Types of wine
Here is a quick reference to the most popular wine varieties and how to pair wine with food. This page describes the different types of wine per district and variety (riesling, pinot noir, etc.). It does not describe the styles of wines by colour, sweetness, or fizz. The repartition of wine types in a cellar is suggested in the buying guide.
Please find herebelow basic varietal descriptions and pronunciations, tasting terms, plus suggestions on pairing the wines with food.
A variety is the type of grape. It is written here with a lower-case initial. If only variety is mentioned on the bottle label, then the wine is called varietal and is named after the grape with a capital initial (Riesling, Pinot Noir, etc.). A varietal wine primarily shows the fruit: the grape variety dominates the flavour.