The grapes

White wine has no tannin to hide behind. Strip that away and what is left is acid, aroma and texture - which means white varieties differ from one another more nakedly than reds do, and are easier to learn as a result.

It helps to sort them into three groups by what they’re trying to do.

Varieties whose whole proposition is smell: Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Muscat, Viognier. You can identify these blind by nose alone with a little practice, because each carries a signature compound. Sauvignon Blanc has methoxypyrazines, giving the green capsicum and cut grass note. Gewürztraminer has cis-rose oxide, which is lychee. These aren’t metaphors; they’re molecules - mostly the precursor compounds from chapter one, released during fermentation.

Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Sémillon. Little aroma of their own, which sounds like a fault but isn’t. A neutral grape is a blank canvas that shows the site, the vintage and the winemaking - which is why Chardonnay is planted in every serious wine region on earth and why it can taste like almost anything.

Chenin Blanc, Albariño, Grüner Veltliner, and Riesling again. Built around acidity, which does three things: it keeps the wine refreshing, it lets the wine age for decades, and it holds sweetness in balance so a sweet wine tastes vivid rather than sickly.

Worth calling out because they explain a whole region. Sauvignon Blanc brings acid and aromatic lift; Sémillon brings weight, texture and the thin skins that let in noble rot. Blended and barrel aged they make dry white Bordeaux that can age 20 years. Left to rot on the vine, they make Sauternes. One pair of grapes, two of the most distinctive white wines in the world.

Reds add tannin to the picture, and tannin is what makes red wine confusing for beginners: it’s a texture rather than a taste, and it doesn’t correspond to anything in ordinary food except a strong tea. Sorting reds by weight and grip is more useful than sorting them by origin.

Pinot Noir, Loire Cabernet Franc, and Gamay. Pale, low in tannin, high in acid, and built on aroma rather than force. These are better for 20 minutes in the fridge, and are the reds that behave most like whites at the table. Pinot Noir is the one people become obsessive about, because it tastes more of where it was grown than any other red: the same grape from two neighbouring vineyards makes two recognisably different wines.

Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Syrah, Tempranillo. Not heavy, but firm, sharp and often savoury rather than fruity - tar, herbs, leather, pepper. Nebbiolo is the odd one out: it looks almost see through in the glass, and yet it grips harder and lasts longer than wines twice as dark.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Mourvèdre. Thick skins, deep colour, substantial tannin, and the varieties most likely to need either time in a cellar or a blending partner to soften them. Cabernet Sauvignon is the one the others get measured against and the world’s most planted red.

Merlot, Grenache, and Zinfandel. Weight without grip - generous, warming, and easy to like immediately. Merlot suffers from being cast as the undemanding option, which ignores that the Right Bank of Bordeaux is planted with it and that Pétrus, among the most expensive wines in the world, is almost entirely Merlot.

Bordeaux is Atlantic, and its weather is unreliable. Planting several varieties that ripen at different times is insurance: in a cold, wet year the Merlot comes in and the Cabernet doesn’t, and the blend is adjusted accordingly. Burgundy is continental and plants a single variety per wine, betting everything on one grape and one patch of ground.

Neither approach is superior. They are different answers to different weather, and between them they explain how most of the wine world is laid out.