Understanding a few core wine truths can help beginners visualize how and why grape variety alone cannot pinpoint how a wine will taste. All fruits go through predictable changes to their sweetness— acidity and flavor as they ripen—

GRAPE but not all wines are RIPENESS:

made from grapes ALL OVER THE MAP The same grape variety can of equal ripeness. produce wines that taste The degree of grape radically different, depending

ripeness is controlled both by ex- and when the

on where they’ re grown

posure to sunlight and fruit is picked. warmth, so factors like a wine region’ s climate, the vineyard’ s terrain and the winemaker’ s decision on when fruit should be picked all have a tremendous impact. As a result, fruit ripeness can have a stronger influence on how a wine will taste than the type of grape grown.

Since fruit ripeness correlates very strongly with most of wine’ s sensory traits— from alcohol content to acidity to flavor intensity and even color— it’ s possible to picture where wines fall on a ripeness-based“ flavor map” of sorts, as shown here. This visualization can help make sense of one of the biggest wine mysteries by explaining why two wines made from the same grape variety can taste wildly different when grown in different conditions, and also why two wines from different grape varieties can share a stylistic resemblance when they are grown in similar climates and picked at similar ripeness levels. •

VINSIGHTS

A staff training infographic worth 1,000 words

by MARNIE OLD

Marnie Old is one of the country’ s leading wine educators and content marketers. Formerly the director of wine studies for Manhattan’ s French Culinary Institute, she is best known for her visually engaging books published by DK such as Wine: A Tasting Course and her popular Wine Simplified series of wine tutorials on YouTube.

www. beveragedynamics. com Spring 2026 • Beverage Dynamics 11