Dolcetto is a black wine grape variety. The name means "little sweet one," though it is nearly always a dry wine. Dolcetto wines can be tannic and fruit driven with moderate levels of acidity. They are typically meant to be consumed one to two years after release but can be consumed immeaditly.

Dolcetto wines are known for black cherry and licorice flavors with some prunes and a characteristically bitter finish reminiscent of almonds. While relatively high in residual sugars the wines are normally always dry. The tannic nature of the grape contributes to a characteristic bitter finish. The dark purple skin of Dolcetto grapes have high amounts of anthocyanins in them which require only a short maceration time with the skin to produce a dark colored wine. The amount of skin contact affects the resulting tannin levels in the wine with most winemakers preferring to limit maceration time to as short as possible. During fermentation the wine is prone to the wine fault of reduction.

Dolcetto is a fruit driven wine with aromas of ripe blackberries and red plums. A direct, Zinfandel-like fruitiness combined with Merlot-like soft tannins make Dolcetto charmingly seductive. While often compared to Beaujolais Nouveau, Dolcetto tends to have a fuller body with more complex taste.

In California, Riesling lags far behind in popularity to Chardonnay and is not as commonly planted. A notable exception is the growing development of high quality Late Harvest dessert wines. So far, the Late Harvest wines most successfully produced are in the Anderson and Alexander Valleys where the weather is more likely to encourage the needed botrytis to develop. The Riesling that does come out of California tends to be softer, fuller, and having more diverse flavors than a "typical" German Riesling.

Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally pure and are seldom oaked.

Riesling has a powerful and distinctive floral and apple-like aroma that frequently mixes in mineral elements from its vineyard source and is often described as "racy." Its high natural level of Tartaric acid enables it to balance even high levels of residual sugar.

Riesling gives wine lovers the finest example of the important complementary role that sugar and acid play in a wine’s overall balance. Indeed, a great Riesling is exactly that, a stunningly graceful contrast between the two. Rounding out the package are the signature floral fruit characteristics that combine perfectly with the grape's natural sugar-acid balance. This gives Riesling the potential to age gracefully for years, becoming more supple and luxurious, with petrol-like qualities.

The most expensive wines made from Riesling are late harvest dessert wines, produced by letting the grapes hang on the vines well past normal picking time. Through evaporation caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea ("noble rot") or by freezing, as in the case of ice wine water is removed and the resulting wine offers richer layers on the palate. These concentrated wines have more sugar (in extreme cases hundreds of grams per litre), more acid (to give balance to all the sugar), more flavor, and more complexity. These elements combine to make wines which are amongst the most long lived of all white wines.

The Marsanne grape is helping, along with Viognier and Roussanne, to increase the visibility and popularity of "Rhône-style" wines in California. This grape's varietal character has little tolerance for weather that is either too cool or too warm and bland, simply vinous wine will result. The round, medium-gold to amber Marsanne berries make deep-colored wine that is also fairly full-bodied, sometimes described as almost "waxy". Where growing conditions are right, Marsanne aromas can suggest almond paste or citrus, mixed with perfume or model airplane cement. Low aciditiy means Marsanne wine is best consumed young.

Marsanne produces deeply colored wines that are rich and nutty, with hints of spice and pear. The wines can be high in alcohol and normally have very distinctive aromas. They can be oak aged to develop more body. As Marsanne ages, the wine take on an even darker color and the flavors can become more complex and concentrated with an oily, honeyed texture. Aromas of nuts and quince can also develop.

Sangiovese has proved successful in a wide range of California’s viticultural areas, producing medium-bodied wines with classic prune, cherry character aromatics and pleasant acidity.

Young Sangiovese has fresh fruity flavours of strawberry and a little spiciness, but it readily takes on oaky, even tarry, flavours when aged in barrels.

Sangiovese tends to be rather lightly-pigmented (the Brunello clone being a notable exception) and the wines -- even younger examples -- often cast a slight orange tinge at their margin in the glass.

Pronounced acidity is also an important common characteristic across clonal variation and even the most structured of Sangiovese wines have a firm acidic backbone. Other common descriptors for the aromatics of the variety often include prunes, dark cherry and earthy barnyard.

Sangiovese offers a varying palate stemming from diverse planting and has a relatively short shelf live (usually less than 10 years).

In North America, California is the leading producer of Sauvignon Blanc. California wine produced from the Sauvignon Blanc grape is also known as Fumé Blanc.

California Sauvignon blancs tend to fall into two styles. The New Zealand influenced-Sauvignon blanc have more tropical fruit undertones with citrus and passion fruit notes. The Mondavi-influenced Fumé Blanc are more round with melon notes.

California producers tend to use the Loire-derived Fumé Blanc name and bottle shape for their blended and oak-aged wines (more like the Bordelais). Meanwhile, the California Sauvignon Blancs that are 100% varietal and most likely without oak in fermentation or aging (distinctly Loire-like practices), are most often bottled in Bordeaux-style bottles!

With naturally high acidity, Sauvignon Blanc is always tangy, tart, nervy, racy, or zesty, and this character pervades even sweet and dessert versions, keeping them from being cloying and sticky-tasting.

Dry-style Sauvignon or Fumé Blancs are very versatile in accompanying foods and can handle components such as tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro, raw garlic, smoked cheeses or other pungent flavors that would clash with or overpower many Chardonnays and almost all other dry whites. In fact, Sauvignon Blanc is probably the best dry white wine to accompany the greatest variety of foods.