Wine Tasting A Preference For Red Or White

For many of us wine is something of a mysterythe world's most widely planted grape and
and when we are buying wine it comes down toprobably originates from Spain. As well as often
a simple choice between red and white and whatbeing used to produce ros wines, it is also
our local supermarket has available in its "specialcommonly used as a base for many blended
offer" bin. But wine really isn't such a mystery atwines including such well known names as
all and, in this area at least, a little knowledge canChateauneuf du Pape and Cotes du Rhne.
get you a very long way.Blush wine.
The starting point is to understand the differentBlush wine is sometimes referred to as California's
types of wine available and here we can divideversion of ros wine and is produced in much the
wines into five main groups.same way as ros wine. In this case however the
Red Wine.grape most often used is the Zinfandal grape
Red wine is fermented from what many peoplewhich produces a slightly sweet pink wine which
would refer to as red grapes but which are inalso shows a somewhat blue color. The Zinfandal
fact more correctly named black grapes. In thegrape originates in Croatia but has been grown
case of red wine the grapes are used whole forwidely in the US for more than 150 years now
fermentation, that is to say complete with skinand is considered indigenous to California.
and pips, and it is the skin which gives the wine itsWhite wine.
red color.Believe it or not white wine can be made from
There are a wide variety of black grapes availableeither white or black grapes, as the juice from
each with its own distinctive flavor which iseither grape is colorless and it is only the skin of
derived principally from the soil and climate in thethe black grape that gives red wine its color.
region where the grapes are grown. This,The flavors available across the range of white
together with the winemaker's art of mixing,wines vary tremendously according to the grape
allows us to enjoy a range of red wines from theused, the winemaker's art and the degree to
deep blackcurrant color of the full-bodied andwhich different juices are blended to create the
intensely flavored wines produced from thefinished wine.
Cabernet Sauvignon grape to the lighter cherryDry white wines often come from grapes such
and raspberry taste gained from the Pinot Noiras Muscadet or Sauvignon Blanc while richer
grape.fruit-flavored wines are more likely to be based
Ros wine.upon the Chardonnay grape.
Ros wines are again produced from black grapesSparkling wines.
but, in this case, the juice is separated off partSparkling wines, of which Champagne is clearly the
way through the fermentation process and at thebest known example, are based upon a dry white
point at which the winemaker determines that thewine. Here the wine is bottled and a solution of
juice contains sufficient color to give the finishedsugar and yeast is added before the bottle is
wine the pink color that he is looking for.sealed. The sugar and yeast solution causes a
Once again the flavor of the finished winesecondary fermentation and sealing the bottles at
depends very much on the grape used forthe start of this process traps the gas produced
fermentation and some of the finest ros winesby this fermentation within the wine to give it its
are produced from the Grenache grape. Oftensparkle when the bottle is opened.
thought of as a French grape, Grenache noir is