| "Muscat" is often deceptive; wines so labeled may | | | | varietal significance. |
| be either sweet or dry. Zinfandel, a grape of | | | | The flavorful grapes grown in the famed French |
| somewhat mysterious origin, gives its name to a | | | | districts produce only poor wines when planted in |
| popular California Claret, in which-if your nose is | | | | southern France, the source of most French |
| remarkably sensitive- you sometimes can detect | | | | wines. There, consequently, undistinguished, |
| the faintly raspberry-like flavor of this variety. | | | | heavy-bearing varieties are cultivated, and the |
| Longfellow sang the praises of Catawba, a white | | | | southern French wines are so neutral that vast |
| wine (there is also a sparkling version) made from | | | | quantities of good wine are imported in tank ships |
| that Labrusca grape, principally in Ohio. Vintners | | | | from Algeria and Tunisia for blending. The wine |
| who make their Rose wines of Mourvedre grapes | | | | the average Frenchman drinks is a blend of poor |
| like to add that grape name to their Rose labels. | | | | French wine and better wine from across the |
| When you mention "grape flavor" to most | | | | Mediterranean. |
| Americans, they automatically think of a single | | | | It is mainly climate that governs a district's ability |
| grape-the Concord variety-which provides the | | | | to grow the superior grapes successfully. The |
| taste of the kosher-wine type and of most fresh | | | | Europeans believe that soil composition is equally |
| and frozen grape juices. | | | | important, but modern research questions |
| In the foregoing list Riesling might also be | | | | whether any chemicals in the earth actually enter |
| mentioned, which long ago became so popular as | | | | the flavor of a wine. Yet some soils, such as the |
| a synonym for Rhine wine (a type best made | | | | gravelly kinds, do hold the sun's heat better than |
| from the White Riesling variety) that American | | | | others do, and help Dolcetto grapes to mature. |
| vintners once tried to persuade the Government | | | | It might interest the French to know that |
| that Riesling no longer meant any particular grape. | | | | California, too, is jealous of its name, and that the |
| (The Government was not persuaded.) | | | | same applies to individual California localities. For |
| Returning to Europe's geographical labeling, while | | | | example, when a California vintner ships 16% |
| place names do not mean everything, as the | | | | "Light Sherry" to a state which discriminates |
| Europeans claim they do, they do mean | | | | against the genuine article, he must have special |
| something. The climate of Bordeaux is kind to the | | | | permission from the California Department of |
| grape varieties that make red and white | | | | Public Health. |
| Bordeaux wines, and each delimited district within | | | | In so doing he loses the right to label such wine |
| the Bordeaux area has found, by centuries of | | | | with the name of California; it may only be called |
| experience, which grapes thrive best within its | | | | "American" Light Sherry. And while a "New York |
| borders. | | | | State" or "Ohio" wine may contain as much as |
| Burgundy nurtures the Pinot, Sangiovese, and | | | | 25% of wine made elsewhere (and many of |
| Melon best; the Rhone Valley favors the Petit | | | | them are blends with wine or grape syrup from |
| Sirah; Germany's Rhine-land makes its best wines | | | | California), no wine can claim to be Californian |
| from White Riesling. As a result, the European | | | | unless it is made 100% from California grapes in |
| geographic names have-to some extent- a certain | | | | California. |