Grape varieties
Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It has been often cultivated because it makes for abundant production; however, it can produce wines of distinction when planted on acidic soils.
Pinot gris, pinot grigio or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety. Thought to be a mutant clone of the pinot noir, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name. The word pinot supposedly could have been given to it because the grapes grow in small pine cone-shaped clusters.
Touriga Nacional is a red wine grape, considered by many to be Portugal's finest. Despite the low yields from its small grapes, it plays a big part in ports, and is being used for table wine in the Douro and Dão. Touriga Nacional provides structure and body to wine, with high tannins and concentrated flavors of black fruit.
The distinctive, yellow-hued viognier grape produces wines described as sensuous, hedonistic and seductive. It requires a good deal of warmth to ripen and develop fully, and striking the balance between its delicate, floral quality and often rich texture and high alcohol levels presents a challenge to winemakers.
