Chardonnay
Chardonnay is easily the most ubiquitous fine wine grape grown on the globe. Wherever wine drinkers go, Chardonnay wine was there before them. This popular grape is everywhere for two reasons: it is relatively easy to grow and fairly neutral—a perfect canvas on which to paint depth and variety of flavor.
Pinot Noir
As a wine grape, Pinot Noir is the bête noire of its family of pinots—Blanc, Meunier, Gris and Noir. Pinot Blanc makes respectable wines from Alsace and Northern Italy; Pinot Gris, from the same places. Pinot Meunier is a mainstay in Champagne. But while Pinot Noir grows more widely, it does so much more unsteadily.
Riesling
Every wine professional, always and everywhere, adores Riesling. So why doesn’t everyone else? In fact, so why do so few others? Winemakers, wine writers, chefs and serious amateurs cannot get enough of Riesling’s purity of delivery and its juicy flavors or super-taut acidity. The latter quality its best feature at table. Dry, sweet, German, Australian, it does not matter. Many call Riesling the world’s greatest white wine. But certainly not the world’s most popular; that would be Chardonnay. Just the world’s greatest.
Sangiovese
The word Sangiovese comes from sanguis jovis, Latin for "the blood of Jove"—the godliest of the gods. Every other red grape must just go green with envy. It’s a fitting name, too. Sangiovese is as fickle, temperamental and arrogant as its namesake. It’s less the case that any winemaker tells Sangiovese what kind of wine to make, more that it tells any winemaker.
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