Wine

From Helpful
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article/section is a stub — probably a pile of half-sorted notes and is probably a first version, is not well-checked, so may have incorrect bits. (Feel free to ignore, or tell me)

Wine is fermented grapes.


Or, potentially, anything else with sugar to be fermented into ethanol assuming other conditions don't shut the process down.

Many other fermented fruits, and e.g. fermented rice, also has 'wine' on the label.

The fermentation process does vary -- you can decide whether that's semantics or sensible to call something different.


Process

Most distinctions between different types of wine are the result of some part of the vinification process, and not all are obvious -- or particularly interesting.

A number of wines are named after their origin, such as Champagne, Napa Valley, and Jerez, and place names often are decent indication of what sort of grape and/or process was used, though this can be vague unless the name is legally protected.


Red wine is made from red/black grapes. White wine may be made from white grapes -- and but also from red/black grapes: The red color in red wine actually comes from the skin, and also the seed and stems, via a process called maceration. White wine skips that process, so can come from any grapes.


Tannin gives wine a woody, somewhat bitter taste. Tannin comes from the grape's seed, stem, and skin, and from various types of wood; barrels may be chosen to introduce tanning. Tannin is also the cause of the sediment you see in bottles and glasses, and related to the amount of aging a wine should do.


See also


Overall types/qualities include

  • sparkling wine: contains carbon dioxide, either injected or as a result of the prodction process. Semi-sparkling wine contains less sparkle, still wine indicates the absence of sparkle.
  • dessert wine is mildly to very sweet, usually from the addition of sugar.
  • Late harvest wine refers to wine from grapes harvested after they have ripened, and usually points to a sweet desert wine.
  • fortified wine refers to the addition of other alcohol during fermentation, which often also stops fermentation, so this points to wines that are stronger, and also sweeter as there is more unfermented sugar.
  • table wine refers to a regular alcohol content (usually 14%) and the absence of bubbles.
  • light wine usually refers to one with less than regular alcohol content (usually 8~14%)
  • cooking wine refers to wine which has preservatives such as salt added so that it can be kept open for longer periods of time. Its alcohol content usually doesn't matter as the alcohol boils away in most applications. It is often cheaper, simpler wine that is not fully fermented.


Major taste factors

This article/section is a stub — probably a pile of half-sorted notes and is probably a first version, is not well-checked, so may have incorrect bits. (Feel free to ignore, or tell me)

Sweetness

Wines have some amount of residual, unfermented sugars, which is the major factor in the general sweetness of the wine.

Names to describe sweetness are often standardized and enforced, but may be local. For example, the formal terms in the EU are:

  • Brut Nature (indicates no added sugar)
  • Extra Brut
  • Brut
  • Extra Dry, Extra Sec, Extra seco
  • Dry, Sec, Seco
  • Demi-Sec, Semi-seco
  • Doux, Sweet, Dulce (very sweet)

Wines in supermarkets quite usually hang around the middle of the scale. Note that dry means relatively little sugar, although taste can also be dry because of acidity.

See also:


acidity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acids_in_wine


alcohol levels

other qualities

Wine may contain esters, phenols, terpenes, and various other compounds that contribute to taste and texture.