In France, this same grape produces fragrant and flinty wines like Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume; in California, it yields wines that are softer and sometimes grassy in flavor.

If so, can we ever adjust to labels that reflect not only regions, villages, producers and vineyards but also degrees of grape ripeness that yield wines of ascending sweetness, body, flavor concentration and price?

And they listened as he recalled a sometimes forgotten axiom: lesser vintages can yield fine wines.

Grapes from old vines tend to yield wines that are more full of character than those from young ones.

Shiraz, known as syrah in France and California and sometimes called hermitage in Australia, yields wines that are fruity and spicy, full-bodied but soft.

Some are fermented until dry, yielding wines of special concentration and power.

Sometimes the acidity is too aggressive, yielding wines that are harsh and vinegary.

He believed that choosing the correct Vitis vinifera vines would yield great wines in the Finger Lakes.

In '86, mercurial weather across West Germany, Europe's northernmost winegrowing country, yielded mostly kabinett, which are light, relatively dry wines made from the first fully ripened fruit.

Some, like gewürztraminer in Alsace and chenin blanc in Vouvray, can yield memorable wines.