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What
is Wine? What's all the fuss about? How many of us have
asked this question, albeit in our minds
Here is some basic wine facts…
Wine is generally understood to mean the fermented juice
of grapes, although a wine can be made from the fermented
juice of the other plants too. Wine is a truly 'natural
food' as it is will develop on its own wherever sweet
plant juices are allowed to collect and ferment.
But man, the interfering creature that he is, has learned
to help the process along through Viticulture - the
science of growing and harvesting grapes and Viniculture -
art of making wine. What he has developed is not one
simple beverage, but a entire array ranging form the
downright simple to the incredibly complex.
It helps most to know that all wines fall into few basic
categories-appetizer and dessert wines, red and white
table wines and sparkling wines.
When you have to make that all-important decision about
which wine to buy/order, consider the use you'll make of
it. Do you need something to have with appetizers before
dinner or is the need of the hour a wine to toast a newly
wed couple. In the first case select an appetizer wine, in
the latter a sparkling wine.
APPETIZER & DESSERT WINES
Sometimes these two categories are grouped separately, but
since there are no many similarities between these two
classes it is simpler to consider them a single class.
Appetizer and Dessert wines usually have a higher
alcoholic content and a more pronounced flavour than other
wines. In some cases the same wine can be sipped as an
appetizer or as a post prandial beverage. The difference
is in the 'dryness' of the wine. 'Dry' versions (with the
absence of sweetness) are served as an aperitif and
sweeter forms as dessert. The exception here is Vermouth,
which is popular in both its sweet and dry forms during
the before dinner hour. Since wine rules are flexible
there is nothing wrong in even pouring some of the wine
meant for the main course to sip prior to the meal. For
everyday meals this is a popular practice.
Dessert wines, like desserts themselves should be sweet
and 'full bodied'. In addition to sweet ( or 'cream')
sherry there are several other distinct types, including
Red port, Tawny port, Sauterness, Sweet semillion and
wines made from the 'musact' grape.
…And then there is the Chateau d' Yquem, the worlds
greatest sweet white wine.
TABLE WINES
To be part of this category, a wine must be compatible
with other flavours. In contrast to the aggressive
flavours of dessert wines, table wines are good
harnonisers. They are also dry, with the alcohol,
percentage hovering at approximately 12.5 %. Red, whites
and Rose's are a part of this category.
SPARKLING WINES
Champagnes are part of this elite category. The
effervescence of a sparkling wine is brought about by
secondary fermentation that takes place in the bottle ( or
in closed containers - in the case of regional and mass
produced sparkling wines). Their alcoholic strength like
still table wines averages at 12.5 %
In France, Champagne can only be produced in the legally
defined region called 'Champagne'. In other countries,
including our own the name is attached to a white
sparkling wine by virtue of the production process used in
the making of these wines, what is called the 'method
champenoise'
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Last modified:
September 20, 2005
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