Wine FAQs

Acetic Acid. A product of acetobacter bacteria, this stuff spoils wine and makes it taste like vinegar. This is a bad thing, unless you're trying to produce vinegar.

Acidity. The sharp, crisp taste in wine, similar to the one you get when you bite into an apple. It's a good thing, unless there's too much, or unless there's too little of the other components of a balanced wine. You'll notice it a lot more in a crisp New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc than in a fruity California Cabernet.

Aroma. The smells of a wine that come from the grapes only. In my view this is somewhat of absurd notion, because we evaluate wine after it's fermented. See bouquet.

Aftertaste. The taste that lingers in your mouth after a sip of wine. The length and quality of the aftertaste is called the finish. Generally you'd like a medium to long finish, unless the wine tastes like a sweaty gym sock. Then a short finish is merciful. And there's always the spit bucket!

Astringent. The drying, sometimes bitter sensation caused by too much tannin or acid. Can make your mouth pucker. And if you pucker so much you can't pull your cheeks apart, the wine should probably age for a few...decades.

Balance. This is what you want in a wine, when all the elements - tannin, acid, sugar, alcohol, etc. - are in the right ratios to each other. What you then get is harmony and great taste!

Barrel. A container, almost exclusively made from oak, in which wines are aged before being bottled. Barrels, especially those that have been used for three or fewer vintages, impart flavors and nuances that most winemakers and wine drinkers find pleasing. Too much, though, can overpower the wine and have the opposite effect. Some winemakers, dealing with the high cost of buying barrels and then cleaning and disinfecting them annually, are using oak chips and oak staves placed in tanks, instead. Purists say this is heresy (or would it be apostasy?) but if it works and people like the result, who am I to argue? However, I'd stick with barrels if I was the winemaker. The French name for a Bordeaux barrel is a barrique.

Bottle-aged. The time wine spends in the bottle before being drunk. For most wines this doesn't mean much. For fine wines meant to age gracefully, and for some high-priced Champagnes and sparklers that are aging "on the lees," (dead yeast cells and sediment) it can mean something, often a toasty flavor.

Bottle-shock. A temporary, unpleasant condition of wine for a few weeks after it's bottled, also referred to as "bottle sickness." Winemakers and scientists can't quite say why this happens, but it may have something to do with the process of pumping and "jostling" the new wine. A lot of newly-bottled wine is not affected, and many consumers never notice this for reasons we don't understand. Still, some wineries let their newly-bottled wine sit for a couple weeks to let this pass before shipping it.

Bottle shock can also refer to the sensation when your wife hits you over the head with a magnum of champagne, after you've made an inappropriate joke at her sister's wedding.

Finally, Bottle Shock is a movie that premieres in the US in August of 2008, about the "Judgment of Paris" in 1976, in which a 1973 Napa Chardonnay and Cabernet bested the French in a blind tasting.

Bouquet. The smells of a wine that come from fermentation and aging. See also aroma.

Breathing. If you hear your wine breathe...run. Seriously, wine is said to breathe when it's aerated, either by decanting or just pouring into a glass. Some say this helps "open up" the wine. I do think there's something to this but I can't prove it. But neither can you. So don't try...just decant if you want, and enjoy the wine!

Brut. "Dry", for sparkling wine and Champagne. The origin seems to be that the Brits, historically big drinkers of French wine, found Champagne too dry for their tastes to the point of being "brutal."

Carbonic Maceration. This is a winemaking technique in which whole clusters of (mostly) unbroken grapes are placed in a fermentation vat and then saturated with carbon dioxide. The CO2 penetrates the skins and causes fermentation to takes place within the berries, meaning that the wine will be less tannic and, some say, "fruitier" than wine fermented the traditional way. In practice, though, some berries on the bottom will be crushed by the weight of the fruit above, release their juice and ferment in the traditional way. The point here is to have lighter wines that can be drunk right after bottling.

Cava. Spanish word for sparkling wine.

Cepage. French word for grape variety, it's "Cepa" in Spanish and Portugese.

Claret. The term that the Brits use to refer to Bordeaux wines. Some California producers, such as Francis Ford Coppola, also use it to refer to their Bordeaux-style wines. Also see Meritage.

Cremant. Generic French word for sparkling wines that aren't produced in the Champagne region. Cremant de Bordeaux, for example. These tend to be a bit less effervescent than Champagne, so think of 'em as "Champagne lite." Sort of.

Chaptalization. The process of adding sugar during fermentation to increase the eventual level of alcohol. This is permitted and practiced widely in Europe but prohibited by law in the US. A wine that's undergone this referred to as "chaptalized."

Chateau. The French word for castle. It's typically the mansion of the wine-producing estate. If the says "Chateau-bottled" or mis en bouteille au chateau, that means the wine comes only from that estate or property.

Commune. Relax...there's no relationship to Cuba or the former USSR. This is just the French term for the lowest level of administrative district, i.e. a city, town or other municipal area, and wineries are sometimes listed by commune. Some would call this a parish, but France ain't Louisiana. Really. I've been to both.

Corked. An unpleasant smell in wine, attributed to a chemical called Trichloranisole. About 3-5% of all wines sealed with natural cork will be corked and are usually undrinkable. Not the same as "bottle stink" which can smell just as nasty but which usually dissipates in a few minutes.

Cru. Literally, "growth." Applies to the grapes from a particular vineyard.

Cuvee. The wine from a particular vat or cuve. Can also be a special blend of a number of wines. Tete de cuvee translates as the top (best) of the barrel or vat.

Dolce. Sweet wine (Italy). In Spain it's also Dolce, in Portugal, Doce, and in France it's Doux. In Germany, well, it's just about all the wine!

Dry. Refers to wine in which most or all of the sugars have been converted to alcohol. But the term is relative, and many wines taste dry only because the residual sugar is balanced by acid and other elements. Dry is also a relative term, and in French it can be downright misleading - sec literally means dry, but when referring to Champagne, Brut is much "dryer" with less than 15 grams of sugar per liter, while sec can have 17 to 35 grams.

Fermentation. In a nutshell it's how wine is made: cultured or natural yeasts - really just single-celled fungi - eat the grape sugars and spit out alcohol. Pretty good deal for the yeast, at least until the alcohol reaches a certain level and then kills the yeast that made it. Poor yeast. Then it's just a good deal for us. Yeasts also contribute to the aromas and flavors that you ultimately taste after the wine is bottled, and ends up in your glass.

Fine. "Fine Wine" is defined by people like you and me...people who buy it and drink it. I probably wouldn't say that a $4 Charles Shaw Cab is "fine," but you might. "To fine" means to clarify new wine just before bottling, by adding one of several fining agents such as egg whites or bentonite (yes, it's dirt) or something called isinglass (a kind of collagen, made from sturgeon bladders). But don't worry, you won't taste any of these and they can't hurt you. Making wine can be like sausage, you know.

Frizzante. Italian word for sparkling wine that is not as, well, sparkling as Champagne or Spumante. Most Proseccos, which are lovely Italian wines made from the grape of the same name, are frizzante.

Full-bodied. The wine version of Rubenesque - has a weighty mouth feel, on account of high levels of extract (particulate matter, tannins, phenols, all those other things that remind you of the high school chemistry class that you barely passed) and alcohol.

Fume. French word for smoky. Pouilly Fume is a French wine made from Sauvignon Blanc that exhibits this character. Robert Mondavi, the marketing genius, called his American Sauvignon Blanc Fume Blanc and the association with France helped make it a hit.

Generic. In the US, this refers to bulk wine with names that often borrow (or steal) from France such as Hearty Burgundy. But I'll bet you $1000 that there's no Pinot Noir from Burgundy in there. And there's no good Chardonnay in the bulk wines labeled Chablis.

Grand Cru. Literally "Great Growth." In Bordeaux many if not most wines are called Grand Cru Classe or Classified Great Growth, and then also ranked. In Burgundy, though, Grand Cru is the top of the heap. Of course this has to be difficult - it's French.

Kabinett. The first category of German wine, lighter and often cheaper than the other categories, which are in order, Spatlase, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, and finally Eiswein. Generally, the higher you go, the riper the grapes were when picked, and the sweeter the wine.

Legs. The little droplets or "rivulets" that run down the inside of the glass after you swirl or taste. They don't indicate quality in any way, but they do show higher alcohol content. There's a much more detailed, technical explanation - surface tension, gravity, capillary action, and vapor pressure - but trust me, it won't help you enjoy the wine any more.

Light, or Light-bodied. Wines that are thinner or have less body. Usually they also have less alcohol and fewer extracts - those goodies from the grape solids that make wine a health beverage (in moderation), help keep your arteries clear and give fine wines their character and longevity in the bottle.

Maceration. A process in which the juice from crushed (and usually, de-stemmed) grapes sits in the fermentation vat along with the skins and seeds. During this time the juice that will become wine gets important things like color, flavor elements and tannin during this process. Different from "Carbonic Maceration."

Maderized. A term that refers to wine, usually white, that has acquired a flat, stale or burned taste and often has turned a brownish color, reminiscent of Madeira wine made on a Portugese Island of the same name.

Malolactic Fermentation (MLF). A process that takes place after the grape sugars have been converted to alcohol. Turns sharp, crisp malic acid to much softer lactic acid. Generally I don't care so much for this, as I like bright acids especially in whites, but this is a very individual choice. A lot of California chardonnays get a malolactic fermentation and a lot of Americans think it's great.

Meritage. An invented word that combines "merit" and "heritage" and refers to certain California wines composed of at least two of the following grapes: For reds, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, St. Macaire, and Gros Verdot. For whites, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Sauvignon Vert. Meritage is actually a registered trademark of the Meritage Association, and wineries who put this name on their label must be members of the group. Pronounced like "heritage."

Negociant. Interesting word that refers to a dealer, generally French, who buys wine in bulk from one or more estates and then resells it, typically under his own label. A lot of very fine wine estates do this with wine that is quality but not good enough to go in their prestige labels.

Nose. The overall smell of wine. It includes both the bouquet, which is the smell of the grape variety(ies) in the wine, and the aroma which is supposed to represent the other smells that come from fermentation and barrel aging.

Premier Cru. First class, baby!...in Bordeaux. The top category of wine from the 1855 French classification. In Burgundy, this is second class, and Grand Cru is first. Yes, I know it's inconsistent and annoying. It is French, after all.

Recolte (France). Harvest or vintage, expressed as a year - for example, 2001.

Reserve. In the USA, this means nothing in particular although it can be an effective marketing gimmick. In fact, I've tasted bottled turpentine labled "Reserve"...meaning, I guess, reserved for people who can't tell paint thinner from Pinot. In Italy, though, Riserva means that the wine must spend some minimum amount of time in barrel or other wooden container before it can be bottled and released. In Spain, red Reserva wines must spend at least a year in cask and can't be released until at least 4 years after harvest, while white Reserva wines must have six months minimum in cask and can't be released until at least 3 years after harvest.

Residual Sugar. The sugar that's left in the wine after fermentation is complete. Ironically, the rising level of alcohol created by the action of the yeast cells (usually along with higher temperatures also generated) eventually kills the yeast: yeast-i-cide, sorta. Wines that are higher in alcohol, and often correspondingly lower in sugar, are fermented with alcohol-tolerant yeast. Of course, some wines have high alcohol and high residual sugar, but if they're balanced by higher acid then you may not notice.

Rose. No, this doesn't mean White Zin, at least not exclusively. Roses are wonderful wines that are often overlooked by snobs, roses can be bone dry and every bit as fragrant and fruity as whites or reds. Most quality roses are made by crushing red grapes, then leaving the juice in contact with the skin for only a short time, say, several hours or a day. You can also make rose by adding some red wine to a white, but this isn't common. Because they straddle the fence, rose wines go great with just about any food, and they are ideal for summer - barbeques, parties on the deck, boat rides and even, yes, ballgames.

Sommelier. French word meaning wine waiter, these folks are typically found in fine restaurants. Their job is not to rip you off, but rather help guide you in selecting a wine to complement your meal, and that you can afford. This is a real profession; the good ones have a lot of study and experience under their belts. And a good sommelier can be a Godsend at a fine restaurant with a big and daunting wine list.

Sparkling Wine. Wines, such as Champagne, that are fermented a second time. The CO2 that is generated is trapped, and therefore dissolves into the liquid, and thus - bubbles. The original and fine method of doing this is called Methode Champenoise, in which the second fermentation takes place in the bottle. The cheaper method is called Charmat, after the guy that invented it, in which the second fermentation takes place in a pressurized tank. There is a third, crude method in which CO2 is literally pumped into still wine. This produces really bad stuff, will probably give you a headache and I wouldn't touch it.

Spumante. Generic Italian word for sparkling wine. Not necessarily sweet like Asti Spumante. Which you know you drank in high school and thought you were cool. Maybe you were.

Sur Lie. No, not "surly". This refers to wines that have been aged, usually in a barrel, on top of the mostly dead yeast cells. May sound yucky but this can give the wine a more complex, sometimes more toasty flavor. As Martha Stewart would say, it's a good thing. Hopefully the winemaker racks the clear wine off the lees and you don't have to chew on 'em.

Tannin. A substance in wine that comes from grape skins, stems and seeds, and to a lesser extent from oak barrels. It helps preserve reds and gives them a lot of their structure, and some can be harsh, rough and even chewy - but some people like that. Tannins don't really have a taste, they are really a tactile sensation. If you really want to "feel" tannin, get a young bottle of Montus wine from France, made from the Tannat grape.

Conventional wisdom until recently was that tannins changed a lot over time, and went from "hard" to "soft" by attaching to each other and becoming rounder. But a study at UC Davis, the famous wine school, now challenges that. In fact, that study seems to show that wines called harsh simply have a lot more tannin - three to five times as much - as those described as soft. And the study also shows that some, but not all, tannins do attach to each other to form long strands, and that the long ones are more astringent, not less.

Terroir. A poorly understood term that tries to capture all the unique aspects of a wine based on where the grapes are grown and all the things that determine their quality - soil, rainfall, elevation, sun exposure, geology, and some other stuff you don't want to hear about. Originally it was a phrase, gout de terroir which means "taste of the earth" and at the time - the 17th century - it probably wasn't a compliment when associated with a wine.

Hundreds of years later, there's a lot of mostly harmless controversy about the extent to which this is real or imagined. The French swear by this, especially in Burgundy where grapes grown 50 meters away can cost eight times the price.

Veraison. The point at which green grapes begin to turn color - to yellow or red depending on variety - and to soften. All grapes, no matter the variety, are green when they're "born." Like all babies have blue eyes, I suppose.

White Zinfandel found an audience, mainly in the USA, and it is now one of the largest-selling wines in the world. However, there are also a number of good, dry rose wines made from 100% Zinfandel, and Sutter Home itself made a dry rose from Zinfandel a couple years before the sweet one. It's simply a matter of the degree to which the winemaker ferments the sugar out of the juice, and how much skin contact he or she allows. Some people love this stuff. Go figure.

7. Why does a mediocre wine typically cost more, sometimes a lot more, than even high-end beers or top-shelf liquors?

A. Two reasons, mainly.

The first is simply that wine costs a lot more to make than beer or distilled spirits. For example, the cost of good wine bottles, corks, and foil capsules to close the end of the bottle alone can be $1.50 or more per bottle. Smaller wineries that don't own their own bottling line will also pay about $2 per case for that process. Putting that in beer terms, the cost of producing a six-pack of beer would be $10.50, PLUS the cost of the beer (not included) and considerable markups for the wholesaler and your local carry-out. Maybe we're talking around $22-25 for a six-pack of suds, all in, when you go to buy it.

Growing and harvesting grapes is an enormously expensive exercise, complicated by the fact that, other than "Two-Buck Chuck"-type bulk wines, most are made and marketed using particular grapes grown in specific regions and vineyards. So, if they have a bad year, they cannot simply substitute other fruit. Contrast that with a mound of wheat and a bag of hops that is mostly "generic" and can come from just about anywhere. Winemaking is also very labor-intensive, much more so than brewing or distilling and hand-harvesting is the order of the day in vineyards whose grapes go into the best wines. And the capital cost of opening a winery and staying current with equipment and technology is astronomical. For example, oak wine barrels cost $500-$1200 each and are good for about three years, five on the high end, and must be cleaned, sterilized and re-toasted between vintages.

The second reason is that most wine is sold under what is called the three-tier system involving the winery, wholesaler, and retailer. Ironically, the winery tends to make the smallest margin among the three, and the retailer, the largest. An article in the January 2007 issue of Wines and Vines illustrates: Start with the winery's production cost, of, say $5.00 a bottle. Add $2.00 per bottle for overhead, and only $1.00 a bottle markup (margin). The cost, then, to the distributor or wholesaler is $8.00, which is then marked up 30% TO $10.40. Off the wine goes to the retailer, where a 50% markup is added, and you have a consumer cost of $15.60, not including tax. And if the retailer is a restaurant, you can expect a markup much higher, up to 200% on top of the retail price.

As Paul Harvey says, "now you know the rest...of the story."

8. Are screw caps an indication of cheap or lousy wine? Are they as good as real cork? Will real corks disappear?

Well, that's three questions, and here are three answers: no; sometimes yes, but under certain circumstances; and no way, Jose.

Vino-Lok

The Zork

There is also the Vino-Lok, a German invention that uses a lined glass or hard plastic stopper, and the Zork, a strange and futuristic looking contraption from Australia.

My view?

1. Natural cork is not going away, despite the evidence that 3-5% of all wines that are stoppered with it become infected with TCA. Remember that there's a significant and historical deference to tradition in winemaking, so natural corks, actually the bark of the cork oak tree, will stay with us for a long time. And scientists are making great strides in controlling TCA while maintaining the properties that make cork such a great seal. Of course, when you open an expensive bottle of wine and you're hit with the overwhelming smell of wet newspaper, all that tradition quickly amounts to zilch-point-zero.

2. Synthetic stoppers made from plastic just don't seal well enough for wines that age long-term in the bottle. They're ok for wines meant to be drunk within a year, or two at most.

3. Screwcaps are proving themselves, by far, the best alternative to natural cork. There is no risk of cork taint, and the evidence is that screwcaps, especially those with a tinfoil liner, show the most promise for long-term aging in the bottle.

9. I drink a lot of wine and would like to buy inexpensive stuff like Two-Buck Chuck. At that price can it be any good?

A. Depends on what you mean by "good." These wines are inexpensive mainly because they come from extremely high-yield vineyards; the grapes are machine harvested, rarely sorted for quality, fermented in huge quantities and the resulting wine is pushed into the market with little aging - and no advertising or marketing.

The second major source of bulk wine is high-end wineries. How's that? Well, more frequently than you might imagine, something happens at a winery that renders a batch of wine unsuitable for bottling under its own prestige label. But the wine is still good enough to be sold on the bulk market, and helps the original winery recover some of its costs.

The real conundrum when buying bulk wine, sometimes available for as little as $2-4 a bottle, is that the quality and taste can be wildly inconsistent. I've heard about but never seen people opening a bottle from a case of bulk wine in the parking lot, and if it's palatable, running back into the store to buy the rest of the case. And I have seen people at home opening bottle after bottle of bulk wine from a case, and finding each and very bottle just awful. So it is sometimes a gamble, but in the days of strict quality control and high production standards, the case disaster is rare.

Bulk wine is a step above so-called jug wines that often have names like "Hearty Burgundy," but aren't made from French-grown Pinot Noir, or "Chablis", and aren't made from French Chardonnay. Usually the labels don't say what's in them, so your guess is as good as mine. These I wouldn't touch with a barge pole unless I was broke and in college. And I'm not...in college.

10. I went online the other day to buy some wine directly from a winery that I like, and they can't ship to NJ. Why is that...and how do I know which wineries and retailers can ship to which states? I thought that the US Supreme Court fixed this problem awhile ago.

The May 16, 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision was very specific: The court ruled that any state that allows a winery within that state to sell directly to its residents must allow wineries outside to sell to its residents as well. Lots of consumers in many states thought that this would make it possible - and easy - for them to purchase directly from wineries in any state.

Not so fast. What actually happened is some states moved to block all direct-to-consumer deliveries, many on the specious pretext that minors were buying wine from the Internet and having it delivered when their parents aren't home. Others have leveled the playing field, and still others are mired in legislative battles over such deliveries.

Some wineries have opted to do what it takes to play in states where it's legal, and where they also believe they can get enough business to make it worthwhile. But many small wineries just can't sell enough to afford the registrations, fees and taxes that many individual states are demanding.

In addressing the issue in New Jersey, State Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan says he will soon introduce legislation that allows out-of-state wineries to ship directly to NJ consumers "under certain conditions." Let's see what happens and what those conditions are.

You can see your state's current shipping policy on this map.

11. What's the difference between a variety and a varietal?

A. The variety is the type of grape; the varietal is the wine made from that grape.

Of course, lots of wines are made as a blend of several grape varieties and so are given a proprietary, made-up name.

For example, Cain Concept is a fabulous blend of four of the great Bordeaux grapes.



12. I am allergic to sulfites and as a result, if I drink red wine I get a wicked headache. Are there any reds that are made without them?

A. I have bad news, a dose of reality, and good news for you.

The bad news is that all wine contains sulfites; it's a byproduct of the fermentation process. And SO2 - Sulfur Dioxide - is an important protective element in winemaking, so very few producers even consider making wine without adding it. The real problem is for asthmatics, for whom as little as one milligram per liter can be dangerous.

The dose of reality is that your headache is more likely from the fact that you drank an entire bottle of red wine, and that was after a Cosmopolitan, two Heinekens and a lemon drop! And as an aside, if you eat dried fruit and other foods that are preserved similarly, you are getting several times as much SO2 as in a glass of wine.

The good news is that there are probably fewer sulfites in wine that you think, and less than typically cause an allergic reaction. Moreover, because SO2 helps inhibit unwanted microbial growth, it may actually help prevent allergic reactions. If you aren't asthmatic, it's probably not something to worry about. But ask your doctor.

13. There are so many corkscrews on the market. Which is best?

A. Ah, so many bottles to open, so little...liver.

Waiter's Friend
My favorite is the "waiter's friend" that I keep in my car, and often in my pocket. Simple and elegant, and the quality ones make opening your bottle a snap. They typically have an attached knife or foilcutter, and once you learn to place the "worm" properly on the cork and use the lever, your corks will come out cleanly and flawlessly with little effort. It looks elegant and makes you look like a pro.


Screwpull Table Model

My runner-up is the simple Screwpull table model. Even easier to use than the waiter's friend, although less elegant, and with very tight corks it can take some effort. Just place the two "prongs" securely over the bottle, hold them together, and as you turn the worm, the cork is automatically pulled out of the bottle like...magic!


Lever-arm Opener

For serious business at home, I use this lever-arm model but mine's chrome. You just place the neck of the bottle tightly into the plastic sleeve, bring the handle down and back up, and the cork is extracted swiftly from the bottle and it pops out of a "chute" underneath the device. Looks cool and you can open a case in two minutes!

These I'm not so fond of...


The Rabbit - This one looks cool, too, but it's not really very handy. Most people have to keep it in the presentation box because it's so big it won't fit neatly in your bar drawer...or any drawer. It's also unwieldy, and when the worm gets dull, the powerful action will often force the cork down into the bottle as a geyser of wine shoots up with great force and random direction. I've seen more than a few hosts and hostesses embarrassingly coat themselves and their guests with wine using these things. Did it to myself once too, wearing a $%&#@* white linen jacket...boy, THAT looked great. Not. Rabbits range in price from about $15 to more than $150 and the quality varies widely from decent to crappy; I've seen $100 ones fall apart.


The Wing. You'll see lots of these. They are cheap, the "arms" often fall off when the metal pins break, and notice that they use an augur and not a real "worm". The result is that they often bore through the cork, either chewing it up or failing to get a good hold on it, and then you pull and pull...and get nothing. Forget this thing.


The Cork-Popper. Sounds like a great idea: Shoot some C02 into the little space between the cork and the wine. Since the wine can't be compressed, the C02 will push the cork out. Sometimes it works and sometimes you guess wrong and make a mess. It's not elegant and it's totally unnecessary: if you are going to drink wine, you can put in a little effort, can't you?



14. I saw what looked like tiny shards of glass in a bottle of Chardonnay. I didn't buy it and how can wineries get away with that? I don't think it was sediment because it was a 2005 wine.

A. Those were harmless crystals of tartrate. Some wineries do what's called "cold-stablize" the wine to get those out before bottling, but others don't. If it bothers you, choose another wine, but you might be missing a good thing.

15. How much of a grape does a wine have to have to be called by that grape's name? What are other labeling requirements?

A. In the U.S., a wine must have 75% of more of a particular grape to take its name. For example, a wine labeled Cabernet Sauvignon must be at least 75% Cab, but the rest can be virtually anything. The exception is Oregon, where a varietal must have 90% or more of the named grape variety.

On the labels of wine made in the U.S., the region and the winery also appear. If the wine is labeled with an American Viticulture Area (AVA), then 85% of the grapes must come that AVA, and the same percent is required if a county is named. That's why Charles Shaw ("Two-Buck Chuck") no longer puts "Napa" on his wines that don't actually have a great majority of Napa-grown grapes in them. But that still means that a "Napa" wine could have 15% of its grapes grown in Washington, Oregon, or elsewhere.

Other regulations put an interesting (hmm) twist on wine labeling. One is that U.S. wineries can blend up to to 25% of non-U.S. wine and still label the final product "American." The French will love that. And a vintage of, say, 2005 can have up to 15% of non-vintage wine (from a different year) and yet be labeled an '05 as long as it doesn't have an AVA designation.

We live in...interesting times, wine-wise.