There are roughly 10,000 wine grape varieties on the planet. Around 1,500 are made into commercial wine; perhaps 100 are taken seriously by the global trade; a smaller number define entire regional traditions. The varieties below are a working sommelier’s bookshelf — the noble international grapes, the great indigenous reds and whites of the Mediterranean and Central Europe, the New World specialties, and the obscure-but-extraordinary varieties that reward serious cellar attention. Each entry covers character, where it grows best, tasting profile, aging, classic pairings, and what Boulder Wine Merchant stocks.
International noble varieties — reds
France · Burgundy
The thin-skinned, terroir-transmitting grape that built Burgundy. Pale, perfumed, capable of decades.
France · Bordeaux
Structured backbone of Bordeaux’s Left Bank and the grape that built modern Napa.
France · Bordeaux
Plumper and softer than Cabernet, and the engine of Pomerol.
France · Loire & Bordeaux
The parent of Cabernet Sauvignon — leafy, fragrant, the dominant red of Chinon and Bourgueil.
France · Bordeaux
Bordeaux’s late-ripening seasoning grape — violet, structure, deep color in a blend.
France · Northern Rhône
Granite, pepper, violet, smoke. The most savory red wine made.
France · Southern Rhône
The hot-climate workhorse behind Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Spanish Garnacha.
France · Provence
The structural backbone of Bandol — black olive, garrigue, age-worthy.
France · Beaujolais
Banished from Burgundy in 1395, now producing serious cru-level reds in Beaujolais.
Argentina · Cahors
The Bordeaux exile that found a second life in Argentina.
Chile
The lost Bordeaux grape that lived in Chile mistaken for Merlot for over a century.
France · Mediterranean
The pale, perfumed Mediterranean grape that gives lift to GSM blends and rosé.
International noble varieties — whites
France · Burgundy
The most planted noble white in the world.
France · Loire & Marlborough
The high-acid aromatic white of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, and Marlborough.
France · Bordeaux & Australia
The thick-skinned Bordeaux partner — and Hunter Valley’s age-worthy star.
France · Loire
Dry, off-dry, sweet, or sparkling — every register the grape will play.
Germany & Alsace
The most terroir-transparent white wine grape on earth.
France · Northern Rhône
The aromatic peach-and-honeysuckle white of Condrieu.
France · Northern Rhône
The powerful, age-worthy white of Hermitage Blanc.
France · Northern & Southern Rhône
Marsanne’s higher-acid aromatic partner.
France · Alsace
Lychee, rose petal, candied ginger — the most aromatic noble white in wine.
France & Italy
Two wines: powerful Alsatian Pinot Gris and light Italian Pinot Grigio.
Italy & Alsace
The third Pinot — quieter, leaner, seriously underrated.
France · Champagne
Champagne’s third grape, increasingly serious in grower bottlings.
Italian indigenous reds
Piedmont
The Piedmontese grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco.
Tuscany
Chianti, Brunello, Vino Nobile — the wine that wants tomato sauce.
Piedmont
Piedmont’s high-acid, food-friendly workhorse.
Piedmont
The ‘little sweet one’ — early-drinking, dark, built for the Sunday table.
Campania
The ‘Barolo of the south’ — volcanic-soil Campanian red.
Abruzzo
Abruzzo’s dark, plummy everyday-value red.
Apulia
Genetically identical to California Zinfandel.
Sicily
Sicily’s structured signature red.
Veneto
The Valpolicella grape — light in Valpolicella, mythic in Amarone.
Alto Adige
The dark alpine red of the South Tyrol.
Italian indigenous whites
Mediterranean
Saline, herbal Mediterranean coastal white. Rolle in France.
Marche
The Marche’s serious, age-worthy lemon-and-almond white.
Campania
Campania’s honeyed, structured, ancient indigenous white.
Campania
Volcanic, citrus-bright counterpoint to Fiano.
Campania
Campania’s bright, citrus-driven everyday white.
Veneto
The grape behind Soave.
Piedmont
The grape behind Gavi.
Spanish and Portuguese varieties
Spain · Rioja
Spain’s signature red — the engine of Rioja and Ribera del Duero.
Spain · Galicia
The aromatic, mineral red of Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra.
Spain · Jumilla
The Spanish name for Mourvèdre — old-vine concentration from southeastern Spain.
Spain · Galicia
Galicia’s seafood-loving white.
Spain · Galicia
Spain’s answer to white Burgundy.
Spain · Rueda
Castilla y León’s aromatic, herbal white.
Spain · Jerez
The grape behind every dry Sherry.
Spain · Montilla & Jerez
Liquid raisin — the grape behind great sweet Sherry.
Portugal · Douro
The defining grape of the Douro and Port.
Portugal · Douro
The most-planted Douro red and Touriga Nacional partner.
Portugal · Bairrada
Bairrada’s fierce, age-worthy red — the Nebbiolo of Portugal.
Portugal · Dão
Dão’s noble white.
Central and Eastern European varieties
Austria
Austria’s signature peppery, lentil-and-stone-fruit white.
Austria & Hungary
Austria’s most serious red — peppery, structured, age-worthy.
Austria
A 1922 Blaufränkisch–Saint-Laurent crossing, juicy and food-friendly.
Hungary · Tokaj
The noble grape of Tokaj — sweet, dry, and increasingly serious.
Hungary · Tokaj
Tokaj’s second great white.
Greek indigenous varieties
Santorini
Santorini’s volcanic, saline white — age-worthy and unmistakable.
Macedonia
Greece’s Nebbiolo equivalent.
Peloponnese
Nemea’s softer, rounder, food-friendly red.
France · Loire & Jura — niche varieties
Loire · Muscadet
The grape behind Muscadet.
Burgundy
Burgundy’s second white, increasingly serious.
Jura
The grape behind Vin Jaune.
Jura
The Jura’s most structured red.
Jura
The Jura’s pale, perfumed, ethereal red.
Mediterranean
The aromatic family — one of the oldest grapes in cultivation.
France · Mediterranean
High-acid, high-tannin Mediterranean grape — old-vine wines are exciting.
New World specialties
California
California’s adopted grape — genetically identical to Primitivo.
California
The opaque, tannic Durif grape — has nothing to do with Syrah.
South Africa
South Africa’s national grape — a 1925 Pinot Noir–Cinsault crossing.
France & Uruguay
Madiran’s massively tannic grape and Uruguay’s national variety.
