Fruit Flavours in Wine

Tasting notes for wines can often seem over the top and wild... freshly picked chives? Overripe peaches? Cherry blossom? We get it. It can sound absurd. But there is some method to the madness! The language of wine is based in food - there's no getting around it. As a beverage made from fruit, this makes some sense. Further to that, it is a drink that works wonderfully with food, so the descriptors used in the kitchen do work here as well.

The descriptions can still be a bit flowery however, so we've broken them down into categories that help you imagine where the flavours of any given wine might lie.

Stone fruit

Examples - Peach, Apricot, Nectarine

Wines - richer Chardonnay, Viognier

Tree fruit

Examples - Apple, Pear

Wines - lighter Chardonnay, Pinot Gris

Citrus fruit

Examples - Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime

Wines - Riesling, Albarino

Tropical fruit

Examples - Mango, Passionfruit

Wines - Dessert Wine, Gewurztraminer

Red fruit

Examples - Red Plum, Strawberry

Wines - Pinot Noir, Sangiovese

Blue fruit

Examples - Blueberry, Plum

Wines - Tempranillo, Cabernet Franc

Black fruit

Examples - Blackberry, Blackcurrant

Wines - Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec