Best Apps for Toddlers Best Android Apps You're Not Using Best New iPhone Games to Play Now 40 Best Free Apps for iPhone Google Chrome Getting Built-in Ad Blocker (Report)Name the 2 top wine varieties you can think of right now, off the tip of your brain. If you guessed Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot you are dead on. They are the top two most planted grapes in the world. Perhaps it’s because of their inherent quality. In truth, quality is only half of the answer; there’s more to this story than meets the eye. In an alternate reality, Touriga Nacional is the king of wine. Let’s explore the top wine grapes of the world and why they are at the top. You may be surprised at how much influence France has had in shaping the wine world. Imagine instead if Portugal (which was an equal wine nation to France during the Age of Conquest) spread its grapes to the New World. What would the most popular wines be then? The World’s Most Planted Grapes Why is Cabernet Sauvignon on Top?

People talk a lot about quality and age-worthiness when it comes to wine. No doubt Cabernet Sauvignon has amazing attributes, but there are many wines that have complex flavors and age equally as long. So why is Cabernet Sauvignon the most popular? One word: Marketing It’s weird to think that agricultural products fall into the same traps as manufactured products, but they do. For example, think about apples: Pink Lady, Gala, and Granny Smith are common preferences, but there are hundreds of thousands of different types of apples that you probably haven’t had the opportunity to try. Limited options reduce the opportunity for diversity. A lil’ history on why Bordeaux was perhaps the very best region to market their grapes. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc originate from this region. The fact that you may already be exclusively familiar with these wines just shows you how integrated they’ve become. Another example is Burgundy: the original home of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Now imagine for a minute, that instead of France’s wines taking over the world, that Portugal did instead. What would be the top wines of the world in this mirror universe? If Portuguese wines ruled the world, what would we be drinking? Portugal has over 250 different types of indigenous grapes in an area less than half the size of Washington State. The reason to choose Portugal is because it’s one of several countries (including Greece and Italy) that make a lot of wine but most of us haven’t even heard of their top ten wines! So for fun, I will paint you a picture of the commonly available wines today and what their Portuguese equivalents are in terms of flavor and style. Imagine an alternate universe where Portuguese grapes rule the world. Cabernet Sauvignon vs. Touriga Nacional Traditionally used for Port wine making, Touriga Nacional is deep, dark and lusty with notes of violets, currants and plum. It ages well and grows in one of the most breathtaking wine regions of the world: The Douro

Merlot vs. Touriga Franca Touriga Franca is a grape variety with a little more acidity and fruitiness, similar to how Merlot is to Cabernet Sauvignon.best bc red wine under 20 Both Encruzado and Antão Vaz would take the role of the baked apple and lemon flavors in a rich Chardonnay. best wine restaurants londonJust like with Chardonnay, the amount of oak aging used on these varieties will change the flavor from zesty to buttery.top 10 wine flavors Jaen (more commonly known as Mencia in Spain) is a grape with a lot of up front flavor, similar to Syrah. new world wine labels are easier to read because

It can be made both bold and sweet, like Shiraz in Australia; buy blood into wineor savory and earthy like the Syrah from the Northern Rhône.top wine tours in canada Pinot Noir vs. Baga For the longest time, Baga was a throwaway grape because it was poorly farmed. Surprisingly, it can produce both delicately light and smooth red wines as well as wonderful sparkling wines. If more Portuguese wineries invested in making quality Baga, it would be as good as Pinot Noir. Pinot Gris vs. Alvarinho Alvarinho (a.k.a. Albariño) is a refreshingly acidic white wine that puts out fruit characteristics of lemon, peach and flowers in the same way that Pinot Gris does. What are the wines I don’t know on the top 10 list? There are two wines mentioned in the infographic that are not commonly known: Both of these wines are medium bodied white wines that were planted heavily in Spain (Airen) and Italy (Trebbiano) during the early 1900’s.

This was due to their drought resistance and ability to produce quantity grapes for brandy production. Today, hundreds of thousands of acres are replaced every 10 years to plant with more popular varieties. Check the wine grape database by Kym Anderson on adelaide.eduUS consumers were the world's top wine drinkers in 2011, while China displaced Britain to become the fifth largest wine consumer, according to new research released on Thursday. US consumers downed the equivalent of 3.7 billion bottles of wine, while China including Hong Kong drank 1.9 billion bottles, according to data released by trade show Vinexpo and International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR). Old World wine drinkers in Italy, France and Germany clung to second, third and fourth places respectively but the New World and the Far East caught the limelight, showed the study of 114 consumer markets and 28 producer countries. "China is fascinating certainly," said Robert Beynat, CEO of Vinexpo, whose upcoming show in Hong Kong is sold out.

"But don't forget about America. America is and will remain the main market in the world in terms of value and volume." The IWSR study predicts US wine consumption to grow 10 percent between 2011 and 2015. During the same period, it forecasts growth of 54.3 percent for the combined China-Hong Kong market. In both markets, per capita consumption is also on the rise. By 2015, US consumers are expected to be drinking 13 litres per adult per year, while in China they should be drinking an average of 1.9 to 2.0 litres per adult. Europe currently accounts for 62 percent of world wine consumption, but that figure is likely to drop, with IWSR predicting tepid growth of 0.4 percent from 2011 to 2015. In key European markets, French, Italian and British per capita consumption is set to fall, by 4.4 percent, 2.7 percent, and 4.3 percent respectively. Germany is the European exception, with a forecast rise of 2.1 percent. Global wine consumption is predicted to grow 6.2 percent between 2010 and 2015, reaching 34.1 billion bottles, an increase of two billion bottles.