Sugar
Sweeter wines have more sugar than dry wines. During the fermentation process a lot of the natural fruit sugar is fermented. However, in some wines, residual (remaining) sugar may be higher and therefore a sweeter wine is produced.
Alcohol
Most people know that one of the key components of wine is alcohol! Alcohol is fundamental to the taste of wine. The alcohol volume most wines range between nine and fifteen per cent. Fortified wine can be as high as twenty per cent alcohol.
Tannin
Tannin comes from the skin of grapes. Therefore, tannin is much more fundamental as a taste component in red wine than in white. Too much tannin in a wine is not a good thing and can result in the wine tasting spoiled. However, tannin helps to preserve a wine, which means that some wines can be kept for years and even improve with age. A small amount of tannin is also a positive taste characteristic to regular wine drinkers, if a little over-whelming for novice wine drinkers.
Water
Why red wine is red and other isn tYou remember your child asking, Mommy, does chocolate milk come from brown cows? Unless you had a particularly perverse sense of humor ( Now, Jesse, that is udder nonsense! ) you gently set your child straight and provided him or her with one more piece of life information.
So when people ask me whether white wine comes from white grapes and red wine from red ones, I have to smile my brown cow smile .
Here is the straight information, from winemaker to you. The word sometimes is used because the winemaker, who is a sort of chef d grapes has a lot of options available in his kitchen/winery ..
All wines contain water that has been extracted naturally from the grapes from which they were produced. Very rarely, if ever, would extra water be added to a wine. In fact, some wines will be criticized for being excessively watery if the other flavors are not sufficiently powerful.
Acid
Acid found in wine balances against the residual sugar that is left after the fermentation process has finished. There are three key types of acid in wine, tartaric, malic and citric. All of these acids are found in varying quantities in the skins of grapes. Alcohol may react with bacteria within the wine to create acetic acid; this is not generally a good thing as too much acetic acid will make a wine taste more like vinegar than anything else!
Fruit
This is what tends to differentiate one wine from the other. Fruity tastes are what we look for in a wine and different grapes will produce a myriad of fruit flavors. It is the combination of tastes that makes each wine unique and special.
Carbon Dioxide
Wine E-Learning Campus In Malta
Following a successful trial run in London, the European Wine Academy (EWA) has expanded internationally and chosen Malta as the base for its Mediterranean Campus offering a range of high-standard short, long and professional wine courses to students in the region that encompasses Sicily, Sardinia, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Professional wine courses will be delivered mainly through interactive, professional e-learning classes (also called distance education), which is a first for the region and Malta, as well.
The EWA is steered by a group of passionate w ..
During every fermentation process, carbon dioxide is produced. Most of this is normally released, however, in some wines a degree of fizz can be left in a wine to add a little extra to an otherwise very ordinary wine. Of course, in sparkling wines, the carbon dioxide is retained and is fundamental to the taste.
Oak
No longer an essential component of everyday quaffing wines, oak barrels are still used on occasions to add a vanilla, oaky flavor. Oak barrels can add an extra dimension to plain wines that will make them much more saleable and enjoyable.
All of these components make the wine that we see in our glasses. Next time you pour yourself a glass of wine, take some time to think about which elements are supporting your enjoyment, and which you could do without.
About the Author
Since Neil Best first pondered the question "Who made the first wine?" he's been recording his findings at http://www.goodglug.com This article forms part of the free Good Glug Wine Appreciation Mini Course. Visit http://www.goodglug.com/free-wine-course.php to get your copy now. Neil BestWhat wine really is (just in case you thought you knew)
