Which white and red varieties offer the most diverse flavor profiles?

WINE TALK
21

I’d vote for Riesling and Pinot Noir.
Riesling gets two votes … diversity within styles (Alsace to Mosel in dry, say) and between styles ( dry to TBA).
Chenin , Viognier honourable mentions.

Pinot Noir … think Volnay to Pommard. And we won’t talk about Meomi.
Syrah honourable mention. Jam to leather and spice.

I think as has been mentioned it’s an interesting question how much of the variety is intrinsic to grape / vineyard and how much is the winemaker. The question is about varieties … does that imply factoring out the wnemaker somehow? Not sure you can.

22

grenache and viognier for me

23

For the white I vote for Chenin… I love Riesling and I really want to vote for it because there are soooo many styles, but Riesling seems to have a tell, and I can guess what it is blind 99.9% of the time. Doesn’t matter the style, Dry, off-dry, sweet, even sparkling and skin fermented. I’ve had them all and you always find that Riesling flavor profile, which I love. But with Chenin I feel like they are a chameleon and even though I drink a lot of it, more than any other white grape this year easily, I feel like the flavors vary so much. And the question is not which grapes makes the most styles, but which grapes “has the most diverse flavor profile,” and for me Chenin has a more diverse flavor profile.

For red wine, I have no freaking clue… When considering Flavor profile, not just styles made it becomes difficult. I can see arguments for many grapes, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Grenache come to mind for me, but too lazy to decide…

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24

Kasey, I had the exact same thought process re: Riesling, and eliminated it as my potential answer for the exact same reasons as you. [cheers.gif]

1 Like
25

Coincidentally, at pretty much the exact same time you were posting your answer, I was having a conversation with one of the Italian wine buyers at K&L, and during that conversation he mentioned the impressive diversity of flavor/style offered by Fiano. He included Falanghina alongside, as well.

26

Riesling for white and Pinot Noir for red and IMHO it is not close.

27

This…by a LOT

28

Such a tough question to answer - and obviously there is no one right answer. I think that it’s easy to go with Pinot - especially on this board. It certainly offers more diversity than any Bordeaux variety, and I would say in general that this Board is more Burgundy focused than Rhone. Yep, Syrah offers a tremendous amount of diversity depending upon site, clone, soil, etc. So does Grenache - in a BIG way. In fact, I would say that Grenache might be a better candidate for this than Syrah . . .

As far as white’s go, Riesling is the obvious choice again, especially as you can go from dry to sweet, etc. Chenin follows that progression, too. If we look at ‘dry’ whites only, I do agree that Viognier is an interesting choice. But Chardonnay and Sauv Blanc would be just as interesting IMHO. Another grape to consider - Grenache Blanc . . .

Cheers.

29

Funny you should mention that. Going to head up there today in order to try a couple of their selections after trying some from WineX and Hi-Times recently.

30

For reds I’d have to say Syrah. Because Syrah can fool you. It’s rare that Pinot Noir fools you.

I would have said Riesling always had a tell-tale marker, but after I made my own Riesling I’m not so sure anymore. Riesling can end up in a very Chard-like, tropical way if you let it.

31

Boy that sounds horrifying. I love well made Chardonnay and I love well made Rieslings, but a Riesling that tastes like Chardonnay (or a Chardonnay that tastes like Riesling) sounds like something I would run away from as fast as possible. Can you identify some Rieslings that taste like Chardonnay so I can avoid them?

32

I can understand the votes for Chenin, but I think Riesling has far more diversity. Chenin does not have quite as full a range of fruit, and not nearly as full a range of non-fruit characteristics. So, I think the white is Riesling by a good margin.

I think it’s Pinot Noir for red, but that one is not as clear-cut. Syrah’s pretty diverse too, but again, I think there’s a narrower range of non-fruit with Syrah, vs. PN.

33

I would add zinfandel/primitivo to the list. A lot of Italian primitivos bear no resemblance to any zinfandel.

I would not put chardonnay on the list. While there are variations in terroir that show through in Burgundy, they are very subtle. To me, most of the rest of variations do not involve differences in fruit flavors (Brian’s original question), but texture (acidity, ripeness, residual sugar) or winemaking (oak). Exception: the “muscat clone” aromatics that show up on on some.