Don't judge a wine by the grape on its label
New York
THE word "varietal" is among the most misused in wine.
Many people think of it as a synonym for "grape", as in: "What varietals are in that wine?"
Not to be pedantic, but that is wrong. Varietal is not a noun, it is an adjective. One may properly refer to a "varietal wine", like a cabernet Sauvignon or a chardonnay, in which the wine is made with a dominant grape variety.
This distinction pertains directly to our most recent topic, California Grenache, in which we had one varietal wine, made entirely out of Grenache, and two blends, in which Grenache was one of several varieties in the wine.
Here at Wine School, we try not to be sticklers, but we do feel compelled to be accurate, if not exact. This is difficult when considering the leeway that California offers in its labelling rules, which require that a varietal wine contain at least 75 per cent of that particular grape. In other words, a wine can still bear the varietal label "Grenache" even if other grapes account for 25 per cent. But if th…
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