An Introduction to Red Wine

"First things first, red wine is well…red, but why? It's color can be derived from a vast assortment of grape varietals ranging from grapes that are reddish, deep purple, and even a beautiful blue on the color scale. These grapes give rise to a wine that is color classified with such descriptors as garnet, almost black, dark red, light red, ruby red, opaque purple, deep violet, maroon and the list goes on. It is the grapeskins that are responsible for the red wine’s distinct color spectrum. The skins are in contact with the grape’s juice during the fermentation process, allowing the dispersion of both color and tannins. The individual wine’s particular red hue depends on the grape type used in the process and the length of time the skin’s pigmentation is in contact with juice.

There are right around 50 key red wine varietals that consistently manifest themselves in today’s worldwide wine market."

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An Introduction to White Wines

When to Drink White Wines

White wines are often consumed with lighter meals, think lunch, smaller dinners, appetizers or as an apéritif themselves. They are more refreshing, lighter in both style and taste than the majority of their red wine counterparts, making them ideal for spring and summer occasions."

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 Fortified wines

Fortified wines are wines to which spirits have been added to raise the alcohol content. The greatest of these wines are the Port wines from the Douro region of Portugal, and Sherry from a region of Andalusia in southern Spain.

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