The light, fresh and bright red juice from the grapes has produced the finest wines in the World. Wine has become an important part of celebrating good times, daily gatherings and marriages. It is known that the first Wine originated in Georgia way back in 6,000 BC. The first ground the grapes and took out the juice; then, they buried it underground for the Winter. Many of us wonder why it is named “Wine”. Wine is an old English word “win”, and many believe that it is named after the Greek God of Wine, Dionysus.
One thing is for sure that no one can resist a good wine as it’s the most delicious thing to drink. Anyone should enjoy the drink in moderate amounts to maintain good health. The oldest drinkable Wine is the Speyer Wine, dated back to 325 AD – 350 AD. It is found in the casket in the grave of a Roman nobleman and his wife. The country that has the best wines to taste is France. It is listed on the top of a chart as a great wine-producing country. Other than Italy that stands first in producing Wine globally, the French stand second in producing Wine.
What are the Five Types Of Wines?
Wines come in various flavours, colours and textures. Many of them love to sip sweet Wine, and others are a little bit crisp and dry. First, let’s know all about Wines, the type of grapes used, and the process of making various wines.
White Wine:
This Wine is made with a variety of grapes, and various methods are used along with the correct ratio of residual sugar. White Wine is made mostly from green and white grapes or a little yellow like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. Sometimes we can use coloured skin grapes for the different flavours it produces.
We have many types of white wines; among them, Dry Wine is less aromatic and has a tangy taste as it is completely fermented. On the other hand, sweet wines are interrupted during fermentation before all the grape sugars are converted to alcohol, known as a fortification. Thus, white wines are enjoyed mostly with dessert or as a refreshing drink between meals.
Red Wines:
Many of them love Red Wine because of its rich texture, colour and taste. It’s an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. The sugar in the grapes reacts with the yeast to convert into ethanol, carbon dioxide and heat. The World produces different wines with different tastes; this is because of the different grapes and yeast.
Some wines are not made from grapes, and they use additional crops for fermentation like rice wine and fruit wines such as Cherry, Currant, Plum, Pomegranate and Elderberry. Wine has been made for 1000’s of years; some say the earliest Wine is from China dated back to 7000 BC, others say Georgia 6000 BC, Persia 5000 BC and Italy 4000 BC. Today the five places with the largest Wine producing regions are Italy, France, Spain, the United States and China.
Wine has a strong connection with religion. For example, red Wine was associated with blood by the ancient Egyptians. Italy, Spain and France also have a heritage connecting them to their past culture and traditions.
Rose Wine:
The name Rose Wine makes us feel special because of its colour and beauty. The Winemaking from Rose dates back to ancient Greece when red Wine was popular and pale red.
The Greeks and the Romans made the first Rose wine. They tried many recipes until they figured out the procedure to separate red Wine from their white Wine. In the 6th Century BC, the pink rose became the talk of the town in Southern France. The first Rose wine that became popular was Mateus rose in 1943. The colour was very appealing to women and younger generations. It has got a sweet, slightly sparkling taste.
What’s the difference between Rose Wine and Red Wine?
The red grapes used for making red Wine are also used for rose wine. The same procedure is followed for both wines, but the fermentation time is less with grape skin for the rose wine. As the contact with the skin is less, it leaves a rose pink hue and lighter flavour than the red Wine.
Rose wine is sweet with a fruity or dry taste and can be paired with savoury or rich dishes. It contains an alcohol content of 12 % ABV average. One sweet rose wine is the Moscato wine with a low alcohol content that is much loved with desserts and appetizers. Pick the best rose wine by selecting from a trusted region, and it should be a recent vintage; check if it is sweet or dry, check for the colour, and choose your grape.
Dessert or Sweet Wine:
Dessert or Sweet Wine is the same as other wines in the market. They are enjoyed during or after desserts. They are usually sweet with good flavour and high alcohol content. However, many of them phrase it as a “Sugary Ring”, leaving a bitter impression on their minds. As time has changed and people are more health-conscious, drinking such sugary sweet Wine might increase their insulin levels. Dry wines are not so sweet and are enjoyed with main course dishes, whereas dessert wines take the centre table.
Some of the dessert wines are Madeira, Sherry, Port etc., with an alcohol content of 15% or more. To get that extra sweet, they use the late harvest grapes to build more sugar content. Then, later in the fermentation period, they halt the process so that the yeast does not eat up all the sugar.
Dessert or Sweet wines are more on the sugary side but come with many variations. They are made from red or white grapes and can be sparkling or still, dry or sweet. So, think twice about what you are looking for in a Wine? Is it the colour or the taste or both !!
Sparkling Wine:
It’s a wine that has a good amount of carbon dioxide to make it look fizzy. Sparkling Wine is known as Champagne, and the word is reserved as it’s produced from the Champagne region of France. These wines are white or rose in colour, but you can also find sparkling red wines. The taste can either be too sweet or dry.
The sparkling effect is due to the carbon dioxide present in the content and left either in a bottle or in a large tank for fermentation. Many other regions are known to produce such wines, but France stands on top of all. The other regions that follow are Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Africa and the United States.
One problem with sparkling Wine is the presence of bubbles. No one understood the formation of such bubbles that has led to many bottles burst suddenly. In addition, during winters, the fermentation process stops and starts once the climate gets hot, this allows the rise of carbon dioxide gas and a cork is used to control the sparkling effect.
Acquiring knowledge of various wines and their characteristics have given us more choices as per the taste. Some might like their wines a bit dry and others sweet. What is the Wine you love to taste?
Tasting a wine needs an experience that comes when one works closely with wineries. We need first to see the colour, smell it, then swirl it around the glass’s edges to see the colour change rather than the dark colour in the centre and then sip it. Experts examine the Wine in various views like side view, straight angle view and tilted view. It helps them to know if there are any chemicals or fermentation problems in the Wine.
We at the Brook Pub choose the perfect wines for our customers from trusted sellers around the World. We understand that a good dish always needs the finest Wine to go along. Most of our customers are from the local community who spend their time watching sports on our big T.V screens, drinking beer and enjoying our food. Our updated menu brings in more surprises for the food lovers as we have given an option for a few dishes to be prepared according to the customer’s level of spice intake. So who wants to try something hot?
Ensure to visit our Brook Pub in Cambridge to spend quality time with family and friends over drinks and food. Check our website for more information on timings as they sometimes change due to the Government orders, but we are still a phone call away from taking your orders. So make a call at 01223 410023 and make us your new local.