Wines have been very popular throughout the ages. Over the years, different types of wines have been developed in different parts of the world. Some of the most popular types of wines are the red wine, the white wine, the table wine, the sparkling wine and the cooking wine. These types of wines also have sub type under them. However, since these things are too many to mention and will just confuse beginners; let us just start by discussing the four most popular types of wines.
The Red Wine And The White Wine
When it comes to popular types of wines, the red wine and the wine white always top the ranking. Many people all over the world prefer to drink these types of wine after dinner. In most European countries, drinking of red wine and white is very common. In fact, many Europeans would not consider their dinner as complete without a glass of wine.
What determines the color of the wine? The presence or the absence of the skin of the grapes determines the color of the wine. White wine is produced by removing the skin of the grapes before extracting the juice. On the other hand, red wine is produced by letting the red skin of the grapes get into contact with the juice during the fermentation process. Since the heavy flavor of grapes is concentrated on its skin, red wine usually taste a bit stronger compared to white wine. White wine usually has light taste thus it goes well with subtly flavored dishes and light meals while red wine is best suited for strong flavored meals.
The Sparkling Wine
Another popular type of wine is the sparkling wine. Sparkling wine has a high level of carbon dioxide which is manifested in its fizzy nature. Some wines only have small amount of carbon while others, especially those that have been injected with carbon dioxide during the fermentation process have high carbon content and fizzle really well. Many people refer to the sparkling wine as the champagne style wine. Since this wine fizzle almost like champagne, many people opt to use this type of wine instead of champagne during celebrations.
The Table Wine
The table wine is another type of wine that has become popular over the years. This type of wine has higher alcohol content compared to other types of wine. In the United States, the alcohol content of table wine is just within the 8.5% and the 14% alcohol content but in Europe, table usually have alcohol content of more that 14%.
What Beginners Need To Know About The Different Types Of Wine
For those with a sweet tooth; Sweet Red Wine
The colour of wine is not determined by the grape, but by the present or absence of the grape skin during fermentation. Red wine is made from red or black grapes, but its red color comes from a process called maceration, where the skin is left in contact with the juice during fermentation.
Red wines are known for their health benefits and sweet red wines are very popular among new wine drinkers who are seeking a wine as sweet as possible; most new wine drinkers are used to sweet drinks such as fizzy drinks and sweetened coffee and are seeking the same thing in a wine. Sweet red wines are becoming more popular and yet are often quite hard to find, with prices varying from quite cheap to quite expensive. The best option to find one that is sweet and local to you is go to your local wine specialist and ask their advice for what they recommend.
Popular Sweet Red Wine Styles
Popular sweet red wines are the Zinfandel and the Merlot style which are both incredibly sweet and popular in North America. Another popular sweet red wine is port, known as a ‘dessert’ wine and drunk very often in households at Christmas time. Port is higher in alcohol than regular wine and is very sweet, thick and rich.
Many American wineries make very sweet red wines, yet Hungary and Greece to the east are other good sources for sweet reds. Nearly every regional American winery makes some type of sweet red wine, either from Concord grapes or French-American mixtures of grapes.
Some of the best Sweet Red Wines Available
Honeywood Winery Concord Grape – A very sweet red wine, which is incredibly popular, this is a native American grape that is often frowned upon by many wine makers because it is not French. It is quite cheap at around nine dollars.
Beaujolais Villages Nouveau - Around Thanksgiving time this is widely available for around 6 weeks and is very popular with the public and is categorized as sweet and fruity.
Moscato d'Asti - This is a popular sweet red dessert wine which is popular to drink after dinner with different kind of cheeses.
Catawba – This is not the name of a wine, but an ingredient that is used primarily to make sweet red wines that produce a musky lambruco flavor. This is a very popular choice for a sweet red wine ingredient.
Who Needs a Wine Refrigerator?
Remember that time you planned the perfect dinner party, chilled your wine in the refrigerator, but by the time it got to the table it tasted like rancid cardboard? Did you know that the reason for that may well be the temperature fluctuations within the bottle? Because wine is affected by temperature, and chilled wines more than any other, it may be important to you to purchase a wine refrigerator. There are a variety of sizes depending upon your needs and with that variety comes a wide range of prices.
Small Wine Refrigerators:
The small varieties can easily accommodate four to eight bottles of wine and start at about eighty dollars and go up from there depending upon the number of bottles it can store, the type of material it is made from, temperature range and a variety of other possible accoutrements. It is possible to turn one of those little office refrigerators into a small wine refrigerator with a few minor adjustments.
Medium Wine Refrigerators:
As your collection grows, it may become necessary to upgrade your wine refrigerator to something a bit larger. Staring at about $150.00 these wine refrigerators, can hold in excess of twenty-four bottles comfortably and are about the size of those larger dorm-room refrigerators. Potentially, similar adjustments can be made on one of those to create a viable larger wine refrigerator should the need arise.
Large Wine Refrigerators:
Those who are looking for serious wine storage may want to consider a large wine refrigerator. These appliances are about the same size as an average food refrigerator, but are designed to hold wine at a temperature that will help keep the bottles fresh as long as possible. Holding upwards of fifty bottles of wine, these varieties cost in excess of $300.00.
Built-in Wine Refrigerators:
Can you imagine having your wine refrigerator built-in next to your dishwasher? Can you think of anything more convenient? If you are that kind of connoisseur, then you may want to consider talking to your builder about installing a built-in wine refrigerator. These varieties can comfortably house upwards of 37 bottles and cost about the same as a large wine refrigerator.
So, if you are interested in avoiding any future problems with temperature causing your wine to go bad, then consider a wine refrigerator. Even if it means revamping one of those little office styles temporarily, is that better than the embarrassment of sitting down to dinner with friends only to discover that that thirty dollar bottle of Chablis has gone bad due to a temperature issue?
Wine Glass Decorations
It happened on a Saturday night. You hosted a wine tasting party for a group of twelve friends, and everything went perfectly. Well, almost everything. It did not take you very long to figure out that, while you had the perfect combination of cheeses and crackers and simple wine glasses, people were constantly confusing their glass with someone else’s. You were embarrassed, particularly when that fact became the thing that just everyone joked about. Now, you are planning another get-together and you want to avoid this problem with wine glass decorations, but how do you begin?
Purchasing Wine Glass Decorations:
Just about every discount, department and grocery store has them now—wine glass decorations. They literally look like little earrings with different charms on each one and are designed to go around the stem of the wine glass to “mark it” as individual for different guests. These charms are often sold in packages of four or six and cost anywhere from five to twenty dollars depending upon where they are purchased, the material they are made from, and how decorative these wine glass decorations are.
Making Your Own:
One of the most creatively fun ideas to engage in, for a group of close friends, is to create your own wine glass decorations. It is wonderfully simple and they will love it. In fact, you may even consider sending the personalized charms home as party favors. All you have to do is go to your local craft store and pick up stainless steel or nickel plated wire hoop findings. While you are on the same aisle, pick up a few charms that you think will be great identity markers for your friends, and perhaps some beads for color.
When you get home, slide the beads and charms onto the hoops, fasten the hoops around the stems of each glass, then wait to see the smiles on everyone’s face as they realize how much trouble you went to just for them. Chances are, they will all instantly forget about the last time and will just enjoy the individualized attention you have put into their evening. Or, if you prefer, you can drop all of the newly made charms into a basket and have each person pick out their own charm at the beginning of the evening; this way, you know they will notice the charm and will not be as likely to confuse their wine glass with someone else’s again.
Wine Making: An Age Old Tradition That Has Been Passed From Generation To Generation
If we take a closer look into the origins of wines, we will notice that wines have been around for at least 4,500 years. Although there are no clear records as to where the first wines were actually produced, some facts pointed to the Middle East as the place where wine making first started. However, since the wine making practice in the Middle East at that time was not properly documented, we don’t really know why and how this practice was ever conceptualized. All we know is that the art of wine making was passed from generation to generation. Wine making is like a family tradition in most parts of the world. In fact, there are families that are known to have produced wines for hundreds of years.
The Early Records Of The Use Of Grapes For Making Wine
One of the earliest records of the art of wine making came from the Egyptians. This Egyptian document which mentioned the use of grapes for wine making date back to 2,500 BC, mentioned the use of grapes in wine making. During that time, wine was commonly used as offerings to kings and royalties. The best vineyards in Egypt were reserved for the making wines for the king and the royal family.
Aside from the Egyptian records, wine was also mentioned in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. Wine took on a sacramental role in Christian churches. According to the Christian belief, wine represents the blood of Jesus Christ which was offered is offered in exchanged for the salvation of humankind. Up until now, the use of wine is still very much part of the Christian religious celebrations. The Christian holy mass is celebrated with the use of wine and bread.
As years go by, the art of drinking wine spread all over the world. The Romans are said to be the ones who introduced the art of wine making to different parts of Europe. There, the art of wine making took a lot of refinements to suit the taste of the Europeans. Since the climate of Europe is different from that of Egypt and the Middle East, most of the wines produced within the European continent are said to taste better compared to those wines produced in other parts of the world. Many experts believe that the soils of Europe are well suited for growing a lot of variety of grapes and this accounts for the many different taste of wines that are now being produced all over the European continent.
Looking at how wine prices are determined
Wine is like any other article of trade that exists in the market. The final wine price is determined by the production costs, the rarity of the product and its status and worth. Wine makers have a choice whether they produce their wines cheaply or at a high cost.
The price of wine is determined by several factors:
- A winemaker may choose to create their wine using low yields or bigger volume high yields (a yield is a term used to measure the number of grapes or the volume of grape juice produced per area). This ensures the use of fuller flavored grapes.
- Some winemakers might make their wine in concrete vats or oak barrels which adds very much to the wine price.
- Some winemakers may choose to harvest their fruit themselves by hand to avoid the price of employing labour and the price of machinery.
All of these additional costs will be recovered in the selling price of wine when it goes to be sold. This explains why a wine from a quality producer will always be more expensive than wine from bulk production.
Are wines better value when they are cheap or expensive?
Quality wine costs more to make than lower quality wines. As is said above the growing and winemaking methods are more costly and therefore quality wines cannot be found at a low price. It has been known for some winemakers who are eager to make extra money on the sly to charge more for their wine than it is actually worth, however trustworthy merchants protect customers values by not purchasing wines from these kinds of people.
Although wine with more expensive wine prices tends to be known as being of better quality, the value is determined by the buyer, because everyone’s tastes vary.
Quality wines are often allowed to mature over a long time period so that they can reach their best and full potential. When time passes and the wine itself is drunk by consumers, those wine bottles that are left in small numbers become very rare and become worth a great deal of money, with its worth increasing year by year. Wines that are also rare and of great expense are wines that are made in small quantities each year.
At the end of the day, wine prices vary because of their production costs and time and material used to create them. If a persons passion is in quality wines, then they may be willing to pay for the rarity of an expensive bottle, yet for someone who is just in search of a bottle to go with a meal, less expensive bottles may be better suited; it all comes down to individual taste.
What wine is made from – wine grapes
Grapes are the main ingredient in wine. Grapes take on the flavour of the soil and grow sweeter in the sun as they grown on the vines. There are many different types of wine grapes and the variety of the grape and the blend of different varieties is the most significant factor which determines the flavour and character of a wine.
Grape varieties differ depending on the region they grown in. The humidity of the area is a big determiner of the quality of the grapes which is why wine is mostly produced in hotter climates such as France and California. The soil quality of the vineyard is also very important as better soil can create better grapes that in the end make the quality of the wine better. Insect infections or bad weather has been known to destroy whole grape harvests. Quality of the wine is maximized when all of the varieties involved in the wine making are suited to the site in terms of climate and soil structure.
Varietal Grape Blends of Wine Grapes
Wines made predominantly from a single wine grape variety that are usually specified on the label are called ‘Varietal’ wines. Wines made from single grape varieties are very popular and some examples that are made from a predominant grape are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Merlot, all very fashionable wine sellers throughout the wine industry.
Combination of Grapes are known as ‘Wine Grape blends’
Approximately all of the world's greatest wines are made from combining different grapes and different vats or barrels of the same grape. Today blending is important in the production of fine wine and may combine wines with different but harmonizing characteristics. Port, cherry and champagne are three well known grape blends. Some of the world's most valued and expensive wines are from the Bordeaux and Tuscany regions and are a blend of several wine grape varieties
The concept of ‘Terroir’
The concept of terroir is the variety of the grape, the elevation and topography of the vineyard, the type of soil used when growing grapes, the climate and season when the grapes are down and the local yeast cultures. The range of all of these possibilities leads to a great variety among wine products, which can be extended by the fermentation, finishing, and aging processes. Many producers use growing methods that preserve the smell and taste influences of their unique wine terroir, which all adds to a better bottle of wine at the end of the process.