The black
grapes
Nine varieties carry most of the world's red wine. As with the whites, learn each as a structure-plus-aroma fingerprint — but for reds, tannin and color do extra work.
Two axes sort almost every red
Reds add a variable whites mostly lack — tannin — and color carries more information. Two questions place a red most of the way home.
Light and pale, or deep and grippy?
Thin-skinned grapes from cool places give pale color, low tannin, high acid, light body — Pinot Noir is the archetype. Thick-skinned grapes from warm places give deep color, high tannin, fuller body — Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Color depth and tannin usually travel together.
The one trap
Usually pale color means low tannin — except Nebbiolo, which is pale and brick-rimmed yet ferociously tannic and acidic. It's the exception you must memorize, and a reminder that you confirm color's hint on the palate, never assume it.
Pale + high acid + low tannin + red cherry → Pinot Noir. Opaque + high tannin + cassis + cedar → Cabernet. Black pepper over the fruit → Syrah. You're running Session 1's chain backwards, exactly as with whites.
The major reds, as fingerprints
Click any grape for its structure bars, signature aromas, defining regions, and the tell. Watch tannin and body closely — they separate these more than flavor does.
Two-glass identification
If you have a pale/light red and a deep/full red, taste blind against the cards.
Color first
Opaque purple-black vs. see-through pale ruby. That alone separates Cabernet/Syrah/Malbec from Pinot/Gamay — Nebbiolo excepted.
Tannin grip
Heavy drying grip = thick-skinned (Cab, Syrah, Nebbiolo). Silky, low grip = Pinot, Gamay, Grenache.
The aroma tell
Cassis + cedar (Cab), black pepper + smoked meat (Syrah), sour cherry + herbs (Sangiovese), tar + roses (Nebbiolo), violet + plush plum (Malbec).
Name it, then check
Commit out loud, then read the label. Log which clue led you right or wrong.
Five questions
Grape flashcards
Front: the tell. Back: the grape.
Lock it in
From memory:
- Sort the nine reds from lowest to highest tannin.
- Name the pale-but-tannic exception and why it matters.
- Give the aroma tell for Cabernet, Syrah, Sangiovese, and Nebbiolo.
- Which grape splits into two named styles like Chardonnay does — and what are they?
- Re-run the grape cards; recall each profile before clicking.
Bordeaux:
two banks
The most important red-wine region on earth is organized by one fact — which side of the river the vines sit on. Get the two banks straight and Bordeaux falls into place.
The river decides everything
Bordeaux red is almost always a blend — chiefly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot — and the ratio flips depending on which bank of the Gironde estuary the grapes grew.
Left Bank — Cabernet country
Gravel soils that drain warm and suit late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon. The blends are Cabernet-dominant: structured, tannic, built to age, with cassis and cedar. Home to the Médoc's great communes — Margaux, Pauillac, St-Julien, St-Estèphe — and to Pessac-Léognan in Graves (which also makes Bordeaux's best dry whites).
Right Bank — Merlot country
Cooler clay and limestone suit early-ripening Merlot. The blends are Merlot-dominant (with Cabernet Franc): softer, plummier, rounder, approachable younger. The names to know are St-Émilion and Pomerol (home of Pétrus).
Explore the geography — click each zone:
Classifications & the sweet corner
The famous 1855 Classification ranked Left Bank châteaux into five growths. The five First Growths (Premiers Crus) are the names that anchor the fine-wine market: Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion, and Mouton Rothschild (promoted in 1973 — the only change ever made). The Right Bank wasn't part of 1855; St-Émilion runs its own classification, and Pomerol has none at all.
In the south, Sauternes makes lusciously sweet wine from Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc affected by noble rot — Château d'Yquem its peak. And "claret" is simply the old English word for red Bordeaux.
Decode the appellations — click any:
The 1855 First Growths are the deepest, most liquid corner of the wine-investment market — the names you'll meet again in Session 18. Bordeaux's blend-and-classify model is also the template most New World regions imitate or react against.
Taste the blend
Run a full SAT note
Use the method from Session 2. A classic Left Bank reads: deep ruby, high tannin, high acid, full body, cassis + cedar.
Guess the bank
Firm, structured, austere when young → Left Bank (Cab-led). Plush, rounder, softer tannin → Right Bank (Merlot-led).
Check the label
Find the commune or appellation; use the decoder above to confirm the dominant grape and whether your read was right.
Five questions
Bordeaux flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- Left Bank: dominant grape, soil, two commune names, the style.
- Right Bank: dominant grape, soil, two appellation names, the style.
- Name the five First Growths and the year the only change was made.
- What is Sauternes — grape(s), the mechanism, the icon château?
- Re-click the map; name each zone's grape before reading the panel.
Burgundy:
one slope,
four tiers
Bordeaux blends and classifies châteaux. Burgundy does the opposite: two grapes, no blending, and a ranking of the dirt itself. Master the pyramid and you understand the world's most expensive wines.
Two grapes, a north-south ribbon
Burgundy makes single-variety wine from just two grapes: Pinot Noir (red) and Chardonnay (white). No blending. So the only questions are where on the slope, and how high in the ranking.
The region runs north to south, getting warmer and more value-oriented as you descend. Click each band:
At the top sits Chablis — lean, steely, unoaked Chardonnay. The heart is the Côte d'Or: the Côte de Nuits (almost all the greatest reds) and the Côte de Beaune (the greatest whites, plus fine reds). South lie the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais (everyday Chardonnay), then Beaujolais — which breaks the rule, growing Gamay, not Pinot.
The quality pyramid
Burgundy ranks vineyards, not producers. The same grape, grown a few metres apart, can sell for ten or a hundred times more depending on which tier the plot sits in. Click each tier from the base up:
Grand Cru is roughly 1% of production from tiny, fixed plots that can never expand — scarcity by geology. That's why blue-chip Burgundy (DRC, Leroy, Rousseau) outran every other region over the past decade, and why you'll see it again in Session 18. The pyramid is the price curve.
Taste the pinnacle grape
Full SAT note
Pinot Noir should read: pale ruby, low–medium tannin, high acid, light–medium body, red cherry and (with age) forest floor. The opposite of a Left Bank Bordeaux.
Place it on the slope
Lean, mineral, restrained → cooler/northern or higher-tier. Riper, rounder → warmer/southern or New World.
Read the label as a pyramid
Just "Bourgogne" = regional base. A village name = village. "1er Cru" + a vineyard = Premier Cru. A standalone vineyard with no village = Grand Cru. Confirm with the tiers above.
Five questions
Burgundy flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- Name Burgundy's two grapes and the one sub-region that breaks the rule.
- Recite the four tiers of the pyramid, base to top, with the approximate share of production at the apex.
- Which Côte is famed for reds, which for whites?
- Explain, in one sentence, why Grand Cru can't simply make more wine.
- Re-click the pyramid; predict each tier's price story before reading it.