Midlife,
A few points, then I'll make a "crib sheet" for you.
1) As pointed out, terroir is important. Just as a RRV Pinot is very different
from a Santa Barbera PN ( which is different from a Willamette PN, which is
different from a Carneros PN, etc), Volnays tend to be quite different from
Nuits-St-George (which are very different from RRV!).
2) Since we're talking varietal makeup, don't forget that many of those
California cabernet sauvignons have up to 25% merlot, cab franc, or whatever.
Knowing varietal is only a piece of the puzzle anywhere.
3) It's worth getting a basic book.
4) For purposes of a crib sheet, it's not that hard if you're in a wine shop,
at least for the major regions. You might not be able to remember where Pommard
is, but somewhere on label it says "red burgundy wine". Just as a Pomerol will
say Bordeaux somewhere on label.

So here's a crib sheet that you could carry with you:

The major regions:
Bordeaux will be a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec
and Petit Verdot. Right Bank (Pomerol, St. Emilion and its offshoots, Lalande
de Pomerol, Fronsac, etc) wines are usually mostly Merlot, though the better
St. Emilions tend to have a good dose of Cab Franc (although Cheval Blanc is
the only one I know that has more CabFranc than Merlot). Left Bank (St.
Estephe, St. Julien, Margaux, Pauillac, Haut-Medoc ) wines tend to be more
Cab-based. Which is also true (to a slightly lesser extent) in
Graves/Pessac-Leognan.

Burgundy is Pinot Noir if red, Chardonnay if white. There are a few exceptions
(bourgogne passetoutgrains, bourgogne aligote, Gouges Nuits-St. George,
Sauvignon de St. Bris), but the rule will apply to 99.98% of Burgundy you'll
find in US.

Alsace- the varietal is on the label (Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris,
etc)

Rhone: Northern Rhone red wines (Cote-Rotie, Hermitage, Cornas, St-Joseph,
Crozes-Hermitage) are all or mostly Syrah. Southern Rhone red wines
(Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Cotes du Rhone )are almost all
blends, with the primary grapes usually Grenache, Mouvedre, and Syrah.

The dry Loire whites you're most likely to see in US (Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume,
Quincy) are Sauvignon Blanc , a few (Vouvray and Savennieres most prominent)
are Chenin Blanc.

Beaujolais is Gamay. The Languedoc is somewhat similar to the Southern Rhone.

These wines (plus Champagne) probably represent 97%+ of French wines in an
American wineshop. Budget based shops might have more VdP wines, but they will
likely be varietally labeled. Once you have these down pat you can start on the
areas like Cahors, Jura, etc.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply