So where do we start? we start at the beginning
Wine is made in many different types and styles and sells at a vast range of prices. This site should help you to make sense of that diversity.
What is wine?
Very simply, it is a drink that we all like and is made from the fermented juices of grapes. It is one of the most natural of all alcoholic drinks.
What is fermentation?
Fermentation is a natural process caused by yeast. Yeasts are microscopic organisms that live naturally alongside grapes in the vineyard and winery. They feed on sugar and sugar is found in the grape juice. And as they feed, they convert the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.
But as you know, wine is much more than just an alcoholic drink. There are colours, tastes, smells which in turn give a wide variety of styles.
Let us think about some basics. How many types of wine do you think there are?
The answer is 3· Light wine· white, red, rose
Sparkling Wine Champagnes and all sparkling·
Fortified wine: Ports, sherries and wines with added spirit
And as they say in the adverts on TV; simples
Light Wines.
The majority of wines that you see in off licences and shops fall in this category. These are what you would normally think of when you are asked for a glass or bottle of wine. They are still (not sparkling) and the alcohol in them is usually between 8% and 15%, although recently, wineries have been making wine that is 5% alcohol.
Light wines are often named after the region they come from e.g. Bordeaux and Rhone (France) Rioja (Spain) and Chianti (Italy) to name just a few.
Light wines from countries such as New Zealand and Australia often use the grape variety to help name the wine. E.g. Australian Riesling or New Zealand Pinot Noir.
Sparkling Wines.
These are wines where bubbles of carbon dioxide gas have been trapped in the wine. Sparkling wines are often seen as wines that you only drink at celebrations, this of course is not true. The most expensive of the “sparklers” is Champagne from France which we will look into later. Other examples are Prosecco from Italy and Cava from Spain.
Fortified Wines.
Fortified literally means “added to”. These wines have extra alcohol added to them which make wines such as sherry and port quite special. The alcohol in these wines is generally around 15-22% abv. (alcohol by volume)
How many styles of wine are there?
Answer 3
¨ Colour
¨ Sweetness
¨ Body
Lets look at the colour first. The colour of any wine
depends on the type of grape used and/or the way the wine is made.
Red wine.
The colour of the wine comes from using black skinned grapes because the colour comes from the grape skins. The juice from the grape is left in contact with the skins thereby colouring the wine.
White wine.
These wines are usually made from the juice of white grapes but white wine can also be made from the juice of black grapes because the colour is only in the skin which is not left in contact with the fermenting juice.
White wines are often thought of to be lighter in style as well.
Rose wine.
These wines are made from black grapes but the juice has not been left in contact with the skins over a prolonged period of time.
And I suppose you can also add in No Alcohol wines too. So that makes 4 styles
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Priestly Palate 