The White Grapes

Reds get sorted by tannin. Whites have almost none, so the first sort is different: how loud is the nose? Aromatic intensity is the first band on the whites side of the Deductive Sheet, and it does most of the work. After that comes acid, which is the backbone of every white worth drinking, and then the three texture dials the winemaker controls, explained below.

Six grapes cover most of what you will pour or be poured.

Sauvignon Blanc. Wine in high definition. Naturally high acid and vivid aromatics: grapefruit, passion fruit, cut grass, sometimes bell pepper. In the Loire, at Sancerre, it leads with citrus and green apple over a chalky, mineral edge. In Marlborough it turns tropical and pungent. Neither is better. They are two expressions of one high-acid grape, and tasting them side by side is the fastest lesson in wine on what place does to a grape.

Riesling. The most misunderstood grape on the list, because people assume it is sweet. Some is. Much of it is bone dry. Very high acid, strong aromatics of lime, peach, and white flowers, and with age, a note that tasters call petrol. The trick to reading a Riesling without opening it: check the alcohol. Seven to nine percent almost always means there is sugar left in the wine; twelve or more usually means it is dry. Mosel makes the lightest and raciest; Alsace and Washington make them richer, and often drier.

Albariño. Coastal white done right. High acid, peach and orange peel, and a saline edge from growing within sight of the Atlantic in Rías Baixas. The seafood wine of Spain, and the easiest recommendation on this list for someone who says they want "something crisp."

Chenin Blanc. The Swiss Army knife. Firm acid and a chameleon's range: bone dry, off-dry, sweet, and sparkling, all from the same grape in the same valley. Apple, quince, a touch of honey, and with age a note of wet wax or wool. Vouvray is the teaching example.

Pinot Gris. Same grape, two moods. As Italian Pinot Grigio it is light, crisp, and neutral, pear and lemon. As Alsatian Pinot Gris it is rich, spicy, golden, sometimes off-dry. When a guest is confused by this, that is not a problem. It is the best two-minute conversation you will have all shift.

Chardonnay. The chameleon. Chardonnay has less personality of its own than any grape here, which is why winemakers love it: it takes on whatever you do to it. Grown on limestone and raised with little or no oak, as is usual in Chablis, it is lean, mineral, and taut. Barrel-fermented with malolactic conversion, as in much of Napa and Sonoma, it is full, creamy, and toasty. The oak conversation is the entire teaching moment.

Three winemaking choices explain most of the difference between two whites made from the same grape. You will meet them again in chapter 5, but you need them now to taste whites properly.

Stainless steel keeps a white pure: fruit and place, nothing added. When a white smells only of fresh fruit with no toast or butter, steel, or a neutral vessel like old oak or concrete, is usually the answer.

Malolactic conversion turns sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid. It is where butter, cream, and custard come from. Almost all reds go through it. Chardonnay often does. Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling almost never do.

Lees aging leaves the wine in contact with spent yeast after fermentation. It builds a silky weight and a bakery note: bread dough, biscuit, brioche. Muscadet sur lie (French for "on the lees") is the entry-level example; Champagne is the same idea taken to its conclusion.

Someone says "I don't like Chardonnay." Ask one question: was it buttery? Almost always the answer is yes, and what they dislike is a style, full malolactic and new oak, not the grape. Pour them a Chablis. Half the time you have just sold a bottle of Chardonnay to someone who swore they hated it.

Someone says "I don't like white wine at all." That person usually drinks big reds and finds most whites thin. Do not reach for the lightest white on the list. Reach for the one with the most texture: an oaked Chardonnay, an Alsatian Pinot Gris, or a Chenin with some age. Weight is what they are missing.

Four whites, bagged and numbered. Use the whites side of the Deductive Sheet: aromatic intensity first, then acid, alcohol, and whether there is any sugar, then the fruit family, then one non-fruit tell.

1. Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre. The same grape you tasted from Marlborough in chapter 1. Lemon and green apple instead of passion fruit. Swap: a Touraine Sauvignon.
2. Albariño, Rías Baixas. Saline, stone fruit, high acid. Swap: any Rías Baixas under $20.
3. Riesling, Mosel Kabinett (Kabinett is the lightest German ripeness level, usually off-dry). Off-dry, low alcohol, lime, green apple, and white flowers. Swap: a dry Washington Riesling, then talk through the sugar difference.
4. Chardonnay, Chablis. The same grape you tasted oaked in chapter 1, now with little or no oak: lemon, green apple, and a chalky, oyster-shell edge. Swap: a Mâcon-Villages.

Two of these four are callbacks to chapter 1 on purpose. Same grape, different place or different cellar. When you reveal, put the chapter 1 wine next to its partner in your memory and name the one thing that changed.

Nobody dislikes Chardonnay. They dislike a style of Chardonnay. Find out which.

Next: Terroir. Why the same grape tastes different in two places, in plain language.