Wine styles
The great wine styles
45 named wine styles — Barolo, Champagne, Chablis, Rioja, Port and more — explained by the grapes behind them, where they come from, and how they taste.
Alsace Riesling
France — France’s dry, full-bodied take on Riesling — steely, aromatic and minerally, from the sheltered…
Amarone della Valpolicella
Italy — A rich, dried-grape red from Veneto, made by air-drying the grapes for months before fermenting.
Asti & Moscato d’Asti
Italy — Sweet, low-alcohol fizz from aromatic Moscato grapes in Piedmont — Italy’s joyful party in a glass.
Barbaresco
Italy — Barolo’s more elegant sibling — Nebbiolo from slightly warmer, earlier-ripening Barbaresco.
Barolo
Italy — The ‘King of Wines’ — a powerful, age-worthy Nebbiolo red from the hills around Alba.
Barossa Shiraz
Australia — Australia’s powerhouse red — big, ripe, full-bodied Shiraz from the warm, old-vine Barossa Valley.
Beaujolais
France — Light, juicy, low-tannin Gamay from granite hills just south of Burgundy.
Bordeaux (Left Bank)
France — The classic Cabernet-led red blend from Bordeaux’s gravelly Left Bank (Médoc).
Bordeaux (Right Bank)
France — The plush, Merlot-led red blend from Bordeaux’s clay-rich Right Bank — home to Saint-Émilion and…
Brunello di Montalcino
Italy — A richer, more powerful Sangiovese from the warmer hill town of Montalcino.
Cava
Spain — Spain’s classic bottle-fermented sparkling wine, made by the same painstaking traditional method as…
Chablis
France — Steely, unoaked Chardonnay from the cool, chalky north of Burgundy.
Champagne
France — The benchmark sparkling wine, made by a second fermentation in the bottle in cool northern France.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
France — A rich, warming Grenache-led blend from the sun-baked southern Rhône.
Chianti Classico
Italy — Tuscany’s classic Sangiovese red — savoury, high-acid and made for the table.
Crémant
France — French sparkling wine made the same way as Champagne, but from outside the Champagne region — at a…
Franciacorta
Italy — Italy’s top traditional-method sparkler — bottle-fermented Chardonnay and Pinot Nero from Lombardy.
Friulian Orange
Italy — A skin-contact white from NE Italy, fermented on its grape skins until it turns amber, grippy and…
Georgian Amber (Qvevri)
Georgia — A skin-fermented amber white from Georgia, made in buried clay qvevri the way it’s been done for…
Grüner Veltliner
Austria — Austria’s signature dry white — crisp, peppery and green-herby, built for the table.
Ice Wine (Eiswein)
Germany — An intensely sweet wine pressed from grapes frozen solid on the vine, concentrating pure, vivid,…
Madeira
Portugal — A fortified wine from the Portuguese island of Madeira, deliberately heated and oxidised until it…
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
New Zealand — Pungent, tropical Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand’s South Island — the wine that made NZ…
Mendoza Malbec
Argentina — Argentina’s signature red — plush, dark-fruited Malbec grown high in the sunny Andean foothills…
Mosel Riesling
Germany — Featherlight, off-dry Riesling from Germany’s steep, slate Mosel valley.
Napa Cabernet
USA — The benchmark New-World Cabernet — ripe, full-bodied and plush, with generous oak, from California’s…
Pinot Grigio
Italy — Northern Italy’s light, crisp, dry white — clean citrus and pear, the easy-drinking everyday glass.
Port
Portugal — A sweet, fortified red from Portugal’s steep Douro valley, with grape spirit added mid-ferment.
Prosecco
Italy — Italy’s easygoing fizz from Glera, made sparkling in a tank rather than the bottle.
Provence Rosé
France — The benchmark for pale, dry, crisp rosé — the pink wine of the French Riviera.
Red Burgundy
France — The world’s benchmark Pinot Noir — pale, perfumed and high-acid, from Burgundy’s Côte d’Or.
Rías Baixas Albariño
Spain — Spain’s great coastal white — zesty, saline Albariño from rainy, Atlantic Galicia.
Ribera del Duero
Spain — Spain’s bold, dark Tempranillo red from the high Castilian plateau — denser and more powerful than…
Rioja
Spain — Spain’s most famous red — Tempranillo aged in (often American) oak for a savoury, vanilla-edged style.
Sancerre
France — The benchmark for crisp, mineral Sauvignon Blanc, from flinty soils in the eastern Loire.
Sauternes
France — A luscious golden dessert wine made from grapes shrivelled by ‘noble rot’ (botrytis).
Sherry (Fino)
Spain — A bone-dry, lightly fortified white from Andalusia, aged under a veil of flor yeast.
Sherry (Oloroso)
Spain — A dark, nutty, intense fortified white from Jerez, deliberately air-aged with no protective flor —…
Spanish Rosado
Spain — Spain’s bold, dry pink wine — deeper-hued and fuller than Provence rosé, led by juicy Garnacha.
Tavel
France — France’s most famous rosé-only appellation — a deeply-coloured, bone-dry, Grenache-led pink built…
Tokaji Aszú
Hungary — Hungary’s legendary golden sweet wine from Tokaj, made mainly from nobly-rotted (Aszú) Furmint…
Valpolicella
Italy — Veneto’s bright, juicy everyday red — a sour-cherry Corvina blend and the easygoing cousin of Amarone.
Vin Santo
Italy — Tuscany’s amber ‘holy wine’, made from dried grapes aged for years in tiny sealed barrels.
Vouvray
France — The Loire’s great Chenin Blanc — made bone-dry to lusciously sweet, plus sparkling, all from one…
White Burgundy
France — Barrel-aged Chardonnay from Burgundy — the world benchmark for fine, oaked white wine.
Learn the wine in your glass
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