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.

The Pinot Gris, also know as Pinot Grigio, grape skins can be from greyish blue to brownish pink; sometimes they look black, sometimes white. The styles of wine from these grapes also varies widely - from a rounded, fuller wine, to a light wine. The common factor is the delicate aroma, commonly with a hint of honey.

Pinot Gris from California is often called Pinot Grigio because of its similarity in style to the wine of Italy.

In California, the Pinot Gris are light bodied with a crisp, refreshing taste with some pepper and arugula notes. The Pinot Grigio style of Italy is a light-bodied, often lean wine that is light in color with sometimes spritzy flavors that can be crisp and acidic.

Pinot Grigio is typically a pale, straw-like yellow with some golden hues thrown in. The texture of a Pinot Grigio is worth noting, as it has very smooth, almost silk-like overtones that leave an impression on the palate.

Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris is considered an "early to market wine" that can be bottled and out on the market within 4-12 weeks after fermentation.

Cabernet Franc is a thin-skinned red grape that grows particularly well in cooler climates, and is originally from the Bourdeaux and Loire Valley regions of France. The Cabernet Franc has been grown with success in Australia, Chile, Canada, South Africa and California and Washington, producing a fruity wine that is softer and more subdued than its regal relative, Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cabernet Franc is mostly grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but is also vinified alone.

Cabernet Franc is lighter than Cabernet Sauvignon (of which it is a parent), contributing finesse and a peppery perfume to blends with more robust grapes. Depending on growing region and the style of wine, additional aromas can include tobacco, raspberry, and cassis, sometimes even violets. The Cabernet franc wine's color is bright pale red. Over-cropping and underexposure each tend to accentuate the vegetative flavor elements. Typically somewhat spicy in aroma and often reminiscent of plums and especially violets.

In cooler climates cabernet franc yields pleasingly crisp, somewhat rustic wines that stand in welcome contrast to your garden-variety fruit bombs.

Submitted by:
Gene Hurtz
Pasadena City Guides And Directories

Pinot Blanc is a lighter flavored white wine with citrus, melon, pear, apricot and perhaps smokey or mineral undertones combined with characteristic high acidity.

California winemakers frequently get fairly good results by applying the same techniques as they might to Chardonnay, barrel fermentation, lees stirring, full malolactic, etc.

Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a clone or genetic mutation of Pinot gris, which is itself a clone of Pinot noir.

Among the white wines of the world, pinot blanc probably sets the record for the number of ways a wine can be presented in a bottle. Depending on the country in which it is grown and the winemaker's personal approach to fashioning a wine out of the grape, pinot blanc can range in style from the uncomplex, light and fruity pinot biancos of northern Italy to the complex, oaky masterpieces of some California winemakers, which can rival the biggest and best chardonnays. The styles in between these extremes are numerous and well worth exploring. In the last few years, several California winemakers have begun using the same techniques in making pinot blanc as are used to make expensive chardonnay.

California winemakers who employ classic Burgundian techniques in making pinot blanc -- using new and/or almost new French oak barrels for fermentation and aging, lees contact and inducing a malo-lactic secondary fermentation to maximize the wine's complexity -- are creating truly memorable wines that are every bit as enjoyable as French and California chardonnays costing considerably more.

Submitted by:
George Snedrow
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