Today's topic is obviously about wines. There are many volumes written about wine, the history of wine, the process, brewing, etc.. So I am just going to cover a few basic things here. All the types of wines fit into only a few categories: red, white, rose, sparkling (including Champagne), dessert, and fortified. That is the easy part then there are different types of wine in each category. First I'll break down the categories.
Red wines: These are wines made and processed from red grapes.
White wines: Are made and processed from white grapes.
Rose wines: Rose wines, pronounced (rosay), are not recognised as being on par with either the reds or the whites. almost like a second class wines. Roses are made using red grapes in three different ways.
One way is that the skins of the red grapes are removed during pressing. The longer the skins remain with the juice the darker the final wine. In normal processing for red wines the skins are left with the juice to give color and flavoring.
Another way is known as "bleeding the vats". This is used to give more color and tannins to a red wine. it removes some of the pink juice from the vat at an early stage. It is this pink juice that is fermented to produce a rose.
The last option is the blending of red wine and white wine. This is self explanatory.
Sparkling / Champagne: All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne. Champange comes from the Champagne region of France, and by law can be made with only Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier grapes. Any other sparkling wine from any other place or made with any other type of grape can not be called a Champagne.The same thing as Whiskey, Whisky, and Bourbon.
The carbonation for for the sparkling wines occurs while the wine is in the bottle, not the vats. There are different fermentation processes that ensure the carbonation. There are also different grapes used a well as different processes.
Italy has an Asti sparkling wine. This typically is made with Moscato grapes, in the Asti region. Then over to Spain. Spain has a Cava sparkling wine, which used to be promoted as Spanish Champagne (which is illegal). This wine is produced in the Catalonia region using Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. Now our trip goes back east a little to Germany and Austria. These two countrys produce Sekt. Sekt is made with Riesling, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris in Germany. In Austria it is made with Gruner Vetliner and Welschrieslng.
Hop on a plane, we are headed back home to the U. S. of A. California dreamin'. The Napa and Mendocino areas are the most noted here. Many producers make different types of sparkling wines in these areas. Using local grapes and cost saving processes. They are quite excellent wines for a very good price. But don't be fooled, some very big names from over seas have vineyards here. Some very well known French company's get their grapes from here.
Dessert wines: These are typically to sweet to be enjoyed with a meal. They can be red, white or even rose. Dessert wines can be produced three separate ways. The earliest was that the wine was not allowed to ferment all the way, leaving much of the sugars behind. There is "noble rot" which sounds rather unappetizing, but is just a mold that had gotten into the wine. The last is ice wine, which means that the grapes were left on the vine to freeze, then harvested and processed. The freezing increases the sugars in the grape itself.
All are very sweet and should be sipped very slowly. Another dessert wine uses brandy to sweeten the wine.
Fortified wines: These are wines with a higher alcohol content. This requires a different distillation process, and was mainly used to make transporting wines longer distances. There are four main types : Madeira wine, Marsala Wine, Port Wine, and Sherry Wine. Each comes from specific regions. They have a stronger more distinct taste.
Madeira wine: Comes from the Madeira island of Portugal off of Africa. It can be either sweet or dry, and has a light brown color.
Marsala wine: comes from a town in Italy. The town Marsala is in southern Sicily. this one too can be sweet or dry. Not really a drinking wine it is more useful for cooking.
Port wine: This also comes from Portugal. The city of Oporto located in the Duoro Valley region. This is a red wine and comes in different styles.
Sherry wine: Comes from the southern port of Spain, from the city of the same name, Sherry. The production and blending of this wine is unique from the rest. This wine can be either light or dark, dry or sweet, and comes in different types.
I don't have the room to expand on the different types of wines in this article. But each wine depends on the amount of rain they get. where they are grown. what type of grape was used. The soil make up. Even the amount of sun light they get. One year can be better than the next. Even one vine can be better than its neighbor. Lets not even mention the difference between wood and stainless steel vats. the type of wood can impart different flavors. My head is spinning, so I'll pop the cork, pour us a glass and relax. Here's one for you.
Enjoy,
Cheers;
Steve Aniolowski / Spicy
No comments:
Post a Comment