Attractive but treacherous – that’s varietal thinking. If you want the clearest of insights into particular wines, try to forget about grape varieties. They’re a seductive distraction.
Many of us, I know, assume the opposite: that the easiest way to understand wine is by learning about grape varieties. They seem to offer a map to help us grope our way around the wine labyrinth. Just 16 cultivars account for half the world’s plantings (2016 figures: fromebook by Kym Anderson and Signe Nelgen, 2020 edition); fewer still outside Europe. Great: the map’s simple.
