Understanding Wine Makes It Taste Better
Studies have shown that more complex descriptions of red and white wine actually make those wines taste better. Intuitively, this makes sense. If you have more vocabulary to describe what you're imbibing, your brain is better able to discern subtler flavours.
This beginner's guide to different wine types that will break down the basics of what makes different wines, well, different, and the key descriptors you need to know to get the most out of whatever wine you're drinking.
What's The Difference Between Red and White Wine?
Wine glasses with different types of wine ranging in colour from red to white. Okay, you probably don’t need any help recognizing a white wine versus a red wine. They look different and they certainly taste different as well. But it’s worth your while to understand why these types of wine look and taste so different. The culprit in both cases: the skins, and a little something they bring to the party called tannins. Remember the word tannin and what it means, because wine people talk about tannins a lot.
Tongue, Meet Tannins
What are tannins? Tannins are a naturally occurring substance in grapes and other fruits and plants (like tea, for example). The taste of tannin is often described as bitter, causing a dry and puckery feeling in the mouth. Tannins end up in your wine when the vintner allows the skins to sit in the grape juice as it ferments. This is also how wines get their colour. Wines that have little or no skin contact end up pink or white, with far fewer tannins. Wines that ferment with the skins for a longer period end up red, with high tannin content. As you’d imagine, red grape skins have more tannins than white grape skins.
(Fun fact: you can get a white wine from a red grape by removing the skins from the juice immediately. All the colour comes from the skins—even red grapes are white inside.)
Types of Wine
Types of Red Wine
Tannin provides the backbone of red wine, which is why you might describe a red wine as “firm” or “leathery” or just plain “bitter.” Tannin also gives red wine texture, making it feel “smooth” and “soft” or “rough” and “chewy.” In general, the darker the wine, the higher the tannin and the “bolder” the taste.
Popular red wine varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Syrah (also known as Shiraz), Bordeaux, Barbera, Sangiovese
Types of White Wine
White wine has tannin, but not enough to make it the star of the show. Instead, white wines are backboned by acidity. That’s why you might say a wine is “crisp” or “tart.” Or, if there isn’t enough acidity, you might call a white wine “flabby” or “flat.”
Popular white wine varietals: Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Moscato (Muscat), Pinot Grigio, Gewürztraminer
Rosé Wine
Rosé, or blush wine, is pink in colour. It gets that way because it is allowed to stay in contact with the red grape skins for a relatively short time compared to red wine. On the spectrum between red and white, rosé is much closer to the light side, with relatively low tannin.
Popular rosé wine varietals: Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese
Can I Serve Red Wine Cold?
There’s no law against drinking chilled red wine, but there’s a pretty good reason why you shouldn’t, and again, it’s the tannins. Tannins tend to taste bitter as they get cold, which means your darker red wines won’t taste their best when they are as cold as the Rockies. On the other hand, white and rosé wines, with their low tannin content, taste just fine when chilled—but avoid getting them too cold, or you’ll miss out on a lot of the flavour. Of course, it’s all a matter of taste. Some people enjoy their beer at room temperature and their pizza cold. Whatever gets you there.
What Is Dessert Wine and Sparkling Wine?
Red, white and rosé wines that have an alcohol by volume content of 14% or less are considered “table wine” in the U.S. (and “light wine” in Europe). That excludes anything that is sparkling or fortified (i.e., has added alcohol).
Dessert wine gets its name because it tends to be a sweet wine and comes after a meal. Alcohol (usually brandy) is added to a dessert wine so that it can retain more of its natural sugars, which are typically used up during the fermentation process.
Popular dessert wines/fortified wines: Port, Madeira, Vermouth, Sherry, Marsala
Sparkling wine is wine that has significant carbonation, which can occur as a natural part of the fermentation process or via carbon dioxide injection after fermentation. When reading sparkling wine labels, you’ll also encounter terms that indicate its sweetness/dryness.
Popular sparkling wines: Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, sparkling rosé, Moscato, Lambrusco
Sparkling wines from driest to sweetest:
Brut Nature
Extra Brut
Brut
Extra Dry/Extra Sec/Extra Seco
Dry/Sec/Seco
Demi-Sec/Semi-seco
Doux/Sweet/Dulce.
Sparkling wine is made from a wide range of red and white grapes. Champagne proper is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and/or Pinot Noir.
What Are The Four Key Wine Descriptors?
Sweetness.
Needs no explanation. The opposite of sweet is dry. A wine can also be medium-dry or off-dry (i.e., just a hint of sweetness, but almost too faint to move the needle).
Acidity.
We already talked about this. Acidity is a big deal for white wines, and it makes them refreshing and crisp (or “sour” if it's overdone). Lower acidity makes a wine taste “fat.”
Tannin.
Another one we’ve already covered. It’s all about the tannins for red wine. High tannin wines are astringent, maybe even bitter and inky. Lower tannin wines are smooth and soft, and depending on your tastes, more drinkable.
Body.
This refers to the perceived “weight” and viscosity of the wine. A full-bodied wine feels thick, coating the sides of the glass as you swirl. A light-bodied wine is almost like water. A medium-bodied wine is in-between.
The best way to wrap your taste buds around the four primary wine descriptors is to make yourself a strong cup of tea. Sip it black, without anything added. That’s what something very tannic will taste like (i.e., bitter). Now, add a squeeze of lemon juice and taste it. That’s acidity joining the party. Combined with the tannic taste, it should taste astringent. Now, stir in some sugar for some sweetness. This mellows everything out to make it taste soft.
There's a fifth thing to be aware of when describing wine—flavour. Unlike the four key descriptors, flavour encompasses every descriptor under the sun and is far more subjective.
Flavors.
If you’re not sure, don’t bother diving into descriptors like graphite, barnyard, and other flavours you’ve (hopefully) never tasted. Instead, stick to the most relatable flavours like fruity, earthy, spicy, smoky, or flowery. You may also experience other recognizable fruity flavours such as citrus, apple, peach, black cherry, or pear.
Not sure which is which? Go to a wine tasting or visit a wine store and simply ask for some contrasting bottles of wine. Say, “Give me something fruity and give me something earthy.” Or, “Give me a smooth red wine and a bold red wine.” Drinking them back-to-back will give you a good feel for what these terms mean.
In the wine world, you’ll inevitably hear a lot of discussion about “oak” or “oakiness” or “an oaky quality.” Oak flavour infuses wine when it is either fermented or aged in oak barrels. If you’re a whiskey drinker, you already know how much of a big deal oak can be. With wine, oak is just another parameter for taste. Some say oak adds qualities like smokiness, clove, spiciness, or vanilla tones. Others just plain don’t like oaky aromas. If that’s you, go for a wine with low oaky character. Many wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel casks, and are thus not oaky at all (unless the winemaker adds oaky essence after the fact).
MORE ABOUT RED WINE
Red wine has been a staple of civilisations for centuries, and it still holds significant importance in the daily lives of millions of people today. Whether you like lighter styles like Pinot Noir with red berry flavours or big-hitting Australian Shiraz oozing with blackcurrant goodness, there’s a red wine out there to make every palate sing.
Red wines come from all over the world, in many styles and at many price points. There are hundreds of red wine varieties (far too many to cover in a quick red wine guide), although you’re likely to only come across a handful if you’re a casual wine drinker. We’re talking about those grape varieties we’ve all heard of, such as Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Malbec and Carménère.
There are many reasons for the variations in style we see in red wine across the globe, including the type of climate the grapes were grown in, the characteristics of the grape varieties used in a blend, whether the wine has been oaked, and the production methods used in the winery.
Quick red wine facts
· The earliest remnants of wine were discovered in Georgia in 6,000 BC
· There are approximately 160 calories in a 175ml glass of 13% ABV red wine, and up to 228 calories in a 250ml glass of red wine
· A standard 750ml bottle of red wine contains up to 10 units of alcohol
· One ton of grapes can produce up to 720 bottles of wine
· Once opened, a bottle of red wine should be stored at 10-13°C and consumed within 3-5 days
Styles of red wine
In short, there’s a lot to cover when it comes to red wine styles, so we’ve broken it down into sections to keep our red wine guide easy to digest.
Body is a term used describe how rich and weighty a wine feels when drinking it. With red wine especially, you get a huge range, from dainty, light-bodied wines to luscious, much fuller-bodied offerings. Popular examples include:
· Light-bodied red wines: Pinot Noir and Beaujolais
· Medium-bodied red wines: Merlot and Carignan
· Full-bodied red wines: Malbec, Shiraz and Tempranillo
Colour: Younger red wines are often lighter in colour with older wines taking on a more garnet hue. Wines that have been aged for a period of years like Gran Reservas can take on a kind of rust-like brown colour. It doesn’t sound all that appealing, but they’re incredibly complex and delicious. For a quick overview of what the colours of red wine signify, check out our useful diagram below.
Region: Different wines develop different characteristics depending on where the grapes used in the blend were grown. If you ever hear someone, say that all Pinot Noir tastes the same, you can point out how wrong they are. Even the same grape variety can differ in flavour profile depending on where it’s being grown. For example, a Burgundy Pinot Noir will taste completely different to a Napa Valley wine of the same grape due to climate, winery equipment, and winemaking tendencies.
Tannins: Red wine will also range hugely in tannins depending on the grape variety it’s made from. That tannic mouthfeel you often find in red wine comes from the tannins that naturally occur in grape skins and stalks. Generally speaking, the thicker the grape skin (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon) and the longer the skins are left in the blend during winemaking, the higher the tannins will be in the resulting wine. White wine production is about separating the skins from the fruit immediately, which is why tannins are only noticeable in red vino.
Climate: From cooler climates, you’re more likely to get light to medium-bodied reds, with noticeable acidity and bright red fruit flavours, such as German Pinot Noir or a Beaujolais. Whereas a red wine from warm or hot climates will be big, bold and juicy, as well as higher in alcohol and fuller in body.
Age: Many red wines are also aged, which adds another dimension of complex flavours and characteristics. Even the type of oak the winemaker uses can impact the wine in different ways! Generally speaking, oak imparts toasty and nutty nuances into red wine, softens tannins to create a silkier texture, and turns the colour of the wine into a rusty, autumnal red.
How is red wine produced?
Red wine production varies depending on where you are in the world, how modern the winery is, the climate in which grapes are cultivated, and the preferences of the winemaker. When we say a wine is really an expression of its environment, we really mean it.
Winemaking can be a lengthy process, but there are a few basics to know when it comes to how red wine is produced.
Firstly, of course, the winemaker plants their chosen grape variety (a variety with thicker skins will result in a deeper colour wine, and also lead to more tannins in the resulting wine). Once ripened, the grapes are picked by hand selection or by machine harvest, before being taken to the winery where they can be sorted to remove any unwanted stems and leaves. The grapes are then crushed.
Now it’s time for fermentation, where yeast cultures enable the grape sugar to turn into alcohol. Once this process is completed, the wine is pressed to remove grape skins and then aged for the desired amount of time, depending on the winemaker’s preference. After maturation, it’s time to bottle and label the wine, before sending it on its merry way.
Infographic showing how red wine is made
