweet is above 45 g/L. Fruity flavours can make a dry wine seem sweeter than it is.
What are the main types of wine?
Most wines fit seven families. Red is dark grapes fermented with their skins, white is juice pressed off the skins, and rosé gets a short time on dark skins. Sparkling wine usually traps carbon dioxide from a second fermentation, sweet wine keeps unfermented sugar, fortified wine such as Port has grape spirit added, and orange wine is white grapes fermented on their skins.
How much do you need to know to enjoy wine?
Very little, and nothing at all to start. Knowing a few grapes, the five structure words and the right serving temperatures simply helps you choose bottles you will like and explain your taste to others. A little knowledge also makes each glass more interesting.
Learn the wine in your glass
Scan any label and Winelingo explains the wine in plain words, with a short lesson to go with it. Free to download on the App Store.
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