Wine Style: Using Your Senses to Explore and Enjoy Wine Book

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

What Is Wine Style—and Why Does It Matter?
Categorizing wines by taste, and where quality enters the picture.

Tasting Wine for Quality and Style.
What constitutes a wine’s taste and its quality.

Getting Down to the Styles.
Twelve wine styles––four for white wine, four for red, two for rose´, and two for sparkling wine––plus two overarching stylistic influences.

Fresh, Unoaked White Wines.
Light, crisp, refreshing whites with fairly subdued aromas and flavors, such as Muscadets, inexpensive white Bordeaux wines, Pinot Grigios, and various other European whites.

Earthy Whites.
Unoaked or gently oaked wines with broad, earthy flavors, such as Rhône whites, Mâcons, Vouvrays, and similar wines.

Aromatic Whites.
Flavorful, unoaked whites from aromatic grapes, such as Rieslings, Grüner Veltliners, Gewürztraminers, Viogniers, Albariños, some Pinot Gris wines, some Sauvignon Blancs.

Rich, Oaky Whites.
Full-bodied, flavorful whites with oaky character, such as most New World Chardonnays, oaked Sauvignon Blancs, elite white Bordeaux wines, and other wines.

Mild-mannered Reds.
Easy-drinking, subtle reds, such as inexpensive red Bordeaux wines, traditional Rioja wines, Northeastern Italian Merlots and Cabernets, simple Chiantis, and similar wines.

Soft and Fruity Reds.
Uncomplicated, youthful reds, such as most Beaujolais wines, many Southern Rhône wines, some Southern Italian reds, some Pinot Noirs from the New World, some U.S. Merlots, and inexpensiveAmerican and Australian reds.

Fresh, Spicy Reds.
Savory, firm reds with lots of personality, such as Dolcettos, Barberas, some Zinfandels, cru Beaujolais wines, Argentine Malbecs, Chilean Carmenères, and other wines

Powerful Reds.
Full-bodied, intense red wines, such as elite California Cabernets and Merlots, elite red Bordeaux wines, Barolos, Brunello di Montalcinos, most Northern Rhône reds, and similar wines

Rosé Wines in Two Styles.
Blush wines such as those from Zinfandel, Merlot, or Grenache grapes in California and dry rosés such as those from Tempranillo in Rioja, Spain, and blends from Provence.

Sparkling Wines in Two Styles.
Fruity bubbly wines such as Prosecco, and serious, complex sparklers such as Champagne.

Glossary.

Index.