Dial into YOUR red wine frequency
-red & black fruit flavours, wine body, old-world & new-world styles
Drink better this year! I offer wine orders customized to your palate. Reach out for one-on-one curation time with me with no commitment or minimum purchase required.
Subscribing is a way to show your appreciation for:
my wine recommendations,
any assistance I provide along your wine journey, or
my writing entertainment!
What’s on your mind today?
Wine curation for red wine drinkers… And how important it is for wine drinkers to understand their preferred wine style.
Cuz if you can’t explain what you like, you won’t get what you like!
Big picture, in wine style language, we discuss the body of the wine…
A wine’s body is the ‘presence’ the wine commands in your mouth. Think sense of touch rather than taste. A good comparison is milk where lower fat milk is lighter and waterier. This is analogous to a light bodied wine. At the other end of the spectrum is heavy cream, which coats the walls of your mouth giving a ‘fuller’ sensation similar to a full body wine. In the middle of the range is the medium body wine.
… and old-world style vs new-world style wines…
Generally, people think that these styles refer to European wines (old-world) vs. non-European wines (new-world). And while this can be true, these are generalizations as the old-world now makes new-world style wines and vice versa, but it helps understand different wine styles.
Hence why you qualify with the word style.
Indeed.
Generally speaking, old-world style wines are not overtly fruity but have integrated flavours of fruit, minerality, and perhaps oak.
For new-world style wines, the opposite is true: they tend to be fruity or fruit forward, and when oaked they can have prominent American oak characteristics (vanilla and coconut). It’s important to note – the term “fruity” in wine speak does not mean sweet. It means that the wines’ dominant flavours are those of fruit.
But.
I have found another key nuance in understanding people’s palate preferences.
Firstly, red wine fruit flavours are broken down into red and black fruit. If the wine is a blend of different grapes, it may have both red and black fruit flavours present in the wine. Otherwise, wines are generally dominated by one or the other.
Definition please! At least some examples please!
Red fruit flavours range from redcurrant, cranberry, raspberry, and strawberry to red cherry and plum notes. Examples of black fruit flavours are blackcurrant (cassis), blackberry, blueberry, and black cherry and plum.
Generally red fruit wines have a brighter, lifted profile, what I have coined as higher frequency flavours. When I use the term bright as a descriptor, something resonates with people.
Pun intended!
Okay that is helpful as frankly I don’t really know what type of fruit flavours I like in my wine. What about black fruit?
Black fruit flavour dominant wines tend to have a deeper, darker character tending towards broodiness at the extreme end.
So black fruit flavours are lower frequency. Got it!
Again, when I throw around these concepts with people, they get it.
They tune right in? haha!
Gosh.
Are there specific grape varieties that are associated with red versus black fruit flavours?
Yes and no.
It depends on many factors - mainly where they are grown, the weather for the given vintage, and how long the grapes are allowed to ripen.
For example, a Merlot can be red fruit flavour dominant when grown in Canada’s cool climate wine regions. In Bordeaux, France however, Merlot can be black fruit flavour dominant and can even be hard to distinguish from a Cabernet Sauvignon that I generally consider black fruit dominant.
And yet, a specific wine example the high quality 2016 Bordeaux featured in my article linked below. It is a 50% Cab Sauv/ 50% Merlot blend that has both red and black fruit flavours. So it breaks “the rule” that these grapes tend to be black fruit dominant in Bordeaux.
To fine-tune your understanding of the concept here are some wine articles that feature wines that are:
Red fruit flavour dominant wines
Black fruit flavour dominant wines
That was super helpful - I am starting to get it!
I hope this will help you drink better and dial into YOUR perfect red wine frequency!
Cuz if you can’t explain what you like, you won’t get what you like!
Enjoying my recommendations? Consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
If you're in Alberta and want a one-on-one wine curation experience, please reach out! No commitment or minimum purchase required. Interested? Please reach out!
A huge thank you to my paid subscribers—your support helps cover the costs of creating these weekly articles.
Love my wine recommendations? Enjoy my personal wine curation service? If you find value in my writing, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help me keep sharing the world of wine with you!
Paid subscribers receive 15% off Wine & Spirits whenever shopping at Cork Fine Wines, ground floor, Bow Valley Square in downtown Calgary.
SOURCES
Chartier, E. (no date) A Chilean wine story: from Grand Marnier…. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/a-chilean-wine-story-from-grand-marnier (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Bee hotels, Bordeaux and biodiversity. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/bee-hotels-bordeaux-and-biodiversity (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Bootleg Burgundy: meet Coteaux Bourguignons. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/bootleg-burgundy-meet-coteaux-bourguignons (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Drink better with ease. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/drink-better-with-ease (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) First papal vineyard: monk eyeing around…. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/first-papal-vineyard-monk-eying-around (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Goldilocks & the three wines: why temperature matters. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/goldilocks-and-the-three-wines-why (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Greece gave Sicily everything: wine and history. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/greece-gave-sicily-everything-wine (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Italy’s first president made Dolcetto. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/italys-first-president-made-dolcetto (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Old world and new world wines: exploring the differences. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/old-world-and-new-world-wines-exploring (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Two Rhônes make a right: a tale of…. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/two-rhones-make-a-right-a-tale-of (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) Understanding “Superiore” on Italian wine labels. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/understanding-superiore-on-italian (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Chartier, E. (no date) What connects Sancerre and Marlborough?. Shades of Grape. Available at: https://www.shadesofgrape.ca/p/what-connects-sancerre-and-marlborough (Accessed: 5 February 2026).
Hey Dave! This would be true if phenolic ripeness correlated to "sugar/acid" ripeness but they are actually two separate things. I will send you some really great visualizations that a colleague sent me. Unfortunately cannot post them here... good material for a future article!
"It depends on many factors - mainly where they are grown, the weather for the given vintage, and how long the grapes are allowed to ripen."
The key here is acidity levels. If a red wine has higher acidity, the pH shifts the color of the wine to ruby red, and the flavors shift to red fruit/"brighter" and "fresher" fruit flavors. As the acidity lowers, the pH shifts the color of the wine to blue-purple, offering first dark red (black cherry) then blue fruit (blueberry) then finally black fruit (blackberry, cassis).
So you can always know the acidity level of a red wine from the color alone - red = high, red-blue = medium, blue-purple = low. And the fruit flavors shift to match the color aka the acidity.