Wine

CONTINUES FROM PAGE E6 vines mostly in Southern Japan.

• Yapincak: White wine grape grown in Turkey mostly on the northern coast near the Sea of Marmara, which connects the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea.

• Yediveren: Red wine grape from central Turkey mostly used to make grape juice. Popular wine regions that start with Y

• Ycoden-Daute-Isora: Small (about 400 acres) wine-growing region on Spain’s Canary Islands that makes a wide variety of red and white wines.

• Yecla: Well-known Spanish wine-growing region famous for producing outstanding red wines made with monastrell grapes.

• York Mountain: Relatively unknown winegrowing region in Central California west of Paso Robles and closer to the Pacific Ocean. If you’ve ever had a wine from this part of California, odds are it was an elegant red wine made with pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon or syrah grapes.

LETTER Z

• Zymology: Technical term used to describe the science of wine fermentation.

Popular wine grapes that start with Z

• Zalagyongye: Surprisingly, there are actually quite a few grapes that start with the letter Z. This popular white wine grape can be found mainly in Hungary.

• Zengo: Another Hungarian white wine grape used to make highquality wines.

• Zierfandler: There’s a name that’s fun to say. This particular grape can be found in Austria and Hungary, where it’s often used to make sweeter wines.

• Zinfandel: Ironically, perhaps the best-known red wine grape that starts with the letter Z isn’t listed under Z in the book “Wine Grapes.” Technically, zinfandel is called “tribidrag.” Good luck ordering a bottle of that next time you’re in a restaurant.

• Zweigelt: Along with zinfandel, zweigelt’s probably the best-known wine grape that starts with the letter Z. This particular red wine grape is widely grown in Austria, as well as parts of Germany, Hungary and Japan.

Popular wine regions that start with Z

• Zimbabwe: It’s a bit of a stretch since Zimbabwe isn’t a wine region. But I included a few other countries and Zimbabwe has been making wine since the 1960s.

• Zitsa: High altitude, wine-growing region in northwestern Greece best known for making sparkling wine.

• Znojmo: Small winegrowing region in the Czech Republic best known for its white wines made with gruner veltliner, riesling and sauvignon blanc grapes.

So there you go. Hope you’ve enjoyed this encyclopedic wine journey around the world. And hope to see you back here next week for more fun with wine.

Cheers!

Wine Press by Ken Ross appears on Masslive.com every Monday and in The Republican’s Weekend section every Thursday.