The infographic to end all infographics … about wine

Praise be to Wine Folly for creating this thorough chart about the different types of wine. It may look overwhelming, but I promise you, for beginners this is the key to starting to make sense of wine.

Divided into the five main types — red, white, rosé, sparkling and fortified — wines are further divided by sweetness and then flavour.

Sweetness is fairly easy to figure out: Dry = not sweet, Sweet = Sweet. Flavour is where things get a little more intricate. High tannins will feel like they dry out your mouth, say the Wine Folly folks. I think, with these wines, you can almost feel residue in your mouth after a sip (not in a gross way, but like a sip of OJ with pulp). Round wines are often described as smooth, the tannins and acidity are balanced. And spicy wines have high acidity/alcohol.

If you know you like one particular kind of wine — you had a fantastic bottle of shiraz, for instance — looking at the chart will help you find like-minded (-flavoured?) varietals to try. As well, you’ll be able to find flavour themes. I very much like chenin blanc, riesling and gewurztraminer — all sweet, fruity (apricot/peach) wines.

Click on the link about to access a bigger version of the infographic. Print it out. Study it. I plan to wallpaper my kitchen with it.