There are a number of points towards refining your taste for wine and enhancing your judgment as to what makes a good wine. One is that wine is made from fermented grape juice. But you should know a few other things, such as the grape varieties wines are made from and the process of wine making itself.
There are many varieties of wines. The most commonly known ones are red, white, rose and champagne. Wines are usually classified according to the grape varieties used to make them. One variety that is often used for red wine is the Barbera. Grown mainly in Piedmont, Italy, this variety is quite adaptable to other regions, and is also grown on a limited scale in the United States. Barbera grapes produce wines with a full-bodied fruity taste as they have a high natural acidity.
A Few Varieties of Wine
There are many varieties of wine. Wine enthusiasts know about one variety that is widely grown in many parts of the world: Cabernet Sauvignon. Grown primarily in Medoc, France, this grape variety has found its way to California, Australia and other wine-making countries. Cabernet Sauvignon wines are considered by wine enthusiasts as among the best red wines in the world. They have a distinct aromatic flavor, and have hints of the taste of berries, olives, coffee, mint and herbs all blended together. One of the most popular white wine varieties and producing some of the world’s finest, is the Chardonnay. The varieties and types are overwhelming at times, but you don’t take long to become familiar with all the wine values.
If a wine enthusiast is interested in going into wine production, even if only for personal consumption, then a basic understanding of the wine-making process is important. Wine making is really quite simple and is an age-old technology. It is not necessary to have sophisticated equipment to make wines.
First you have to know what type of grapes to use, where they are grown, the right age for picking, and things like acidity and sugar levels. If you want a particular aromatic flavor, you should be able to tell which grapes will produce that kind of flavor. After the picking of the grapes, comes the pressing to extract the juices, and then the fermentation process.
The fermentation process is quite delicate. It involves adding yeast to the juice in order to stimulate the fermentation process. Basically, fermentation is the conversion of the sugar in the juice into alcohol. The success of your grape juice turning into good wine, is the kind of yeast used and the absence of any contaminants getting into the mixture during the entire process.
There is so much more to understanding the differences between a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon, but the knowledge to the types of wine available is just the beginning for a wine enthusiast.
