Wine Types

ALL TYPES OF WINE

There are several different types and styles of wines   Almost every country in the world makes some type of wine.  Wine is such a generic term, so lets try to break it down into some major understood categories.

Table Wine  The purge definition is wine of moderate quality considered suitable for drinking with a meal.  By definition, table wine are wines that are between 8% and 15% alcohol. This makes  up the majority of wines that almost everyone has had and tasted.   Its your Cabernet Sauvginon, Merlot,  Chardonnay,  Sauvginon Blanc, Rose and much more.   In the United States it can mean just about any wine that is not sparkling, not fortified and is generally inexpensive and easy drinking.  Not so in Europe.  They have many different classifications of wines, many that include Table Wine  Vin de Table ,
Vin de Pays , Vin de France and vino da tavola. 

As I mentioned above, table wines in USA generally are the inexpensive wines, ranging from $5 to $10 a bottle.  So, they are affordable to almost everyone who wants to try wines.   They can be nice wholesome wines, but I would never classify them as distinct or having a lot of characteristics.  However,  this is the wine class that so many Americans can first start to drink wine.   Overall, these simple table wines are easy to drink.  They lack those intense characteristics of Oak, Smoke, Cassis, Tannin and more.   In the past 5 years or so, many American winemakers have started to make blends.  These wines are probably the easiest to drink and do demonstrate the tastes of various types of grapes.

In Europe, its a different story.  Table wine, or what they call it can be on the pricy side.  Paying up to $50 a bottle from wines from Burgundy is not unheard of.  In Italian, the Sassicaia or Tenuta  San Guido have grapes that are generally not the typical Italian grape and are classified as DOC, since there was no classification of grapes  like Cabernet Sauvignon in Italy so they were called
vino da tavola , selling for about $170 a bottle

Champagne  Is a sparkling wine made only from the region of Champagne in France.  It is legally accepted that only sparkling wines made from the grapes grown in the Champagne region call be labeled Champagne.   The laws are very strict , including the making process which calls for a secondary fermentation (after the initial fermentation) which creates the carbonation.   Many different grapes can be used for making Champagne, but the most popular are Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay.    These champagnes are aged in dark cool caves in racks called the riddle and the person that turns these weekly is called the riddler

The French process for making Champagne is called
méthode Champenoise.   Contrary to what many people
believe,  Dom Perignon did not invent champagne.  He was however responsible for many advances in French Champagne, included the special bottle.  You will probably notice that Champagne bottles are heavier than most wine bottles.   Also, on the bottom, there is a larger than normal indent.  This is called the Punt.   The primary function of this punt is to evenly distribute the pressure of the carbonation in the wine.   Some wine makers question this theory, but it is something you will find on all champagne bottles.

Sparkling Wine  Sparkling wine can be made the exact same way the classic French wines are made.   But since they are not made from grapes grown and the wine produced in the Champagne region of France, they can be called only Sparkling Wine.   This does not mean that they are inferior.  There are many Sparkling Wines that I have tasted that I will compare to many great French Champagnes.   Each country has a name for their version of Sparkling Wines

Germany   –  Sekt
Italy             –  Prosecco
Spain          –   Cava
Portugal   –   Espumante.

Fortified Wine  is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, is added   The purpose is to stop the fermentation process , kill the yeast and leave behind residual sugars.   Most fortified wines contain between 16% and 20% alcohol.   Class fortified wines are  

Port
Sherry
Maderia
Marsala

 

 

Non-Grape Wines  Wines can be made from various types of fruits.  Fruits that can be made into wine range from the familiar (blackberries and pineapples)   One of the most widely produced non-grape fruit wines is cider, or “apple wine,” which is made from fermented apples.   They still go through a fermentation process using Yeast which turns the natural sugars into alcohol.   I have not had a lot of experience with fruit wines.   The ones I have tasted are from the Silo Winery in Sherman CT    They make wines from raspberry, blueberry,  and others.   I am not a fan of the taste of these wines, but they make an excellent source of a wine reduction for cooking!

 

***  THE 100-YEAR-OLD LOOPHOLE THAT MAKES CALIFORNIA CHAMPAGNE LEGAL  You might have seen the word Champagne used on Korbel Sparkling Wines.   The loophole, is that IF the sparkling wines were originated before 2006, they were allowed to continue to use the term Champagne on the labels.  Sparkling wines originated after 2006, must stick with the Sparkling Wine name.

 

 

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