Wine Grape Names & Varieties, Pictures, Facts & Guides

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Grapes are the main ingrdient that makes wine taste the way it does. While there can be differences in the wine made from a single grape variety, the fact that a certain type of grape was used lets you know the basic infomation about what the winemaker intended to produce.

Grapes do take on the flavor of the soil and grow sweeter in the sun as they hang on the vines, but still, knowing which wine grapes went into the mash gives you a head start on getting a wine you'll enjoy.

When it comes to naming grapes, winemakers try to maintain an industry standard. However, some grapes go by different names or spellings that are ripe for confusion - such as the Syrah (or Sirah), which in South Africa is known as the Shiraz; in Australia, Hermitage.

If the listings in the reviews or on the labels confuse you, these grape primers will help you sort the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer, or the Muscat from the Muscadet...

The Super Gigantic Y2K Winegrape Glossary - It may not be pretty, but it really is - as it says - super gigantic. As of the last update there were too many varieties listed to count, with links to databases with thousands of additional entries...

Tony Aspler's Wine Primer - Listing a selection of white wine grapes and red wine grapes with the countries that grow them and the wines they produce, plus brief tasting notes on each variety.

Professional Friends of Wine - Varietal Profiles - Clear and easy to understand, this wine grapes 101 primer provides solid information on many of the most common wine grapes in an easy click-on format. The illustrations are special and the links are well chosen. You'll enjoy this lesson.

List of grape varieties - Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia written and edited by volunteers. The coverege on this topic is good, but there are many varieties listed without any additional info. Some of the entries are detailed and others are just a few general facts. It is a very good list and as editors add more, the background info on individual grape varieties will get better.

Grape Varieties - A nice intro leads to a set of ads to jump over to find a list of grape types. The page for each grape type covers where they grow, what they're called, what flavors to expect and a few more details to help you learn about the wines produced from each variety. A good, basic guide to the understanding of wine grapes.

German Wine Grape Varieties - If you don't know a Spätburgunder from a Gewürztraminer this site can help. Simply click on the name of the grape and you'll get a good picture with information about where the grapes are grown and what types of wine are made from them.

Grapes and the Wines of the World - A treasure of wine-related information, but here the focus is on the grape vine incuding photos & illustrations of every part of the root, stem, leaf structure, and more grape anatomy.

Grape Sampling and Maturity Evaluation for Growers - Not for the novice, this article from the Grape Chemistry Group at VA Tech deals with determining the best time to pick your grapes. It is written for Virginian growers, but the basics would be true for anyone growing grapes to produce wine.