For a lot of people, the warm weather means hanging out on the patio, going to parties, and for some, consuming copious amounts of alcohol. Aside from the health benefits, wine is seen as a classy drink and sales show that wine is quickly gaining ground over the popularity of beer in North America.

I took an introduction to wine course a few years ago and had a great time learning about different grapes, food pairing, and of course tasting the different wines. (Has anyone ever thought about how disgusting it is to spit out your wine after you’ve swirled it in your mouth into a communal spit bucket?)

There were a few pretentious people in the class—one student claimed a certain red wine tasted like her “grandmother’s spice cupboard”—but for the most part, the wine enthusiasts were just excited to learn and taste.

Here is a quick introduction to what I learned in my wine course to the seven main grape varieties broken down into white and black (red) grapes.