Types Of Regional Wines
- Bordeaux Wine: These are wines produced in the Bordeaux region of France. While a variety of grapes are grown in the region, the most common types are Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Burgundy Wine: These are wines produced in the Burgundy region of France. A Red Burgundy is usually a Pinot Noir, while a White Burgundy is usually a Chardonnay.
- Champagne: Champagne is sparkling wine, but the name can only be applied to wines produced in the Champagne region of France.
What Should I Know About White Wines
White wines are a little less straightforward when it comes to deciding on food pairings, Capaldi notes. A white wine that is lighter, more acidic, and fruity, like a German riesling or sauvignon blanc, will likely pair well with light, zesty dishes like seafood and shellfish.
One of Capaldis other favorite foods to recommend for white wine lovers? French fries, since the simple saltiness complements the light flavor super well. For more fuller-bodied, rich-tasting wines , youll want to partner them with richer flavor profiles like roasted turkey, potatoes, cream-based pastas, and other fatty-textured food, says Capaldi.
As for optimal temps when it comes to white wine, you want to keep lighter or sparkling wines at a pretty ice cold temperature, which helps them stay crisp to tasteanywhere from 38 to 45 degrees, Capaldi says. For a full-bodied wine, you can keep it at what Capaldi calls fridge cold, which, yup, means that its good at whatever temp you keep it at in your fridge, anywhere from 45 to 55 degrees.
See below for more information on white wine specifics and their various flavor notes, according to Herwaldt.
- Sauvignon Blanc:This wine also can vary quite a bit when it comes to taste, Herwaldt says. The dry wine has citrus notes, like grapefruit, and an herbaceous taste that Herwaldt compares to freshly cut grass. High in acidity, it pairs super well with goat cheese, which is also acidic-tasting, Herwaldt explains.
Characteristics Of Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris gives life to a wine type with a golden yellow color, in some cases even coppery. This last original color is obtained because during the vinification processes the must is briefly left in contact with skins, which release pigments into the wine.
Pinot Gris wines are produced in two main styles: the Italian style, with greater acidity, and floral aromas reminiscent of elder flower, green apple, and pear, and the Alsace style, more alcoholic and structured, with notes of dried fruit, and honey.
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But First Some Wine :
We probably dont need to tell you that wine is made by fermenting grape juicebut these arent your standard snacking grapes. Wine is made from either white grapes, which look green in color, or black grapes, which are reddish or purple in appearance. Other factors that affect the final outcome of a bottle are complex and include how long its aged, what type of vessel its aged in, the climate in which the grapes are grown, how long the juice sits with the skins, and more.
Which Type Of White Wine Is The Sweetest
If you’re looking for the sweetest white wine, get yourself a bottle of Riesling. While it can be found in many different styles, ranging from light and crisp to richly sweet, it is also refreshing due to its low acidity.
This grape variety has a reputation for being very sugar-heavy when compared with other grapes. You can also try Moscato wines.
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Cabernet Sauvignon Food Pairings:
What to pair with these wine types?Due to its great body, this type of wine is recommended for pairing with meat and game dishes, semi-aged cheeses and rich, structured, spicy first courses.This type of wine does not pair well with delicate dishes, because its alcoholic and tannic structure could take over.
Curiosities about Cabernet Sauvignon: Cabernet is one of the most used grapes among the Supertuscan, which owe their success to the famous Sassicaia, created by Mario Incisa della Rocchetta of Tenuta San Guido. After founding similarities between Bolgheri and the Médoc territory in Bordeaux, Mario Incisa planted Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1940s, creating one of the most famous Italian red wines in the world.
Understanding Wine Makes It Taste Better
Studies have shown that more complex descriptions of red and white wine actually make those wines taste better. Intuitively, this makes sense. If you have more vocabulary to describe what you’re imbibing, your brain is better able to discern subtler flavors.
So we’ve put together a beginner’s guide to different wine types that will break down the basics of what makes different wines, well, different, and the key descriptors you need to know to get the most out of whatever wine you’re drinking.
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Red Wine Glass Choice
Red wines will put their best foot forward when poured into and sipped out of a wine glass with adequate room. A distinctly oval or egg-shaped bowl that narrows slightly at the top as opposed to a slender flute-like glass is necessary to enjoy a red wine to the fullest. The ideal red wine glass will accommodate between 10 to 22 ounces of liquid, allowing more room to swirl your wine and better surface area for allowing the wine to breathe a bit.
On the serving note, keep in mind that most red wines are at their best when serving temperatures are between 60 to 65 Fserve them too warm and the taste of alcohol is overly evident, serve them too cold and they will quickly veer towards bitter and more astringent on the palate.
What Is Dessert Wine And Sparkling Wine
Red, white and rosé wines that have an alcohol by volume content of 14% or less are considered table wine in the U.S. . That excludes anything that is sparkling or fortified .
Dessert wine gets its name because it tends to be sweeter and comes after a meal. Alcohol is added to a dessert wine so that it can retain more of its natural sugars, which are typically used up during the fermentation process.
Popular dessert wines/fortified wines: Port, Madeira, Vermouth, Sherry, Marsala
Sparkling wine is wine that has significant carbonation, which can occur as a natural part of the fermentation process or via carbon dioxide injection after fermentation. When reading sparkling wine labels, youll also encounter terms that indicate its sweetness/dryness.
Sparkling wines from driest to sweetest:Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry/Extra Sec/Extra Seco, Dry/Sec/Seco, Demi-Sec/Semi-seco and Doux/Sweet/Dulce.
Sparkling wine is made from a wide range of red and white grapes. Champagne proper is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and/or Pinot Noir.
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First Things First Is Drinking Wine Healthy
ICYMI, wine can actually be super beneficial to your health in moderation, says Keri Gans, RDN, author of The Small Change Diet. Red wine in particular has antioxidants, which are known to help reduce inflammation in the body,” she explains. “Those antioxidant properties that red wine has, it may help lower the risk of heart disease.”
That said, Gans reiterates that the health benefits of wine are mostly achieved through moderation. The USDA recommends no more than about five fluid ounces of wine per day, Gans notes, which can look like having a glass of wine with or after your dinner each night.
It does not mean drinking six glasses of wine all at once on a Saturday night, though. You shouldnt say Im just going to hold off on my wine until the weekend to get all my wine intake in, Gans says. That would be considered binge drinking, and there are no benefits to binge drinking.”
The 3 Types Of Wine Every Wine Lover Must Know
McKenzie Hagan | February 26, 2020
There are thousands of different types of wine. While you may be used to seeing the same select few on menus and shopping shelves, theres a smorgasbord of wine varieties for you to choose.
Wine comes from a wide range of grape varieties, and all of them taste quite different. Whats more, the region in which a grape grows will dramatically affect the taste of the bottle of wine it goes on to produce.
Some notable regions to look out for include Napa Valley in California, Bordeaux and Rhône in France, and Mendoza in Argentina.
To add even more complexity to your choice, specific winemaking techniques such as adding sweeteners and additives into the wine as it ferments can alter its overall quality.
We understand that choosing wine can be daunting. Thats why weve created this beginners guide to wine types. Join us as we guide you through three of the most common types of wine, so you can make the best choice to suit your taste.
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Key Red Wine Varietals
The top red wine varietals that you are likely to encounter are Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Shiraz, Sangiovese, Malbec, and Grenache.
Sometimes, you will hear of red wines referred to by their popular regional names. For example, a “Bordeaux” is a red wine from France that is made primarily from three varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot grapes, or move to order a wine from Italy and you will often hear of a Chianti– made from the Sangiovese grape varietal, or look at Piedmont’s Barolo or Barbaresco wines . Malbec is Argentina’s superstar red wine grape and is a rising star in the world of red wine.
What’s The Bulleit Of Wine A Few Picks
Picking an actual wine and feeling confident you’re getting a decent bottle is, of course, a major barrier for anyone. We’ve been wondering: What wines are similar to Bulleit Rye, as in: affordable, widely available, and generally regarded as good?
It’s a difficult question to answer, since annual variations in climate, grape quality, and a dozen other factors make the year-to-year quality of a wine vary more than a grain-based alcohol. That said, our research indicates these picks are worth consideration as safe, reliable value for your dollar:
Whites
- Chardonnay: Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve California Chardonnay
- Chenin Blanc: Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier
- Sauvignon blanc: Brancott Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
- Riesling/Pinot Gris/Moscato blend: Hugel et Fils Gentil Alsace
Reds
- Cabernet sauvignon: Beringer Founders Estate California Cabernet Sauvignon
- Merlot: Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley Merlot
- Zinfandel: Bogle Old Vine California Zinfandel
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What Makes Wine Sweet
By the law of opposites, we know that if the bone-dry wine has high tannins, high acidity, and low sweet aroma, a sweet wine must have low tannins, low acidity and a great sweet aroma, right? Well, its just about that simple. Wines that taste sweet also smell sweet, and when you get a low level of acidity and a low level of the drying tannins, youre going to get a glass of wine that tastes sweeter and sweeter, all the way up to that cloying sweetness of an exceptionally sweet wine.
If youre looking for some of these very sweet wines youll find red wines that contain figs, raisins and dates are some of the best options. These include the Tawny Port and Vin Santo Rosso.
Very sweet white wines can consist of flavors of golden raisin, apricot jam, and fig. They include options like White Port, Passito wines, Moscatel Dessert Wine and Vin Santo. Each of these is going to give you the heavy flavor of sweetness that youre looking for, and a great compliment to more acidic foods. Unless, of course, youre really looking for as much sweetness as possible.
Are There Other Kinds Of Wine Besides Red And White
So now you know all about red and white wines But are there other kinds of wines besides red and white? Rosé lovers already know the answer to this.
It turns out that, yes, there are many varieties of wine that dont fall into the simple red or white categories, Herwaldt says. For more details on various wine types aside from red and white, read below.
- Rosé: Youve probably heard of rosé, which is typically pink-ish in color and light in taste. Its made from grapes like cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir, and typically gets limited skin-contact during fermentation, making it super light in shade. It usually has notes of strawberry, watermelon, and peaches.
- Sparkling: Yup, youve also likely encountered sparkling wine at some point, too. When we ferment grapes, it actually creates carbon dioxide, which is where we get the sparkling wine bubbles, since they are made by trapping the bubbles in the bottle, Herwaldt explains. The most famous sparkling wines are champagne-type drinks like prosecco or crémant, and they typically pair well with foods like french fries or fried chicken, Hewaldt says. The bubbles act like a refreshing little palate cleanser.
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Traditional Method Sparkling Wines Food Pairings
What to pair with these wine types?
To pair this wine type, it must be borne in mind that CO2 and strong acidity have a cleaning power capable of mitigating the greasiness and fatness of the food.
Try it with the famous pairing with oysters and caviar, first courses with seafood, but also appetizers of cold cuts and salami, aged cheeses and bloomy and washed rind cheese.
It is very interesting pairing eggs with truffles, but also with fried dishes, such as fried chicken, fried seafood and tempura.
Curiosities about traditional method sparkling wines: We have to wait until 1700 for the birth of this type of traditional sparkling wine. We are in the Champagne region, in France, more precisely in the monastery of Hautvillers. Here, legend has it that the monk Dom Pierre Pérignon began to refine the technique of refermentation in the bottle, making this type of traditional method sparkling wine a technically reproducible process. The famous Moët & Chandon wine company has dedicated the name of its iconic vintage sparkling wine to the monk Dom Pérignon, produced since 1921.
Finding The Flavor In The Wine Chart
Different aspects affect the flavor of a wine, as we mentioned in the wine chart. The tannin, acidity, and aroma of a wine will give it a distinct lean toward dry or sweet, so take a look here.
Tannins are related to the way that the wine feels on your tongue. They make the wine feel dry or not by changing the level of bitterness and astringency to the wine. For some, it doesnt take a lot of tannins to recognize the effect, but others dont have the same level of sensitivity.
Acidity is another area that youll notice a difference toward sweet or dry. Thats because higher levels of acid cut through sweet aspects of wine or anything else for that matter. If you have sweet, you want to add at least a little sour to balance it. Not enough and you get something very sweet too much and you get something very sour, or acidic, which makes it taste drier.
Finally, the way something smells can play tricks on your mind. If it feels sweet, your body thinks that it must taste sweet and that works in favor of sweeter wines. And remember that you want to use a wine aerator when pouring red wine.
On the other hand, if it smells sour, youre going to feel the sourness as soon as you take a sip. Your mind can play tricks on you in that way, or it can enhance the intended flavor of the end product.
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Introduction To White Wine
The word white wine is commonly used to describe the beverage that is made from fruits that come from plants belonging to the grape family. The varieties which are typically known to make white wine include the chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and Riesling. The process of making white wine starts by crushing the grapes and then fermenting them in order to create alcohol. White wine gets its color from the grape skins during fermentation and it is commonly served chilled.
However, you can also serve it warm or at room temperature as well. In cases where you like to store white wine for a long time, make sure that you store it in containers that have sterilized well to avoid spoiling your bottle. You can also preserve your white wine for a short period by adding sulfites to it before storing it in order to keep away unwanted bacteria from affecting your drink.
Chardonnay is one of the most popular varieties available in the market today. It has known to grow in countries such as France and Italy since years ago. White wine can made from many different grapes, but there are some general categories use to classify white wines.
Pinot Gris Or Pinot Grigio
Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio is a dry white wine grape originating from the vineyards of Burgundy, France. It has since spread to other regions as well, such as Italy, Hungary, Australia, and New Zealand. The Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio varietal can vary in flavor depending on where it’s grown and can be sweet or dry.
It has subtle honey notes or floral aromas becoming apparent under certain conditions, such as an almost salt-style minerality that comes through at times when tasting Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio.
It also makes a great food wine, with a wide variety of dishes that go well alongside it! From raw fish ceviche to creamy curry dishes – this versatile grape has something for everyone.
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Why Does The Type Of Wine Glass Matter
There’s practically a specific glass for every type of wine, from Chardonnay to Champagne. There are over 200 types of wine glasses, and counting. Do you need a glass for every type of wine you plan to drink? No. But should you invest in specific glassware for the wines that you regularly imbibe? Absolutely. Here’s why:From rounded bowls to narrow flutes, each type of glass was specifically created to bring out the unique character of the wine it’s named after. Some argue that drinking wine from the wrong glass can dramatically alter its taste. Can you drink Sauvignon Blanc out of a red SOLO cup? Sure. But will it taste the same as it would from a standard white wine glass? Probably not. The slender U-shaped bowl found in a standard white wine glass allows your nose to detect the delicate fruity or floral aromas. This enhances the taste of your wine. Or consider this angle : The shape of a glass’ bowl and rim impact the flow of wine. If you like to savor your wine as it gently glides across the palate, you need a glass with a thin rim. This creates an elegant and easy sip.When it comes to the perfect wine tasting experience, everything plays a role, from the temperature of the wine to the food that you pair with it. It follows that the glass you choose will play a role in the tasting experience. This is why you must choose your glass wisely. Lets now discuss what you should consider when choosing the perfect wine glass.
