Printable wine quizzes
Grapes of the world
The great grapes of the world: how to recognise them, what they are called elsewhere and where they come from.
12 questions · answers on page 2
Two A4 pages: the questions first, then the answers. The print dialogue can also save it as a PDF.
Weinquiz · Printable
Grapes of the world
NamePoints/ 12
Which red grape variety is known for small, thick-skinned berries and firm tannins?
Which white grape variety typically smells of lychee and rose petals?
Which white grape variety is known for lively acidity and wines from bone dry to lusciously sweet?
Which weather phenomenon does the name of the late-ripening Nebbiolo probably refer to?
From the French name of which bird does the name Merlot probably derive?
Under which name does Tempranillo grow in Portugal’s Douro?
Which grape variety hides behind the Californian label name “Fumé Blanc”?
Under which traditional name is Chenin Blanc known in South Africa?
What is Mourvèdre called in Spain, where it shapes the reds of Jumilla?
Together with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a parent of which famous red variety?
Which Croatian grape is genetically identical to Zinfandel according to DNA analysis?
Which of Bordeaux’s classic red varieties ripens so late that it goes into the blend only in small proportions?
weinquiz.ch/en/printable/grapes-of-the-world/ · Answers and explanations on page 2
For the quizmaster
How to run it at a tasting
- Print page 1 for each person or team, and page 2 with the answers once, for the quizmaster.
- Pour the wine and allow ten to fifteen minutes: tick one answer per question, no looking it up on a phone.
- Swap sheets; the quizmaster reads out the answers and explanations. Each right answer scores a point.
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Answers: Grapes of the world
B Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon has very small berries with a lot of skin in relation to juice; this gives deeply coloured, tannic wines that need years to soften. It ripens late and likes warm sites.
C Gewürztraminer
Gewürztraminer has pink-skinned berries but gives a white wine with scents of lychee, rose and spice and often plenty of body. “Gewürz” means spicy; the name recalls the village of Tramin in South Tyrol.
C Riesling
Riesling keeps plenty of acidity even when fully ripe; it carries dry and noble sweet wines alike and gives them a long life. It is at home in cool sites such as the Mosel, the Rheingau, Alsace and the Wachau.
D Fog
Nebbiolo probably comes from “nebbia”, fog: the variety ripens only in October and is often picked when fog lies over the Langhe. Another reading points to the fog-like bloom on the berries.
C Blackbird
Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of “merle”, the blackbird: either for the blue-black colour of the berries or because the birds love the ripe grapes. The variety was first recorded in 1784 in the Libournais.
A Tinta Roriz
In the Douro, Tempranillo is called Tinta Roriz, in the Alentejo Aragonez; alongside Touriga Nacional it is one of the main grapes of Port and of red Douro wines. The other three names are separate varieties.
D Sauvignon Blanc
Robert Mondavi launched “Fumé Blanc” in 1968 for his Sauvignon Blanc, alluding to the Pouilly-Fumé of the Loire; it is a marketing term for the same grape.
B Steen
Steen is the old South African name for Chenin Blanc, the country’s most planted variety; it is made dry, sweet and sparkling. Hanepoot is the Cape name for Muscat of Alexandria.
B Monastrell
In Spain the grape is Monastrell, the leading red of Jumilla, Yecla and Alicante; in Australia and California it is also called Mataro. The French name most likely comes from Murviedro, today Sagunto near Valencia.
B Cabernet Sauvignon
DNA analysis showed in 1997 that Cabernet Sauvignon arose from a natural cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc; in Switzerland, Sauvignon Blanc is grown mainly in Geneva, Valais and Ticino.
B Crljenak Kaštelanski
A vine found in Dalmatia in 2001, Crljenak Kaštelanski or, by its old name, Tribidrag, has the same DNA as Zinfandel and Primitivo. Plavac Mali is its offspring, from a cross with Dobričić.
D Petit Verdot
Petit Verdot ripens much later than the other Bordeaux varieties and adds colour, tannin and spice to the blend in small proportions. The name, “little green”, alludes to its late, often marginal ripening.
weinquiz.ch/en/printable/grapes-of-the-world/