I wondered why only grapes make great wine?

January 2, 2026

Dear Karen,
This morning while I was eating an apricot, I wondered why only grapes make great wine?
–Kelsey Z. (Atlanta, GA)The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.

Dear Kelsey, Good question! No one knows why, of all fruits, only grapes make great wine. And there’s a corollary idea that’s equally perplexing: If you ferment apricots or cherries, or blueberries, the resulting “wine” still tastes like those fruits. But wine made from grapes doesn’t taste like grapes. It can taste like a hundred other things from lemons to cowboy boots, but it almost never tastes like grapes themselves.

—Karen

What country makes the most rosé? The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.

A. Italy

B. Spain

C. France

D. United States

Why So Much Italian Wine?

In the United States, most of the wine that’s imported is Italian. In 2025 some 93.2 million gallons of Italian wine were imported into this country. In fact, Italian wine has led US imports for decades, hitting a peak in 2021 with 43% of all US table wine imports. Is it because Italian wine is just so good? I love lots of Italian wine, but I’m sure “goodness” has nothing to do with it. What does? The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.