Wine Classification

Classification of Wines

If you are going to try your hand at winemaking you want to be sure that you know what the different wines are called and what these classifications mean. The more you understand before you start your first batch of wine the better the chance that you will make wine that you will enjoy.

First you should realize that the color does not come to wine that way you may think. The juice from both red and white grape wine actually has no color. The color is put into the red wine based on how long it is left with the skins. It is when the juice and the skins are separated that you will see what color your wine will be.

For white wine the skins are removed that much sooner to eliminate any color. This means that white wine can actually be made form any color grapes as long as the separation is immediate.  Therefore a Rose’ is actually made from red grapes that are left with the skins for no more than a couple of hours. When a white wine is made using very dark colored grapes it will often have a pinkish or even bluish color.

To make a sparkling wine, winemakers leave in the carbon dioxide by using a two-step fermentation procedure. In the first stage the wine is left open so that the carbon dioxide escapes. In the second stage a sealed fermentation container is used to keep the carbon dioxide in.  It stays in the wine and makes the bubbly affect.  Champagne, a very bubbly wine, is recognized worldwide, in almost every country except the Untied States, as a sparkling wine made in France.

Fortified Wines - Some wines are referred to as fortified.  This means that the fermentation process was stopped or that something else was added to it after the fermentation.  These wines usually have a sweeter taste. If you use brandy as an example then you will know that its what is called a distilled wine. It’s made from the leftovers that include the pulp, seeds and stems.

Wines are classified in many ways. The above being only a few. They are also classified based on their taste.  Wine can be dry, sweet or fruity. If a wine is dry that means that it has very little residual sugar. Residual sugar is the amount of sugar leftover at the end of the fermentation process. A sweeter wine would therefore have more sugar leftover.  Other things give the wine its taste and help to classify what kind of wine they are.

Sometimes additives are added to change the flavor of a wine. This may make them fruity wines or blends.  Wines are also classified by the way they smell. The aroma, or bouquet, will influence the way a wine is perceived. Is it smoky or fruity, is there a hint of chocolate, pepper or peaches? Once you can classify the wines you like you can much more easily determine how to make one similar.