Taking note of appellations is crucial to understanding wine

It has been a familiar theme in this column since I started: Knowing the grape variety will tell you only a fraction of the story of wine.
A cabernet sauvignon will almost always be a powerful wine in terms of flavour and tannin. A pinot noir will be more delicate and less tannic. But the devil is in the detail. Unless you know where the grapes were grown, you won’t have a very good idea what the wine is really about, how it will drink, and ultimately whether it will be what you are lookin