White grape varieties
White wines come from white grapes, right? This is mostly true, but not always. In grape world, the pulp is white whichever the color of the skin. The trick to make white wine is to separate the must -sweet fresly pressed grape juice- from the skins and stems as soon as possible because those are the responsible part for color and tannin. It is possible to make white wine from not so white grapes.
White grapes can actually be green, yellow, pink or brown, and the wines they make range from sharply refreshing to lusciosly exotic, with a selection of intriguint fruity flavors in between.
Most notable white grape varieties
Albariño – Origin of refreshing, very high quality, dry white wines. Mostly grown in the North West of Spain -albariño wines- and Portugal -vinho verde and albarinho. Their taste will remind you of peaches, apricots and grapefruit; Spanish grapes rend a more intense flavor. These grapes are low yield and have a very thick skin and little juice can be extracted from them and they are virtually not grown out of Portugal or Spain.
Aligoté - Cultivated in Burgundy and East Europe wher the simple, sharp wines this variety produces are well appreciated.
Chasselas - Produces dry, fresh and subtly flavored wines with a characteristic mineral concentration, low in alcohol and low in acid. Cultivated in France and Germany, but most prized in Switzerland. I is also known as Dorin or Fendant.
Chenin Blanc – white grape widely planted in the Loira Valley, France, where it gives the best it can give. This grape is used to produce a wide variety of wines from rich and sweet, to medium sweet, to sparkling, to dry and robust dry white wines. Chenin Blanc displays a beguiling array of flavors: honey, guava, lime, melon, quince, vanilla, and some steely or mineral flavors. It has a high acidity to balance its sweetness allowing Chenin Blanc wines to age long and well. It is also widely cultivated in South Africa, but the wines produced don’t have yet much character, and not so widely in Australia, New Zealand, both make small amounts of good Chenin Blancs, and California or Chile, where the wines are still unremarkable.
White grapes.
Colombard – This is a highly productive grape origin of reliable everyday white wines which have been described as fruity and crisp, mostly uninteresting but with occasional tropical aromas. It is widely grown in California, South Africa and Australia, as this grape variety is able to grow and yield decent wines in hot climates which would have been rendered as unsuitable. Colombard was cultivated in France, Charente region, for Cognac but was replaced almost entirely with other varieties. In the hottest growing areas in Francs, some winemakers are bringing Colombard back for white wines using the modern methods from California.
Furmint – The white grape used to make Hungary’s famous sweet wine, tokaji. Furmint grapes are thin skinned and well known for its acidity and potent alcohol. They are ideal to make dessert wines.
Garganega – Garganega is the white grape largely responsible for Italy’s legendary Soave. It tastes of green apples at its best, but it is very often cultivated in excess which weakens the flavors.
Gewürztraminer – Distinctive grape mainly grown in Alsace, France; purported to have aromas of lychees and roses, Turkish delight and smoked bacon, being, therefore, dead easy to recognize for those with less privileged noses.
Grüner Veltiner – A potential top of the white grape charts. This variety is cultivated extensively in Austria, giving its best examples in the Wachau region. White wines mad from Grüner Veltiner grapes age beautifully and they are dry, full bodied, and with a unique piquant flavor.
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