Wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes.
It has been produced for thousands of years and has played an important role in religion.
Types of wine
- red wine
- white wine
- rosé wine
- orange wine
- green wine
- sparkling wine
- fruit wine
- mead (honey wine)
Red wine
Most red wines tend to be dry. Red grape varieties are naturally high in tannins which makes them more bitter and astringent. This bitterness makes red wine dry, not sweet.
- Cabernet Sauvignon - Full-Bodied with heavy tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon is often called the “King of Red Grapes”. Today, it’s the most popular wine variety in the world!
- Syrah (Shiraz) - Full-Bodied Red Wine. The wines have intense fruit flavors and medium-weight tannins. Often has a meaty (beef broth, jerky) quality.
- Zinfandel (Primitivo) - Medium-bodied to full-bodied Red Wine. Wines are fruit-forward and spicy with a medium length finish.
- Pinot Noir - Lighter-bodied Red Wine. Nicknamed “Red Burgundy”, Pinot Noir is a dry, light-bodied red that was first widely planted in France. Typically have higher acidity and a soft, smooth, low-tannin finish.
- Merlot - medium to heavy bodied and lack the tannin bite that other types of red wine have. Merlots are typically smooth, velvety and exceptionally easy to drink, making them a great introduction into the world of red wines. Merlot often has a higher alcohol percentage than other reds, typically around 13%.
- Sangiovese - medium bodied wine with substantial tannins and high acidity… Literally translated from Italian, Sangiovese means “Blood of Jove”.
White wine
They’re typically produced from gold, green or white grapes, but can also made from red grapes.
While most types of red wine tend to be dry, and depending on the winemaker’s technique you could have a bone dry white wine to a lusciously sweet one.
- Chardonnay - Medium- to Full-Bodied and medium to high acidity. Smooth, buttery and meld complex fruit flavors, like apple and pineapple, with bold oak notes. Chardonnay is the “Queen of White Grapes”. It is the world’s most popular white wine grape variety. This green skinned grape can grow in a wide range of climates worldwide and is produced in all the world’s major wine producing countries.
- Sauvignon Blanc - Light- to Medium-Bodied dry and high acidity. Its dryness is offset by a high acidity to produce a crisp, refreshing wine. Sauvignon Blanc is French for “Wild White”.
- Riesling - Always very high in acid, when made as a table wine Rieslings can be harmoniously sweet (sweet and sour) or dry (very acidic). Tends to be light bodied but are sometimes medium to full bodied. They’re commonly, and traditionally, a touch sweet, but are produced in both very sweet and bone dry versions. The standard, light bodied and slightly sweet variety tends to be high acidity, crisp and refreshing.
- Pinot Gris/ Pinot Grigio - Tends to be light and crisp. It’s light to medium bodied and melds fruit flavors of apple and pear with notes of citrus. Typically it will be a dry white wine with medium-high acidity.
- Chenin Blanc - Similar to Riesling, it can be both a sweet and dry white wine. It’s light bodied and medium to high acidity. Strong floral aromas are followed by fruity flavors, like green apple and pear.
