In the United States, the grape name is supposed to indicate quality.

And they resolved to trumpet that fact by featuring the grape names on their bottles.

But there are almost as many wines using grape names.

Because the grape name has become so meaningless, more wineries are adding information to their labels to set a wine apart.

Which again brings into question the wisdom of depending on grape names to identify wines.

So they began to do what the French had always done: forget the grape names.

When it comes to wine, we are hooked on grape names, while most Europeans prefer places.

So in a sense, identifying all three by the grape name is misleading.

So grape names were adopted, and the era of California varietals arrived.

Some of this vintage's wines drop below the 75 percent varietal content necessary to use the grape name.