Major Grape Varieties
Most of the world’s favorite vine varieties were adapted from French grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. These varieties make up the vast majority of wine grown in the modern vineyards of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Also, wine like Italy’s Barolo is made of Nebbiolo, and Chianti is primarily composed of Sangiovese. Spain’s great red Riojas are based upon Tempranillo.

What is a cultivar? Any variety of a plant, originating through cloning or hybridization, known only in cultivation. In asexually propagated plants, a cultivar is a clone considered valuable enough to have its own name; in sexually propagated plants, a cultivar is a pure line (for self-pollinated plants) or, for cross-pollinated plants, a population that is genetically distinguishable. While cultivars can originate in the wild as sports, they are not considered cultivars until they are selected for garden use and given a cultivar name in accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). Grape cultivars may be of the American, European or French hybrid types. American and French hybrid types are best suited to northern growing conditions because they tend to be more winter-hardy. Recommended American cultivars include Concord, Niagara, Delaware, Reliance and Canadice.

What is the difference between a variety and a varietal? The term variety is used to describe a type of grape.  A wine made from that grape is referred to as a varietal (e.g. Pinot Noir). There are many varieties of grapevines; most are cultivars of V. vinifera.

What is a hybrid? Hybrid grape varieties or "hybrids" is, in fact, the popular term for a subset of what are properly known as hybrids, specifically crossings between one species of the genus vitis and another. The scientific definition of a hybrid grape is any crossing (intra- or inter-specific) of two grape varieties. This is in contrast to crossings between grape varieties of the same species, typically vitis vinifera. Hybrid grapes are also referred to as inter-specific crossings.

Red Grape Varieties

	Cabernet Franc Genetically the father of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc makes a dark red wine that reflects terroir more than its more famous relative. A cross of it with Sauvignon blanc resulted in Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc tends to be softer and has fewer tannins than Cabernet Sauvignon, although the two can be difficult to distinguish. Sometimes the French refer to Cabernets, which could mean either of the two grapes. Cabernet Franc's typical aromas include herbaceousness and a pronounced peppery nose, even in ripe fruit. Depending on growing region and the style of wine, additional aromas can include tobacco, raspberry, and cassis.
	Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon is a variety of red grape mainly used for wine production, and is, along with Chardonnay, one of the most widely-planted of the world's grape varieties. It is also California's most prestigious grape. The particularly thick skin of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape results in wines that can be high in tannin which provides both structure and ageability. Bordeaux can age 60 or more years, California Cabernet is a less reliable ager, often peaking at 5-7 years of age.
	Grenache Grenache is usually blended with other varieties, rather than made into a varietal wine, although some growers champion it as a single varietal. Garnacha is the Spanish name and it is certainly the most widely planted variety in Spain, and probably the world's most widely planted red wine grape. The grape was grown in Spain before it made its way to France but the popularity of the French wines has ensured that it is now more commonly known by the French name. It grows well in hot, dry regions and is grown in southern France, Spain, South America, Australia, and California's Central Valley. Grenache, with its ability to produce high sugar levels, is especially associated with sweet and fortified wines.
	Malbec Malbec is a black, mellow grape variety originally grown in France, in the Loire Valley and Cahors. Long known as one of the six grapes used in the blending of red Bordeaux wine, it is increasingly celebrated as an Argentine varietal wine. It is also grown in the cooler regions of California. It has an extensive listing of synonyms; currently more than fifty. Malbec is the premier grape of Argentina. It seems to have found a natural home, being used to produce very popular varietal wines. It is now thought that the variety known as Fer in that country is a clone. As a varietal it creates a rather inky red (or violet), intense wine, so it is also commonly used in blends, such as with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to create the renowned red French Bordeaux "claret" blend. In California and other areas it is increasingly being used for the same blending purpose
	Merlot Merlot is a red wine grape that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. Merlot-based wines usually have medium body with hints of berry, plum, and currant. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot an ideal grape to blend with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon. This flexibility has helped to make it one of the most popular red wine varietals in the United States. Merlot grapes are identified by their loose bunches of large berries. The color has less of a blue/black hue than Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and with a thinner skin, the grapes also fewer tannins. Also compared to Cabernet, a Merlot grape tends to have higher sugar content and lower malic acid. Merlot thrives in cold soil, particularly ferrous clay. The vine tends to bud early which gives it some risk to cold frost and it thin skin increases its susceptibility to rot. It normally ripens up to two weeks earlier then Cabernet Sauvignon. Water stress is important to the vine with it thriving in well drained soil more so then at base of a slope.
	Mourvedre Once the major grape of Provence's Bandol region, it is Spain's second-most widely planted red wine grape after Garnacha Tinta. Bandols can age 20 years or more in good vintages and achieve complexity and breed. In Spain Mourvedre is known as Monastrell and Mataro. The grape requires a hot climate to ripen, and is thus only found in the very south of France. Even in Spain it is only grown in significant quantities in the southern half of the country. In hot years, it is capable of producing high-alcohol wines with a high level of tannin, but its producers have so far been unable to create world-class wines. Nonetheless, Mourvèdre is more than capable of generating vin de table with a great degree of finesse, especially in blends with Syrah and Grenache.
	Nebbiolo Like Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo is extremely difficult to grow and make properly. In fact, Italy's Piedmont region is the only place where Nebbiolo makes great wine; it is the grape of Barolo and Barbaresco. The perfume is what sets Nebbiolo apart—a spicy, red-cherry perfume that sometimes has a foresty and vanilla aroma. With green tannins that are very astringent, young Nebbiolo is almost impossible to drink. As they age, the wines take on a characteristic brick-orange hue at the rim of the glass and mature to reveal complex aromas and flavours (fruits, flowers and a bit of spices) quite unique and thrilling. These wines often take years to become approachable as they require ageing to tame the tannins from the grapes. Aged Barolos are only rivaled by red Burgundy for exotic perfection in wine.
	Pinot Noir Pinot noir grapes are grown in diverse locations around the world, but the grape is chiefly associated with the Burgundy region of France. Production of pinot noir dates back more than two thousand years. It is widely considered to produce some of the finest wines in the world, but is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine. The most enchanting red grape of all because of its wine's beautiful aromatics and deep red and black cherry flavors. Although it is hard to grow and harder to make well, great Pinot Noir from cool regions like Burgundy, Oregon and cooler regions in California are transcendent wines. Smelling and drinking a great aged red Burgundy, made from Pinot Noir, is the grandest red wine experience in the world.
	Sangiovese The traditional home of Sangiovese is in Tuscany, and it is the major component in blends such as Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Morellino di Scansano. It is also being planted throughout central and southern Italy where it makes a pleasant, if not complex table wine. Tart cherry flavors when lean, fuller, black fruit flavors when riper. Today Sangiovese is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah to make them more immediately appealing, especially to Americans with fruit-forward tastes. In Tuscany, it is particularly good with Tuscan tomato-based foods.
	Syrah (Shiraz) This grape is called Syrah in France, and most often in the United States, South Africa, Australia, and Canada it is known as Shiraz. It should not be confused with Petite Sirah, a synonym for Durif, which is a different type of grape. The most expressive red wine grape in France's Rhone Valley. It makes black wine with exotic perfumes of smoked bacon, violets and blueberries. In the mouth it is supple, velvety and generous and has complex flavors of smoke and blackberry. Wines made from Shiraz are often quite powerfully flavoured and full-bodied. The variety produces wines with a wide range of flavor notes, depending on the climate and soils where it is grown, as well as other viticultural practices chosen.
	Tempranillo A grape native to northern Spain, and widely cultivated in both northern and central Spain. It is also fairly common in Argentina, and plays a minor role in the wines of two regions of Portugal, the central Alentejo, where it is known as Aragonez and used in red table wine blends of variable quality, and Douro, where it is known as Tinta Roriz and mainly used in blends to make port wine. One of the best wines to accompany lamb, Tempranillo has black cherry, black raspberry and blackberry flavors, sometimes with a subtle orange-citrus note.
	Touriga Nacional Also occasionally known as Mortágua, the Touriga Nacional grape is unpopular with some vineyards as its grapes are unusually small, leading to comparatively low yields. Nonetheless, it is hard to find a manufacturer of port that does not consider the grape as one of its most important ingredients, and it is the principal variety used in the great vintage ports and table wines of the Douro valley. Portugal's most important grape and the major grape of Port. Rich, ripe and full bodied, when fortified, Port wine can age a century or more, transforming into very complex and beautiful sweet wines.
	Zinfandel Although thought of as California's native grape, scientific evidence now suggests that it was brought to the Italian region of Puglia from the East Adriatic, indicating that the origin of Zinfandel may lie on the Croatian coast. Zinfandel was brought to the United States (Long Island) from a varietal collection of the Imperial State Nursery of Vienna in the 1820s. In the cooler climates it was grown in greenhouses. In California the first Zinfandel vineyards were planted in the 1830s. Its popularity grew swiftly, and by the end of the 19th century it became the most widespread variety in the US. Herb-scented and raspberry flavored, leaner Zinfandel makes a fine food wine. Typically,it tastes of white pepper with bramble and fresh or fermented red berries. Traditionally field blended with Grenache, Carignan, Petite Sirah and Alicanté Bouchet for complexity and interest, the current trend is to make Zinfandel as ripe, port-like and alcoholic as possible.

White Grape Varieties

	Chardonnay A grape that makes a rich, full-flavored dry wine with flavors of apple and pear. It is very adaptable to its region and the whims of its winemaker. Soil, oak aging and malolactic fermentation can affect the flavor of Chardonnay dramatically. Depending on the structure, a Chardonnay can age for decades, but in warmer regions fades after just a few years. The best selling variety in the United States.
	Sauvignon Blanc A grape that produces brisk, refreshing, herb-scented, grapefruity or melon-like dry white wines.
	Chenin Blanc As full-bodied as Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc has more acidity for greater longevity. Chenin Blanc also picks up the local terroir. When ripe, they can have a beeswax and melon-like aroma and flavor, when leaner, they have a more minerally purity. Bad examples taste rather medicine-y. They are equally good dry, off-dry, sweet, and very-sweet. In the Loire Valley they can live up to a century.
	Riesling The greatest of all white grapes, Riesling can be grown anywhere and reflect its terroir. The flavors resemble green apple when lean and peach and apricot when ripe. In the finest growing regions like Germany's Rheingau and Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Riesling makes impeccable, delicious, perfectly-balanced wines at all sweetness levels. The super-concentrated beerenauslese and trockenbeerenauslese of Germany are the greatest, rarest and most expensive sweet wines in the world. They can age a century.
	Gewurztraminer A spicy, reddish-skinned, very perfumey grape with a steely core and an aroma and flavor that uncannily resembles lychee. The great Alsace Gewurztraminers are too aggressive for most foods, but a soft, lightly sweet new-world version makes a fine all-purpose wine.
	Viognier Another perfumey, aggressive wine that is troublesome with most foods, but irresisttible to smell and taste by itself. Sometimes smelling like intense pineapple or pine, the flavors range from steely to pineapple-y.
	Pinot Gris Also called Pinot Grigio in Italy, Pinot Gris, a reddish-skinned grape, makes an expressive melony-tasting wine with fine structure and wonderful purity of fruit. Very versatile as a food wine, especially with rich fish like salmon, smoked fish and poultry. In Alsace, it can make a delicious sweet wine as well as fine dry wines.
	Pinot Blanc Not as regal nor complex as Pinot Gris, it makes a lively, Chardonnay-like, pleasant, all-purpose dry wine.
	Albariño Native to northwest Spain, Albariño makes a fresh-tasting, floral, nearly effervescent light-to-medium bodied wine with crisp acidity. It resembles a cross between a Sauvignon Blanc and a Riesling and is delightful with cold-water shellfish and seafood.
	Verdejo Fast becoming a popular wine, the white Rueda from northwest Spain is made mostly from Verdejo, an aromatic wine that closely resembles Sauvignon Blanc, with more of a melony character. Crisp and refreshing, it is now an excellent value.
	Trebbiano Also called Ugni Blanc in France, it is a popular grape in Italy where it makes, softer, easy-to-drink dry white wines with little character, but great likeability.
	Malvasia Grape that has existed for about 2,000 years. Malvasia is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. The Malvasia grape is of Greek origin, but there is some controversy over exactly where it originated and what grape varieties were its ancestors. A highly prized wine named Malvasia in Italian, Malvoisie in French, Malmsey in English and Malvasier in German, was produced in Greece (and perhaps Crete) in the 14th to 16th centuries. Malmsey was one of the three major wines exported from Greece in medieval times. The white variety produce golden, perfumy, flavorful wines with hints of apricots, musk, and almonds. Because it is not a high-yielding vine,it is made into a variety of finished wines: dry-sweet,fortified, and sparkiling, but probably is best known for its sweet fortified products
	Muscat Blanc The closest thing to drinking fresh grapes. It makes an aromatic, citrusy wine, sometimes with effervescence, sometimes more syrupy in texture. Although it is Gewurztraminer-like when dry, it is one of planet Earth's great joys when fermented sweet.

Hybrids

Hybrid grapes also exist, and these are primarily crosses between V. vinifera and one or more varieties of V. labrusca, V. riparia or V. aestivalis. Hybrids tend to be less susceptible to frost and disease (notably phylloxera), but wine from some hybrids may have a little of the characteristic "foxy" odor of labrusca. While rare, inter-specific hybrid vines can result in the wild from cross-pollination. Due to the abundance of American Vitis species one finds such natural hybrid vines on the American continent. The majority of the well-known hybrid vines however, have been artificially created.

During the first half of the 20th century, various breeding programs were developed in an attempt to deal with the consequences of the phylloxera louse, which was responsible for the destruction of European vineyards from 1863 onwards. After extensive attempts, grafting European varieties onto North American rootstock proved to be the most successful method of dealing with the problem.

Hybrid varieties exhibit a mixture of traits from their European, Asiatic, and North American parentage. Those varieties which derive from Vitis labrusca parentage (such as those still used in the production of Austrian Uhudler) have a strong "candied" or "wild strawberry" aroma, while those which derive from Vitis riparia often have a herbaceous nose with flavours reminiscent of black currants. Most hybrid grape varieties struggle to produce adequate tannin for red wine production, and usually display a level of acidity that exceeds what consumers of wines produced from vitis vinifera are accustomed to. These attributes proved unpopular in Europe, and were one of the factors which led to the prohibition of the commercial growth of hybrid vines in many countries in Europe.

However, hybrid grape varieties were introduced as a solution to many of the viticultural problems of cooler and more humid wine regions, such as those in the northeast of North America. From the 1950s onwards, grape varieties such as De Chaunac, Baco noir, Marechal Foch, Vidal, etc. have been a staple of the wine industries in Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania, etc.

Due to their excellent tolerance to powdery mildew, other fungal diseases, nematodes, and phylloxera hybrid varieties have, to some extent, become a renewed focus for European breeding programs. The recently developed varieties, Rondo, and Regent are examples of newer hybrid grape varieties for European viticulturalists.

List of Some Popular Hybrids

A - Aurore
B - Baco 22A, Baco noir, Beta (grape)
C - Cayuga White, Chambourcin, Chancellor (grape), Chardonel, Chelois, Corot noir
D - De Chaunac
G - Goethe (grape)
H - Hybrid grapes
J - Jaeger 70
K - Kay Gray, Kohyo grape
L - La Crosse (grape)
M - Marechal Foch
N - Noiret, Norton (grape)
R - Regent (grape) Rondo grape
S - Seibel grapes, Seyval Blanc, St. Pepin (grape)
T - Traminette
V - Valvin muscat, Vidal Blanc, Vignoles (grape), Villard Noir