Grape Expectations study guide: grape synonyms, sweet wines and bottle sizes

A GUIDE TO GRAPE EXPECTATIONS · 1 NOVEMBER 2026

Grape Expectations draws its 2,000 questions from a knowledge base of grapes, places, producers and rules. This guide pulls out the parts of it that cost people the most points, so you can revise them before you play. Everything here comes from the quiz’s own data, so it’s what the quiz thinks is right.

It won’t give you the answers to specific questions, but it covers the facts that come up again and again, and it will make the later rounds a lot friendlier.

THE NAMES THAT SOUND ALIKE

The quiz explains these after every question that involves one, because they’re the most common way to lose points in the later rounds.

• Muscat and Muscadet. Muscat is a sweet, aromatic grape. Muscadet is a bone-dry Loire wine, made from an unrelated grape, Melon de Bourgogne.
• Verdejo, Verdelho and Verdicchio. Verdejo is Spanish, Verdelho is from Madeira, and Verdicchio is Italian.
• Pouilly-Fuissé and Pouilly-Fumé. Pouilly-Fuissé is Chardonnay from Burgundy. Pouilly-Fumé is Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire.
• The two Montepulcianos. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is named after its grape. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is named after a Tuscan town, and it’s made from Sangiovese.
• Rutherford and Rutherglen. Rutherford is in Napa and makes dry Cabernet. Rutherglen is in Victoria, Australia, and makes sweet fortified Muscat.

GRAPES UNDER OTHER NAMES

Many grapes travel under more than one name, and the quiz uses them. If an answer looks unfamiliar, it may be a grape you already know. The quiz never offers a grape’s other name as a wrong answer in a question about that grape.

RED

WHITE

GRAPES THAT CAME FROM SOMEWHERE SURPRISING

“Where does this grape come from?” questions are hardest when the answer isn’t where the grape is famous today. These are the ones the quiz marks as surprising:

• Zinfandel comes from Croatia, not California.
• Malbec comes from Cahors in France, not Argentina.
• Carmenère comes from Bordeaux, not Chile.
• País comes from Spain, not Chile.
• Grenache and Carignan come from Aragón, and Mourvèdre from Valencia, all in Spain, though they’re famous in southern France.
• Petite Sirah comes from the Rhône, though it’s mostly grown in California.
• Tannat comes from Madiran in France, not Uruguay.
• Bonarda, as grown in Argentina, comes from Savoie in France.
• Gewürztraminer and Schiava come from Alto Adige in Italy, not Alsace or Germany.
• Pinot Gris comes from Burgundy, not Alsace or Italy.
• Silvaner comes from Austria, not Germany.
• Müller-Thurgau comes from Thurgau in Switzerland, not Germany.
• Vermentino comes from Sardinia.
• Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains comes from Greece, and Muscat of Alexandria from Egypt.

HOW A WINE IS MADE SWEET

The quiz asks how a sweet wine got its sugar. Learn the method and a lot of questions answer themselves.

The quiz also counts a few odd ones out: Vin de Constance (left to shrivel on the vine), Vendange Tardive (picked very late), and Pedro Ximénez sherry (sun-dried, then fortified).

SHERRY, PORT AND MADEIRA

SHERRY

• Fino is pale and bone dry, and spends its whole life under a layer of yeast called flor.
• Manzanilla is a Fino matured by the sea at Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
• Amontillado starts under flor, then loses it and ages in contact with air.
• Oloroso is fortified more strongly, so flor never forms, and it ages in contact with air throughout.
• Palo Cortado is the rare accident that smells like Amontillado and tastes like Oloroso.
• Cream sherry is an Oloroso sweetened for export.

PORT

• Ruby is young and fruity, bottled early.
• Tawny is aged in wood until it turns brown and nutty.
• Vintage Port comes from a single declared year, bottled after two years and aged for decades.
• Late Bottled Vintage is a single year kept in wood for four to six years, so it’s ready sooner.
• Colheita is a tawny from a single harvest year.
• White Port is made from white grapes, and is often drunk long with tonic.

MADEIRA

The four classic styles, from driest to sweetest, are Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey.

BOTTLE SIZES

A Jeroboam holds 3 litres in Champagne, but in Bordeaux it’s 4.5 litres.

HOW TO USE THIS

Each round draws from a harder band of 200 questions than the last. Questions about famous grapes and regions fill the early rounds. The synonyms, surprising origins and fortified styles on this page are the kind of detail that decides the later ones, and the sudden-death questions after a round of seven or eight.

▶ PLAY GRAPE EXPECTATIONS

The controls, the story so far and how the game was made are on the Grape Expectations page.

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