Wine is usually made from one or more varieties of the European species, Vitis Vinifera, and variety refers to different grapes and their characteristics. When one of these varieties is used as the predominant grape the result is a varietal while blended wines are made from a blend of different grape varieties. Wines of different vintages are often blended to maintain consistency of a particular style of wine.

Various known grape varietals such as the Cabernet Sauvignon (one of the main Bordeaux grapes), Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and the Syrah are used to create some of the finest blended wines.

Wines may be described as dry, meaning without obvious sugar, off dry, fruity or sweet. Sweetness is in actuality determined by the amount of residual sugar in the wine after fermentation relative to the acidity present in the wine, and dry wine has only a tiny amount of residual sugar.